National Talent Search Examination is a national-level scholarship program for scholarship to students studying at the Class X level.

NTSE is a two-tier examination conducted in two stages.

NTS stage-I is conducted by States and Union Territories whereas NCERT conducts stage-II examination.

NTSE consists of Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) having multiple choice questions.

NTSE Eligibility Criteria

All students studying in Class X in any recognized school

The applicants should be less than 18 years

The students should not be employed and should be appearing first time in the board exam.

NTSE Exam Pattern

There are 3 papers in both stages –

1. Mental Ability Test (MAT),
2. Language Test and
3. Scholastic Ability Test (SAT).

Questions are in the form of multiple choices with negative marking deducting 1/3 marks.

The tests are available in Asamiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malyalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

However, language test is available in two languages – English & Hindi.

Test No. of Questions Maximum Marks Time
Mental Ability Test (MAT) 50 50 45 minutes
Language Test 50 50 45 minutes
Scholastic Ability Test (SAT)
Math, Science & S St. 150 150 90 minutes