National Entrance Screening Test
The National Entrance Screening Test (popularly known as NEST) is an annual college entrance examination in India, conducted for admission into the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar (NISER) and the Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. These two institutes use NEST as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. Also, the Integrated Science Education & Research Centre (ISERC) of Visva-Bharati University has been using the merit list of NEST for admission into its undergraduate program for the last 3 academic sessions. NEST was conducted in 45 centers across India in 2014.
As of 2009, obtaining a seat in NISER has become highly competitive. From a total of 70,000 applicants nationwide, only 0.325% qualify for admission.
Pattern of the test
The NEST question paper has five sections. The first section, which is compulsory for all candidates, includes general questions. The next four sections includes questions on (1) Biology, (2) Chemistry, (3) Mathematics and (4) Physics. Candidates may opt to answer any three of the four sections. All sections carry equal marks. The questions are aimed at testing the comprehension and analytic ability of the candidates. The questions are of objective type with five answers given for each question. There may only be one relatively correct answer for each question. Wrong answers are awarded negative marks.
The question papers of the exam conducted in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 2017 are available on the official website http://www.nestexam.in/ .
Seats and intake
The number of students taking this examination has been increasing since the exam was first conducted in 2007.
The availability of seats in recent years is as given in table below:
| Institute | Intake (2007) | Intake (2008) | Intake (2009) | Intake (2010) | Intake (2011) | Intake (2012) | Intake (2013) | Intake (2014) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) | 40 | 40 | 52 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 100 |
| Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CBS) | 20 | 12 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |