The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is all set to conduct the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) 2021 on October 24, 2021. Candidates are instructed to download their NTSE 2020-2021 Admit cards from the official website ncert.nic.in. As per the official notice issued by authorities, candidates will be able to download their admit cards post October 08, 2021. However, the download link has already been made available on the official portal. Candidates are instructed to take a printout of the admit cards as soon as possible before the exam. While they do so, here’s a quick overview of the exam pattern and syllabus for the talent search examination.
NTSE 2020-2021 Stage-II examination will be held on October 24, 2021, for all those students who have been recommended by their respective states or UTs. According to the information brochure, the second stage is a national-level examination which will comprise of two papers – Paper I and Paper-II. Paper I is a Mental Ability Test (MAT) while Paper II is a Skill Aptitude Test (SAT). The first stage is going to be conducted from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm for all candidates. Visually challenged candidates will get an additional 30 minutes to attempt the entire paper.
The first paper will comprise 100 questions for a maximum of 100 marks. SC, ST and PwD candidates must score at least 32% marks while the remaining individuals will have to score at least 40% marks to clear the exam. Candidates need to qualify both papers separately to secure a place in the merit list.
The duration of paper-II also is two hours i.e., from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm for all candidates. Here again, visually challenged candidates will receive 30 minutes extra to complete the exam. This paper also has 100 questions for a maximum of 100 marks. The paper will be divided into three sections – Science (40 marks), Mathematics (20 marks) and Social Science (40 marks). Here again, the minimum cut-off for different categories remains the same as Paper I.
As mentioned in the information brochure, there is no prescribed syllabus for NTSE Stage II 2020 examination. However, the portion will be conformed to the NCERT syllabus covered in Class 9 and 10. At this point, candidates would have already referred to the “Learn About the Test” booklet to understand the kind of questions to expect in the exam. With only a few days remaining for the exam, candidates are advised to go through the textbooks of Class 9th and 10th to ensure that they haven’t missed out on anything.