NEST 2026 Exam Analysis (OUT), Check Student Response, Section-Wise Difficulty Level & Expected Cutoff

NEST 2026 Exam Analysis and Student Reaction: The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) 2026 was conducted on June 6, 2026, from 2 PM to 5 PM. Candidates will be shortlisted for admission to NISER Bhubaneswar or CEBS Mumbai based on the scores they secure in the exam. Shortlisted candidates will have to participate in the NEST 2026 counselling process for admission.

Now that the exam has concluded, many students are eager to know how they performed and understand the difficulty level of the exam, which is one of the factors affecting the NEST 2026 cutoff.

If you are one of those students looking for an exam review, check out the NEST 2026 exam analysis and student reaction on this SciAstra exam page. It provides an overview of the exam's difficulty level, the topics and questions asked, and the expected cutoff. So, read on!

As per the candidates, the overall difficulty level of NEST 2026 was moderate to difficult. According to student feedback, the Physics section was of moderate difficulty. While some candidates found the Biology and Chemistry sections easy, others rated them as moderately difficult. A significant number of students chose to skip the Mathematics section or attempted only a few questions from it.

Many candidates also shared that SciAstra's preparation resources, including the 50 Most Important Questions, Rescue Series, and Maha Revision/Marathon sessions, were highly beneficial for their exam preparation and helped them tackle several questions in the examination.

Latest Update:

• NEST 2026 Provisional Answer Key OUT

• NEST 2026 Student Response Sheet

• NEST 2026 Question Paper

NEST 2026 Question Paper Solution

Check out the solution to the NEST 2026 question paper on YouTube:

NEST 2026 Overview

NEST 2026 Analysis and Student Reaction

Team SciAstra visited the NEST 2026 exam centres to understand students' perspectives on the exam's difficulty level and the types of questions asked. Based on interactions with students, an overview of the difficulty levels of the Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology sections of the NEST 2026 exam is provided below:

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NEST 2026 Safe Score

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NEST 2026 Analysis (Subject-Wise)

As per the students who appeared for NEST 2026, the overall difficulty level of the exam was moderate. The section-wise analysis for the paper is available below.

Physics

There were 20 questions in the Physics section of NEST 2026, with each question carrying 3 marks. The exam also included a negative marking scheme, under which 1 mark was deducted for every incorrect response.

The overall difficulty level of the Physics section was easy to moderate to tough. Many candidates considered this section tricky, but easy. The questions asked in the Physics section of the NEST 2026 exam were asked from the following topics:

• Waves (Constructive Interference with Square Wave)

• Unit and Dimensions

Chemistry

The Chemistry section of the exam also had 20 questions. Its overall difficulty level was easy to moderate. Most of the questions were asked from Inorganic and Physical Chemistry topics. There were 2-3 questions from Organic Chemistry, which were not from previous years' quetsion papers.

The questions in the Chemistry section were asked from the following topics:

• Grignard Reaction

• Intramolecular Cannizzaro Reaction

• Isoelectronic

• Acidic Strengths of Ions

• Isobaric Process (Graph-related questions)

• p Block

Biology

As per the NEST 2026, the Biology was the easiest section. The questions in the Biology section were asked from the 50 Most Important Questions Series – Biology. This section prominently included memory-based questions from the following topics:

• Population Genetics

• Neuron

• Meselson-Stahl experiment

• Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance

• Genetic Relatedness

• Cladogram

• Casparian Strips

Mathematics

According to student feedback, the Mathematics section was of moderate to difficult difficulty. Some candidates found the section challenging, while others described it as moderately difficult. Overall, Mathematics emerged as one of the tougher sections of the NEST 2026 examination for many test-takers.

The questions in the Maths section were prominently based on the following topics:

• Maths

• Geometry

• Integration

• Functions

• Probability

• Calculus

NEST Question Paper 2026 (PDF)

Check out the official PDF for the NEST 2026 question paper below. This PDF also includes provisional answer key for the exam:

NEST 2026 Question Paper & Provisional Answer Key PDF:

NEST 2026 Student Reaction

SThe SciAstra team visited NEST 2026 examination centres in Delhi, Noida, Pune, and Bengaluru to gather students' feedback and understand their perspectives on the exam. According to the candidates, the overall difficulty level of the examination was moderate.

One of the candidates at the Pune centre reported that the Biology section was the most challenging part of the paper. However, she still considered the overall difficulty level of the exam to be moderate.

At the Pune centre of NEST 2026, one candidate credited SciAstra for helping her prepare effectively for the examination. As a PCB student, she found Mathematics to be one of her weaker areas and therefore joined the SciAstra IAT & NEST Crash Course.

She shared that the course significantly improved her confidence in Mathematics and helped her attempt a considerable number of questions in the Maths section during the exam.

SciAstra's Courses, including the 50 Most Important Questions, Rescue Series, and Maha Revision/Marathon sessions helped students to prepare for the exam. Many questions were asked from the SciAstra mock tests and 50 Most Important Questions Series for PCMB.

NEST 2026 Expected Cutoff

Considering previous years’ cutoff trends for NEST and responses collected from students who appeared in the exam over the past two years, Team SciAstra has provided the expected cutoff for NEST 2026. Refer to the following table for details:

NEST 2025 Analysis

The SciAstra team visited one of the NEST 2025 exam centres to understand candidates’ opinions about the question paper. Based on the obtained details, the overall difficulty level of the NEST 2025 exam was easy to moderate. Mathematics was reported as the most difficult section, while the difficulty level of the other sections ranged from easy to moderate.

NEST 2025 Section-Wise Analysis

The Biology topics from which questions were asked in NEST 2025 included Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Plant Physiology, Genetics, Microbiology, Evolution, Ethology, Ecology, and Population Genetics.

In the Chemistry section, the questions were based on Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry.

In the Mathematics section, questions were asked from Algebra, Calculus, Coordinate Geometry, Probability, and Complex Numbers.

The Physics section included questions from Kinematics, Electrostatics, Dimensional Analysis (Heat & Thermodynamics), Nuclear Physics, Optics (Refraction), and Oscillations in Non-inertial Frames.

Check out below the section-wise difficulty level for NEST 2025: