NEST 2020 – Exam Date (Postponed), Admit Card, Pattern, Syllabus

NEST 2020 – National Entrance Screening Test 2020 has been postponed due to the pandemic scenario. The admit card issue date will be notified shortly. NEST 2020 is an online entrance exam conducted jointly by NISER and UM DAE CEBS. The test is conducted for the students who want to take admission into M.Sc. programs namely Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics. Scroll down to know more about NEST 2020 such as application process, syllabus, exam pattern, etc.

NEST 2020

Check the important dates about National Screening Entrance Test 2020 given in the table below.

NEST 2020 Exam Date Postponed

The test date has been postponed for National Entrance Screening Test 2020. Check the official website screenshot below.

NEST 2020 Syllabus

The candidates can check below the syllabus of NEST 2020 as prescribed by the conducting bodies for preparation:

General Section: There is no defined syllabus for this section. The questions shall be based on major historical milestones in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, computer science and environment. This section is made to test a candidate’s aptitude for a career in science.

Some type of questions that is asked in this section are:

– Mathematics up to 10th standard and application capabilities of the same to simple problems.
– General ability to comprehend qualitative and quantitative aspects of a given scientific passages.
– Interpretation graphical and/or tabular representation of information.

Biology:

• Cell Biology:
• Genetics and Evolution
• Ecology
• Humans and Environment
• Biology of Animal systems: Digestive System, Circulatory System, Excretory System, Nervous System, Reproductive System
• Developmental Biology
• Immunology
• Biology of Plant systems
• Systematics

Chemistry:

• Measurements in chemistry
• Mole concept
• Gaseous and liquid states
• Atomic structure and chemical bonding
• Thermodynamics – Thermodynamic states
• Chemical equilibrium
• Electrochemistry
• Chemical kinetics
• Solid state
• Solutions
• Adsorption
• Colloidal state
• Classification of elements and periodicity in properties
• Hydrogen
• s– Block elements
• p– Block elements
• d–Block elements
• f–Block elements
• Coordination compounds
• Metals and metallurgy
• Basic concepts of organic chemistry
• Reactive intermediates
• Isomerism
• Nomenclature
• Alkanes
• Alkenes and Alkynes
• Aromatic compounds
• Haloalkanes (Alkyl halides)
• Haloarenes
• Alcohols
• Phenols
• Ethers
• Aldehydes and Ketones
• Carboxylic acids
• Amines
• Carbohydrate
• Amino acids and proteins
• Polymers

Mathematics:

• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Analytical geometry
• Differential calculus:
• Integral calculus:
• Vectors

Physics:

• General Physics
• Mechanics
• Systems of particles
• Law of gravitation
• Conservation of angular momentum
• Hooke’s law and stress
• Pressure in a fluid. Pascal’s law
• Sound and mechanical waves
• Thermal physics
• Electricity and magnetism
• Capacitance
• Electric current
• Biot–Savart’s law and Ampere’s law
• Magnetic moment of a current loop
• Electromagnetic induction
• Optics
• Modern physics
• Photoelectric effect

Click here to download the detailed syllabus for NEST 2020 Exam.

NEST 2020 Exam Centre

There are the list of 90 Centres (cities and towns of India) for NEST 2020 Exam. Candidates can choose the 5 (five) centres in order of their preference at the time of filling the application form. The address of the test venue allotted to the applicant , will be mentioned on the NEST Admit Card. The list of the examination center is as given here.

NEST 2020 Exam Pattern

Students can check the exam pattern of NEST 2020. The question paper and the distribution of marks in the paper are as per the pints given here.

Mode of exam: Online that is in CBT mode
Type of questions: MCQs with one or more correct answers
Total marks: 230
Total number of questions: 70
Number of sections: 5
Time duration: 3 hours 30 Minutes

Marking scheme of General section (section 1): No negative marking.

Marking scheme of section 2 to 5 (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Maths): Some questions may have one or more correct answers. There is negative marking in this section for wrong answers.

