Unlock your teaching career: NTA invites applications for NCET 2026 for ITEP admissions
National Testing Agency (NTA) has invited applications for the National Common Entrance Test (NCET) for admission to 4-Year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in selected Central/State Universities/Institutions including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Regional Institutes of Technology (RIEs), and Government/Private/Autonomous Colleges etc. for the Academic Session 2026-27.
The ITEP is a Dual Major Programme - the first major is in Education with School Specific Stage specialization and the second major is in an opted discipline.
A provisional List of Central/State Universities/Institutions (with total intake of 16950) coming under the purview of NCET, along with the academic Programs at each (BA/B.Sc/B.Com. – B.Ed.) for the Academic Session 2026-27 is given in Appendix I of the Information Bulletin at https://exams.nta.nic.in/NCET/. The list of participating Institutions and seat intake may change. Applicants may keep visiting the official websites of NTA and NCTE in this regard.
Eligibility: There is no age limit for applying for NCET 2026. However, the candidates will be required to fulfil the age criteria (if any) of the University / Institution / College to which they are desirous of taking admission. Applicant should have passed Class 12 /equivalent examination or should be appearing in 2026. For the year of appearance in the Class 12 / equivalent examination and marks in the qualifying examination, the relevant conditions of respective Institutions will be applied. Candidates must ensure eligibility from the website of the respective Central/State Universities/Institutions.
NCET 2026 will be conducted in 170 Cities across India in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode on 17.4.2026. The examination may be conducted on multiple days in two shifts, with each shift of 180 minutes, depending on the number of Candidates and Subject choices.
Scheme of Examination: NCET 2026 will have Objective Type Multiple Choice Questions in 4 sections. A candidate will have to attempt a total of 7 tests from the 4 sections. In Section 1, candidate has to select 2 different language tests from 38 different languages available. Each language test will have 23 questions, out of which 20 questions need to be attempted. Section 2 will have questions from Domain Specific Subjects. 26 Domain-specific subjects are being offered under this section. A candidate may choose any three subjects as desired by the applicable University/ Universities/ Institution. Each domain-specific subject will have 28 questions, out of which 25 questions need to be attempted. Section 3 will be the General Test, which is a mandatory section. It will have 28 questions, out of which 25 need to be attempted. Section 4 is the Teaching Aptitude section, which is also a mandatory section. Teaching Aptitude will have 23 questions, out of which 20 questions need to be attempted. The list of languages, domain-specific subjects, and general tests covered in NCET 2026 is given in Appendix II of the Information Bulletin. The syllabus of each paper is available on the website. Each correct answer will get 4 marks. Each incorrect response will result in a loss of 1 mark.
Question Papers will be available in 13 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
Application: Application can be submitted online at https://exams.nta.ac.in/NCET/, latest by 11.50 pm on 10th March 2026. Application fee is Rs. 1200/-. It is Rs. 1000/- for OBC- NCL/ EWS and Rs. 650/- for SC/ST/PwBD/ Third Gender. The amount can be paid through Credit/Debit Card/Net-Banking/UPI up to 11.50 pm on 11th March 2026.
An applicant will have to choose Universities/Institutions to which admission is sought, the tests, medium of question paper, examination city (4 choices as per priority), etc., while applying.
Corrections to particulars in the application can be made online from 12 March to 14 March 2026. Intimations related to City of Examination, Downloading of Admit Cards, display of recorded responses and Answer Keys, Declaration of Result, etc., will be hosted on the website at the appropriate time.
NCET 2026 NTA SCORE: If the examination is conducted in multi-shift papers, raw (actual) marks obtained by the candidates in different shifts/sessions will be converted to NTA Score. The detailed procedure for the compilation of the NTA Score is available on the NTA Website and in Appendix VI of the Information Bulletin.
- The NTA Score of NCET 2026 is valid for admission to the academic year 2026 - 27 only.
- Admissions: Admissions are handled at the level of each of the participating Institutions. After the declaration of the NCET 2026 result by NTA, the Institutions will declare the counselling/ admission schedule and merit list based on the NCET 2026 score and the other criteria of the respective University. NTA does not have any role in the preparation of the Merit List.
- For all admission-related procedures/queries, the candidates may refer to the website of the applied University.
- The scores/results of NCET 2026 may be utilised by other organisations as per their eligibility criteria/norms/applicable regulations/guidelines/rules.
- The University /Institution/Organisation may admit any candidate who has appeared for NCET 2026, irrespective of the fact that the candidate has chosen that University / Institution/Organisation in the online Application Form of NET 2026, subject to satisfying eligibility conditions.