Top 10 Exams In India – Toughest Competitive Entrance Exam

Top 10 Exams In India: – Hello readers!! You know exams are inseparable part of our life, by reading this line many of us started to think who made the system of examinations then, concept of ‘examination’ has its roots in ancient China. Almost 2000 years ago in China, being a government official was a matter of great prestige, and the only way to enter this elite club of government officials was to pass examinations that were designed under the watchful eyes of “Emperor Zhang of Hen”.

Beside your like and dislike, exam are really important as these are designed to measure aptitude, mental stability, technical skills, physical fitness, and other aspects. Exams are conducted either orally, online, or via pen-and-paper or in a setup that requires the test taker to perform the exam with a particular set of skills.

Top 10 Exams In India

We have made a list of Top 10 Exams In India which are toughest: –

UPSC: – Like you know UPSC stands for Union Public Service Commission and it is probably the most prestigious. Civil services exams are conducted to recruit candidates for the top administrative positions in the central government of India, which comprises various services like IAS, IPS and IFS. The UPSC syllabus is extraordinarily vast, encompassing a diverse range of subjects which makes it one of the toughest exams in India. Aspirants must cover a large syllabus, Indian History, Indian Geography, and Laws on Human Rights considered crucial subjects. Almost 8-10 lakhs candidates appear for this exam.

This exam is conducted as three levels:-
Level 1: Preliminary exam.
◼ Level 2: Mains exam.
◼ Level 3: Personal interview.


As per the 69th Annual report, approximately 10 lakh candidates apply for the preliminary exams. However, only around 5 lakh candidates appeared for the Prelims, and out of those candidates, only close to 13,000 of them made it to level 2, which is the main exam. After that, only around 3000 candidates were able to get to level 3. This level further funnelled the candidates, out of which only half of that number were selected for processing. The final vacancies, however, showed up as ‘796’. This shows the nature of their strict selection procedures.

Top 10 Exams In India
Top 10 Exams In India

IIT-JEE: – The Joint Entrance Exam to test the students for the various engineering courses at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The exam is conducted in two stages which are IIT-JEE Mains and IIT-JEE Advanced. For the admissions in IITs, a huge number of students appear in the exams out of which only a few are selected to study in the institutions. The complex syllabus and hard competition make it one of the toughest exams in India!

Do you know the fact that only 1 out of 45 candidates is successful in the exam. If we keep this as a calculable ratio for future prospects, then we can assume that, for instance, only 2,200-10,000 candidates out of 1 lakh may pass the exam. Similarly, nearly 12 to 14 lakh students appear for JEE Main every year, and only around 2.2 lakh students are qualified for JEE Advanced. However, among the 2 lakh students qualified, only 11,000 students make it to the top engineering institutes in India.

GATE: – GATE stands for Graduation Aptitude Test in Engineering and this exam is conducted for admission of students into Masters and Doctoral courses in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, and Science. And is a solid admission criterion to various government engineering colleges, including IITs and NITs. The GATE score, once obtained, is valid for up to 3 years, starting from the announcement date. It’s also accepted by selected government PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings).

CA: – CA stands for Chartered Accountants and candidates have to pass three levels of exams which are conducted by ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India). It is supposed to be one of toughest exams because of its passing ratio.

Three levels of the examination are:-

CA Foundation: – Having 4 papers
◼ CA Intermediate: – Having 8 papers
◼ CA Final: – Having 8 papers


And yes, there is a mandatory internship of 3 years before CA Final.

UGC-NET: – University Grants Commission, National Eligibility Test. A national-level hiring exam conducted to select Assistant Professors and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) candidates in Indian universities and colleges. UGC NET qualified candidates are permitted to teach at school and college levels in various Indian universities and colleges.

The exam is tough enough for candidates. Only 6% of students success in these exams. On top of that, a category-wise reservation policy is applied to these successful candidates, which means depending on the category, candidates would be chosen by colleges respectively. Since 2018, the exam has been conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) and continues to cover 83 subjects in a total of 88 NET Exam-supported cities.

NDA: – National Defense Academy exams are conducted to push candidates into the Army, Air Force, or Navy. The candidates are picked based on a written examination, psychological aptitude test, intelligence test, personality test, and an interview. This exam is conducted twice a year i.e. in April and September.

Around 4 lakh candidates appear for the test, out of which only a meager 6,000 are called for the SSB interview. That’s accounting for 66.7% of the candidates failing the exams. It may not be the exams themselves, but rather the strenuous SSB interview that contributes to the high failure rate; the interview lasts for a total of 5 days.

CAT: – Common Admission Test is an entry-level exam that is a great gateway for admissions to premium management and business schools in India. Candidates are evaluated based on skills in English, Mathematics, and Logical Reasoning.

CAT entrance scores are accepted in all IIMs and other similar institutes and universities that offer MBA programs. However, every year, only a staggering 1,500 candidates out of 2 lakhs succeed in obtaining admissions to IIMs annually. If we had to calculate the success rate in percentages, then we’d conclude that the success rate is close to 2% only.

NEET: – National Eligibility cum Entrance Test exam is very mandatory in order to get admission to medical schools in India. NTA administers this pre medical test to select the candidates for BDS, MBBS and other courses in top medical schools excluding AIIMS. AIIMS has its own admission criteria.
It is considered one of the laborious, most competitive exams in India. Approximately, 15 lakh candidates apply online for NEET-UG and over 17 lakh candidates are expected to appear for the exam. This exam is the toughest medical exam because its syllabus is huge and students must prepare very hard to crack it.

NIDEE: – The National Institute of Design Entrance Examination or the NID Design Aptitude Test is a design assessment test focusing on aptitude, which the NID Admission Committee conducts. It intends to check the students’ creativity levels in the design. The NID ranks are awarded based on their merit obtained through the test. However, all major cities in India conduct the examination whenever scheduled.

NID entrance is conducted to offer design course admissions to the following.

Bachelor of Design (B. Des)
◼ Master of Design (M. Des)
◼ Graduate Diploma Programme in Design (GDPD)

But if one wants to obtain a seat for design programmes, one needs to clear the following two exams.

NID DAT Prelims
◼ NID DAT Mains


After clearing NID DAT Prelims, candidates are allowed to appear for NID DAT Mains. NID Prelims is conducted as a traditional pen-and-paper test, whereas the Mains is conducted as two parts: studio test and personal interview.

CLAT: – Common Law Admission Test is conducted to determine which candidates are eligible to take admissions to five-year programmes, such as Bachelor of Arts (Integrated with Law), Bachelor of Law, or Master of Law (LLM). 16 National Law Universities accept the scores a candidate obtains from CLAT exams in India.

Sixty thousand students appear for CLAT annually. Out of that number, only 5% (3,000 candidates) make it to National Law University. But, there is a structural change in the CLAT exam paper. There are now fewer questions to deal with; the numbers dropped from 200 to 150, and a comprehension section with 300-450-word passages are provided instead.

So, these are Top 10 Exams In India if you want to read more articles like this in future also then join our Telegram Channel.

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