JEST 2016: Application, Eligibility & Imported Dates

Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST)

Applicants seeking admission  for a Ph.D / Integrated Ph.D Programme in Physics or Theoretical Computer Science or Neuroscience or Computational Biology in  one  of the Participating Institutes may appear for the Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST) at one of the Exam Centers.

The Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) (statutory body established through an Act of Parliament) recognizes JEST as a National Eligibility Test (NET) in their office Memo vide OM No.SB/S9/Z-01/2015.

Imported dates:

• Online applications will start from November 5, 2015.
• Last date for online applications and payments is December 10, 2015.
• JEST 2016 will be held on Sunday, February 21, 2016.

Participating Institutes have their own eligibility criteria. Applicants who are expected to complete their final examinations by August of each year are also eligible to appear for the JEST exam of that year.
Ph.D. Degree in Neuroscience or Computational Biology - Participating Institutes:

• IMSc (The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai):Theoretical Physics, Theoretical Computer Science, and Computational Biology
• NBRC (National Brain Research Centre, Manesar): Molecular, Computaional and Systems Neuroscience. Sensory & motor systems, learning & memory, language & speech processing, functional neuroimaging: EEG, MEG, fMRI, MRS, stem cells, developmental neurobiology, neurogenetics, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, cancer signaling & glial tumor biology.

 Please note that JEST is meant as a means for students from a Physics background to take up research in Neuroscience or Computational Biology, and interested students have to take the PHYSICS JEST examination. Please visit the NBRC webpage  or the IMSc webpage for more information.
Eligibility Ph.D. Programme -Theoretical Computer Science/Neuroscience/Computational Biology

• M.Sc./ M.E. / M.Tech. / M.C.A. in Computer Science and related disciplines, and should be interested in the mathematical aspects of computer science. Visit website of IMSc for further details. M.Sc (Physics/ Mathematics), B.E/ B.Tech/ M.C.A in Computer Science for Ph.D. in Neuroscience at NBRC.
• ​M.Sc./ M.E. / M.Tech. ​/ MCA ​ in any engineering or science discipline, with good mathematical skills and strong interest in biological problems for Ph.D. in Computational Biology at IMSc.

Exam Centers: Ahmedabad, Aligarh, Allahabad, Bangalore, Bardhaman, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar,Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwhati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nainital, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Roorkee, Sambalpur, Silchar, Siliguri, Srinagar, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Vishakhapatnam.

Application Procedure (Before filling the ON-LINE application form, candidate is requested to read the following instructions carefully)
ON-LINE Application
To apply online, applicants must create an account using a valid email-id. This account will remain valid from the time of account creation till one month after the date of declaration of results, for that year. Email-ids are linked to the created account as well as  to the application, and will be used for all communications with the applicants. Therefore, the email-id should be active and must not be changed during this period. To submit application online,  applicants must login to the created account and complete the application form. After submission, an unique submission number will be sent to your email-id. Please save all the emails sent to you and the unique submission number must be quoted by the applicant for any communication with the JEST authority.
The steps for submission of ON-LINE application form are

1. Register yourself before you login. It is assumed that you already have an email-id. Registrations will start from November 5, 2015.
2. To register, the candidate has to click on the "register to appear for the exam" link in the Homepage. You will receive an email with  your account information after registering with a valid email-id. Follow the instructions given in the email for resetting your password and further login.
3. Login to the JEST homepage with your username (your email-id) and password. Fill the form and save it, or, modify an already saved form.  Press the "Submit Application" button ONLY when you have inserted and checked all the mandatory entries.
4. Upload jpg files of your Passport size photo and scanned signature.
5. Pay the application fee online using the State Bank of India i-collect facility. Please check the FAQ for details of the payment process.
6. After ON-LINE submission of the application form and successful e-payment of the application fee, your submission procedure will be considered complete. NO modification will be allowed after this.

E-Photo and E-Signature
Photo - Signature

• While filling up the form, you will be asked to upload jpeg files of your passport size photograph and your signature. The size of the individual files should not exceed 50 Kilo bytes. Crop out the extra white portion from the background surrounding the image to retain clarity.
• Before uploading your photo and signature files, make sure you have given it a good name.  File names should use  alphabets, underscores, and numbers only.  Special characters such as spaces,  (, #, &,  punctuation, etc., should not be used in filenames.  If you use a logical naming system, like loginname_date_photo.jpg, loginname_date_sig.jpg then it will be printed without any errors.
• In case the jpeg file of your photo which has been taken with camera exceeds the limit, you should compress the file size using compression softwares available in the websites, such as http://jpeg-optimizer.com, http://www.imageoptimizer.net.
• Your signature can be scanned with a digital scanner, and saved as jpeg file for uploading. In case this file size produced by scanner also exceeds 50 kB limit, you can compress it using the same tools as explained above.
• Please make sure the image type is jpeg. For checking, right click and go to the properties of the file being uploaded.
• Dimension of the image files should be the following
  • Minimum of 100 X 125 pixels or maximum of 240 x 300 pixels (width x height) for photo and 150 x 30 pixels (width x height) for signature
• Please check ALL the properties of these image files before uploading.

Application Fee
An Application Fee of Rs. 300 (Rs 150 for SC/ST applicants ONLY) is required to be paid along with the application which can be paid online using Debit/Credit cards and Net-banking. Payment by any other mode will NOT be accepted. Click Here for Available Payment Options.
Post-Submission of Application form

• On successful submission of ON-LINE application form you will receive an E-mail with following information from JEST Website.

• Application data after final submission containing  Unique Submission Number and filled in data.

• Please save this e-mail for further correspondence with the JEST authority.
• If you do not receive the above-mentioned e-mail after submission of application form and the successful e-payment of the application fee, contact JEST authority.

• Admit card will be available in the JEST webpage after 15th of January, 2016. Bring a printout of the downloaded admit card and one of your photo-ids for entry into the examination centre. Admit cards will NOT be sent by post/email.