NEST Answer Key 2027: Release Date, Challenge, Score Calculation

The NEST 2027 provisional answer key is expected in June 2027, a few days after the exam, on the candidate login at nestexam.in. You can challenge answers for a short window. NISER and UM-DAE CEBS then publish the final key, and the result is based on it.

NEST Answer Key 2027

This page covers how to get the NEST 2027 answer key, how the challenge works and how to work out your score.

How to Download the NEST 2027 Answer Key

You check the NEST 2027 answer key by logging in on nestexam.in after it is released. In 2026 the exam was on 6 June and the challenge window ran from 10 to 12 June, so the 2027 key is expected in June 2027.

1. Open nestexam.in and click LOGIN.
2. Sign in with your login ID and password.
3. Open the questions, responses and answer key section.
4. Compare the key with your recorded answers, section by section.
5. Save a copy for your score working and any challenge.

How can you challenge the NEST answer key?

You challenge a NEST answer by logging in during the challenge window and submitting your objection online. In 2026 the window ran from 6 PM on 10 June to 11:30 PM on 12 June.

• Log in on nestexam.in while the challenge window is open.
• Pick the question you dispute and submit your objection online before the deadline.
• Accepted objections are applied in the final key. If a question is dropped, the section marks of all candidates are scaled.

In 2026, one question each from Chemistry and Physics was dropped and those scores were scaled up. NEST also publishes the questions with final answer keys as a PDF on nestexam.in.

How do you calculate your NEST score?

Your score in each section is 3 marks for each correct answer minus 1 mark for each wrong answer. Each section is out of 60.

• Section score = (3 x correct) – (1 x wrong); unanswered questions score 0.
• A section counts only if it reaches the section cut-off (SMAS).
• Your total is the sum of your best three qualifying sections, out of 180.
• Ranks come from category-wise percentiles of this total, shown on the NEST result page.

NEST Answer Key 2027 FAQs