NSEP 2021 - National Standard Examination in Physics (NSEP)

Key Features of National Standard Examination in Physics (NSEP)

The National Standard Examination in Physics (NSEP) is considered to be the stepping stone for many talented and aspiring students in the Physics Olympiad Program. NSEP is conducted by the Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT) at the national level with the help of many centers all across the country. The main objective of this examination is to get selected for the International Science Olympiad and in a way select the students who want to pursue their career in the field of physics. The students below class twelfth are eligible to attend this examination and the mode of examination is pen-paper or offline mode. The students can move forward to another stage only after clearing this stage.

Important Events and Dates Related to NSEP

• The NSEP registration NSEP registration or the application for NSEP begins every year in September. 

• The National Standard Examination in Physics (NSEP) is conducted every year in November and the mode of examination is the offline or pen-paper mode. 

• Within one month, that is in December, the result of the shortlisted students will be announced.  

Eligibility for NSEP 

• First and foremost the student should be of Indian nationality. 

• The NSEP examination is intended for students who are in the grade of ninth and tenth. 

• Students who have passed the twelfth-grade examination are strictly not eligible for participating in this examination. 

• Students should be between the age limit of fifteen to twenty years. If the student is found to be not eligible for the examination, he or she will be disqualified from the program.

• During the NSEP registration process, a one-time fee of rupees 150 has to be paid by the student. 

• The student must not have completed the 12th grade before the 30th of November, as in the year of examination. 

• If any candidate has represented India in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) or the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) in the previous year, they are not eligible to appear for the NSEP. 

• The student must not have taken or is planning to take admission in any university in the following year of the olympiad. 

NSEP Syllabus and Format 

• The NSEP or the National Standard Examination in Physics is an all-India examination in physics for higher education school students which is usually conducted on the last second Sunday of November. Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, the date might change. 

• NSEP is organized by the Indian association of physics teachers. NSEP is the first stage for selecting the students in the International Physics Olympiad.

• Before the year 2015, the NSEP examination consisted of both multiple-choice questions and subjective questions.

• But as time passed and due to a large number of participating students, all the questions were not checked for all the candidates. Subjective questions are checked by only the candidates who are scoring above a certain minimum in the multiple-choice questions. The multiple-choice questions used to carry 60% of the total weights and were very important for determining the selection in the next stage. 

• The present format of the NSEP examination is completely composed of 70 multiple-choice questions. Out of the 70 questions, 60 of these questions have only one option correct and the other 10 questions have more than one. Three marks are awarded for solving each of the first 60 questions correctly and one mark is deducted for every wrong answer. 

• For the last ten questions which have more than one correct answer, six marks are awarded for each correct answer. However, the negative marking rule has been excluded for the last ten questions. 

• The top few students whose rankings range between 300 to 450 from the examination are selected and allowed to sit for the Indian National Physics Olympiad.

•  The NSEP examination has been carried out every year since 1987 in English, Hindu, and other Indian languages.

• The syllabus for the NSEP examination is almost similar to the curriculum of the senior secondary level(Class XI and Class XII) of the CBSE. No detailed syllabus is given for the NSEP examination but only the basic guidelines have been mentioned. 

Exam Pattern and the Structure for NSEP 

There are two stages of the NSEP examination and the first stage or the exam pattern is as follows: 

First Stage 

The First Stage of the NSEP examination paper comprises of two parts:

• Part A  is 180 marks and has 50 multiple-choice questions. Part A is further divided into A1 and A2. A1 consists of 40 multiple choice questions with each question having only one correct answer. A2 consists of 10 questions with each question having one or more options as the correct answer. To get the proper credits, all the correct option(s) and no incorrect option(s) should be marked. 

• Part B has 60 marks to its name and it has 6 questions which are problems or the short answer type questions. All the questions carry equal marks. 

• The NSEP question is in English, Hindi, or any other language provided that there are more than 300 students who want to attend the examination in that particular regional language. 

Second Stage

• The main aim of the first stage of the NSEP examination was to have a wide range that helps in progressively increasing the reach and to attain a nationwide representation for stage two without compromising on the quality or the merit. 

• There are a few structures/clauses involved that help select the right candidate for stage two, those structures are:

• Eligibility Clause: Any candidate who is participating in the examination must secure a score equal to or greater than a minimum admissible score(or MAS). This will allow the candidate to be eligible for the stage two INO exam leading to the International olympiad. By default, the minimum admissible score for the given subject will be 40% of the maximum score in that subject. 

• Proportional Representation Clause(PRC): There are close to three thousand students who are selected in each subject for stage two(INO). In the event of a tie for the last position in the list where the candidates have the same marks, all the students will qualify to appear for stage two of the examinations. 

• Minimum Representation Clause (MRC): Despite the proportional representation clause which has been explained above, the number of students selected for the INO from each state and the union territory must be at least one, provided that the eligibility clause is satisfied thoroughly.

• Merit Clause: There can be a case when there are more than 300 students who might not qualify for stage two in a subject. In such cases, the students who have a score below 300 in a subject will be selected based on the merit clause.

The Selection Process for NSEP 

NSEP is the first stage exam that is used to shortlist the candidates for the Indian National Science Olympiad (INO). The selection in NSEP is done based on the following factors: 

• Eligibility of the candidates.

• The merit score of the candidates in the qualifying examinations. 

• Minimum representation clause.

• Proportional representation clause. 

• Previous International representation clause

• Minimum total number clause.