(Notification) National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) - 2017

Introduction to NEST 2017

The National Entrance Screening Test or NEST is a compulsory test for admission to the 5–year Integrated MSc programme in basic sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics – at National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai – Department of Atomic Energy Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM–DAE CEBS), Mumbai. Both NISER and CEBS are autonomous institutions established by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India, in 2007. NISER is an off–campus centre of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) and all academic programmes of NISER are affiliated to HBNI.

Number of Seats

Number of seats available at the two institutes for admission in the year 2017 would be as follows

Category	NISER	CBS
General	85	23
Supernumerary: J&K	2	2
OBC	46	12
SC	26	7
ST	13	3
PD (part of other categories)	5	1
Total	172	47

A student with certain category rank will take a general seat if he/she secures a suitable general ranking.

For example, if the topper of the exam (General rank 1) happens to be an OBC candidate, he/she would get OBC rank 1, as well. In such case, he/she would be admitted against the General rank so that all OBC seats remain available even after his/her admission.

Educational qualification:

Candidates seeking admission to NISER and UM–DAE CEBS for the integrated MSc 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 examination. Admission will be offered strictly on the basis of Merit List of NEST 2017. Additionally, candidates must have passed class XII examination 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 examination 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 examination to be eligible for admission to NISER and CEBS. For candidates belonging to scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and physically disabled (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 August 01, 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 MSc 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 Government 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(http://www.ncbc.nic.in/User_Panel/CentralListStateView.aspx) as of June 1, 2016 and the certificate should have been obtained from a competent authority on or after June 1, 2016.

Scheduled Caste (SC) / Scheduled Tribe (ST) 15% seats are reserved for SC and 7.5% seats for are reserved for ST categories. The benefit of reservation will be given only to those castes and tribes that are mentioned in the respective lists of corresponding states published by the Government of India: (http://socialjustice.nic.in/UserView/index?mid=76750 and http://tribal.nic.in/Content/StatewiseListofScheduledTribesProfiles.aspx).

Syllabus:

The syllabus for NEST 2017 primarily follows the NCERT/ CBSE science syllabus of class XI–XII. The detailed syllabus for NEST examination is provided in page:11-18 of this document. The syllabus can also be downloaded on the www.nestexam.in website under the ‘Syllabus’ tab. There is, however, no specific syllabus for the general section. This section tests candidate's familiarity with, but not detailed understanding of, major historical milestones in subjects like astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science and environmental science. Questions will be designed to test analytic abilities and comprehension of scientific passages. Some of the questions in this section may require knowledge of class X mathematics.

Application Fee:

The application fee for the male candidates of General and OBC categories is ₹700/–. The application fee for candidates in the SC/ST/PD categories and for all female candidates is ₹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 ( GREEN initiative).

How to Apply:

To apply for NEST 2017, candidates must fill–up the online application form through www.nestexam.in on or after January 2, 2017. Candidates are strongly advised to read through 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.

Important Dates

Start of Online application for NEST 2017: January 02, 2017 (First Monday of January)
Closing of Online application: March 06, 2017 (First Monday of March)
Download of Admit Card begins: April 14, 2017 (Second Friday of April)
NEST 2017 examination: May 27, 2017 - Saturday (Last Saturday of May) (Hour of examination: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM)
Announcement of results on NEST website: June 16, 2017 (Third Friday of June)