NTSE 2024: Application Form, Exam Date, Eligibility, Exam Pattern

NTSE 2024 will be held to shortlist the most eligible candidates for scholarship awards for pursuing courses in Science, Social Science, etc up to doctoral level and in professional courses like medicine, engineering, etc up to second-degree level.

The selection will be done on the basis of performance in the national level exam conducted by NCERT. However, before that, the candidates will have to appear for the state level exam conducted by the respective State/ UT.

The new date of conducting the state-level and national level exam will be announced very soon.

NTSE 2024 Notes

• Only shortlisted candidates from the state level will be eligible to appear in the national level exam.
• If a candidate studying in foreign school is selected, the scholarship shall be paid for pursuing studies in India only.
• Candidates cannot obtain scholarships from multiple sources simultaneously and must release others in order to obtain the NTS scholarship.
• No request for re-evaluation or rechecking of the answer scripts by the candidates will be entertained.
• In case there is any change of address prior to the National Level Examination, candidates must inform the state examining authority or the NCERT.

NTSE 2024 Important Dates

The tentative dates related to NTSE 2024, both state and national level, are given in the table below:

For state level exam

For national level exam

NTSE 2024 Eligibility Criteria

The following eligibility criteria must be fulfilled by the candidates aspiring to appear for the NTSE exam 2024:

For state level exam:

• Candidates in class 10 of any recognized school can appear for the State Level Examination.
• Such candidates are eligible to appear from the state in which the school is located.
• The state may impose any other eligibility condition for appearing in the screening examination like any qualifying percentage of marks in the previous annual examination etc.
• Students registered under Open and Distance Learning (ODL) are also eligible provided that their age is below 18 years as on 1st July of that particular year), are not employed and are appearing in class 10 for the first time.

For national level exam:

• The exam is open for students of Indian nationality studying in class 10 in India or abroad.
• Candidates studying in India must clear the exam conducted by the States/UTs.
• Candidates Studying abroad can appear for the exam under the following conditions:
  • Such candidates need not appear in any state-level exam and can appear directly for the national level examination conducted by the NCERT.
  • He/ she must has obtained at least 60% marks in aggregate in the previous annual examination.
  • The candidate will have to appear in the examination at a centre in India at her/ his own cost.
  • Request for appearing in the exam should be made through the Head of the Institution where he or she is studying along with an attested copy (by the Head of the Institution) of the mark sheet of Class IX.
  • The request should reach the Head, Department of Educational Survey Division, NCERT, New Delhi- 110016 latest by 31^st December of the concerned year.

NTSE 2024 Application Form

The interested candidates will first have to apply for the state level examination as this is the first round of selection.

NTSE 2024 Application form will be released on the official website of the respective government of the State and Union Territory.

The filled in application by the student be submitted to the State Liaison Officer duly signed by the Principal of the school before the due date. The state may impose any fee for examination and/or for the application form.

For the second round of the selection process, i.e. the national level exam, the candidates can apply through the official websites of NCERT. There will be no entrance fee for applying to the national level examination.

To fill the application form, the students will have to provide basic details such as name, parent’s name, gender, date of birth, category, etc.

Details of the class 9 exam like school name, board name, etc will also be asked in the application form. Candidates must put their signature and photograph in the application form at the given places.

After providing all the information correctly in the application form, the students must submit it so as to reach the authorities on or before the last specified dates.

NTSE 2024 Admit Card

• The NCERT will upload the admit card for the second level examination on its website around 3 weeks before the exam.
• A printout of the admit card should be taken and an attested passport size photograph should be pasted at the appropriate place.
• Candidates must report to the exam center along with the admit card with the pasted photograph.
• Admit card will contain the details of the exam center, fate and time and the roll number and other details of the candidates.

Center of Exam

• Normally there is only one centre in each state for the national level exam and the candidate belonging to a particular state is expected to be allotted that centre only.
• Exam at the centers shall be done under the supervision of the Centre Superintendent appointed by the NCERT.
• An independent observer for each centre is also appointed by the NCERT.
• Only under special circumstances, like the transfer of the parents, the centre of examination may be changed.
• A written request for the same must be sent to the NCERT so as to reach within 15 days of the download of the admit card.
• However, it may be noted that in such cases only the English medium test booklet shall be provided to the candidate at the changed centre.

NTSE Exam Pattern

The NTSE exam pattern for both national and state level exams is given below:

State level NTSE exam:

• Mode of exam: Offline mode (OMR sheet)
• Number of papers: 2 (Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Ability Test (SAT))
• Duration of exam: 4 hours (2 hours for each paper with a break of 2 hours in between them)
• The medium of exam: As per the announcement made by the respective State/ UT
• Number of questions: 200 (100 questions for each paper)
• Type of questions: Multiple-choice questions
• Total marks: 200 (100 marks for each paper)
• Marking scheme: Each question will carry 1 mark.
• Negative marking: There will be no negative marking for the incorrect answers.

National level NTSE exam:

• Mode of exam: Offline mode (OMR sheet)
• Number of papers: 2 (Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Ability Test (SAT))
• Duration of exam: 4 hours (2 hours for each paper with a break of 2 hours in between them)
• The medium of exam: Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu
• Number of questions: 200 (100 questions for each paper)
• Type of questions: Multiple-choice questions
• Total marks: 200 (100 marks for each paper)
• Marking scheme: 1 mark will be awarded for each right answer and there will be no negative marking.

NTSE 2024 Syllabus

There is no prescribed syllabus for the NTS examination. However, the standard of the test shall be of the Classes IX and X level.

Result

For state level exam:

• The authorities of relevant State/ UT will release the result of the state level exam at its official website.
• Candidates must score more than the prescribed qualifying marks in each test- MAT & SAT.
• A merit list of the selected students will also be made on the basis of their combined score and published on the website of respective conducting bodies.

For national level exam:

• The result of the national level exam will be published by the NCERT on their official website https://ncert.nic.in/.
• Registered letters will also be sent to the selected candidates by the NCERT.
• Marks obtained by the candidates in written examination will be revealed to all the candidates individually through the official website.
• Scanned OMR sheets of the candidates will also be released on the website so that the candidates can calculate their own scores.

Scholarship Award

• The awardees studying in Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Languages, Commerce, vocational studies, and fine arts are eligible to receive scholarships up to Ph.D. level.
• Those studying professional courses in medicines, engineering, technology, management, and law, are eligible to receive the scholarship up to second-degree level.
• The scholarship shall be deemed to be discontinued any gap of one academic session in studies at any time due to any reason.
• Scholarship once discontinued on the basis of the rules of disbursement of scholarship cannot be revived under any circumstances.
• Candidates have to secure an aggregate of 60% marks in order to be eligible for scholarship every year.
• If a student secured less than 60% in a year the scholarship is forfeited for that year and if fails to secure the same for two years (consecutive or non-consecutive) the scholarship will be discontinued forever.
• Failing in any single subject in any year result in discontinuation of scholarship.
• Taking up employment through any source will also lead to discontinuation of scholarship.

FAQs