Syllabus and Question Pattern of NTSE

NCERT has not prescribed any syllabus for State Level Examination or National Level Examination. It has been observed that level of the NTSE is that of Class 7 and 8.

A student should not worry at all about the syllabus. Questions asked are more or less the same as in class 8 boards. A student from any board can easily answer all the questions. Websites like offer free practice questions to give you a feel of the questions.

The question pattern is similar for both State Level and National Level exams. The exam is in two sections:
Section A: Mental Ability Test (MAT)
Section B: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

Questions in MAT section are selected from Directional, Letter Repeating Series, Analogies, Blood Relations, Classification, Coding, Decoding, Logical Diagrams etc. This section checks the students’ ability to judge, visualize, think, evaluate and differentiate. This section consists of 100 multiple choice questions (MCQs) of one mark each. Each MCQ is provided with four alternatives and you have to choose the correct one. There is no negative marking.

Questions in SAT section are based on Science, Mathematics and Social Science. This section tests your Text-Book knowledge. There are 35 MCQs from Science, 35 from Social Science, 20 from Mathematics and 10 from mixed subjects. There is no negative marking.

The State Level exam. is for screening purpose only, and these marks are not carried forward to National Level. To qualify for the National Level Exam, you have to be in the top ranks of state-quota allotted by NCERT. The state-quota is based on AIES (All India Educational Survey) data.

Students who qualify for National Level Exam are called for selection test and interview. The interview carries 25 marks, and is of 15-20 minute duration.

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