Ahead of NMMS and NTSE exams, here's what you need to know

The National Merit cum Means Scholarship (NMMS) exam is conducted to help meritorious students of Class 8 belonging to economically weaker sections continue their studies till Class 12. The scheme aims to prevent students from abandoning their education due to a lack of financial aid. Each state in the country conducts this scholarship test regulated the respective state education board.

Another prestigious scholarship exam is the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE), which is a national level exam conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for granting scholarships to meritorious students of Class 10. NTSE exam is conducted in two different stages – Stage I and II. This year both NMMS and NTSE Stage I exams will be conducted on January 25 in Karnataka.

While Covid-19 has undoubtedly wreaked havoc in all our lives, it is important for students to pull up their socks and take up these exams as a challenge. Both NMMS and NTSE exams have the same pattern. The examinations will have two papers — Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and General Mental Ability Test (GMAT). Both will have Multiple Choice Questions and the answers need to be marked in optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets.

Scholastic Aptitude Test: SAT will have questions from Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology), Social Science (History, Geography, Political Science, Economics and Business Studies) and Mathematics. For NMMS, students of Class 8 must be well-versed with the topics that they study till their mid-term exams. Familiarity with the lessons of Class 7 is essential for NMMS examination. For NTSE, students must be thorough with all the topics of State, CBSE and ICSE Board Science, Social Science and Mathematics syllabus of Class 10.

General Mental Ability Test: In GMAT, the questions are not based on any particular subject. Here, the ability of students to reason, analyse, argue for a cause and comprehend the questions to find relations and differences is tested. Answering these questions requires a lot of practice. Be thorough with letters of alphabets in English and the number corresponding to it like A for 1, B for 2, C for 3 and so on and in the reverse order also i.e., Z for 1, Y for 2, X for 3..., as a good number of questions will be based upon it. Normally these tests will have questions on number series, letter series, the relation between letter with a number according to the given rule, analogy letter with numbers, letter coding and decoding, letters pyramid, letter matrix, statement problems, questions based on figures, folded figures etc.

Before giving these exams, ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the various topics in Science, Social Science and Mathematics. As you read the textbooks, look at the content in terms of a possible MCQ. For both SAT and GMAT revise at least five years of previous question papers. Practice marking answers on OMR sheets.

Do not look at the key answers as soon as you see a question. Instead, try to answer them on your own.

Fix a particular time to practice answering the papers and try to finish within the allotted time. After answering all questions, verify them with the answer key.

Make sure you read the questions correctly and choose the correct option.

All the best!

(The author is a former principal at a teachers’ college in Bengaluru)