NEST Eligibility Criteria 2025: Check Qualification Criteria, Seats

NEST 2025 Eligibility Criteria will be essential to be fulfilled by the candidates for admission. National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a national level entrance test conducted every year.

Worried? Are you eligible for NEST 2025 exam  or not? Check details below. 

This exam is held to provide admission into the 5-year integrated M.Sc. course in the basic sciences such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. The entrance test is conducted for admission to the NISER, Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE-CEBS, Mumbai. 

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Through this article, candidates will get the complete details about the NEST Eligibility Criteria 2025.

NEST 2025 Eligibility Criteria

Candidates must fulfill the following NEST eligibility criteria 2025 to be eligible for admission. Check the eligibility properly before filling NEST 2025 Application Form. The complete eligibility will be given below:

Age Criteria:

• Candidates belonging to the General and OBC category should bear on or after August 1, 2004.
• Candidates belonging to ST/SC/PwD categories have 5 years relaxation in upper age limit.

Educational Qualification:

• Qualifying Exam: Candidates must have passed their 10+2 level exams or its equivalent from a recognized board or university.
• Minimum Marks: Candidate must have obtained minimum 60% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade in the intermediate level exam. For ST/SC/PWD candidates, minimum aggregate marks will be 55% marks.
• Subjects: Candidates must have passed their 10+2 level with science stream only. Pass 12th exam with a combination of at least three subjects among Physics, Chemistry and Biology/ Mathematics.
• Passing Year: Candidates should pass class 12th exam or its equivalent in the years 2023 or 2024.
• Appearing Candidates: Candidates, those appearing class 12th will also be able apply as appearing candidates.

Other Eligibility:

• Candidates, those have only letter grades available, they will have to submit a certificate from the concerned Board specifying an equivalent percentage of marks.
• In the absence of such a certificate, the final decision will be made by the admissions committee of the concerned institution.
• Candidates should submit necessary certificates supporting eligibility criteria at the time of admission.

NEST 2025 Application Form

NEST Application form 2025 will be filled by the candidates through online mode. The registration process will be started in the third week of March 2025. The last date to fill the application form is till the fourth week of May 2025.

To fill the application form, candidates will have to fill their details and make an exam center choice. The application fee will be paid by the candidates through debit/credit card or net banking. For General and OBC candidates, the application fee will be Rs. 1400/- and for ST/ SC/ PWD/ Female candidates, it will be Rs. 700/-.

Candidates are advised to fill the application form carefully as no correction facility is provided by the authority after the submission of form.

Also Check:

NEST 2025

Number of Seats

Below, we have provided the number of seats in UM-DAE-CBS and NISER institute as per the previous year:

NEST 2025 Reservation Criteria

Some of the total percentage of seats will be reserved for the reserved category candidates. The categories considered for the reservation are:

• ST/SC Categories: Out of the total seats, about 7.5% seats are reserved for ST candidates and 15% for SC candidates.
• OBC- NCL Category: Candidates belonging to OBC- NCL categories will be provided reservation of 27% of the total seats. OBC candidates of creamy layer will not get any reservation and will be treated as general candidates.
• Candidates belonging to J&K: Candidates belonging to the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be applicable for one seat in each of the UM-DAE-CBS and NISER institute.
• PWD Candidates: Under the PWD category, candidates are provided 5% seat reservation in General, ST/SC and OBC-NCL category.

Candidates must carefully go through the NEST 2025 Eligibility Criteria before applying for admission. Candidates also have to provide their documents during admission to institute for document verification.

If you have any query related to NEST 2025 Eligibility Criteria, you can ask your query in the comments section below.