

The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a National level entrance examination that is conducted once every year. Based on the marks obtained in the entrance test, students can get admission in the 5-year Integrated M.Sc programs offered by the participating Institutes.
Candidates can read this article that covers different aspects of the NEST 2027 in detail including key events, eligibility requirements, registration / application, test pattern, syllabus, admit card, past year paper, exam centres, result, counselling, participating Institutions, and more.
The NISER Bhubaneswar & UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai are the conducting bodies of the NEST exam 2027. Students who secure a valid score in the entrance exam can get admission in the 5-year Integrated M.Sc programs available in specialisations like Biological, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Aspirants can go through the below-given table to understand the major highlights of the entrance test:
|
Particular |
NEST 2027 Exam Details |
|
Exam Name |
NEST – National Entrance Screening Test |
|
Conducting Bodies |
National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai |
|
Exam Level |
National Level Exam |
|
Category |
5-years Integrated M.Sc Program in the following specialisations:
|
|
Exam Mode |
Online - Computer Based Test (CBT) |
|
Exam Frequency |
Once a year |
|
Allowed Attempts |
Once every session * This shall be applicable only till the candidates meet the specified eligibility conditions. |
|
NEST 2027 Exam Date |
June 2027 |
|
Exam Medium / Language |
English & Hindi |
|
Exam Duration |
180 Minutes (3 Hours) * PwD candidates will be granted a compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour i.e., 60 minutes in total. |
|
Exam Session |
Single Session |
|
NEST Exam Fees |
|
|
Total Questions in Exam |
80 Questions |
|
Total Marks of the Exam |
240 (3 Marks for Each Question) |
|
Official Website |
‘nestexam.in’ |
The schedule of various events of the entrance test has been released by the conducting authorities. Candidates should be mindful about the important dates & ensure all the necessary formalities are completed before the deadline.
The dates of the important events of the NEST exam 2027 are mentioned in the table given below:
|
NEST Exam 2027 Important Events |
Exam Schedule Details |
|
Start Date of Registration |
January 2027 |
|
Last Date of Registration |
April 2027 |
|
Deadline for Exam Fee Payment |
|
|
NEST Exam 2027 Form Correction & Update Window |
|
|
Admit Card Release Date |
May 2027 |
|
NEST Exam Date 2027 |
June 2027 |
|
Date for Preliminary Answer Key Release & Raising Objections |
To be Announced |
|
Exam Results / Scorecard Download |
A few days after exam |
|
Merit List Announcement |
June 2027 |
Applicants are suggested to make certain that they meet the specified eligibility criteria before they proceed to complete the registration for NEST exam 2027 to avoid cancellation of their candidature.
The general NEST Exam Eligibility Criteria 2027 including academic qualification, nationality, and age limit is tabulated below:
|
Particular |
Eligibility Criteria |
|
Educational Qualifications |
* Applicants should have completed the qualifying exam in 2025 / 2026 or should be appearing for the same in 2027. |
|
Age Limit |
|
|
Nationality |
|
The NEST Exam Registration 2027 has to be done by the students through online mode only on the official website i.e., ‘nestexam.in’. The registration portal will be open from January 2027 till April 2027. After finishing the registration, students have to fill the application form & pay the requisite exam fee.
The application fee for the NEST exam 2027 is Rs. 700/- for the female students / SC / ST / Divyangjan (PwD) / Unreserved-EWS (UR-EWS) categories. However, the male applicants and other students belonging to the Unreserved (UR) & OBC categories are supposed to pay Rs. 1400/-.
After the registration is closed, the conducting bodies will open a correction window for 2-3 days so that students can make changes in certain permitted fields of the application form.
The NEST Exam Syllabus 2027 designed by the conducting bodies comprises section-wise curriculum that is to be prepared by the aspiring students. The syllabus is based on the 11th & 12th Class’ NCERT curriculum. The sections of the syllabus further contain unit-wise topics & its respective sub-topics.
The sections given in the curriculum for the NEST exam 2027 are listed below:
Based on the NEST Exam Pattern 2027, the entrance examination will be conducted through online Computer Based Test (CBT) mode. The duration of the exam will be 180 minutes. However, PwD students will be granted 20 minutes of compensatory time for every hour. There will be 4 sections in the question paper including Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology comprising 20 MCQs in each.
The questions of the NEST exam 2027 will be asked in English & Hindi languages. Furthermore, 3 marks will be allotted to the applicants for every right answer & -1 mark will be deducted for each of the wrong answers. However, no marks will be reduced for leaving the question un-attempted.
* Students should be informed that they can attempt all the sections. However, it is mandatory to answer at least 3 sections in order to be considered for the scoring process.
Candidates will be able to access the NEST Exam Admit Card 2027 around 2-3 weeks before the exam date. The admit card of the NEST exam 2027 will contain crucial details about the appearing students & the test such as candidate’s name, roll number, test centre address, and others.
Applicants can download their hall ticket by logging in to the online application portal. The download portal of the hall ticket will be accessible only till the exam date.
The entrance test is going to be conducted in 140 major towns & cities across India. The students have to select 3 NEST Exam Centres 2027 in the order of preference while completing the application form.
