NTSE 2019: Application Form, Exam Pattern, Scholarships and Eligibility

The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is a national level scholarship test which is conducted by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) every year. In this exam, only students studying in class 10 can participate. Undoubtedly, NTSE or NTSS is considered one of the toughest exams at class 10 level. It is conducted to identify young talents and reward them with scholarships for higher studies. NCERT has released notification about NTSE 2018-2019. Let us discuss about NTSE in detail.

NTSE Scholarships

Based on NTSE result, 1000 scholarships are awarded. These scholarships vary for different academic courses.

                     I.        For Class 11-12, scholarship of 1250/- per month

                   II.        For UG and PG courses, scholarship of 2000/- per month

                 III.        For Ph.D. scholarship is decided based on UGC norms

NTSE 2019 Exam Pattern

a)   National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is conducted every year in two stages- Stage I (State Level) and Stage II (National Level).

b)   Stage 1 is conducted by respective States or Union Territories. Based on performance in Stage 1, selection process is carried out by the states/UTs. 

c)   Students qualifying in Stage 1 become eligible to appear in Stage 2, which is conducted by NCERT at the National level.

d)   Qualifying Marks: General category candidates need to score 40% in each paper to qualify. SC, ST and PH or Physically Challenged candidates must secure 32% in each paper to qualify in NTSE.

e)   15% seats are reserved for SC category students, while, 7.5% are for ST category. 4 percent reservation is for physically challenged students.

f)    Question Paper Pattern: In NTSE, Stage 1 consists of two Papers, Paper-I of Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Paper-II of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). SAT consists of 40 questions from Science and Social Science each and 20 questions from Mathematics. There are 200 questions and each question carries 1 mark. There is no negative marking.

                   

Paper	Test	Questions	Marks	Time (Minutes)
Paper-I	MAT	100	100	120
Paper-II	SAT	100	100	120

At Stage 2 also, now there is no provision for negative marking in each paper. Any change in the examination pattern of Stage 2 will be notified through the official website of NCERT.

Eligibility for NTSE

a)   All students studying in class 10 are eligible to appear in this exam. A student can appear in Stage 1 exam from the state in which his/her school is located and domicile is not required.

b)   Students registered under Open Distance Learning (ODL) must not be employed and his/her age should not exceed 18 years on 1st July. To be eligible for NTSE, he/she must be appearing in class 10 exams for the first time.

c)   Indian students studying in foreign countries in class 10 are not required to appear in Stage 1. They can appear directly in NTSE Stage 2. They must submit application form and send it to NCERT till 31 December 2018. Application form for these students will be published in October on the official website of NCERT.

NTSE Application Form and Fees

You can obtain application form for Stage 1 NTSE from state/UT Liaison Officer (LO). Fees for the Stage 1 exam will be declared by the respective states. For the stage 2 exam, you are not required to pay any fee to NCERT. (ALSO READ: How to fill NTSE 2019 Application Form?)

NTSE 2018-2019 Exam Dates

Stage	Area	Dates
Stage 1	Exam in Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar, Nagaland and Meghalaya	3rd November 2018 (Saturday)
	Exam in all other States/UTs	4th November 2018 (Sunday)
Stage 2	All States/UTs	12th May 2019 (Sunday)

Last date for the submission of NTSE application form will be declared by respective states or union territories.