NEST 2026: Exam Date (June 6), Application (Jan 5 Onwards), Eligibility, Pattern, Syllabus & More

Besides, top performers at NISER and UM-DAE CEBS, securing overall grades above a certain threshold at the end of the programme, are eligible to appear directly for the interview for admission to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) training school.

NEST 2026 exam notification has been released by the examination conducting body on December 15, 2025. According to the official notification, this year NEST exam is scheduled to be conducted on June 6, 2026, across India. According to the NEST important dates, the application form will be released on January 5, 2026, and the last date will be April 6, 2026. Rest of the dates, such as the release of mock test, answer key and result will be announced later.

The NEST 2026 eligibility criteria are defined on both basis age wise as well education wise.

Admissions in NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai are done based on a candidate's score in the NEST exam. Candidates who have passed Class 12 from the Science stream are eligible to apply for the NEST exam. 

Candidates should pass Class 12 in Science stream from a recognised board in India with at least 60% aggregate marks (55% for SC/ ST/ PWD category candidates). Candidates should have passed Class XII either last year or will pass this year.

There is no age limit to appear for NEST.

Important things to remember for the NEST 2026 online application are mentioned below:

• The correct email address should be provided. The NEST office communicates with candidates through this e-mail ID only. 
• The phone number that is provided during the application should be accessible by the candidate. The NEST office uses this phone number to reach a candidate or to send SMS messages whenever necessary. 
• A properly scanned and cropped recent passport-sized photograph should be uploaded. A properly scanned and cropped signature should be uploaded. 
• The photograph and signature files must not be more than 80 KB each and must be in. JPG or JPEG format only. 
• Applications incomplete in any respect will not be accepted.  

The Application fee for the NEST Exam for the upcoming academic session 2026 is notified. The NEST 2026 Application fee for male candidates of the General and OBC categories is INR 1,400. The application fee for candidates in the SC/ST/Divyangjan categories and for all female candidates is INR 700. Payments can be made using credit card/debit card/Netbanking, and UPI modes.

Applications can be submitted only through the NEST 2026 website only. There is no other mode of application submission. Login credentials for logging into the application submission and fee payment portals will be provided upon online registration.

The NEST Syllabus is available on the official portal for those students who wish to appear for the exam. One needs to visit the official portal to be able to download the syllabus for all subjects. They need to click on the syllabus and information brochure link in the top right corner of the homepage. Then, students need to click on the link available for Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics to access the PDFs of all these NEST Subjects. 

The exam conducting authorities will release the admit card at least two weeks before the commencement of the exam. The NEST hall ticket will mentionthe  following details of the applicants

• Application Number
• Roll Number
• Candidate's Name
• Candidate's Address
• Date
• Time
• Shift
• Reporting time
• Venue and Emergency contact number 

In case of any discrepancy in the details mentioned in the admit card, applicants need to immediately connect to the exam conducting authorities by the Emergency number mentioned in the admit card. 

Applicants who want to appear for the NEST exam need to download the admit card to appear in the examination. Applicants are required to first check whether they are using the recommended browser or not for downloading the NEST 2026 admit card. After that they also need to have an active internet connection at their place before downloading the admit card.  

Students need to enter their user ID & password, followed by entering the Captcha if mentioned on the login portal. After entering these details, the admit card will be opened in a new window. Now save the copy for future reference. 

Candidates have to carry any one of the following documents will be considered as valid for appearing in the NEST 2026 examination: 

• Passport 

• Aadhaar Card or Enrolment slip

• Voter ID

• Driver's License 

• PAN Card

If any student does not have any of these ID cards then they must bring their admit card of class 12 board exam in the examination hall. 

The deadline for candidates to rasie objection against the NEST 2026 Answer Key is likely to be scheduled in the second week of June 2026, as per the official notification released on the official website. The actual date is yet to be announced. 

Candidates need to visit the official website to download the NEST 2026 Answer PDF. With the help of NEST Response sheet, candidates can evaluate their NEST Scores, and they can also raise objections before the stipulated date, which is likely to be scheduled in the second week of June 2026. 

Candidates seeking admission to NISER and UM–DAE CEBS for the Integrated MSc programme 2026–31 should be from the regular science stream in classes 11 and 12. All aspiring candidates must write the NEST 2026 examination. Candidates must have passed the Class 12 examination from any recognised Board in India in the years 2024 or 2025, or should be appearing for the same in 2026. Candidates who are appearing for the board examination in 2026 must pass it by the time of admission into the programme.

