NEST 2025 Exam Analysis: Section Wise Paper Analysis, Difficulty Level, Student Reactions

Registration - 5 Jan '26 - 6 Apr '26

Updated on Feb 5, 2026 09:58 IST

NEST 2025 exam analysis is available now. Students can check the exam analysis of NEST 2025 to know the exam difficulty level, subject wise weightage of topics and most important topics. The overall exam toughness level for the NEST exam 2025 was moderately easy. The physics paper was difficult. The math question paper was moderate. NEST questions were similar to those of the past year. This page provides the necessary details of the analysis of NEST 2025, marks allotted to individual sections, marking scheme etc.

Table of contents

NEST Exam Pattern
NEST 2025 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme
NEST 2025 Section-wise Analysis
NEST 2025 Sectional Weightage
NEST 2025 Important Topics

NEST Exam Pattern

The NEST question paper had two formats i.e. in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Multiple Select Questions (MSQs). The mode of the exam was online or Computer Based Test (CBT). The exam duration was 3 Hours 30 minutes. The medium of the entrance exam was English. A total of four sections were asked which were - Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is the total duration of the NEST exam?

The total duration of the NEST exam is three hours. The timing of the exam is from 2 PM to 5 PM. Candidates belonging to the PWD category will be given compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour as per the Government of India guidelines. Test takers will not be allowed to leave the centre before 4 PM for medical reasons. Entry will not be allowed after 3 PM. Students have to attempt at least three sections in the exam.

Q: What is the pattern of NEST exam? Will it be MCQ based?

The question paper will consist of 4 (four) sections of objective (MCQ) type questions. Each section is of 60 marks and will contain subject-specific questions from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. Each section will have 20 questions, with exactly one correct answer. Marking a correct answer will fetch 3 marks, choosing an incorrect answer will lead to a deduction of 1 mark and no marks will be deducted for not answering a question. It is in the interest of the candidate to attempt all sections.

Q: What is NEST question paper pattern?

The NEST question paper is divided into four sections. The questions are based on Class 11 & 12 Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology. Each section has 20 questions. Every question carries 3 marks. Negative marking is done for wrong answers.

NEST 2025 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme

The evaluation of the NEST exam will be done as under:

Question Type	Marking Scheme
MCQs	+2.5 for each right answer -1 for each wrong answer No negative marking for unattempted questions
MSQs	+4 for each right answer No negative marking

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is mode for NEST exam counselling?

The NEST exam counselling will be done in online mode only. The exam conducting authority will release the dates of counselling in official notification after the conclusion of the exam.

Applicants are advised to check the NEST exam counselling schedule and visit the centre along with their academic as well as category related documents.

NEST 2025 Section-wise Analysis

Once the NEST 2025 exam is conducted, the information will be updated here till the time students can check the NEST exam analysis of the previous year and accordingly, they can prepare for the exam. The questions were from the given syllabus of NEST, which was along the lines of the Board exam syllabus. The topics were on the expected lines. Let us take a look at the section-wise topics.

Chemistry - The questions were on the NCERT level. However, there were a lot of questions from previous years' JEE Main question papers. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy. The questions were more on the lines of Inorganic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry.

Mathematics - The majority of the questions were of Class 11 level. The difficulty level was moderate to tough. Some of the topics were Probability and limits, among others.

Physics - The Physics section was the toughest. The topics were calorimetry, current electricity, capacitor, kinematics, unit and dimensions, etc.

Biology - The difficulty level of this section was easy. The topics were from the expected lines like Botany, Human Physiology, and Human Reproduction, among others.

Commonly asked questions

Q: Where can I find NEST previous year question paper PDF download link?

NEST exam previous year question paper is available online at nestexam.in. The steps to download the NEST previous year question paper PDF are mentioned below.

Go to the NEST website
Select the question archive.
The question paper pdf will display.
Click on the NEST exam previous year question pdf link.
The pdf will open and download the same.

Q: What is mode for NEST exam counselling?

The NEST exam counselling will be done in online mode only. The exam conducting authority will release the dates of counselling in official notification after the conclusion of the exam.

Applicants are advised to check the NEST exam counselling schedule and visit the centre along with their academic as well as category related documents.

NEST 2025 Sectional Weightage

Students must go through the following table to check the exam structure for each subject.

	Subject	Marks
I - Biology	17 questions (12 MCQs + 5 MSQs)	50 marks
II - Chemistry	17 questions (12 MCQs + 5 MSQs)	50 marks
III - Mathematics	17 questions (12 MCQs + 5 MSQs)	50 marks
IV - Physics	17 questions (12 MCQs + 5 MSQs)	50 marks
Total	68 questions	200 marks

Commonly asked questions

Q: Is solving NEST previous year question paper worthy?

Yes, students who want to appear in NEST 2024 exam must solve the NEST previous year question book which will help them in a better way. By checking the questions, Students can compose their strategy and accordingly they can increase their chances of qualifying the exam.

Q: What is NEST question paper pattern?

NEST 2025 Important Topics

Students preparing for the NEST can check the important topics for NEST here. These topics have high weightage in the exam. Based on the past year exam analysis, we have mentioned the NEST important topics subject wise.

Subject	Topics
Physics	Optics, Work, Laws of Motion, Thermodynamics, Energy & Power
Chemistry	Equilibrium, Organic Compounds, Atomic Structure, Chemical Bonding, Thermodynamics
Mathematics	Calculus, Probability, Sets, Trigonometry, Relations & Functions, and Matrices & Determinants
Biology	Ecology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Human Physiology, Cell Structure & Function

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is good score in NEST exam?

For each section, "20% of the average of the best 100 scores in that section" will be considered as the section–wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS).
For example, if the average of the best 100 scores in the Chemistry section is 43 out of 50, then SMAS for the Chemistry section would be 43*0.20 = 8.6 marks. It will be same for other section too.

SMAS for the two sessions, for any particular section, can be of different numerical values. The value of SMAS will be different for different category students i.e if it 100 for General candidates then it will be 90 for OBC and 50 for SC/ST and Divyangjan applicants.

Q: What is the percentile score in NEST results?

The percentile score are the marks secured by the applicants in NEST exam in all the sections.

Since as per new exam pattern NEST will consider marks of top three subjects out of four, in which he/she secures the maxium marks.

The merit list of NISER and CEBS will be prepared based on percentile scores, that is calculated based on the relative performance of all the qualified candidates in each session.