Overview

The National Entrance Screening Test (popularly known as NEST) is an annual college entrance examination in India, conducted for admission into the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar (NISER) and the Center for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. These two institutes use NEST as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. Also, the Integrated Science Education & Research Centre (ISERC) of Visva-Bharati University has been using the merit list of NEST for admission into its undergraduate program. NEST was conducted in 91 cities across India in July 2025

NEST 2025 Counselling has been started by CEBS & NISER. Merit List has been released. Cut Off has been released. Answer Key has been released on 5th July 2025. NEST (National Entrance Screening Test) is conducted by National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai – Department of Atomic Energy Center for excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai. Exam is conducted to provide admission in 5-year Integrated M.Sc. program in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics. It is a national level entrance exam conducted every year. In this article, we have mentioned details about NEST 2025 such as exam dates, pattern, answer key, result, counselling etc.

Registration Eligibility

NEST 2025 Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for the NEST exam is as follows:

Candidates should be a Class XII pass in science stream from a recognised board in India with a minimum of 60% aggregate marks. (55% for SC/PwD category candidates)
Candidates should have passed Class XII either in 2022 or 2023. Candidates who have appeared for their Class XII exams in 2025 are also eligible to apply.
Candidates should have qualified class 12th or equivalent from any other recognized board. Age limit: There will be no age limit for appearing in NEST 2025 exam. Subject: Students should have passed Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics in the qualifying exam.
Candidates should have studied a combination of three subjects - Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics in classes XI and XII.

Age Criteria

There is no age limit for appearing in the NEST 2025 examination and admission to either NISER or UM-DAE CEBS. in order to fulfil the NEST eligibility criteria. Age limit relaxation of five years is given to candidates belonging to SC/ ST /Divyangjan category.

Exam Pattern & Syllabus

The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) 2025 exam pattern provides details about the question paper of the upcoming examination. The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar will conduct NEST 2025 on June 6 jointly with Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS). The entrance exam will be held in a Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode. Moreover, there will be two sessions of NEST 2025 on the exam day i.e. morning shift and evening shift. Candidates can check all about the exam pattern of NEST 2025 including, key features, exam schedule, subject details and marking scheme as mentioned on this page below.

NEST 2025 Exam Pattern Highlights

The main features of the question paper of NEST 2025, a CBT mode exam will be as under

Features

Details

NEST 2025 Exam Schedule

The exam timings for both the sessions of NEST 2025 will be as under:

Morning shift - From 9 am to 12:30 pm
Evening shift - From 2 pm to 5:30 pm

NEST 2025 Sectional Weightage

The section-wise allotment of questions and marks will be as under:

Section Subject Marks

NEST 2025 Marking Scheme

The evaluation of NEST exam will be done as under:

Sections

Marking Scheme

Section I - General | The section will carry 10 questions of 30 marks i.e. each question will have 3 marks weightage.There will no negative marking in case of wrong attempts in this section.
Section II to V | The sections will carry 15 questions of 50 marks each. There is no information about marks weightage for each question. There will be some negative marking in case of incorrect attempts

NEST Exam syllabus 2025

NEST syllabus 2025 has been released. NEST 2025 syllabus if released online on the official website of the science entrance exam. Questions in NEST exam are asked from topics present in the syllabus of Class XI and XII books. Regarding the same, the official website informs that questions in NEST exam are mainly science syllabus of class XI and XII that is present in NCERT/ CBSE books .

NEST exam will contain questions from the General section- Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. It may also be noted that there is no prescribed syllabus for General section of the exam. The official website informs, "This section tests candidate's familiarity with, but not detailed understanding of, major historical milestones in subjects like Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science and Environmental Science."

