NBHM Master’s Scholarship Test Experience
About NBHM Master’s Scholarship Test:
The National Board of Higher Mathematics (NBHM) conducts its test for Master’s and Doctoral Scholarship every year. Since 2023 the question paper for both the tests is same but they have separate cutoffs for both the scholarship shortlists. For Master’s Scholarship, M-score is calculated and the students obtaining a score greater than or equal to the cutoff are shortlisted for the interview. After the interviews of the shortlisted candidates, final list of the selected students for the grant of the scholarship is released. There’s no official syllabus for the test, but the test contains questions from Real & Complex Analysis, Abstract & Linear Algebra, Topology, Differential Equations, Combinatorics and some miscellaneous problems.
Last year’s Experience:
I appeared for the NBHM test for the first time in 2023 when I was in the third year of my BSc Mathematics. Due to the effects of COVID, it was held on April 29, 2023. Usually it’s supposed to be held in January every year. I faced a lot of difficulties in the exam that day. I couldn’t even understand the problems from Complex Analysis and Topology as I had not studied those topics in my bachelors. I was not much comfortable in Real Analysis too. Hence, couldn’t attempt many problems from the area. I mainly focussed on Algebra and Combinatorics but made some calculation mistakes in those too. As a result, I missed the shortlisting cutoff by 4 marks.
Preparation:
Due to the performance in the IIT JAM Mathematics exam, I was able to get admission in IIT Kanpur for my MSc. I decided to appear for the NBHM test again. This time, it was scheduled to be held on January 20, 2024. I went through the PYQs this time to get an idea of the problems being asked. I noticed that even if I skip all the questions from Topology and Complex Analysis, I would get shortlisted for the interview provided I do the problems from other topics correct. Hence, I stopped worrying about them and shifted my focus entirely to Algebra and Analysis.
For Abstract Algebra, I followed Dummit & Foote; for Linear, I followed Hoffman & Kunze; for Real Analysis, I followed W Rudin. I didn’t follow anything specific for the Combinatorics but tried solving the PYQs.
The Test:
The test centre was my own MSc institute and hence, I didn’t had to worry about it. Based on the pyqs, I was feeling confident before the exam. When I received the question paper, I started searching for problems from the topics of my interest. I marked them and started solving them one by one. The difficulty level of the paper was almost same as the previous years and hence, I knew there won’t be much change in the cutoff. I tried to keep myself calm and solved the problems in Algebra first, followed by Combinatorics and Real Analysis. I didn’t attempt many True and False questions as for every correct response, we get +2 and for every incorrect responce, the penalty is -2. I didn’t want to take risks since I knew I had done enough questions.
Result:
On Feb 14, the interview shortlist was announced with my name on it. My M-Score was 42, 4 marks more than the cutoff this time.