The test centres of the NEST exam 2027 are given below:
|
State / Union Territory |
Test Center Locations |
|
Andaman & Nicobar (AN) |
Port Blair |
|
Andhra Pradesh (AP) |
Guntur, Kurnool, Rajahmundry, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram |
|
Arunachal Pradesh (AR) |
Naharlagun |
|
Assam (AS) |
Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Tezpur |
|
Bihar (BR) |
Bhagalpur, Patna |
|
Chhattisgarh (CG) |
Bhilai Nagar, Raipur |
|
Delhi (DL) |
New Delhi |
|
Goa (GA) |
Panaji |
|
Gujarat (GJ) |
Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Rajkot, Surat |
|
Haryana (HR) |
Hisar, Kurukshetra, Hamirpur |
|
Himachal Pradesh (HP) |
Shimla |
|
Jammu & Kashmir (JK) |
Jammu, Srinagar |
|
Jharkhand (JH) |
Bokaro Steel City, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi |
|
Karnataka (KA) |
Bengaluru, Hubballi (Hubli), Mangaluru, Mysuru (Mysore) |
|
Kerala (KL) |
Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad |
|
Ladakh (LA) |
Leh |
|
Madhya Pradesh (MP) |
Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur |
|
Maharashtra (MH) |
Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded, Pune, Ratnagiri, Solapur |
|
Manipur (MN) |
Imphal |
|
Meghalaya (ML) |
Shillong |
|
Mizoram (MZ) |
Aizawl |
|
Nagaland (NL) |
Dimapur, Kohima |
|
Odisha (OD) |
Angul, Balangir, Balasore, Bargarh, Baripada, Berhampur, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Boudh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Puri, Rayagada, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Umerkote |
|
Puducherry (PY) |
Puducherry |
|
Punjab (PB) |
Bhatinda, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Mohali |
|
Rajasthan (RJ) |
Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur |
|
Sikkim (SK) |
Gangtok |
|
Tamil Nadu (TN) |
Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli |
|
Telangana (TS) |
Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Warangal |
|
Tripura (TR) |
Agartala |
|
Uttar Pradesh (UP) |
Agra, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Noida, Prayagraj, Varanasi |
|
Uttarakhand (UK) |
Dehradun, Haldwani, Roorkee |
|
West Bengal (WB) |
Asansol, Berhampur, Burdwan, Durgapur, Hooghly, Kalyani, Kolkata, Siliguri |
* The aforementioned test centres are subject to change.
* The test city centre will be allocated to the candidates based on the number of applications received for a particular centre. The NEST 2027 Committee thus, has a right to add / cancel any of the exam centres without giving any prior notice to the applicants.
Note: Students are advised to opt the exam centres mindfully as the NEST Committee will not entertain any requests for change in the centre once it has been allotted.
Candidates who are planning to appear for the entrance exam should consider solving the NEST Exam Previous Year Question Papers. Solving the past year papers can considerably assist the students in understanding the pattern & difficulty level of the questions asked. Moreover, relying on the previously asked questions can aid the aspirants in increasing their speed of answering the questions accurately.
Furthermore, students are advised to take the NEST Exam Mock Test 2027 to strengthen their preparation level. The conducting bodies will make the mock test link available for the candidates on the official website a few days before the exam date. Applicants can attempt the practice test to get acquainted with the environment they are going to experience on the actual date of the NEST exam 2027.
The exam conducting authorities will release the provisional answer key in the following days after the exam date. Students who appeared for the test will have the provision of challenging the NEST Exam Answer Key 2027 within the stipulated period (if required). Post this, the final answer key shall be made available to the applicants.
Moreover, the NEST Exam Result 2027 will be declared on the official website i.e., ‘nestexam.in’ in a few days after the entrance test is conducted. Students who qualified the exam will be able to download their result in the form of a scorecard.
Furthermore, the cut-off / merit list of the NEST exam 2027 will be made available on the official website after the announcement of the result. During the merit list preparation, the best 3 subject scores of the students will be taken into consideration.
* It is to be noted that the NEST Committee maintains the right to relax any of the defined cut-off under unavoidable situations.
Candidates who are placed in the merit list of the NEST exam 2027 will further be eligible for obtaining admission at the participating Institutes. The NISER Bhubaneswar & UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai will conduct the NEST Exam Counselling Process 2027 separately.
Moreover, the NEST Exam Seat Allotment 2027 will be done as per the admission norms & processes of the respective participating Institutes.
Students who desire to get admission in the 5-year Integrated M.Sc course are required to qualify NEST exam 2027 & secure a place in its merit list. The scores of the entrance test will be accepted in the following NEST Exam Participating Colleges 2027:
Candidates who secure a position in the NEST merit list will be eligible for obtaining admission in the 5-year Integrated M.Sc programs available in specialisations like Biological, Chemical, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences.
The full form of the National level NEST exam 2027 is National Entrance Screening Test.
Students can take the entrance test only once a year given, they fulfil the prescribed eligibility conditions.
The marks of the NEST 2027 will be accepted at the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai.
No, the counselling process for admission in the NISER Bhubaneswar & UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai will be done by the respective Institutes separately on the basis of merit in the NEST exam 2027.
The merit list will be prepared on the basis of 3 best subject scores of the applicants in the NEST entrance examination.
Yes, the appearing candidates have to carry a printout of the hall ticket and a School photo identity card / valid Government issued ID card in a transparent folder / pouch / sleeve.
Yes, the appearing students will be allowed to leave the exam centre 2 hours after the commencement of the entrance test in case of medical emergency / situation.
