NEST 2021 Exam (Admit Card) – Dates, Eligibility, Fees, Syllabus

National Entrance Screening Test 2021

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Overview
About
Schedule
Eligibility
Syllabus
Mock Test
Past Question Papers
Fees
Registration
Application Procedure
Test Centres
Admit Card
Answer Keys
Merit List
Score/Result
Admission/Counselling
Important Dates

Overview

The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a Computer-Based Test for admission to the 5-year Integrated MSc programme in basic sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics – at NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai.

Exam Name	National Entrance Screening Test
Also Known As	NEST
Exam Category	Undergraduate
Exam Level	National
Exam Mode	Online (Computer based test)
Conducted by	NISER, UM-DAE CEBS

NEW: NEST 2021 will not have a separate “General” section. There will be only 4 sections of 50 marks each.

UPDATE (July 16, 2021): NEST 2021 Admit Cards to be available from August 3, Subscribe to get notified on Mobile for free.

UPDATE (June 7, 202!): NEST 2021 exam date has been announced, read NEST 2021 Exam Date.

UPDATE (May 20, 2021): NEST 2021 exam has been postponed, read NEST 2021 Postponed.

UPDATE (May 2, 2021): NEST 2021 last date has been extended, read more here.

UPDATE (Feb 24, 2021): NEST 2021 Applications are open now, check NEST 2021 Application Procedure.

NEST 2021: Check Eligibility | Check Syllabus

Candidates are suggested to go through the rules for inclusion in Merit List here.

About

Pattern

It is a Computer Based Test (CBT) of 3 hours 30 minutes duration.
There will be 4 sections of objective (MCQ) type questions.
Each section is of 50 marks each and will contain subject-specific questions from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. Candidates are permitted to attempt as many sections as they wish.
Only the best 3 section scores will be counted for evaluation and merit list preparation. Check rules for inclusion in Merit List here.
In each section, there will be negative marking for incorrect answers for certain questions.
The medium of the question paper will be English only.
NEW: NEST 2021 question paper will not have a separate “General” section.

Schedule

UPDATE (June 7, 202!): NEST 2021 exam date has been announced, read NEST 2021 Exam Date.

UPDATE (May 20, 2021): NEST 2021 exam has been postponed, read NEST 2021 Postponed.

Date

~~June 14, 2021~~ August 14, 2021

Slots

Session 1: 09:00 am to 12:30 pm
Session 2: 02:30 pm to 06:00 pm

Note

The exam will be conducted in two sessions on the same day. The candidates will be allotted the examination session at random and no requests for a choice of a session would be entertained.

The allotted examination session will be mentioned in the candidate’s Admit Card.

Eligibility

For NEST exam

There is no restriction on appearing for NEST.

For admission in NISER/CEBS

Basic: Candidate should be from regular science stream and preferably should have any combination of three subjects among Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics in classes XI and XII.
Exam: Candidate must secure a rank in the NEST merit list.
Age: Candidate should be born on or after August 01, 2001 (relaxed by 5 years for SC/ST/PD candidates).
Qualifying Examination: Candidate should have passed Class XII qualifying examination either in 2019 or 2020. Candidates appearing in 2021 are also eligible.
Marks in Qualifying Examination: Candidate must obtain a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate in Class XII (or equivalent) examination from any recognized Board in India (for SC/ST/PD, the minimum requirement is 55%).

Syllabus

Mock Test

Practice sessions for the computer-based test will be available for all applicants on the application portal after online registration and complete submission of online application.
The mock test is for practice purpose only.

Past Question Papers

See previous year Question Papers and Answers here.

Fees

NEST 2021 Application Fee is ₹1200 (₹600 for SC/ST/PD categories and female candidates).

Registration

The registrations for NEST 2021 examination will begin from February 24, 2021.
The last date to apply is ~~April 30, 2021~~ ~~May 20, 2021~~ July 15, 2021.
NEW: Check detailed steps for filling Application Form here.

Application Procedure

NEW: Check detailed steps for filling Application Form here.

Candidates must fill-up the online application form through NEST website.
Register and log in to fill the personal details and educational qualifications.
Upload passport-sized image and signature.
Pay the application fee through Online Payment.
Save application summary page for future reference.

Note: Candidates need not to send any document to the NEST office in the entire application process.

