NSO Cut Off 2025-26: Check Class 3 to 12 NSO Cutoff Marks

Factors Determining NSO Cut-off 2025-26

The NSO test cut-off will be determined by the following factors:

• Total number of NSO exam 2025-26 applications received.
• Total number of students taking the NSO test in 2025-26.
• The level of difficulty of the NSO question paper.
• The total number of available seats.

It is advised that students who are going to sit for the NSO test 2025-26 should solve the NSO sample papers to become familiar with the NSO exam pattern and the typology of the questions.

NSO Cut Off 2025-26

The NSO cut-off is provided by the Science Olympiad Foundation after the test is conducted and the NSO results are declared. Students who will sit for the NSO test 2025-26 can go through the NSO cut-off trends of previous years, which are shown in the following tables:

NSO Cutoff 2023-24 (Level 1) for Classes 3 to 10

NSO Cutoff 2022-23 (Level 1) for Classes 3 to 10

NSO Cutoff 2022-23 (Level 1) for Class 11 and 12

NSO Cutoff 2019 (Level 1) for Class 3 to 10

NSO Cutoff 2019 (Level 1) for Class 11 and 12

NSO Cutoff 2018 (level 1) for Classes 3 to 10

NSO Cutoff 2018 (level 1) for Class 11 and 12

NSO Cutoff 2017 (level 1) - Class 3 to 10

NSO Cutoff 2017 (Level 1) for Class 11 and 12

What after the NSO Cut-Off 2025-26?

After the release of NSO results and NSO cut-off 2025-26, selected candidates will proceed towards Stage II of the National Science Olympiad. The SOF IMO 2nd level exam 2026 will be conducted for students of Classes 3 to 12 who qualify the Level 1 examination. In India, the exam will be held on February 8, 2026 for all regions except Maharashtra, while students from Maharashtra will appear on February 15, 2026. For international participants, the IMO 2nd level exam will take place between February 9 and February 20, 2026 The NSO level 2 result is expected to be announced in March 2026 along with the NSO level 2 cut-off.

Students who qualify for the 2nd level exam include:

• Top 5% of students class-wise, who appear for the 1st level exam (Due priority to marks scored in different sections to determine ranks in case of a tie of marks).
• From each Zone, the Top 25 rank holders from each class.
• Class topper from each participating school where at least 10 students from a class appear in the exam & score 50% qualifying marks.

Note: Students from classes 1 and 2 are not required to participate in the 2nd-level test and are ranked based on their achievement in the first-level exam. NSO is a single-level test for these classes.

SOF NSO Cut off 2025-26 - Section-Wise Priority

In cases of a tie in marks, SOF will determine the rank achieved in the NSO exam based on the priority given to the different sections of the NSO exam. Refer to the table given below to check the same.

SOF NSO Exam Section-wise Priority List

Also Check:

• NSO Syllabus

• NSO answer key