NEST Syllabus 2025 for Biology

Candidates can go through important topics that they should consider studying in order to score well in IIT JAM Biology paper as mentioned in the table below:

Cell Biology | Genetics and Evolution
Ecology | Humans and Environment
Biotechnology | Biology of Animal Systems
Biology of Plant Systems | Systematics

NEST Syllabus 2025 for Chemistry

Candidates can go through important topics that they should consider studying in order to score well in IIT JAM Chemistry paper as mentioned in the table below:

Important Topics for Physical Chemistry

Measurements in chemistry | Mole concept
Gaseous and liquid states | Atomic structure and chemical bonding
Thermodynamics | Chemical equilibrium
Solid state | Solutions

Important Topics for Surface Chemistry

Adsorption | Colloidal state

Important Topics for Inorganic Chemistry

Classification of elements and periodicity in properties | s-Block elements
p-Block elements | Coordination compound
Metals and metallurgy

Important Topics for Organic Chemistry

NEST Syllabus 2025 for Physics

Candidates can go through important topics that they should consider studying in order to score well in IIT JAM Physics paper as mentioned in the table below:

Units and dimensions | Design of some simple experiments
Systems of particles | Law of gravitation
Hooke’s law and stress | Conservation of angular momentum
Pressure in a fluid | 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

NEST Syllabus 2025 for Mathematics

Candidates can go through important topics that they should consider studying in order to score well in IIT JAM Mathematics paper as mentioned in the table below:

Algebra | Trigonometry
Analytical geometry | Differential calculus
Integral calculus | Vectors

How To Prepare

Preparation Tips

Check the below mentioned preparation tips & tricks for how to prepare for NEST exam. With the help of these tips, students will make themselves ready for the entrance test without much stress:

NEST 2025 Preparation Tips help the candidates to crack the entrance exam. NEST is a national level screening test. This exam is conducted for admission into 5 year integrated programme of M.Sc.

Curious about how to prepare for NEST 2025 !!..Check below preparation tips and tricks.

Review the Syllabus:

Before starting the preparation of NEST 2025 entrance exam, candidates must go through the complete syllabus. Candidates must note down that they study, according to the prescribed syllabus.

This test enables candidates to take admission in the Institutes of UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai and NISER, Bhubaneswar. Interested candidates must qualify NEST exam to be eligible for admission.

Understand the Concepts

Students must go through the concepts and then start preparing for various topics. Understanding the concept must be primary thing to be followed by the students. Without clearing the concepts, candidates will not be able to clear his confusion and make various mistakes.

Make Smart Strategy:

Working hard without a proper strategy is nothing. Candidates must prepare an effective and smart strategy for the examination. By preparing a good strategy applicants will increase their chances of qualifying the examination.

Prepare Notes:

Preparing notes for the exam is an important part of preparation. Candidates must note down all the important points at one place. This will help the applicants to go through these notes during the time of revision before appearing for the exam.

Have Good Study Material:

Candidates must study for their appearing test from good sources of material. Candidates should prepare themselves from the study material which will be recommended by the professional teachers and qualifying candidates.

Practice Mock Tests:

Attempting mock tests helps to know how to cope up with various types of questions in a limited duration of time. Candidates must attempt various online or offline mock tests to make their preparation better.

Admit Card

NEST 2025 Admit Card will be released in third week of June 2025. NEST is a national level entrance test conducted to provide admission in 5 years of integrated M.Sc. programmes at NISER (National Institute of Science Education & Research), Bhubaneswar & UM-DAE CEBS jointly.

NEST (National Entrance Screening Test) is conducted once in a year in 120 cities of India. Through this exam, candidates will also get admission in UM-DAE CEBS (University of Mumbai-Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences), Mumbai.

NEST 2025 Admit Card Releasing Date

● Admit card of NEST 2025 will be downloaded by applicants from the website only. Intimation regarding availability of admit card for download will be released through online mode.

● Candidates will have to bring the admit card and photo ID proof at the examination hall. The admit card will not be sent by post to the candidates individually.

● Candidates are advised to keep the admit card till admission procedure will be over. Candidates are instructed to check all details printed on the admit card carefully.

● Do not forget to carry it in the examination hall as without it no candidate will be allowed to enter into the examination hall.

● The answer key will be published after 1-2 days of the examination. Candidates will also be able to file their objections against answer key by the authority.

● Objections will be submitted till first week of July 2025. After accepting all the objections, the final result will be announced in second week of July 2025.

● Selected candidates will be called for the offline counselling on different dates as per candidate’s scores.

NEST Exam