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.

NEST scores are accepted by two institutes of India, the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, and the University of Mumbai, Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences. Both institutes offer Integrated MSc programmes of five-year duration. 

The NEST exam is conducted once a year. Generally, the exam is scheduled for June every year. NEST is a computer-based test conducted for three hours. It is held in a single day and shift. The scores are used for admission to the Integrated MSc courses offered at the participating institutes. 

The NEST question papers will be in English and Hindi. Candidates have to select their question paper medium while filling out the application process. In the case of any confusion or discrepancy due to language, the question paper in English will be final.

Students who qualify the NEST exam will be given the opportunity to pursue undergraduate programs in Science & Technology at NISER and UM-DAE CBS, two premier institutes in India. 

Applicants are advised to check the detailed eligibility criteria and other important date related events before appearing for the NEST exam.

NEST is a popular entrance exam for Science stream students who paas out 12th standard of exam, in India. The number of seats are disclosed in official notification.   

NEST is the entrance exam for the Integrated MSc programmes. Hence, it is an undergraduate level entrance exam. Candidates who have passed or appeared for the Class 12 Board exam are eligible for the exam. 

The NEST exam is conducted in computer-based mode. Questions will appear on the computer screen one by one. With the help of the mouse, they have to select the correct answer option and click on Save and Submit tabs. An onscreen clock will be provided to keep track of the time. An onscreen scientific calculator will also be given for calculation. Rough work has to be done on the paper and pen given to them at the centre. To make the candidates familiar with the NEST exam interface and navigation system, authorities will release a mock test before the actual exam is scheduled.

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.

For entrance exam since marks from three section are considered hence it can be said that it not compulsory. In the NEST exam your marks will be considered from any of 3 subjects out of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics. but if you know basics it will help you to secure marks and for further study during campus classes.

In first year after joining NISER you would be taught basic biology. In fact many students who did not have biology in class 12 and did fairly well in the biology exams during first year.

 No, the reservation is available only for OBC non-creamy layer candidates only. For the creamy layer candidates of the OBC category, the admissions will be done under the General category.  

hence there is no reservation is applicable to the candidates who are from creamy layer OBC category. 

No, there is no age limit to appear for the NEST exam. Candidates planning to appear for the exam must fulfil the other eligibility criteria in terms of clearing the Class 12 Board exam in the Science stream with the category-wise minimum aggregate percentage. 

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 2026 application form will be released on January 5. The last date is April 6. The application process will be completely online. The application correction facility will be provided from April 13 to April 14.

The NEST exam has 20 questions from four sections. The total number of questions is 80. Students have to attempt at least three sections or 60 questions.

Yes, according to the NEST exam pattern, there will be negative marking. For each wrong answer, one mark will be deducted. The marks per question are three. Full marks in the exam are 240. 

There is equal weightage for each section of the NEST exam. There are four sections, each carrying 60 marks. There is negative marking of one mark for wrong answers.

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. 

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 NEST exam syllabus comprises mainly four subjects. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. The questions in the NEST exam will be asked from all these four sections hence applicants are advised to complete the syllabus from all four subjects. 

Each section will have 17 questions in the exam and collectively there will be 68 questions for which the maximum marks allocation will be 200.  Applicants are advised to prepare for all four subjects to qualify for the exam. 

The merit list is prepared by considering the maximum score from any of the top 3 subjects in the exam.

Applicants who want to appear in NEST exam must check the syllabus as well as the exam pattern before appearing in the exam. The NEST exam syllabus 2026 has been released by the exam conducting authorities along with the release of the official notification on December 15. Applicants are advised to check the NEST previous year syllabus to get an idea about the syllabus. It has remained the same as last year.

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 release date for the NEST 2026 admit card is May 15. The admit card or hall ticket must be carried to the exam centre and counselling. The document will be available only in online mode. 

The last date to submit objections against the NEST 2026 answer keys is likely to be the third week of June. The provisional answer keys and response sheets will be out within a week of the exam. The actual date for the response sheet objection submission is yet to be announced.

Candidates have to go to the exam portal to download the NEST 2026 Answer Key PDF. The answer key PDF can be downloaded by all. The response sheets can be downloaded from their registered account. With the help of the NEST Response sheet and answer keys, they can calculate their scores. They can also submit objections within the given date. Based on the objections, the final answer keys and result of NEST will be prepared.

The NEST answer keys will be available in PDF format. Candidates have to log in to the exam portal to download it. Their response sheets will also be released. Based on that, they can calculate their scores. 

No, there is no provision to submit objections against the NEST final answer keys. Based on the objections received on the provisional answer keys, the expert committee will release the final answer keys. These will be final and cannot be further challenged. The NEST result will be based on the final answer keys.

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 Scoring system is based on the following factors.

• There are four sections of 60 marks each
• Each question carries three marks
• One mark will be removed for each wrong answer 
• Candidates have to attempt at least three sections
• Best of the three scores out of four sections will be considered.

The NEST 2026 Counselling is likely to begin in the second week of July. There will be around four rounds of counselling. The number of rounds will depend on the number of remaining seats. Candidates passing the NEST exam will be eligible for the admission process.

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 NEST cutoff marks refer to the minimum marks required for a candidate to qualify and secure a rank in the merit list of NISER and CEBS. NEST exam authorities will release the cutoff marks for NEST along with the result. Applicants who will secure the NEST cutoff marks will be eligible to participate in the counselling process, which is held separately by NISER and CEBS for admission to their Integrated MSc courses.

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. 

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.

Applicants who want to take admission in NISER and are from General category need to secure the passing marks in their category. 

Since general category cut off marks are higher than other categories hence applicants who belong to this category need to put more effort to take admission. 

This year NEST cut off marks for general category for NISER are in between 80 to 90 marks. Though final marks will be decided after the conlusion of the exam. 

The examination conducting body, NISER and UM-DAE CEBS, will release NEST cutoff marks for the applicants who want to take admission in participating institutes. The cutoff marks for NEST will be released along with the declaration of the result. Applicants securing the cutoff marks of NEST will be eligible to participate in the counselling held by the authorities. Applicants need to secure the passing marks in both the overall and individual categories.  

The National Entrance Screening Test is generally tougher than NEET, but some sections in NEET, like Biology, are more challenging due to the vast syllabus coverage and competition. Based on last year's analysis for NEET, the difficulty level was very high. Compared to the NEET, last year NEST was easier.

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 mode of the NEST exam is computer-based. On the day of the exam, invigilators will sign in the candidates to the assigned computers. They will have to read the instructions before starting the test. The questions will appear on screen. Select the correct option and click on Save. They can also mark questions for review. Here, they can return to the question to recheck it. The test will be deactivated on the screen once the exam timing is over. The total duration of the exam is three hours. There is no sectional timing. No break will be allowed in between. Students can leave the centre only after the exam is over.