Test Centres

Test Cities

Test Centres

State	City	Code
AP	Guntur	1
AP	Kurnool	2
AP	Rajahmundry	3
AP	Tirupathi	4
AP	Vijayawada	5
AP	Visakhapatnam	6
AP	Vizianagaram	7
AS	Guwahati	8
BR	Patna	9
CG	Bhilai Nagar	11
CG	Raipur	12
CH	Chandigarh	10
DL	New Delhi	13
GJ	Ahmedabad	14
HP	Hamirpur	15
HP	Shimla	16
JH	Bokaro Steel City	19
JH	Dhanbad	20
JH	Jamshedpur	21
JH	Ranchi	22
JK	Jammu	17
JK	Srinagar	18
KA	Bengaluru	23
KA	Hubballi (Hubli)	24
KA	Mangaluru (Mangalore)	25
KA	Mysuru (Mysore)	26
KL	Alappuzha	27
KL	Ernakulam	28
KL	Idukki	29
KL	Kannur	30
KL	Kasaragod	31
KL	Kollam	32
KL	Kottayam	33
KL	Kozhikode	34
KL	Malappuram	35
KL	Palakkad	36
KL	Pathanamthitta	37
KL	Thiruvananthapuram	38
KL	Thrissur	39
MH	Mumbai	44
MH	Nagpur	45
MH	Pune	46
ML	Shillong	48
MN	Imphal	47
MP	Bhopal	40
MP	Gwalior	41
MP	Indore	42
MP	Jabalpur	43
OD	Angul	49
OD	Balasore	50
OD	Bargarh	51
OD	Baripada	52
OD	Berhampur-Ganjam	53
OD	Bhubaneswar	54
OD	Cuttack	55
OD	Dhenkanal	56
OD	Jharsuguda	57
OD	Khurda	58
OD	Rayagada	59
OD	Rourkela	60
OD	Sambalpur	61
PB	Bhatinda	62
PB	Jalandhar	63
PB	Mohali	64
RJ	Jaipur	65
RJ	Jodhpur	66
RJ	Kota	92
RJ	Udaipur	67
TN	Chennai	68
TN	Coimbatore	69
TN	Madurai	70
TN	Salem	71
TN	Tiruchirappalli	72
TN	Tirunelveli	73
TR	Agartala	77
TS	Hyderabad	74
TS	Karimnagar	75
TS	Warangal	76
UK	Dehradun	83
UK	Haldwani	84
UK	Roorkee	85
UP	Allahabad	78
UP	Kanpur	79
UP	Lucknow	80
UP	Noida	81
UP	Varanasi	82
WB	Asansol	86
WB	Burdwan	87
WB	Durgapur	88
WB	Hooghly	89
WB	Kolkata	90
WB	Siliguri	91

Note

Candidates must choose 5 centres in order of their preference while filling-up the application form.
Every effort will be made to allot the candidate’s first preference.
The address of the test venue allotted to the applicant will be mentioned on the NEST admit card.

Admit Card

Admit Card can be downloaded from NEST website after ~~May 20, 2021~~ August 3, 2021.
Candidates are required to produce the Admit Card along with an Identity Card at the test centre.
Address of the NEST test centre allotted to an applicant will be printed in the admit card.
Admit Card should be kept safely as the successful candidates have to produce it in original during admission.

Answer Keys

The answer keys of Computer-based examination will be made available on the NEST website.
If a candidate is unsatisfied with an answer, he/she can challenge the answer keys.

Merit List

Overview

A merit list will be prepared based on the total of three best scores from the four sections.
Also, note that Merit lists for NISER and CEBS will be prepared separately.
For normalization of the two sessions of the exam, percentile scores will be considered. It will be calculated on the basis of the relative performance of all the candidates in the respective session. The highest score in each session will be 100 percentile.

Section-wise Cutoff

For each section, 20% of the average of the best 100 scores in that section will be considered as Section–wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS).
A candidate must clear the cutoff (SMAS) in all the four subject sections for inclusion in the NISER merit list.
A candidate must clear the cutoff (SMAS) in any three subject sections for inclusion in the CEBS merit list.
SMAS for OBC students would be 90% of the respective SMAS of General category students.
SMAS for SC/ST/PwD students would be 50% of the respective SMAS of General category students.

Overall Cutoff

In addition to Subject-wise cutoff, a candidate is required to score equal to or above a total Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP) in order to be included in the merit list of NISER and CEBS.
Overall Cutoff (MAP) for NEST 2021 is 95 percentile for General category, 90 percentile for OBC category and 75 percentile for SC/ST/PwD category.

Note

Even though a candidate must score equal to or more than the respective SMAS in all four subject sections for inclusion in NISER merit list, only the three best scores from subject sections will be considered for the merit rank.

Result

The result for NEST 2021 will be announced on ~~June 30, 2021~~ September 1, 2021.
Candidates will be allotted a General Rank and a Category Rank based on their performance in NEST exam.
Also, note that Merit lists for NISER and CEBS will be prepared separately.
Check the rules for inclusion in Merit List here.

Counselling

Admissions to 5-year Integrated MSc programme in basic sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics – at NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai will be done on the basis of NEST Merit rank.

Important Information

Candidates must provide a correct e-mail address in the online application as the NEST office communicates with candidates through this e-mail id.
Candidates must reach the test venue at least 90 minutes before the examination commences.
Use of log tables and calculators in the examination hall is not allowed.
Candidates must bring their Admit Card and a photo Identity Card to the examination hall.

Important Dates

Start of Online application	February 24, 2021
Closing of Online application	~~April 30, 2021~~ ~~May 20, 2021~~ July 15, 2021
Download of Admit Card begins	~~May 20, 2021~~ August 3, 2021
NEST examination	~~June 14, 2021~~ August 14, 2021
Announcement of results	~~June 30, 2021~~ September 1, 2021

Contact Information

Candidates can contact NEST authorities through written communication, phone or email.

NISER Contact Information
Address	Chief Coordinator, NEST 2021, NISER Bhubaneswar, Jatni, Khurda – 400098, Odisha (India)
Phone	022-61728110, 022-61728210
Email	[email protected], [email protected]