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NTSE
The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is a national level examination conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) under the National Talent Search Scheme. The scheme was first implemented in 1963 as the National Science Talent Search Scheme (NSTSS) with its focus on basic sciences only. The scheme was later extended to include social sciences, medicine, and engineering. Hence, it was renamed as the National Talent Search Scheme (NTSS) in 1976. It is aimed at identifying talented students and nurturing their talent by providing financial assistance in the form of monthly scholarships. Only students appearing for the first time in class X are eligible to participate in this exam. The examination is the earliest competitive exams in India which will enable students to get a feel of a competitive exam before they can face other competitive exams to choose their path of study.

Candidates who clear the examination are given scholarships through the course of their studies. The number of scholarships have been raised to 2000 this year. Students planning to pursue courses in science, social science, language, commerce, humanities will receive scholarships up to the doctoral level, while those planning to pursue professional courses in medicine, engineering, management, law and technology will receive scholarships up to the second degree level. The examination is conducted in two stages; first by the individual state/UT and second by NCERT. The first stage of examination filters candidates as per the quota allotted for each state. The candidates selected in the state level examination alone are allowed to participate in the national level examination. Scholarships are awarded to pursue different courses only in India.

Both the state level and national level examinations follow the same pattern. The question paper has two parts: Part I - Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Part II - Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Each section will contain 100 MCQs for a total of 100 marks and a duration of 120 minutes. MAT will have questions that check the aptitude of the students while SAT will consist of questions from science (for 40 marks), social science (for 40 marks), and mathematics (for 20 marks). The examination is conducted offline and answers should be marked on OMR sheets. The cutoff marks for the state/UT is decided by the respective state/UT. To qualify the national level examination, the candidates should obtain 40% marks, in case of general merit/OBC candidates and 32% marks, in case of SC/ST/physically challenged candidates. Reservation of seats are as follows: 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for OBC, 10% for EWS, and 4% for children with benchmark disabilities.

The eligibility to receive scholarships at different levels vary. The rate of scholarship decided for each level is as follows:

Nurturance programs may be available for the awardees at different institutions of higher learning in the country. Participation is based on personal interest of the awardees.

State level examination
The state level selection allows to filter candidates from each state/UT to be eligible to participate in the national level examination. A fee as decided by the state/UT will be applicable. The examination is generally conducted in all states/UTs on the first Sunday of November except in Nagaland, Andaman and Nicobar, Meghalaya and Mizoram, where it will be conducted on the first Saturday of November, if circumstances favor. The medium of examination will be decided by the state/UT.

The state government will advertise about the examination dates through newspapers, internet and circulars in the school. The state liaison officer should be contacted for queries regarding the application for the examination.

National level examination
Candidates selected from the state level examination only are allowed to participate in the national level examination. The examination is conducted in the second Sunday of May every year. No fee is applicable for the examination. Indian nationals studying abroad in class X can directly appear for this examination provided that they have scored 60% marks (aggregate) in their class IX annual examination.

The questions will be made available in Asamiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The notification, important dates, application form, results, admit cards, examination centers, specimen copy of OMR etc. will be available on the NCERT website.