शि

Exams · NSEA

Olympiad

NSEA

NSEA 2026 exam: 21 Nov 2026 (official — olympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in). Official site: iapt.org.in.

National Standard Examination in Astronomy

HBCSE/IAPT Stage-1 astronomy olympiad. 80 MCQs in 3 hours combining Class 11+12 physics & math with celestial mechanics, spherical trigonometry, and observational astronomy.

42 days to exam(official)80 Qs216 marks180 minNegative: −1📅 Dates & updates📋 Full syllabus🎯 Expected cutoff🧠 Tricks & mnemonics📖 How to crack it🔁 Mistake Notebook

Free NSEA mock tests and previous year paper practice — start now.

Full-length mocks with instant scoring and solutions, PYQ-pattern papers, topic-wise tests and Ask Shishya when you're stuck. Your scores and a free day-by-day plan are saved to your account. All free, no credit card. Content is AI-drafted and checked against the official notification.

Sign up with GoogleNo forms. The exam you sign up from becomes your exam.Sign up from an exam's page and that exam is set up as your exam: your dashboard starts from it and your AI tutor chats are saved. Where the exam has practice, your timed mock scores and weak topics are kept too. For students 13 and above. Free, with your Google account, no forms.Try a free 5-question quiz — no signup →
🎓 Preparing for NSEA? Get a free day-by-day plan to exam day. Rebuilt every morning around what you actually did — miss a day, nothing is lost.Build my plan →
~300 vacancies(indicative / typical)✓ Verify on Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT) ↗

Updated 3 Sept 2026 ·Vacancy counts change every cycle — always confirm the exact number in the latest official notification before applying.

Share with your prep group:WhatsApp

Sourced

Source: official exam authority notification · refreshed weekly. How this works →

✦ Try a NSEA question — free, no signup

A spherical asteroid of radius R and uniform density rotates with period T. For material on its equator to just remain on the surface, the minimum period is (where G is gravitational constant and ρ is density):

Tap an option to check your answer.

Start with a diagnostic

5 questions across the syllabus to see where you stand.

This becomes your exam: a Daily 5 email on mornings after you visit, and emails about your streak, live tests, exam date and result day, or after a week away. Each has an unsubscribe link.

🧩 Build your own mock — pick exact topics → · every mock readable in हिंदी + 17 languages inside the test

NSEA eligibility

Verified against the official notification. Source ↗ · last reconciled 2026-05.

Education
Currently studying in Class 8-12 in a recognised Indian school.
Attempts
One attempt per cycle.
Nationality
Indian citizen, OCI, or studying in Indian schools.

NSEA paper analysis — what actually got asked

Topic-by-topic weightage averaged across 2022-2024 papers. Use this to decide where to invest study hours, not where to skim. Source ↗ · verified 2026-05.

Mechanics

50/216 marks avg

  • Kinematics + dynamics + rotation + gravitation

    ~50 marks(23%)

Astronomy basics

60/216 marks avg

  • Celestial coordinate systems + Kepler's laws + astrometry

    ~60 marks(28%)

Electromagnetism + Modern Physics

50/216 marks avg

  • Stellar physics + spectra + cosmology basics

    ~50 marks(23%)

Mathematical Methods

30/216 marks avg

  • Trigonometry + vectors + calculus applications

    ~30 marks(14%)

Other

26/216 marks avg

  • Observational astronomy + spherical trigonometry

    ~26 marks(12%)

Takeaways for prep planning

  • NSEA is uniquely Indian — most candidates have never studied astronomy formally. Self-study via 'Astronomy: Principles and Practice' is the standard route.
  • Physics olympiad-level skills carry over; astronomy-specific knowledge (coordinate systems, ephemerides) needs separate prep.
  • HBCSE astronomy camp graduates often go on to ISRO / TIFR research careers.

