National Talent Search Examination (NTSE)

National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is a national level scholarship program conducted for the students of standard 10 to identify, encourage and promote academic talent.

Every year, about 1000 scholarships are rewarded to students who qualify the exam. Today, NTSE is considered as the most prestigious scholarship exam held at the secondary school level.

Holding a badge of ‘NTSE Scholar’ is a matter of honour whose benefits are reaped throughout your academic and professional life.

Before we talk about what you must do and avoid during your NTSE preparation, let us first get a quick recap of the NTSE exam pattern:

• NTSE is conducted in two levels: stage 1 (state level) and stage 2 (national level).
• Students who qualify stage 1 can appear for the national level NTSE.
• NTSE paper consists of 2 sections: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Mental Ability Test (MAT).
• SAT tests your academic knowledge and understanding as it consists of questions from science, math, social science and language.
• MAT judge your ability to think, power of reasoning, ability to judge, evaluate, visualise in space, etc.

With around 10 lakh aspirants across India, NTSE offers a tough competition to its aspirants. Hence, students must plan their NTSE preparation well and follow their schedule diligently.

Want to know to the quota of seats allocated to different States/UTs under NTSE?

NTSE  Stage-I Exam Pattern

Stage-I is conducted at State/UT level by the concerned State/UT authorities. Candidates have to select 1 language from English or Hindi to solve the paper. Each correct answer is awarded 1 mark and there is no negative marking at this stage. The paper is divided into two parts:

Part 1 – Mental Ability test (MAT): This part contains logical and analytical reasoning based questions. This section tests the candidate’s reasoning, ability to think, evaluate, ability to discriminate and visualize. A total of 50 questions is to be answered under this section.

Part 2 – Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT): This part consists of 150 questions from Science, Mathematics, Social Science and English Language. This section judges the student’s reading abilities, interpretation, evaluation and general awareness of the subjects.

NTSE Stage-II Exam Pattern

Stage-II is conducted at National Level, where shortlisted students from Stage-I (State-level) exam appear to compete for the scholarship. The paper is divided into two parts – MAT and SAT, like that in Stage-I. There will be 100 questions in both MAT and SAT (Science-40, Maths-20, Social science-40).

The duration of both the exams is 2 hours or 120 minutes. In NTSE Stage 2 exam, there is no negative marking. Only candidates qualifying in both the papers separately will be considered for merit. Selection of the awardee will be made on the basis of total marks scored in MAT and SAT based on merit.

NTSE Scholarship 2020 Amount

Based on the NTSE reservation criteria, candidates of different categories will be awarded the same NTSE scholarship 2019 given below

Stage	Scholarship amount
Higher secondary level	Rs. 1250/-
Graduate and Post Graduate	Rs. 2000/-
For Ph.D. degree(four year)	As per UGC norms

Before applying for NTSE 2019, candidates must read the eligibility criteria to ensure that they fulfil the requirements set by NCERT.

Rules for Disbursement of NTSE Scholarship

The awardees studying in Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Languages Commerce,

vocational studies and fine arts will be eligible to receive scholarship upto Ph.D. level whereas the

awardees studying professional courses in medicines, engineering, technology, management and

law, will be eligible to receive the scholarship upto second-degree level. The NTSE 2019 scholarship amount will be disbursed and renewed for students provided they:

·         Secure a minimum of 60% score in aggregate every year.

·         Take up studies in approved courses.

·         Maintain good conduct as certified by the Head of the College/Institution and

·         Continue their studies as a regular student.

·         Do not absent themselves without proper leave.

·         Take up studies on a whole time basis.

·         Do not take up any job with salary/remuneration/stipend.

·         Do not accept any other scholarship simultaneously.

NTSE Eligibility Criteria 2020

·         Only students studying in class 10 could apply for the NTSE Scholarship.

·         The applicant must be an Indian citizen

·         Should not be more than 18 years of age.

·         Must be studying in a recognized school/board of education.

·         Candidates who are studying under open distance learning are also eligible to apply.

NTSE Scholarship Form

SCERT of all States and UTs will release the NTSE application forms in the first week of August on its official website. Candidates could either download the form online or obtain it offline from the State Liaison Officer. It must be noted that for many states the form was needed to be submitted offline before the last date.

NTSE Cutoff

Many states have already released the NTSE cutoff for stage 1. Others will also release them by the end of March. The cutoff is the minimum marks a candidate needs to score in order to qualify for the NTSE stage 2. Those who achieve the NTSE cutoff for stage 1 shall find their name in the merit list.

Catagory	Cutoff
General	40
OBC	40
SC	32
ST	32