NEST 2026 Expected Cutoff for SC and ST: Minimum Qualifying Marks

NEST 2026 expected cutoff for SC and ST categories is a Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP) of 75, with a section-wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS) set at 50% of the General category SMAS — approximately 4 to 5 marks per section based on 2025 trends.

The National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) 2026 was conducted on June 6, 2026. Results are expected on June 24, 2026, along with separate merit lists for NISER Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai. Students from SC and ST categories benefit from relaxed qualifying thresholds but must still clear both the MAP and SMAS benchmarks to feature on the merit list.

• SC and ST students must achieve a minimum of 75 percentile (MAP) to qualify for the NEST 2026 merit list.
• Section-wise SMAS for SC and ST is 50% of the General category SMAS in each of the four subject sections.
• Based on 2025 data, General SMAS ranged from 8.65 to 9.84 marks per section, placing the SC/ST SMAS at approximately 4.3 to 4.9 marks per section.
• Students must meet the SMAS requirement in all four sections and achieve the MAP to be ranked.
• NEST 2026 results and official cutoff are expected on June 24, 2026 at nestexam.in.

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NEST 2026 Cutoff Overview: Category-wise Thresholds

NEST cutoff works through two parallel filters — a percentile gate (MAP) and a section-level score gate (SMAS). A student who clears the MAP but fails to meet the SMAS in any section does not make the merit list, and vice versa. The table below shows the relaxed cutoff standards that apply to SC and ST students compared to the General category.

Merit ranks are computed on the best three section scores out of four (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics), each carrying 60 marks. The maximum effective score for ranking is 180 marks.

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MAP and SMAS Criteria for SC and ST Students

Both conditions below must be satisfied at the same time for an SC or ST student to appear on the NEST 2026 merit list.

Minimum Admissible Percentile (MAP): This is the overall percentile a student must secure in NEST. For SC and ST students the MAP is 75 percentile. Students who score below this overall percentile — regardless of their raw mark in individual sections — are excluded from the merit list.

Section-wise Minimum Admissible Score (SMAS): Each of the four subject sections has a minimum marks requirement. For SC and ST students the SMAS is 50% of the SMAS fixed for General category students. The General category SMAS is announced when the result is declared each year. Students must meet or exceed the SMAS in all four sections to be ranked.

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Expected Cutoff Marks for SC and ST in NEST 2026

The official NEST 2026 cutoff will be published on June 24, 2026. Based on 2025 trends, the expected qualifying thresholds for SC and ST students in NEST 2026 are as follows.

All figures above are expected estimates based on 2025 trends. The actual SMAS values depend on the General category threshold announced with the NEST 2026 result. The MAP of 75 percentile has remained unchanged for SC and ST students across recent cycles and is expected to hold for 2026 as well.

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Previous Year NEST Cutoff: 2025 Section-wise SMAS

The table below shows the officially released NEST 2025 SMAS values for the General category alongside the corresponding SC/ST SMAS derived at 50% of those values.

In NEST 2025, the General category SMAS across all sections fell in the 8.65–9.84 range out of 60 marks per section. SC and ST students therefore needed only around 4.3 to 4.9 marks per section to clear the SMAS threshold, on top of achieving the 75 percentile MAP. A similar pattern is expected in NEST 2026.

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Factors Affecting NEST 2026 Cutoff

The final NEST 2026 cutoff depends on several variables. Students should keep these in mind when interpreting expected figures.

• Paper difficulty: A tougher paper lowers the General SMAS, which directly lowers the SC/ST SMAS (set at 50% of General). An easier paper has the opposite effect.
• Total applicant pool: A rise in the number of SC and ST students who sit the exam increases competition for reserved seats and can push the effective admission rank higher.
• Available seats: NISER Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai offer a fixed number of reserved seats. Fewer seats relative to qualified students mean a tighter admission cutoff beyond the qualifying threshold.
• General category SMAS announced with result: Since SC/ST SMAS is mechanically derived from the General SMAS, any shift in the General threshold shifts the SC/ST threshold by the same proportion.
• Subject-wise performance distribution: If a large number of students score high in a specific section, that section’s SMAS may rise, affecting the qualifying bar for all categories including SC and ST.