NSTSE is also known as National Level Science Talent Search Examination. It is fundamentally a diagnostic examination conducted by Unified Council which helps students to improve their overall learning ability and educational performance.
Unlike other tests which may only find out how much a student knows or has memorised, NSTSE measures how well a student has understood the concepts and provides a detailed feedback on the same, to help him/her improve.
School tests - including board exams - tend to test children superficially, only to the extent what they have memorised. But the important skills like the ability to think independently and reason logically – most critical in today's world - are often not aimed at or tested in school tests.
The focus on fundamentals is very important as when the child finishes studies he/she will have to face the competitive world armed with those fundamentals. Even while opting for higher studies, a student has to go through a complete scan of what he/she knows and how much. Exams like IIT-JEE, AIEEE, AFMC, AIIMS, GRE, GMAT, CAT etc., are designed to test the fundamental strength of a student. Hence the need of the hour is to build the fundamental-base as strong and as early as possible. This exactly is the philosophy behind Unified Council's NSTSE.
Estimated 8–9 lakhs of students appear for NTSE stage 1 Exam every year. About 4500 students are selected for stage 2. From the selected pool of students, 1000 students [750 in general category] finally get to be called as NTSE scholars! Number of students appearing for Stage 1 varies from state to state.
NSTSE helps each student to know early, whether he/she has properly understood a concept, so that immediate action can be taken to correct the aberration and pave a path for improvement. Often, students develop conceptual gaps which increase as the students go to higher classes and turn those into a ‘phobia’ for the subject.
Has interesting questions that require thinking, not simply a recall.
Provides detailed skill-wise feedback highlighting strengths and weaknesses.
Provides a benchmark of the student's performance and his/her peers.
NSTSE aims at improvement rather than comparison or grading. It also reduces the stress of exams by checking ‘understanding and reasoning’ rather than just ‘knowing’.
It helps in making the younger generation stronger in fundamentals and Nourishing their minds for a bright and enterprising future.