The full directory

JEE Advanced

The second stage on the way to the IITs. Only students who place near the top of JEE Main are invited to sit it, so everyone in the room is already well prepared.

Year-round prep · 4,933 h

MHT-CET (PCM group)

Maharashtra state engineering and pharmacy admissions.

Moderate prep · ≈ 400 h

BITSAT

BITS Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad · computer-based · two sessions.

Moderate prep · ≈ 530 h

JEE Main

The national engineering paper — NITs, IIITs, and the gate to JEE Advanced.

Year-round prep · 2,371 h

NEET UG

The single gate to every MBBS, BDS and AYUSH seat in India.

Year-round prep · 1,958 h

CA Foundation

Entry to chartered accountancy · three attempts a year.

Moderate prep · ≈ 580 h

CUET UG

One test for central university admissions — DU, BHU, JNU and 250 more.

Year-round prep · 1,185 h

CLAT

Five-year integrated law at the National Law Universities.

Moderate prep · ≈ 670 h

NIFT Entrance

National Institute of Fashion Technology · aptitude, creative ability, interview.

Light prep · ≈ 250 h

NATA

Architecture aptitude — drawing, reasoning and maths.

Light prep · ≈ 210 h

NDA (Written + SSB)

Union Public Service Commission · twice a year · pen and paper.

Moderate prep · ≈ 560 h

IPMAT (IIM Indore)

Five-year integrated management programme, straight after Class 12.

Moderate prep · ≈ 510 h

CMI Entrance Examination

One paper for all of Chennai Mathematical Institute's four-year B.S. (Hons.) degrees — Mathematics, Mathematics and Computer Science, or Mathematics and Physics. The stated eligibility names no subject at all; the paper is mathematics from end to end.

IISER IAT

The aptitude test for the five-year BS-MS dual degree at the seven IISERs — the main research-first science door open straight out of Class 12. A rank in it also reaches the four-year BS (Research) programme at IISc.

ISI Admission Test

The written test for the Indian Statistical Institute's undergraduate degrees — B Stat (Hons) at Kolkata, B Math (Hons) at Bengaluru, and the new four-year B SDS (Hons) in statistical data science. Mathematics and English at Class 12 are what it asks for.

NEST

The common entrance for the five-year Integrated MSc at NISER Bhubaneswar and UM-DAE CEBS Mumbai, both run by the Department of Atomic Energy. Research-oriented teaching in basic sciences, entered directly from school.

SET (Symbiosis)

The undergraduate entrance for Symbiosis, and the door to the BCA at its computer studies institute in Pune. Its eligibility names no school subject at all — which makes it one of the few technology entrances a Commerce or Arts student can sit.

IPU CET (BJMC)

The journalism paper of a university-level entrance — one of the few dedicated media entrances open straight from school.

NCHM JEE

The national entrance to the three-year B.Sc. in Hospitality and Hotel Administration at the Institutes of Hotel Management. Open to any stream; the eligibility names English as a subject rather than a science or a mathematics.

Oberoi STEP

A three-year hotel operations traineeship entered straight from Class 12, selected by written assessment and interview. It charges no fee and pays an allowance, and it closes at twenty — the age limit is the reason it belongs on a site read at fifteen.

NCET

The entrance to the four-year integrated teacher education degree — a BA, BSc or BCom taken together with a BEd, straight from school.

SSC CHSL

The Combined Higher Secondary Level examination — the main central government recruitment entered directly from Class 12, for clerical, assistant and data entry posts across ministries and departments.

SSC GD Constable

Recruitment of constables to the central armed police forces and Assam Rifles, taken after Class 10. A uniformed career entered without a degree, and the largest such door that is not the armed forces.

SSC MTS

The Multi-Tasking Staff examination, taken after Class 10 — one of the few doors on this site that opens before a stream has even been chosen, and among the largest central government recruitments by number of applicants.