National Entrance Screening Test

The National Entrance Screening Test (popularly known as NEST) is an annual college entrance examination in India, conducted for admission into the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar (NISER) and the Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. These two institutes use NEST as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. Also, the Integrated Science Education & Research Centre (ISERC) of Visva-Bharati University has been using the merit list of NEST for admission into its undergraduate program. NEST was conducted in 91 cities across India in June 2019.

As of 2018, obtaining a seat in NISER has become highly competitive. From a total of roughly 80,000 applicants nationwide, only 0.32% qualify for admission. As of 2018, the total intake of NISER and UM-DAE CBS is 200+2 students and 45+2 students respectively (where two seats in each college are reserved for students belonging to the state of Jammu and Kashmir). NEST is conducted in both English as well as Hindi language.

Pattern of the test

The NEST question paper has five sections. The first section, which is compulsory for all candidates, includes general questions. The next four sections includes questions on (1) Biology, (2) Chemistry, (3) Mathematics and (4) Physics. Candidates may opt to answer any three of the four sections if they are willing to get admission in CBS, otherwise they have to answer from all the sections if they are willing to get in the merit list of NISER. All sections carry equal marks. The questions are aimed at testing the comprehension and analytic ability of the candidates. The questions are of objective type with four answers given for each question. There may only be one relatively correct answer for each question. Wrong answers are awarded negative marks.

Important dates
  • Online registration opens in January and remains open till first week of March.
  • Exam is held on first sunday of June or last Sunday of May.
  • Exam result is declared on 15-25June on NEST Official website.

Seats and intake

The number of students taking this examination has been increasing since the exam was first conducted in 2007. In 2018 200+2 seats were for NISER and 45+2 seats for UM-DAE CBS. About 60000 students appeared in the exam. The exam was conducted in two sittings. 1000hrs to 1300hrs and 1500hrs to 1800hrs.

The availability of seats in recent years is as given in table below:


Institute Intake (2007) Intake (2008) Intake (2009) Intake (2010) Intake (2011) Intake (2012) Intake (2013) Intake (2014)
National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) 40 40 52 60 60 60 60 100
Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CBS) 20 12 35 35 35 35 35 35
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See also
  • National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar
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