Eligibility criteria

  • Applicants must be Indian nationals, OCI/PIO/Foreign Nationals to apply for IAT 2025.

  • Candidates must have passed the Class XII (or equivalent) examination in 2023 or 2024 or 2025 with science stream from any board recognized by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India. Foreign Nationals need to upload an equivalence certificate issued by the Association of Indian Universities unless they have passed the Class XII or equivalent level examination in 2023 or 2024 or 2025 with science stream from any board recognized by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India. The equivalence certificate must be uploaded while submitting the IAT 2025 Application Form under "Please upload copy of document supporting your claim of Foreign National (You'll need to produce original when necessary)".

  • Candidates must have taken at least three subjects among Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics during their Class XII (or equivalent) examination.

  • For admissions to the following programs, candidates must have Mathematics during their Class XII (or equivalent): 5-year BS-MS in Computational and Data Sciences program at IISER Kolkata, 4-year B. Tech. program at IISER Bhopal, 4-year BS in Economic Sciences program at IISER Bhopal and 4-year BS in Economic and Statistical Sciences program at IISER Tirupati.

  • Candidates belonging to SC/ST/PwD are required to score a minimum of 55% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade in their Class XII (or equivalent) examination. Candidates belonging to other categories are required to score a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade in their Class XII (or equivalent) examination. Note that, the percentage needs to be calculated using aggregate marks, that is, considering ALL the subjects taken in Class XII (or equivalent) level.

NOTE:

1. The students from the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE), from Kashmir division/Winter Zone areas of Jammu division and the U.T. of Ladakh, who appeared in their Class XII or equivalent level examination in Dec 2022, are also eligible to apply for the IAT 2025, provided they satisfy all the other eligibility criteria. During the application process, these students must pick 2023 as their year of passing the Class XII examination.

2. Candidates belonging to Kashmiri Pandit/Kashmiri Hindu Families (Non-Migrants) may apply for the IAT 2025 as Kashmiri Migrants subject to the fulfilment of other eligibility criteria. These candidates must upload a valid domicile certificate at the time of application under "Kashmiri Migrant Certificate".

Admission to IISERs

Admission to IISERs is exclusively through the IISER Aptitude Test (IAT), which is a computer-based test scheduled on Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM, at various centres across India.

Performance Criteria in Class XII (or equivalent examination)

  • Candidates whose Class XII (or equivalent) examination results have not yet been declared can apply for IAT 2025. However, their admission will be subject to fulfilling the minimum eligibility criteria given above.
  • For candidates who had appeared in the Class XII (or equivalent) examination for the first time in 2024 and reappeared in any subject (for whatever reason) in 2025, the better of two performances will be considered.
  • If a board gives aggregate marks considering both Class XI and Class XII, then only Class XII (or equivalent) examination marks will be considered. If a board gives aggregate marks considering the results of all three years of a 3-year diploma or courses of equivalent duration, then only the marks scored in the final year will be considered. Similarly, the marks scored in the final two semesters will be considered for boards that follow a semester system.

  • If a board awards only letter grades without providing an equivalent percentage of marks on the grade-sheet, the candidate should obtain a certificate from the board specifying the equivalent marks and submit it before the deadline of the mark-sheet submission. In case the board does not provide such a certificate, the percentage marks will be assessed as follows:

            percentage marks = (CGPA or CPI obtained × 100) / PS,
    where PS is the maximum value of the point scale used by the respective board.

Reservation Policy

  • Reservation policies as mandated by the Govt. of India will apply
  • Scheduled Caste (SC) - 15% of seats
  • Scheduled Tribe (ST) - 7.5% of seats
  • Other Backward Classes belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) - 27% of seats
  • Persons with Disability (PwD) with at least 40% impairment - 5% of seats (horizontal, within the same category)
  • Kashmiri Migrants/Kashmiri Pandit/Kashmiri Hindu Families (Non-Migrants) - 3 seats per IISER (supernumerary)
  • Economically Weaker Section (EWS) - up to 10% (as per Government of India rules)
  • Note that the EWS/OBC-NCL certificate should be issued on or after April 01, 2025

Services of a Scribe

  • As per the office memorandum of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the PwD candidates who are visually impaired OR dyslexic (severe) OR have disability in the upper limbs OR have lost fingers/hands, thereby preventing them from properly operating the computer-based test platform may avail the services of a scribe (amanuensis) for the IISER Aptitude Test. This facility will be extended to candidates with less than 40% disability under the above mentioned categories and having difficulty in writing, as per the Honorable Supreme Court verdict (click here for more details).
  • Eligible candidates who desire to avail the services of a scribe need to opt for this during the online application process of IAT 2025.
  • If it is found at any stage that a candidate has availed the services of a scribe, but is not eligible to do so, the candidate will be excluded from the process of evaluation, ranking, and admission. If such a candidate has already been admitted to any IISER, the candidate's admission will be cancelled. The opinion of the medical board constituted by individual IISER shall be final.

Compensatory Time

  • PwD candidates having disabilities with at least 40% impairment as applicable, are eligible for one hour compensatory time in the IISER Aptitude Test. Persons with less than 40% disability and having difficulty in writing covered under the definition of Section 2 (s) of the RPwD Act, 2016 but not covered under the definition of Section 2(r) of the said Act are also eligible for one hour compensatory time, as per the Honorable Supreme Court verdict (click here for more details).
  • If it is found at any stage that a candidate has availed compensatory time, but is not eligible to do so, the candidate will be excluded from the process of evaluation, ranking and admission. If such a candidate has already been admitted to any IISER, the candidate's admission will be cancelled. The opinion of the medical board constituted by individual IISER shall be final.

OCI/PIO

OCI/PIO card holders can apply for IAT 2025, provided they satisfy other eligibility criteria. They shall be eligible to compete for the unreserved seats. The applicant needs to upload an equivalence certificate issued by the Association of Indian Universities unless they have passed the Class XII or equivalent level examination from any board recognized by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India.

Foreign Nationals

Candidates who are not citizens of India AND do not hold OCI/PIO cards shall be considered as foreign nationals. Such candidates are eligible to appear for IAT 2025, provided they satisfy other eligibility criteria. The applicant needs to upload an equivalence certificate issued by the Association of Indian Universities unless they have passed the Class XII or equivalent level examination from any board recognized by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India. The equivalence certificate must be uploaded while submitting the IAT 2025 Application Form under "Please upload copy of document supporting your claim of Foreign National (You'll need to produce original when necessary)".