NTSE Stage 1 State Level Examination

The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is one of the most popular scholarship examinations across the country to facilitate the talented students with financial support to take forward their studies and extraordinary skills to the desirable extend. NTSE is a two tier process with two stages, Stage I- State Level Scholarship Examination and Stage II- National Level Scholarship Examination. In this article, we shall discuss in details the particulars of Stage I, which is the State Level Scholarship Examination.   

Every State or Union Territory organizes its own examination and they have the authority to lay down their own guidelines for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the candidates. This examination is primarily used to recommend a given number of candidates for the second level test to be conducted by the NCERT. The enrolment of students of Classes IX and X in different States and Union Territories decides the number for the same. The candidates are selected on the basis of the merit in the written examination conducted by the States and Union Territories. Notification of the details of the number of candidates for different States and Union Territories are informed separately. The state level screening examination is performed in all States and Union Territories on first Sunday of November except in Nagaland, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Meghalaya and Mizoram where it will be conducted on the first Saturday of November every year till the time any special circumstances develop. The addresses of the Liaison Officers of each State and Union Territory are given in the official website. 

Eligibility for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

Following are the eligibility conditions with respect to the Stage I of NTSE, which is the state level of the sought out scholarship examination.

• Only Indian Nationals residing in India or Abroad are eligible to apply for the State level Scholarship Examination.
• All  students studying in  Class X in any type of  recognized school from the  State in which the school  is located including Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, and Sainik School etc. will  be eligible to appear at the State Level Examination.  
• No domicile restriction will be imposed on the candidates.
• The state can apply any other eligibility condition for appearing in the screening examination like any qualifying percentage of marks in the previous annual examination, age criteria, etc.  
• Students  registered under Open and Distance  Learning (ODL) are also eligible for scholarship provided the students are below the age of 18  years (as on 1st July of that particular year) 
• It is mandatory that the students are not employed.
• The students should be appearing in class X for the first time. 

How to apply for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

The aspiring students studying in Class X in the country should be on the lookout for any advertisement in the newspapers or circulars in the school by the respective Government of their State or Union Territory for the above said examination and behave as per the requirement expressed in the State advertisement and circulars. Any other information or query about the details of the state level examination can be taken from the Liaison Officers of the State and Union Territory agencies. The candidates need to submit the filled in application to the State Liaison Officer duly signed by the Principal of the school. This action should be performed before the due date advertised by each concerned State or Union Territory. 

Medium for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

For the Stage I of NTSE, which is the State Level Scholarship Examination, the medium of the test will be announced by the respective State or Union Territory. Let us understand the same with an example. If the candidate belongs to the state of Maharashtra, then the paper will be in both languages, that is, the regional language of Maharashtra- Marathi and the universal language-  English. That means the medium of the entrance examination will be a combination of the candidates regional language and English.   

Fee for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

NTSE Examination Fee of Stage-I is specific to the states and Union Territories of origin. The States and Union Territories may notify the candidates about the fee required to be paid for the Stage-I examination. Thus, it is advisable that before submitting the application form, the candidate find out the fees charged for Stage-I Examination and also the mode of payment from the respective State Liaison Officers (LOs). The States and Union Territories are authorized to charge any fee for examination and for the application form. 

Exam Pattern for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

The first level of NTSE is the state level scholarship examination which has two equally important parts for endorsing fixed number of students for the national level scholarship examination to be conducted by the NCERT.

• Part-I  : Mental Ability Test (MAT): 
• Part-II: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

The Mental Ability Test (MAT) includes questions from the topic like clocks and calendar, dice, cube, blood relation, series, etc. Whereas, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) includes questions on History, Civics, Geography, Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Solving questions from such topics consumes a lot of time, therefore students need to optimize their time as well as speed to complete the paper on time.

The basic details of the above mentioned two evaluation tests MAT and SAT are tabulated below for your reference:

It is to be noted that student of any board can prepare for this scholarship examination. Only the candidates qualifying in both the papers separately will be considered for the merit. The selection of the awardees will be made on the basis of total marks scored in MAT & SAT both based on the merit. The best part about these test are that there will be No Negative Marking for incorrect answers. Thus the students can attempt the questions without any fear of penalty on wrong answers.  

You should try Online Mock Tests for NTSE to make sure you have done proper preparation for NTSE Exams.

Results for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

The State and Union Territories will assemble a merit list of the applicants ensuring the minimum qualifying marks in both the tests individually. These marks comprise of 40 per cent in the category of General and Other Backward Classes and 32 per cent in the category of Schedule Caste/ Schedule Tribe/ physically challenged candidates. The result of State Level Talent Search examination is announced in    months of January or February by the States and Union Territories themselves. This is the first level of scholarship examination, which is used only to endorse the candidates for the second level of NTSE scholarship examination, which is the National Level conducted by the NCERT. The marks of the State level Examination are not combined by the National Level Examination for award of scholarship. NCERT will not be entitled for any correspondence with regard to first level examination conducted by the State and Union Territories. The students having any query, complaint or clarification with regard to the State Level Examination will have to co-ordinate with the state examination agencies only.

Cut off Marks for Stage I – State Level Scholarship Examination:

The Cut off marks are the minimum marks that are required by the aspiring students to clear the first level of the scholarship examination. As far as the state level examination is concerned the cut off marks will be announced by the respective states and union territories. The final cut off mark will be declared by NCERT after the completion of stage 2 examination, beyond which NCERT publishes category wise and subject wise cut off marks.

The factors affecting the state wise cut off marks are as follows:

• The Candidates appearing in the examination
• The level of difficulty of the paper
• The marking scheme of the examination
• The number of seats available

To make an idea about the NTSE expected qualifying cut off, let us check the following table which shows the category wise and subject wise  cut off marks:

With this we conclude our detailed article on the first level of the NTSE Scholarship Programme. Stay tuned to our website www.studiestoday.com for the other elaborate articles specific to the National Talent Search Examination. Best Wishes!