National TALENT SEARCH EXAMINATION

The National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) is open for students of Indian nationality whether they study in India or abroad at class X level. The Examination is conducted by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi to identify the most talented students in the State as well as in the country.

2.1 Eligibility
Only 25 (Twenty five) best students/candidates selected after screening and sponsored by the State shall be eligible to appear in the said examination.

2.2 Syllabus
There is no prescribed syllabus for the NTS Examination. However, the standard of items shall be conforming to the level of class X Public Examinations.

2.3 Scheme of Testing
The Scheme of testing is given below:

Test	Duration	No. of items	Maxm.Marks	Qualifying marks
Test	Duration	No. of items	Maxm.Marks	Gen. Category	SC/ST Category
Mental Ability Test(MAT)	90 minutes	100	100	40	32
Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT)	90 minutes	100	100	40	32
Interview	15-20 minutes		25	No qualifying marks

2.4 Written Examination
The written examination shall consist of Part-I MAT and Part-II SAT. Both the
tests will be conducted separately with a short interval in between them.

2.4.1 Mental Ability Test
There will be 100 multiple choice type items, with five alternatives, out of which only one will correct answer. Each item will carry one mark. Candidates are required ti answer the items on a separate answer sheet as per instructions given both in the test booklet and on the answer sheet.

2.4.2 Scholastic Aptitude Test
The Scholastic Aptitude Test will consist of 100 multiple choice items of one mark each. Each item shall have four alternatives, out of which only one will be the correct answer. There will be 40 items from science, 40 from social science and 20 from Mathematics. In science, ther will be items from Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Similarly, in Social Science there will be items from History, Geography and Civics. The items in Mathematics will cover Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics and Mensuration. Candidates are required to answer the items on a separate answer sheet to be provided at the examination centre as per instructions.

2.5 Medium of Examination
The medium of Examination will be English.

2.6 Venue, Date and Time
The admission card shall have all the information about the venue, the roll number, the date and time of the test. The test is usually held in the month of May each year.

2.7 Change of centre
Only in exceptional cases under special circumstances like transfer of the parents of the candidates, the centre of examination mey be changed on a written request received by the NCERT within 15 days of the issue of the Admission Card. However, it may be noted that in such cases only the English medium test booklet shall be provided to the candidate at the changed centre.

2.8 Interview
A stipulated number of candidates, on the basis of the merit, shall be called for the Interview. Normally, the interview shall be held during the months of July and August. Only those candidates who shall be found eligible for interview shall be informed through registered letters
About a fortnight in advance at the address given in the Admission Card by the candidate at the time of National Level written examination. NCERT shall not be held responsible for non-receipt of the letter due to postal delay or otherwise.

2.9 Place of interview
Interviews are arranged at various places in the country depending on the number of candidates found eligible from different regions.

2.10 Travelling Allowance
The candidates shall be paid second class rail fare to and fro for attending the interview. In no case the air fare will be paid .

2.11 Declaration of Result
The final award shall be declared on the basis of both the National Level Written Examination and the interview. Only the selected candidates shall be informed by registered letters. Marks obtained by the candidates in written examination or interviews shall be kept confidential.

2.12 Rechecking
Since the NCERT applies rigorous checks and counter checks before the declaration of result, no
request for re-evaluation or re-checking of scripts will be entertained.

3.4 National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) :The rate of scholarship at different stages are given as under:

Sl.No.	Stage	Rate of Scholarship
1	+2 stage	Rs. 200 p.m. for two years and Rs. 500 p.a. as book grant.
2	Under Graduate Courses (First degree level)	Rs. 300 p.m. and Rs. 1000 p.a. as book grant.
3	Post Graduate Courses (Second degree level)	Rs. 500 p.m. during the course of respective discipline and Rs. 1000 p.a. as book grant.
4	Ph.D. Degree (Four years)	As per UGC norms.

The awardee studying in Basic and Social Sciences including commerce are eligible to receive scholarship upto Ph.D. level whereas the awardees studying professional courses in medicine, engineering, technology and management are eligible to receive the scholarship upto second degree level.

4. MODE OF PAYMENT
4.1. STSE Prizes
Prizes will be distributed on any convenient date as fixed by Education Directorate (S)

4.2. NTS Scholarship
Payment of the scholarship shall not be made direct to the awardee. The payment shall be made only through Head of the institution concerned as per NCERT rules.

5. HOW TO FILL IN THE FORM
State, District/Zone Code Nos. for State Talent Search Examination, Manipur.

Sl. No.	State,District/Zonal Office	Code
1	Science Unit Education Directorate (S), Imphal District.	MN 01
2	Zone-I, Imphal West District	MN 02
3	Zone-II, Imphal East District	MN 03
4	Zone-III, Thoubal	MN 04
5	Zone-IV, Bishnupur	MN 05
6	Jiribam	MN 06
7	Ukhrul	MN 07
8	Senapati	MN 08
9	Kangpokpi (Sadar Hills)	MN 09
10	Tamenglong	MN 10
11	Churachandpur	MN 11
12	Chandel	MN 12
13	Kakching	MN 13
14	Wangoi	MN 14

The candidates are to write their District Code No. and Roll Number in seven blocks (provided) as per procedure describe below :

The first two blocks from the left hand side are meant for state code number, MN for Manipur, next two blocks denote the District/Zone code number through which the application form is submitting and the last three blocks denote the Roll No. of the candidate belonging to the particular District/Zone of the State. For example, a candidate appearing from Thoubal District in Manipur with Roll No. 15 will fill up the provided seven blocks as :

SCIENCE UNIT,
Education Directorate(S)
Government of Manipur
Lamphelpat – 795004

6. LEARN ABOUT THE TEST
It is always best to know as much as possible about the test before you take it.

The National Talent Search Examination consists of two tests namely the Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Each test consists of 100 multiple choice type questions. Each correct answer fetches one mark. Thus total score of a candidate in tests is equal to the number of questions answered correctly by him/her.

To make the candidates acquainted with the questions in the above tests, some sample questions in each of the two tests are given below. These questions will give the candidate, a feel of the nature and level of the questions expected in the test. The rationale and answer for each question is provided at the end.

6.1 Mental Ability Test Items
This test is given to the candidates to judge their power of reasoning, ability to think, ability to judge, evaluate or discriminate, ability to visualize in the space, spatial orientation, etc. A variety of questions e.g. analogies, classification, series, pattern, perception, hidden figures, coding-decoding, block assembly, problem solving, etc. are used for this purpose. To acquaint the candidates with such questions, some examples are given below. The rationale to find the answer to each question is given at the end. Candidates are advised to practice these questions and find answers for them.