NEST 2025 – Exam Date, Syllabus, Application, Fees, Eligibility

National Entrance Screening Test 2025

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Overview
Exam Pattern
Exam Date
Eligibility
Syllabus
Mock Test
Past Question Papers
Fees
Registration
Application Procedure
Application Correction
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 2025 will not have a separate “General” section. There will be only 4 sections of 50 marks each.

UPDATE (Jun 4, 2025): NEST 2025 Admit Card released, read NEST Admit Card.

UPDATE (May 19, 2025): NEST 2025 Mock Test is now available, read NEST Official Mock Test.

UPDATE (May 14, 2025): Application correction facility for NEST 2025 is now open, read NEST 2025 Application Correction.

UPDATE (May 10, 2025): NEST 2025 last date has been extended, read NEST 2025 Last Date.

UPDATE (Feb 17, 2025): NEST 2025 Applications are open now, check NEST 2025 Application Procedure.

UPDATE (Jan 15, 2025): NEST 2025 exam date has been announced, read NEST 2025 Exam Date.

UPDATE (Nov 18, 2024): NEST 2025 Applications are expected to start in March. Subscribe to receive all updates on your mobile for free.

NEST 2025: Check Eligibility | Check Syllabus

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

Exam Pattern

The exam is a Computer Based Test (CBT) with a duration of 3 hours 30 minutes.
There will be 4 sections, each worth 60 marks, containing subject-specific questions from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.
All questions will be Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), where each question has four options, with only one correct answer.
For each correct answer, 3 marks will be awarded, while 1 mark will be deducted for each incorrect answer (-1 mark penalty).
Only the best scores from 3 sections will be considered for evaluation and merit list preparation. Check the rules for inclusion in the Merit List here.
The question paper will be available in both Hindi and English.

The number of questions from each subject is as follows:

Section	Number of Questions	Marks
Physics	20	60
Chemistry	20	60
Mathematics	20	60
Biology	20	60
Total	80	240
Note: Only the best 3 section scores will be considered for evaluation.

Schedule

Date

June 22, 2025

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. Candidates will be randomly assigned to one of the sessions, and no requests for a specific session will be entertained.

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

Eligibility

For NEST exam

There are no restrictions on appearing for NEST.

For admission in NISER/CEBS

Basic: The candidate should be from a regular science stream and ideally have any combination of three subjects among Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics in Classes XI and XII.
Exam: The candidate must secure a rank in the NEST merit list.
Qualifying Examination: The candidate should have passed the Class XII qualifying examination in 2023 or 2024. Candidates appearing in 2025 are also eligible.
Marks in Qualifying Examination: The candidate must obtain at least 60% marks in aggregate in the Class XII (or equivalent) examination from any recognized board in India (for SC/ST/PD candidates, 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 the complete submission of the online application.
The mock test is for practice purposes only.

Past Question Papers

See previous year Question Papers and Answers here.

Fees

NEST 2025 Application Fee is ₹1400 (₹700 for SC/ST/PD categories and Female candidates).

Registration

The registrations for the NEST examination will begin on February 17, 2025.
The last date to apply is May 9, 2025.
NEW: Check detailed steps for filling the Application Form here.

Application Procedure

NEW: Check the step-by-step procedure for filling the Application Form.

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

Note: Candidates do not need to send any documents to the NEST office during the entire application process.

Application Correction

Candidates will be provided with a facility to make corrections to their application form details.
It is a one-time facility, extended to candidates to avoid any inconvenience.
The correction window will remain open for a few days after the last date of registration.