Distribution of questions:

NEST 2020 Previous Year’s Question Papers

To undersatnd the exam pattern more accurately you can check the question paper of last years since 2010. Note that until 2017, NEST was held in the offline mode, it has been taken online from 2018.

How to prepare for NEST 2020

To prepare for the national level exam here are a few tips that might help you:

Know the level of cometition: In NEST, the number of competition has been incresing gradually since 2017. The number of candidates appearing for the exam has gone up immensely. Thus, NEST, which was being conducted in 1 shift util 2017, is now conducted in 2 shifts. Until 2017, the exam was held across 60 exam cities, which is now 100 and more. Thus the level of competition is high in NEST.

For the general section: Go through the class 10 NCERT books and practice questions on data interpretation, graph and pie chart interpretation questions,,e tc. Since there is no negative marking in this section, try to attempt all the questions.

For the remaining 4 sections: Know this fact first:

Out of the 4 sections to make the selection list the score of best 3 sections is taken into consideration. That means you need to perform your best in at least 3 sections. The least scored section is omitted.

– Maths background students can try to score their best in P, C and M
– Biology background students must try to do their best in P, C and B

• Now, in these sections there are negative markings, so do not take guesses.
• Also in Physics and Chemistry section in NEST, a lot of calculative questions are asked. Thus make sure you practice more to achieve good speed and accuracy in calculations.

How to attempt the exam?

You can follow this pattern of attempting the exam to make sure that you complete the exam on time:

• First, attempt the general section.
• Secondly, attempt the section that you are most confident in.
• Most of the toppers say they attempt in this series: General>>Biology or Maths>>Chemistry>>Physics

Books to prepare for NEST 2020

Here are some books that can help with NEST 2020 preparations:

Cutoff marks to qualify NEST 2020

The overall cutoff percentile or minimum admissible percentile (MAP) needed to get a place in the merit list for admission is:

However, to qualify the exam and get a place in the merit list for admission the students have to also secure minimum marks in each section. This is called ‘Section-wise’ Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS).

The SMAS is calculated by taking 20% of the average of the best 100 scores in that section. For example:

If the average of the best 100 scores in Chemistry section is 40 out of 50, then SMAS for chemistry section would be 40*0.20 = 8 marks. Similarly, for other sections.

Note that:

• SMAS in general section is mandatory for entering merit list of NISER and CEBS.
• For NISER: Candidates have to surpass the SMAS in all 4 subject sections, in addition to the general section.
• For CEBS: Candidates have to surpass the SMAS in any 3 subject sections, in addition to the general section.

NEST 2020 Admit Card

The registered candidates are issued the admit card of NEST 2020. The admit card is issued under the login of the students and to access it the students have to use their user id and password. Only the students who carry the admit card on the exam day can enter the exam hall and appear for the exam. The allotted exam center name and address are also communicated via the admit card. The students have to be present on the exam day as per the instructions in the NEST admit card.

With the admit card the candidates have to carry:

– School photo Identity
– Card or any other photo ID issued by Government agencies

NEST 2020 Question Paper and Answer Key

The answer key of NEST 2020 is released online on the website of NEST. To check the answer key the students need not use any login details. The answer key is made avgailable in the PDF format. On the answer key, the students can check the questions and the correct answer to the question. The candidates are not given any challenge facility.

Therefore in NEST the candidates can check the answers to their questions with the help of the answer key however, they do not get to raise any objection. Also, the answer key is released after the declaration of NEST result.

NEST 2020 Result

NEST 2020 result is declared online under the login of the candidates. To check the result the students have to use their uder id and password. Apart from the result the candidates can also check the merit list for admission. The merit list has the name of the candidates who score minimum percentile in NEST and also qualify the sectional cutoff.

To prepare the NEST result the raw marks of the students are first converted to percentile score. The percentile score is calculated on the basis of the relative performance of all the candidates in the respective session. The highest score in each session is the 100th percentile.

