National Talent Search Examination is a scholarship program conducted every year to identify talented students across the country. It is a two-tier examination, Stage 1 is conducted in the month of November and Stage II is conducted in the month of May. All students studying in class X who obtained 60% marks in their Class IX, of any recognized school are eligible for this scholarship program.
NTSE consists of two papers: Mental Ability Test (MAT) to analyze student’s ability to evaluate, discriminate, visualize, etc. and Scholastic Ability Test (SAT) to analyze the academic knowledge of a student.
The exam was based on Class IX and X – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Social Science syllabus. It also included questions based on Mental Ability. The exam was conducted in offline mode. Students were required to fill their answers in an OMR sheet provided by their respective exam centers. The medium of the exam was English and Hindi.
We have brought you a detailed analysis of NTSE Stage 1 Paper 2019-20 by our Career Point Experts
Overall Questions and Marks Distribution
NTSE Stage-1 (2019-20) Exam Pattern was Objective type based on Pen-Paper Format.
| Section | No. Of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| MAT (Mental Ability Test) | 100 | 100 | 120 Min |
| SAT (Scholastic Ability Test) | 100 | 100 | 120 Min |
| Section | No. Of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| MAT (Mental Ability Test) | 100 | 100 | 120 Min |
| SAT (Scholastic Ability Test) | 100 | 100 | 120 Min |
Overall Difficulty Level Analysis
Subjective Analysis
Difficulty Level Comparison with NTSE 2018-19
Overall Analysis of NTSE 2019-20 with respect to NTSE 2018-19
- MAT question paper was difficult as compared to last year.
- The difficulty level of SAT question paper was similar to that of last year, but it was more inclined towards state board syllabus.
- The cutoff is expected to decrease by 5-9 marks as compared to last year. So the expected cutoff for NTSE Stage-1 2019-20 should lie within the range of 165-170.
