NATIONAL TALENT SEARCH EXAMINATION (NTSE)

National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is a national-level scholarship program in India to identify and recognize students with extremely high intellect and academic talent. Close to 1,50,000 students appear in this scholarship exam every year. The scheme is open to students of Indian nationality. Only students studying in Class X are eligible to appear for the selection process. As it is organized by an official body (NCERT), it is widely regarded by the Government of India as the toughest and most prestigious examination at high school level in the country. It helps students to proliferate their mental level and also helps them to sharpen their minds.
The scheme, originally in Class VIII till 2011, has been shifted from Class X, which means NTSE examinations from November 2012 will be held for class X students. The amount of scholarship is Rs 500/- per month for all the students studying in Class IX onwards (irrespective of the class/course) except for Ph.D., wherein it is paid as per UGC norms. Amount is again being revised to Rs 4000/- from year 2013.

NTSE Scheme at present

Selection procedure

Identification of talent comprises a two-stage selection process.

• Fist Level NTSE conducted by the State / UT (usually in November) - FOR CLASS X STUDENTS ONLY
• Second Level NTSE conducted at the National Level (usually in May) - FOR CLASS XI STUDENTS ONLY

ROUND 1 : State level examination

The first level exam is the state level examination, which has two parts for nominating the required number of candidates for the second level test to be conducted by the DSERT.

• Part-I:Mental Ability Test (MAT), and
• Part-II: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)(with questions on History, Civics, Geography, Economics, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.)

Students of any Board studying at any recognized school can participate. Those who get qualified an enter the Second Level National Exam. The results of the same will be out on March of the next year.

ROUND 2: National level examination

Candidates acquiring more than the required percentage in the state level examination and standing within a specified number of top ranks (state quota) are eligible to appear for the national level examination (about top 4000 students from the entire country). The national level examination has two parts for nominating the required number of candidates for the interviews to be conducted by the NCERT in May:

• Part-I: Mental Ability Test (MAT)
• Part-II: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)(as given above)

ROUND 3: Declaration of Results

The results of the the National Level Examination shall be out by July–August the same year. Students are divided into 4 quotas: General, SC, ST, Disabled. Around 750 students will be selected from General quota, 150 from SC, 80 from ST and around 20 from Disabled quota. The results will be displayed on the website www.ncert.nic.in

Syllabus

I level exam for Std X

SAT: The syllabus for Mathematics, Science and Social Science will be broadly based on the prescribed respective State Board Syllabus from Std 10 (or in exceptions, Std 9) textbooks only. (provide reference)

II level exam for Std X

SAT: The mathematics and science questions will be asked from the chapters in the syllabus of class 9th, 10th and 11th. Social Studies is completely based on the NCERT book for CBSE students for Class 10.

Rewards

The students who qualify all the stages of NTSE successfully are eligible for scholarship. The amount of scholarship has been enhanced to Rs.500/- per month for all the students studying in Class VIII onwards except for Ph.D., wherein it is paid according to UGC norms. The older system of book grant has been removed. The criterion of parental income for deciding payment of scholarship has also been discontinued. Initially, there used to be a third level in the examination in which interview was held. But in 2010 certain changes were made in the exam structure and from 2011 no interviews were held in NTSE.