NEST 2017 Notification and Dates | National Entrance Screening Test 2017

National Entrance Screening Test 2017 Notification released

National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai, have jointly announced the schedule of National Entrance Screening Test - 2017 (NEST-2017) for the Academic Session 2017-18
The notification for National Entrance Screening Test NEST 2017 has been announced

About NEST

National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a compulsory test for students seeking admission to National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai - Dept. of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. Both NISER and UM-DAE CEBS were set up by Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India in 2007

Their mandate is to train scientific manpower for carrying out cutting edge scientific research and for providing input to scientific programmes of Dept. of Atomic Energy and other applied science institutions in the country
The test is conducted in around 60 cities [see list] (over 100 venues) across India

The Programme

Entrance Test for admission to 5 year Integrated M.Sc. Programmes at National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) Bhubaneswar and;
University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS) Mumbai

Eligibility Criteria for NEST 2017

Candidates must qualify all four eligibility criteria listed below:

Candidates seeking admission to NISER & UM-DAE CEBS for the integrated M.Sc. Programme 2017 - 22 should be from regular Science Stream only and preferably should have any combination of three subjects among Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics in classes XI and XII

It is mandatory for all aspiring candidates to write the NEST 2017 exam; admission will be offered strictly on the basis of Merit List of NEST 2017

Additionally, candidates must have passed class XII exam or equivalent from any recognised Board in India in the years 2015 or 2016 or be appearing for the same in 2017

Candidates who are appearing for the board exam in 2017 must pass it by the time of admission

Also, candidates must secure at least 60% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade in class XII exam to be eligible for admission to NISER and CEBS. For candidates belonging to castes SC/ST & PD categories, the minimum requirement of marks is relaxed to 55% in aggregate

Where only letter grades are available, a certificate from the concerned Board specifying equivalent percentage of marks is required to be submitted. In absence of such a certificate, the decision of the admissions committee of the concerned institution will be final

Age Limit
General and OBC category candidates born on or after 01st August 1997 are eligible for admission to the integrated M.Sc. Programme of NISER/CEBS. The age limit is relaxed by 5 years for SC/ST/PD candidates

Reservation of Seats

For the integrated M.Sc. Programme 2017-22, the total number of seats at NISER and CEBS are 170+2(JK) and 45+2(JK), respectively. Indian nationals belonging to certain categories are admitted under the seats reserved for them in accordance with the rules of the Govt. of India

The categories and the extent of reservation are as follows:

Other Backward Classes belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) 27% of seats are reserved for OBC-NCL

The class should have been mentioned in the central list of OBCs (www.ncbc.nic.in) as of June 01st, 2016 and the certificate should have been obtained from a competent authority on or after 01st June 2016

SC/ ST - 15% seats are reserved for SC and 7.5% seats for are reserved for ST categories

Person with Disabilities (PD) - 3% of seats are reserved in every category, i.e., General, OBC–NCL, SC/ST; benefit would be given to those who have at least 40% impairment irrespective of the type of disability

Exam Pattern

The NEST 2017 Exam will be conducted at 60 centres (major towns or cities) all over India on May 27, 2017 (Saturday), 10.00 am - 01.00 pm. Based on the performance in NEST 2017, a common Merit List of the candidates will be prepared and posted on NEST 2017 website on 16th June 2017
The successful candidates will be asked to participate in an admission/counselling process and the admission will strictly be according to the Merit List

Exam Centres

A list of NEST Exam Centres is given on Page-7. Candidates must choose 02 (two) centres in order of their preference while filling up of application form
It is allowed to select two centres from the same city, such as Delhi–East and Delhi–North. Every effort will be made to allot the centre of first preference

Please note that ultimately the allotment of an exam centre by the Chief Coordinator has to be regarded as final and request for change of centre will, in general, not be entertained

The address of the test venue for any centre will be mentioned on the NEST admit card

NEST 2017 Exam Pattern

The question paper will consist of 5 (five) sections of objective (MCQ) type questions. Section 1 is the general section and is of 30 marks. There will be no negative marking in the general section

Sections 2 through 5 are of 50 marks each and will contain subject specific questions from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics

Candidates are permitted to attempt as many subject–sections as they wish. However, only the best three subject–scores along with the score in the general section will be counted for evaluation and merit list preparation

The answers to each question are to be marked on an OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheet

NEST EXAM Syllabus

The syllabus for NEST 2017 primarily follows the NCERT/CBSE science syllabus of class XI–XII. The detailed syllabus for NEST Exam is provided at the end of this document
The syllabus can also be downloaded on the www.nestexam.in website under the ‘Syllabus’ tab

How to Apply for NEST 2017

To apply for NEST 2017, candidates must fill–up the online application form through www.nestexam.in on or after 02nd January 2017
Candidates are strongly advised to read the detailed online application procedure available on the website. Online application process closes on March 6, 2017. There is no offline application mode available for NEST 2017

Application Fee

The application fee for the male candidates of General and OBC categories is Rs.700/–
The application fee for candidates in the SC/ST/PD categories and for all female candidates is Rs.350/–. Payments can be made using credit card/debit card/net–banking of more than 40 banks through online payment gateway
Candidates need not send any document to NEST office in the entire application process (initiative)
Please refer to the instruction sheet (the ‘How to Apply’ tab on www.nestexam.in) for details of application process

Admit Card

The admit card for NEST 2017 will be available for downloading from 16th April 2017; admit cards will not be dispatched to any applicant. Applicants must download their admit cards from NEST website (after login)
The download link will be available only till the day of exam

Important Dates for NEST 2017

Registration/Online, Application Opens 02nd January 2017 (10.00 am, Monday)
Online Application Closes: 06th March 2017 (midnight of First Monday)
Download of Admit Card Starts 14th April 2017 (10.00 am [Second Friday of April]
Date of Exam: 27th May 2017 (Saturday, 10.00 am - 01.00 pm [Last Saturday of May]
Announcement of Results on NEST Website: 16th June 2017 [Third Friday of June]

National Institute of Science Education and Reserch (NISER) Bhubaneswar

University of Mumbai - Dept. of Atomic Energy, Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, (UM-DAE CBS) Mumbai, NISER, Institute of Physics Campus, Sachivalaya Marg, Sainik School (PO), Bhubaneswar-751005, Odisha, Website www.nestexam.in