National Standard Examination in Physics (NSEP), conducted every year since 1987, has become the most ‘visible’ activity of IAPT. It is a voluntary examination. More than 40,000 students at over 1200 centres, most of which are in small towns and villages, appear at this examination. The participation, purely voluntary, offers an opportunity to measure one’s standing against a national standard. NSEP is not linked to any entrance or scholarship award. Students are allowed to take away the question paper and the solutions are provided to them after a week. The NSEP is carried out in English, Hindi & a few other Indian languages.
Recognition: Gold medalists in NSEP, after they complete their education, may join DAE directly through interview without appearing in their entrance test.
Scholarships: A number of scholarships (subject to a maximum of 10) have been instituted to encourage students to take-up physics as a career. Those who seek admission in B.Sc. (with physics) after NSEP are eligible for these scholarships.
Paper Pattern
This paper consists of multiple choice questions as well as subjective questions. Multiple choice questions carry 60% of the total weightage. There distinct sections viz. A1, A2 and B. Section A1 contains multiple choice questions having 4 options out of which only 1 is correct. Section A2 also has multiple choice questions with any number of correct answers out of the four options. In section B all questions are compulsory.
Marks Distribution : Section A, the multiple choice question, carries 180 marks in total and section B carried 120 marks. For each correct answer in Section A1 one gets 3 marks and if answer is wrong then gets a penalty of 1 mark. For section A2, full marks are 6 and are given only if the entire answer is right. In section B all questions carry equal marks.
Time Duration : Time duration is 150 minutes.
Official Website : http://www.iapt.org.in