Test Centres

Test Cities

Test Centres

State	City
AN	Port Blair
AP	Guntur
AP	Kurnool
AP	Rajahmundry
AP	Tirupathi
AP	Vijayawada
AP	Visakhapatnam
AP	Vizianagaram
AR	Naharlagun-Itanagar
AS	Dibrugarh
AS	Guwahati
AS	Tezpur
BR	Bhagalpur
BR	Darbhanga
BR	Gaya
BR	Patna
CG	Bhilai Nagar
CG	Raipur
DL	New Delhi
GA	Panaji
GJ	Ahmedabad
GJ	Bhuj
GJ	Rajkot
GJ	Surat
HP	Bilaspur
HP	Hamirpur
HP	Mandi
HR	Ambala
HR	Hisar
JH	Bokaro Steel City
JH	Dhanbad
JH	Jamshedpur
JH	Ranchi
JK	Jammu
JK	Srinagar
KA	Ballari
KA	Bengaluru
KA	Hubballi (Hubli)
KA	Kalaburgi
KA	Mangaluru (Mangalore)
KA	Mysuru (Mysore)
KL	Alappuzha
KL	Ernakulam
KL	Idukki
KL	Kannur
KL	Kasaragod
KL	Kollam
KL	Kottayam
KL	Kozhikode
KL	Malappuram
KL	Palakkad
KL	Pathanamthitta
KL	Thiruvananthapuram
KL	Thrissur
LA	Leh
MH	Ahmednagar
MH	Akola
MH	Aurangabad
MH	Jalgaon
MH	Kolhapur
MH	Mumbai
MH	Nagpur
MH	Nanded
MH	Pune
MH	Ratnagiri
MH	Solapur
ML	Shillong
MN	Imphal
MP	Bhopal
MP	Gwalior
MP	Indore
MP	Jabalpur
MZ	Aizawl
NL	Dimapur
NL	Kohima
OD	Angul
OD	Balangir
OD	Balasore
OD	Bargarh
OD	Baripada
OD	Berhampur-Ganjam
OD	Bhawanipatna
OD	Bhubaneswar
OD	Cuttack
OD	Dhenkanal
OD	Jharsuguda
OD	Rayagada
OD	Rourkela
OD	Sambalpur
PB	Bhatinda
PB	Jalandhar
PB	Mohali
PY	Puducherry
RJ	Bikaner
RJ	Jaipur
RJ	Jodhpur
RJ	Kota
RJ	Udaipur
SK	Gangtok
TN	Chennai
TN	Coimbatore
TN	Madurai
TN	Salem
TN	Tiruchirappalli
TN	Tirunelveli
TR	Agartala
TS	Hyderabad
TS	Karimnagar
TS	Warangal
UK	Dehradun
UK	Haldwani
UK	Roorkee
UP	Agra
UP	Aligarh
UP	Gorakhpur
UP	Kanpur
UP	Lucknow
UP	Noida
UP	Prayagraj (Allahabad)
UP	Varanasi
WB	Asansol
WB	Berhampur
WB	Burdwan
WB	Durgapur
WB	Hooghly
WB	Kalyani
WB	Kolkata
WB	Siliguri

Note

Candidates must choose 3 test cities in order of preference while filling out the application form.
Every effort will be made to allot the candidate’s first preference.
The address of the test venue allotted to the candidate will be mentioned on the NEST admit card.

Admit Card

The Admit Card can be downloaded from the NEST website once it is notified.
Candidates are required to present the Admit Card along with an Identity Card at the test centre.
The address of the NEST test centre allotted to a candidate will be printed on the admit card.
The Admit Card should be kept safely, as successful candidates will need to present the original during admission.

Answer Keys

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

Merit List

Overview

A merit list will be prepared based on the total of the best three scores from the four sections.
For normalization of the two sessions of the exam, percentile scores will be considered. These will be calculated based on the relative performance of all candidates in each session. The highest score in each session will be assigned a 100 percentile.

Section-wise Cutoff

For each section, 20% of the average of the best 100 scores in that section will be considered as the Section-wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS).
A candidate must clear the cutoff (SMAS) in any three subject sections to be included in the merit list.
The SMAS for OBC candidates will be 90% of the respective SMAS for General category candidates.
The SMAS for SC/ST/PwD candidates will be 50% of the respective SMAS for General category candidates.
Check the NEST Cutoff Scores.

Overall Cutoff

In addition to the subject-wise cutoff, a candidate is required to score equal to or above a total Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP) to be included in the merit list.
The overall cutoff (MAP) for NEST is 95 percentile for General category, 90 percentile for OBC category, and 75 percentile for SC/ST/PwD category.
Check the NEST Cutoff Scores.

Result

The result for NEST will be announced as per the schedule.
Candidates will be allotted a General Rank and a Category Rank based on their performance in the NEST exam.
Check the rules for inclusion in the Merit List here.

Counselling

Admissions to the 5-year Integrated MSc programme in basic sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics – at NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai will be based on the 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 begins.
The use of log tables and calculators in the examination hall is not allowed.
Candidates must bring their Admit Card and a photo ID to the examination hall.

Important Dates

Start of online application	February 17, 2025
Closing of online application	~~May 9, 2025~~ May 13, 2025 (12 PM)
Application correction window	~~May 10 – May 14, 2025~~ May 14 – May 16, 2025
Mock test opens	~~May 16, 2025~~ May 19, 2025
Download of admit card begins	June 4, 2025
NEST examination	June 22, 2025 (Sunday)
Release of answer keys	TBA
Answer keys objection window	TBA
Announcement of results	TBA

Contact Information

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

NISER Contact Information
Address	Chief Coordinator, NEST 2025, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Jatni, Khurda, Odisha – 752050
Helpline	0674-2494017
Email	[email protected]

Apply Now

Visit NEST Exam Website