NEST 2020 Merit List

The NEST 2020 merit list is prepared separately for NISER and CEBS. The same is explained below:

Merit list preparation of NISER:

• A candidate is required to score equal to or above a total Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP), to get a merit rank.
• A candidate must score equal to or more than the respective SMAS in the general section as well as in all four subject sections.
• Score for the general section along with three best scores from the remaining subject sections is considered for the merit rank.

Merit list preparation of CEBS:

• A candidate is required to score equal to or above a total Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP), to get a merit rank.
• A candidate must score equal to or more than respective SMAS in the general section as well as in any of the three subject sections.
• Score for the general section along with three best scores from the remaining subject sections is considered for the merit rank.

Tie-breaking for merit list

In case 2 or more candidates get the same score, then the tie is resolved using the steps below:

• Candidates with higher score in the general section get a better rank.
• If the tie is still there, the best scores in the subject section of the two students would be compared. The student with the better score in any of the subject section would get a better rank.
• If the tie still persists, the students would be given same provisional rank at the time of declaration of the result and the tie would be broken by comparing class 12th marks and date of birth in that order, during admission/counselling.

NEST 2020 Counselling

The counselling based on NEST 2020 result is done separately bu NISER and CEBS. The students have to appear for th counselling and admisison process that the intitutes conduct separately based on their norms and strictly based on NEST merit.

The candidates who appear for the counselling rounds have to carry necessary certificates supporting eligibility criteria have to be furnished only at the time of admission. Offer of admission is subject to verification of all original certificates at the time of admission/counselling.

The admission process in the institutes are as follows:

#1. Visit the official website of respective institutes and check the admission events.

#2. Under the tab, the candidates can check the call list for counselling based on NEST 2020 rank list.

#3. Register on the institute’s website for admission using the online form available.

#4. Report at the counselling venue with all the documents.

NEST 2020 Application Form

To apply for NEST 2020 the students have to access the application form in the online mode only, as there are no offline application forms available. The steps to fill the online application form if NEST is given below:

Step 1: Register online using the direct link available on this page. You need to enter details like name, date of birth, phone number, email id, roll number of class 10 and gender.

Step 2: The user id and password is sent to the registered email id. The students have to login using the details.

Step 3: Login and fill the personal details, educational details and exam city preferences.

Step 4: Upload scanned images of photo and signature.

Step 5: Pay the application fee.

Application fee: Check the application fee of NEST 2020 from below

Documents needed to fill NEST 2020 application form:

• Scanned images of photo and signature
• Class 10 marksheet

Specification of the images to be uploaded:

NEST 2020 Eligibility Criteria

The candidates can check below the NEST eligibility 2020, there are 2 criteria and all of them must be fulfilled:

#1. Age:

Candidates in general and OBC: born on or after August 01, 2000
Candidates of SC/ ST/ Physically Disabled category: born on or after August 01, 1995

#2. Qualifying marks in 10+2:

• Atleast 60% marks in 10+2 for the candidates of general category.
• Atleast 55% marks in case of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates and for Persons with Disability (PD).

#3. Year of qualifying 10+2:

Candidates have must pass 10+2 in 2018, 2019 or 2020. The candidates currently in 10+2 can also apply.

NEST 2020 Notification

The official notification carrying all important dates of NEST 2020 is out.

Download here: Click here to download the official notification of NEST 2020.

NEST 2020 Seat Matrix

Number of seats available at NISER and CEBS for admission in the year 2020 would be as follows.

About National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)

NISER is established by the Department of Atomic Energy. NISER offers a 5 year integrated M.Sc. programme in Biological, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical sciences. NISER functions from its own campus at Jatni. Degrees at NISER is awarded by the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), a deemed-to-be University within the Department of Atomic Energy.

About the Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (CEBS)

The Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, has an autonomous Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences in Mumbai. CEBS offers high quality teaching via post-graduate and research environment with some of the best teachers and scientists from major institutions in the city (TIFR, BARC, IIT) and the University of Mumbai and its colleges.

To know more about NEST 2020 Exam, Download Information Brochure.

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