The National Talent Search Examination for students studying in Class X is meant to identify and nurture talent. The examination is conducted every year at two levels:- Stage-I (State Level) and Stage-II (National Level).
Scholarships: About One thousand scholarships are awarded for difference stages of education as follows:
- Scholarship of Rs.1250/- per month for Class-XI to XII.
- Scholarship of Rs. 2000/- per month for Undergraduates and Post-graduates.
- Amount of Scholarship for Ph.D. be fixed in accordance with the UGC norms.
Reservation:
15% for students belonging to the SC category, 7.5% for students belonging to the ST category and 3% for Physically Challenged Group of Students.
Selection:
Stage-I, selection will be done by States/UTs and those who qualify Stage- I, will be eligible to appear for Stage-II examination, conducted by NCERT.
Qualifying Marks:
Qualifying marks for candidates from General category is 40% in each paper and for candidates from SC, ST, PH is 35% in each paper.
Language Test:
Language Test Qualifying in nature and marks obtained for Language Test will not be counted for final merit.
Exam Dates:
Stage – I (State) : November
Stage – II (National) : May
For 2015 – 2016 academic year the State – II examination has been scheduled to be held on 8th May, 2016 (Sunday).
Eligibility:
All students of Class X studying in recognized schools are eligible to appear for the Stage -I examination, conducted by the States/UTs, in which the schools are located. There will be no domicile restriction.
Students registered under Open Distance Learning (ODL) will also be eligible for scholarship, provided the student is below the age of 18 years (as on 1st July of the particular year), the student is not employed and s/he is appearing in class X examination for the first time.
Examination Pattern:
The pattern of written examination will be as follows :
Stage I examination at the State/UT level will comprise of two parts, namely (a) Mental Ability Test (MAT) (b) Language Test (LT) and (c) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
The pattern of stage II will be as under:
| Paper | Test | No. of Questions | No. of Marks | Duration (in minutes) |
| Paper-I | Mental Ability Test (MAT) | 50 | 50 | 45 |
| Paper-II | Language Test (LT) English/Hindi | 50 | 50 | 45 |
| Paper-III | Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) | 100 | 100 | 90 |
At Stage-II (National Level), there will be negative marking in each paper. For each wrong answer 1/3 marks will be deducted (No marks will be deducted/or unattempted questions.
Application Form: You may contact the State/UT Liaison officer for procuring application form.
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