NEST 2026: Exam Date, Registration, Eligibility, Syllabus, and More

The NEST exam 2026 is scheduled to be held on 6^th June 2026 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The exam conducting bodies will activate the NEST 2026 registration link on 5^th January 2026 from 10:00 AM onwards. Students will be able to apply for the entrance test on ‘nestexam.in’ till 6^th April 2026 (up to 11:30 PM) & pay the exam fee till 12^th April 2026 (up to 11:30 PM).

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 2026 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 2026. 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:

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 2026 are mentioned in the table given below:

Applicants are suggested to make certain that they meet the specified eligibility criteria before they proceed to complete the registration for NEST exam 2026 to avoid cancellation of their candidature.

The general NEST Exam Eligibility Criteria 2026 including academic qualification, nationality, and age limit is tabulated below:

The NEST Exam Registration 2026 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 2026 till April 2026. After finishing the registration, students have to fill the application form & pay the requisite exam fee.

The application fee for the NEST exam 2026 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 2026 designed by the conducting bodies comprises section-wise curriculum that is to be prepared by the aspiring students. The syllabus is based on the 11^th & 12^th 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 2026 are listed below:

• Mathematics
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology

Based on the NEST Exam Pattern 2026, 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 2026 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 2026 around 2-3 weeks before the exam date. The admit card of the NEST exam 2026 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 2026 in the order of preference while completing the application form.

The test centres of the NEST exam 2026 are given below:

* 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 2026 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 2026 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 2026.

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 2026 within the stipulated period (if required). Post this, the final answer key shall be made available to the applicants.

Moreover, the NEST Exam Result 2026 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 2026 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 2026 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 2026 separately.

Moreover, the NEST Exam Seat Allotment 2026 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 2026 & secure a place in its merit list. The scores of the entrance test will be accepted in the following NEST Exam Participating Colleges 2026:

• National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar
• University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS), Mumbai