Major changes made in NTSE Stage II 2018 exam pattern; check here the updated pattern

National Council of Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) will be conducting National Talent Search Exam (NTSE) stage 2 exam on May 13, 2018. Every year, NTSE is conducted at two levels, the stage 1 exam is conducted by respective state/UT and after the announcement of NTSE Stage 1 result, the qualified students are eligible to appear in national level NTSE stage 2 exam. The students appearing for the national level scholarship exam know about the NTSE stage 2 exam pattern as prescribed by NCERT, however, this year the exam committee has made some major in the paper pattern. The students must know about the major changes in NTSE stage 2 exam pattern including a number of papers, test centres, test duration, total questions as well as marking scheme.

Major Changes in NTSE Stage 2 exam pattern 2018 –

NTSE Stage 2: Papers – This year onwards, there will be only 2 papers for the national level exam i.e. Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Earlier, the papers included Language Test for English and Hindi languages.  

NTSE Stage 2: Test Timings – The exam schedule for NTSE Stage 2 exam 2018 is as under –

NTSE Stage 2 Exam Schedule 2018 –

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NTSE Stage 2: Number of Questions – There will be 100 objective type questions for each paper i.e. MAT and SAT of NTSE Stage 2 exam. Earlier, MAT and Language Test carried question weightage of 50 for each paper and SAT carried 100 questions. Moreover, earlier the section weightage of SAT paper of NTSE stage 2 was not specified, but now it will be as under –

Questions weightage for SAT paper of NTSE Stage 2 exam 2018 –

NTSE Stage 2: Marks – Now, as Language Test has been removed, each paper of NTSE stage 2 has been allotted 100 marks. Earlier, MAT and Language carried 50 marks each and SAT carried 100 marks.

NTSE Stage 2: Test Duration – For each paper of NTSE stage 2 exam 2018, the exam taking students will get two hours. In case, the student is visually challenged, then they will get 30 minutes extra. Earlier, MAT and Language Test were of 45 minutes each and SAT was scheduled for 90 minutes.

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NTSE Stage 2: Qualifying Marks – The students appearing for NTSE stage 2 exam now need to score at least 40% marks in each paper if they belong to general category and 32% marks in case they belong to reserved category. Earlier, the reserved categories students needed to score at least 35% marks in each paper of NTSE stage 2 and the Language Test was of qualifying nature only for all categories.

NTSE Stage 2: Marking Scheme – From now on there will be No Negative Marking Scheme for NTSE Stage 2 exam. Earlier for every paper, there was negative marking of 1/3 marks allotted for the question in case of wrong attempts.

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Other important instructions for NTSE Stage 2 exam 2018 –

1. Students should reach the allotted test centre at least 30 minutes before the exam timings in order to settle down at the exam hall and avoid any last minute rush
2. The test papers will be available in Asamiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu languages as per the region.
3. Students scoring qualifying marks in both papers of NTSE stage 2 exam will be considered for Scholarship merit
4. The final merit list for NTSE 2018 will be based on total marks scored by students in both papers i.e. MAT and SAT of Stage 2 exam.
5. The students can check here the updated list of Liaison Officers for each state/UTs in the pdf provided below –

Click here to download the updated list of NTSE state/UTs Liaison Officers