There are no specific criteria to appear for JEST. JEST is a screening test for admission to PhD, Integrated PhD, and MSc programs of various participating institutes in physics and theoretical computer science. For the results of JEST to be useful, the candidates must qualify additional eligibility criteria, which depends on the institutes where they would like to apply.
Listed below are tentative eligibility criteria for admission to MSc, PhD, and Integrated MSc / MTech - PhD programs in the participating institutes, which use JEST results for screening. Kindly confirm these with the most-updated eligibility criteria by visiting websites of the respective institutes. For their websites, please visit the page "Participating Institutes."
| Program | Qualification | Institute |
|---|---|---|
| PhD in Physics | MSc in Physics | All participating Institutes |
| MSc in Mathematics / Applied Physics / Applied Mathematics / Optics and Photonics / Instrumentation / Electronics | IIA | |
| BE or BTech | IISc, IMSc, ICTS-TIFR, IUCAA, NCRA-TIFR, TIFR-TCIS, RRI, IISER Mohali, IISER Pune, and IISER Thiruvananthapuram | |
| MSc in Physics / Electronics / Astronomy / Applied Mathematics | IUCAA and NCRA-TIFR | |
| MSc in Physics, Engineering Physics or Applied Physics | IPR | |
| MSc in Physics, Chemistry, Applied Mathematics, Biophysics or Biochemistry | SNBNCBS | |
| BTech Engg Phys | TIFR and NCRA-TIFR | |
| ME / MTech in Applied Physics | NISER | |
| MSc in Physics / Astronomy / Optics / Photonics / Biophysics/ Mathematics or ME / MTech in Engineering | RRI | |
| PhD in Theoretical Computer Science | MSc / ME / MTech in Computer Science and related disciplines, and should be interested in the mathematical aspects of computer science | IMSc |
| PhD in Computational Biology | MSc / ME / MTech / MCA in any engineering or science discipline, with good mathematical skills and strong interest in biological problems | IMSc |
| PhD in Neuroscience | MSc (Physics/ Mathematics), BE / BTech / MCA in Computer Science | NBRC |
| Integrated MSc / MTech - PhD Program in Physics | BSc in Physics (Major / Hons), or in Physics and Mathematics (Physics cannot be an allied / subsidiary / minor subject) | SNBNCBS |
| BSc (Physics) | IMSc, IISER-Pune, ICTS-TIFR, NCRA-TIFR, and TIFR-TCIS | |
| BSc (Physics / Mathematics) / BE / BTech in Electrical / Instrumentation / Engineering Physics / Electronics and Communications / Computer Science and Engineering / Optics and Photonics | IIA | |
| BSc (Physics) or BE / BTech in Engineering Physics, with a minimum of first class marks | NISER | |
| BSc (Physics / Mathematics/ Computer Science/ Electronics) / BE / BTech | Bose Institute | |
| Integrated PhD in Theoretical Computer Science | BSc / BE / BTech / MCA in Computer Science or related disciplines and should be interested in the mathematical aspects of computer science | IMSc |
| Integrated MTech - PhD | MSc (Physics / Applied Physics) / Post-B.Sc. (Hons) in Optics and Optoelectronics / Radio Physics and Electronics | IIA |
| Integrated PhD | BSc (Physics) or BE / BTech in any discipline | IISER Kolkata and IISER Thiruvananthapuram |
| MSc | BSc (Physics) or BE/BTech degree in any discipline | HRI |