The NEST 2026 exam will be conducted on June 6, 2026. The exam result was declared tentatively in the second week of July 2026, after a few days, when the NEST answer Key objection window is over. 

Merit list rank preparation or the final ranking of the candidates will be based on percentile scores calculated from the best three-section scores. The merit list will be published based on the following criteria: 

1. A candidate is required to score more than SMAS in at least three subject sections. Then we say that the candidate is SMAS-qualified. 

2. The total score of an SMAS-qualified candidate is the sum of the scores of her/his three best scores from the SMAS securing sections. 

3. A candidate is required to score equal to or above a total Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP) to get a merit rank. 

4. If the percentiles of two or more candidates become equal (i.e., in the case of a tie), then the best scores in the sections of the two students would be compared. The student with the higher score would get a better rank.

5. If the tie persists, the students would be given the same provisional rank at the time of declaration of the result, and the tie would be broken by comparing class 12th marks during admission/counselling. 

6. If the tie still persists, then the younger student will get a higher rank.

The NEST 2026 Counselling is likely to begin in the second week of July 2026, for those students who qualified for the NEST Entrance exam. There will be three to four rounds of counselling, depending on the number of seats remaining after each round. 

If a students fails to submi the expression of interest, it will be considered as they are no longer interested to get admision to NEST NISER institute and there seat will be given to another deseving students. Therefore, it is manadatory for students to submit the Expresison of Interest (EoI) before deadline. 

The following are the details mentioned in the NEST result PDF:

• Candidate's name
• Roll Number
• Total Marks
• Percentile
• Merit Rank
• Category
• J & K/ Ladakh Rank
• Divyangjan Rank

Yes! Mock tests are practised to identify where one stands during the preparation period. If you get fewer marks, you will get to identify the topics that you need to give more time. Once, you start working on the weak subjects and topics and get relevant marks in your mock test then you are ready to appear for the entrance exam.

The National Entrance Screening Test (nest) is generally tougher than NEET but some sections in NEET, like Biology, are more challenging due to vast syllabus coverage and competition.

Students who want to qualify the NEST exam first they must complete the books of class 11th and 12th. 

Applicants can follow the below-mentioned books for the NEST preparation.

1. For chemistry, Wiley, KL CHUGH & Dinesh publication books are good

2. For Physics, DC Pandey & HC Verma's books.

3. For Mathematics, R D Sharma, SN DEY books

4. For Biology subject, Objective Biology by Dinesh

Along with these books NCERT & NCERT EXEMPLAR is a must for applicants for all individual subjects. 

Candidates must read the following points to understand about the ‘section-wise’ Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS) or section-wise cut-off marks.

1. The total score of each candidate will be the sum of his/her best three scores out of the four sections.

2. 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 48 out of 60, then SMAS for the Chemistry section would be 48*0.20 = 9.6 marks, similar to other sections.

3. SMAS for different sections can be of different numerical values.

4. SMAS for the two sessions, for any particular section, can be of different numerical value.

5. SMAS for OBC students would be 90% of the respective SMAS for the general category Students. For example, if in the Chemistry section, the SMAS is 9.6 for general category students, then the SMAS for OBC students would be 8.64 (90% of 9.6).

6. SMAS for SC/ST/Divyangjan students would be 50% of respective SMAS for general category students. For example, if in the Chemistry section, the SMAS is 9.6 for general category students, then the SMAS for SC/ST/Divyangjan students would be 4.8 (50% of 9.6).

Candidates must know that the allotment of an examination centre by the NEST Committee has to be regarded as final, and the request for a change of centre will, in general, not be entertained. The address of the test venue allotted to the applicant will be mentioned on the NEST admit card.

If two applicants will score the same percentile marks in the NEST 2024 exam then autority will consider marks of class 12th exam for tie breaking. In case of tie between the marks of class 12th exam then candidate who will be younger given preference over other who will be older. 

Though in most other exams, the older candidates get preference but in case of NEST exam, it is different. 

Candidates need not send any document to the NEST office in the entire application process. Please refer to the instruction sheet by visiting the official NEST website for details regarding the application process.

The NEST examination is a Computer Based Test (CBT). The candidate will enter all the requisite details at the given computer terminal. The questions will be displayed on the monitor. The answers to each question are to be provided at the computer terminal using the given electronic equipment. Details of how to answer at the terminal will be provided before the examination.