NTSE Stage 1: Insights, Features and Preparation Strategies

The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is a national level scholarship program in India that was started in the year 1963. The purpose of the program is to recognize talented students at both State and National level. It covers areas like Science, Social Science, Engineering, Medicine, Management and Law. It is organized by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and it honors and helps talented students by providing financial assistance in the form of a monthly scholarship. The award aims to endorse higher education in India and give financial support to those capable with intelligence but lack the means to fulfill their ambitions.

It helps students to not only proliferate their mental level but also to sharpen their minds. NCERT conducts NTSE for students studying in Class X. The exam is conducted at 2 levels i.e. Stage I (State Level) & Stage-II (National Level). NTSE consists of Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). There is no specific prescribed syllabus for this exam. However, in SAT mostly questions are asked from the curriculum of the secondary level (IX and X) of respective state board for NTSE Stage-I and curriculum of secondary level (IX and X) of CBSE for NTSE Stage-II.

Features of the NTSE Exam Pattern:

Exam Mode: Pen & paper-based test (answers to be marked on the OMR sheets)

Exam Medium: The medium of the exam will be of candidate’s choice from the language options provided by the exam conducting body for State level examination. For the state level, the test medium can be the official regional language and English/ Hindi. For the NTSE Stage I Exam, the test medium can be from Bangla, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Asamiya, Hindi, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu as selected by the candidate at the time of the application form submission.

Total exam duration: 120 minutes for all candidates except visually challenged candidates who are provided 150 minutes for each paper.

Questions type: Both the papers of NTSE state level and national level exams are based on the objective type question with multiple choices.

There are approximately four weeks left for the preparation of the exam and hence here are a few preparatory tips from our experts:

Articulate a concise Revision Plan of the whole syllabus

Before starting anything new, proper planning is required. Same should be applied here as well. Prepare a systematic revision calendar. Your planning should be done in such a way that your syllabus is finished at least 1 week ahead of the exam.

Identify the important topics/ Chapters

List out the important chapters or topics which have more weightage in the exam. Revise the ones from which more questions are asked or which have a high level of difficulty. This should be kept in consideration while preparing the revision calendar.

Prepare strategic notes for quick revision

By quick revision one means to cover up the entire syllabus with thorough understanding in the least possible time. This is when your strategic notes help. So, make sure you prepare concise notes. After a quick revision ensure you follow it up by solving few representative questions to understand the concepts in a better way.

Distribute time for each subject wise & topic wise suggestions

Distribute the available time to all the chapters of each subject. However important chapters will attract more time. In addition to this, revision should be followed by a series of tests.

Self-Performance Analysis and Corrective Measures/Steps

After every mock test, self-analysis is of paramount importance. It will help you identify the mistakes that are committed while attempting questions. The reason for un-attempted questions needs to be classified. Work on it to eradicate it completely, and apply the strategy in the upcoming/following mock test and see if there is any sort of improvement.

NTSE Stage I 2019 exam is scheduled for 02^nd/03^rd/17^th November. Plan efficiently and study well for the exam. Keep following our blog page for all updates and exam related tips and tricks. (https://blog.aakash.ac.in/).