NSEA — Frequently asked questions

Is Shishya free for NSEA preparation?
Yes. Every NSEA mock test, PYQ-pattern paper and study tool on Shishya is completely free — no subscription and no credit card. Questions are written with AI to follow each exam's syllabus topics on Shishya, and re-checked whenever a student reports one.
How many NSEA practice questions does Shishya have?
Shishya has 103 NSEA practice questions, written with AI; every one of them has passed an automated answer check (three independent AI solves and an examiner), and any question a student reports is re-checked. They are available as adaptive mock tests with a worked solution for every question.
Are NSEA previous year question papers available?
Yes. The official NSEA previous year papers the conducting body published are linked on this page, and Shishya has free PYQ-pattern practice papers covering 2021–2025 (5 years) — questions freshly worded in the pattern of each year's paper, not the paper itself; each year's page shows how many questions it holds against the real paper's count. Each is a timed practice set with full solutions.
What is the expected cutoff for NSEA?
Cutoffs change every cycle with paper difficulty and vacancies. Shishya maintains indicative score-to-rank bands and category-wise (General/EWS/OBC/SC/ST) expected cutoffs — not official figures — at https://shishya.in/exams/NSEA/cutoff
Is there a full-length NSEA mock test in the real exam pattern?
Yes — Shishya has a free full-length National Standard Examination in Astronomy mock built to the exam's pattern, with sections in the paper's order, scored with solutions. It is the "Full-Length Mock (Real Pattern)" tile on this page.
Can I build a topic-wise NSEA mock test?
Yes — pick any topics from the NSEA syllabus, choose 10, 25 or 50 questions and the difficulty, and attempt it as a timed mock with solutions and weak-topic analysis, free, at https://shishya.in/exams/NSEA/build-mock — questions can be read in Hindi and 17 other Indian languages inside the test.
How can I prepare for NSEA for free?
Shishya offers NSEA preparation 100% free: adaptive mock tests, official previous year papers (linked from the conducting body) and PYQ-pattern practice papers modelled on each year's paper, the full syllabus (https://shishya.in/exams/NSEA/syllabus), subject-wise memory tricks (https://shishya.in/exams/NSEA/tricks), a free day-by-day coach plan and an AI tutor in 18 Indian languages.

Previous year papers

101 questions across all years

Official papers

Question papers and answer keys as the conducting body published them. Each link opens the body's own file.

Published by Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT)

Previous year paper practice: each year is a set of PYQ-pattern questions — freshly worded in the pattern of that year's paper, not the paper itself. Every card shows how many it holds against the real paper's count.

Practise PYQ-pattern questions topic by topic, across all years →

Mock tests

Take any mock in your preferred language — use the language picker inside the mock to switch (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, and 15 more).

New to NSEA? Start small:a 25-question subject test first — 4 in 5 aspirants finish these; full mocks after your first win.Pick a subject test ↓

  • NSEA — Quick Practice

    SET

    20 questions · 180 min

    Start mock →

  • NSEA — 2022 PYQ-pattern set (20 of 80 questions)

    SET

    20 questions · 180 min

    Start mock →

  • NSEA — 2025 PYQ-pattern set (21 of 80 questions)

    SET

    21 questions · 180 min

    Start mock →

  • NSEA — Full-Length Mock (Real Pattern: 80Q · 180 min)

    FULL

    80 questions · 180 min

    Start mock →

Practice by subject & topic

Full-length subject tests below — 25 questions each, real exam format, instant scoring.Want to drill a single topic? Open it from the syllabus — a topic that has practice questions has a short quiz on its page.

  • Physics

    48 Qs

  • Mathematics

    23 Qs

  • Elementary Astronomy

    32 Qs

🎯 Build my own mock

Tell Shishya exactly what to test you on — topics, size, difficulty — and get a fresh mock in seconds. Leave the box blank and we'll target your weakest topics.

Questions
Difficulty

Your rank

vs everyone who has taken this exam

Take a mock to see where you stand on the leaderboard.

Students

10

Mocks taken

23

Average score

36%

Top score

100%

What can I get from NSEA?

Mock-score → expected rank → likely outcome. Use the mocks below to find your current band, then plan how many marks you need to climb.

AI-curated from historic cut-off patterns. Always verify with the latest official notification before making decisions.

News & timeline

See older updates →

Latest news

Important dates

  1. Centre registration closes

    passed

    Thu, 20 Aug, 2026

    Officialolympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in ↗

  2. Student enrolment opens

    passed

    Fri, 21 Aug, 2026

    Officialolympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in ↗

    Students can enrol via school or directly through IAPT portal; fee ₹300

  3. Student enrolment closes

    passed

    Mon, 14 Sept, 2026

    Officialolympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in ↗

  4. Admit card release (expected)

    21 days away

    Sat, 31 Oct, 2026

    Expected

    Based on 2025-26 cycle when admit cards were released on October 31, 2025

  5. 🏅NSEA 2026 exam

    42 days away

    Sat, 21 Nov, 2026

    Officialolympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in ↗

    Saturday, 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM (2 hours)

  6. NSEA result (expected)

    74 days away

    Wed, 23 Dec, 2026

    Expected

    Based on 2025-26 cycle; result typically in late December

  7. 🏅INAO (Stage-II) exam

    112 days away

    Sat, 30 Jan, 2027

    Officialolympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in ↗

    Indian National Astronomy Olympiad; 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM; only for NSEA qualifiers

Syllabus

Tap any topic for its study notes + a 10-question topic test

Physics

Mathematics

Elementary Astronomy