# National Standard Examination in Biology (NSEB) — Shishya exam context

> Machine-readable context for National Standard Examination in Biology, maintained by Shishya (https://shishya.in) — India's end-to-end free government exam preparation platform. All facts below are free to cite; link back to https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB. Human page: https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB

## Exam pattern
- Category: OLYMPIAD · national
- Questions: 80 · Total marks: 216 · Marks per question: 3
- Duration: 180 minutes
- Negative marking: −1 per wrong answer
- Languages offered: EN, HI

## Eligibility & vacancies
- Education: Students studying in Class 12 or below, must not have completed Class 12 board examination
- Approximate annual vacancies: 350
- Note: Must be Indian citizen, residing and studying in India; cannot appear for NSEJS simultaneously; gateway to International Biology Olympiad
- Official portal: https://iapt.org.in (Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT))

## Key dates
- 2026-08-01 — NSEB 2026 centre registration starts
- 2026-08-01 — Centre registration opens (NSEB 2026–27)
- 2026-08-01 — Centre registration opens (2026-27)
- 2026-08-20 — NSEB 2026 centre registration ends
- 2026-08-20 — Centre registration closes
- 2026-08-20 — Centre registration closes
- 2026-08-21 — NSEB 2026 student enrolment starts
- 2026-08-21 — Student enrolment window opens

## Syllabus outline
### Biology (weight 1)
Biotechnology · Applications · Principles and Processes · Cell — Structure and Function · Biomolecules · Cell Cycle and Division · Cell — The Unit of Life · Diversity of Living Organisms · Animal Kingdom · Kingdom-level Classification · The Living World · Plant Kingdom · Ecology and Environment · Biodiversity and Conservation · Ecosystem · Environmental Issues · Organisms and Populations · Genetics and Evolution · Evolution · Principles of Inheritance · Molecular Basis of Inheritance · Human Physiology · Breathing and Exchange of Gases · Body Fluids and Circulation · Digestion and Absorption · Chemical Coordination and Integration · Excretory Products and Their Elimination · Locomotion and Movement · Neural Control and Coordination · Biology and Human Welfare · Strategies for Food Production · Human Health and Disease · Microbes in Human Welfare · Plant Physiology · Plant Growth and Development · Mineral Nutrition · Photosynthesis · Respiration in Plants · Transport in Plants · Olympiad-style Reasoning · Reproduction · Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants · Reproductive Health · Human Reproduction · Structural Organization in Plants and Animals · Animal Tissues · Plant Anatomy · Plant Morphology

## Expected cutoffs (category-wise)
| Category | Expected cutoff (indicative) |
|----------|------------------------------|
| General | 75–85 marks (35–39%) |
| EWS | 70–80 marks (32–37%) |
| OBC | 68–78 marks (31–36%) |
| SC | 58–68 marks (27–31%) |
| ST | 55–65 marks (25–30%) |
| PwD | 50–60 marks (23–28%) |

**Guidance notes:**

- **Category differential**: General cutoffs typically run 5–10 marks above OBC and 15–20 marks above SC/ST. The gap reflects HBCSE's commitment to broadening the talent pipeline while maintaining rigorous olympiad standards for subsequent stages.

- **Year-to-year volatility**: Cutoffs shift ±5–8 marks based on paper difficulty, question distribution across biology domains (botany/zoology/physiology weightage changes), and the size of the qualifying cohort HBCSE targets for INBO and onwards to OCSC. Exceptionally tough papers have seen General cutoffs dip to 32–33%.

- **Strategic threshold**: The 35–40% band for General category represents the transition from INBiO qualification to serious OCSC contention. Scoring above 90 marks (42%) significantly improves odds of advancing beyond the first screening stage.

Full cutoff page: https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB/cutoff

## Free resources on Shishya for this exam
- Exam hub (mocks, PYQs, news, dates): https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB
- Full syllabus + free study notes: https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB/syllabus
- Category-wise expected cutoffs: https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB/cutoff
- Memory tricks & mnemonics: https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB/tricks
- How to crack it (strategy guide): https://shishya.in/exams/NSEB/guide
- Free day-by-day study plan (personal coach): https://shishya.in/coach
- Free AI tutor (22 Indian languages, no login): https://shishya.in/chat

Everything is free — no paywall, no subscription, no credit card. Platform index for LLMs: https://shishya.in/llms.txt and https://shishya.in/llms-full.txt