Top 21 Competitive Exams to appear in after your board exams

Passing the class XII board exams marks the beginning of a fresh lease of academic journey - higher studies. With a plethora of choices available, in terms of courses, streams and subject options, students need to pick their desired career path and secure admission to them. That requires cracking various national level competitive exams too. Alongside, there are few such exams for joining a certain govt. sector jobs and national services also. 

These national level competitive exams are entrance tests, designed to pick eligible candidates for the desired courses. Government sector jobs and national services also rely on the same. Most of the science stream students are familiar with the idea of All India exams for entry to the engineering and medical courses. But there are other national level exams too, meant for the arts and commerce students as well as for those seeking offbeat career options.

Here's a list of the top competitive exams at a glance:

MEDICAL

• National Eligibility Entrance Exam for UnderGraduate (NEET UG): Entrance cum eligibility test for MBBS/BDS courses.

• Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Entrance Exam: The All India entrance exam for admission in this premier medical institute that offers career opportunities in the Indian Defence services medical branch. 

• All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT): This CBSE-conducted exam is the entrance test for government medical/dental colleges under Delhi University, AFMC, BHU, Jamia Hamdard and also for medical colleges in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.

• AIIMS Entrance Exam: This is meant for admission into MBBS programs in AIIMS Institutes of New Delhi, Rishikesh, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Nagpur, Guntur, Patna, Raipur, and Bhubaneswar. 

Other than these, there are more All India Entrance Exams like CMC-Vellore, CMC-Ludhiana, COMED-K, JIPMER, Manipal (MBBS), AMU(MBBS), BHU Medical.

ENGINEERING

• Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main: Meant for admissions in premier engineering colleges like the NITs, IITs and centrally funded technical institutions like IIST.

• JEE Advanced: Scoring qualifying marks in JEE Mains makes a candidate eligible for this final screening entrance for the IITs, State and Central engineering institutes and NIIT and ISM Dhanbad.

• Birla Institute of Technology and Science Admission Test (BITSAT) entrance exam: This test is for bachelor degree engineering courses in Technology, Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, Pharmacy, and Management courses at Birla Institute of Technology & Science.

• National Aptitude Test (NATA): Entrance exam for the Bachelor of Architecture courses in India in Government and private colleges of Architecture.

Private institutes and state level engineering courses also have entrances like JEE West Bengal, COMED-K, Manipal (B. Tech), IPU-CET (B. Tech), IISC-Bangalore, VITEEE, AMU (B. Tech), KIIT, Assam CEE etc.

LAW AND CHARTERED ACCOUNTANCY

• Common Law Admission Test (CLAT): All-India entrance exam for admission in undergraduate and postgraduate courses of Law (L.L.B and L.L.M), offered by 14 National Law universities (NLUs).

• Law School Admission Test (LSAT) India: Meant for admission in B.A. L.L.B (Hons) in participating colleges like Amity, ITM Gurgaon, Faculty of Law Dehradun, RGSOIPL, UPES Dehradun.

• All India Law Entrance Test (AILET): This is for entry into B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)

• CPT for Chartered Accountancy: Common Proficiency Test (CPT) is conducted by the Council of the Institute Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

• National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) Entrance Exam: The entrance test after class 12 for the regular full time 3 years B.Sc Degree course in Hospitality and Hotel Administration, jointly with National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology and Indira Gandhi National Open University.

FASHION

• National Institute of Fashion Technology Entrance Exam (NIFT): An entrance exam for courses in fashion design, technology, and management at NIFT, that has a network of 15 centres across India.

• National Institutes of Design Entrance Exam (NID): Meant for admission to professional education in Industrial, Textile, IT and Communication design at NID, an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI.

• All India Entrance Examination for Design (AIEED): Entrance test for admission in 4 years’ undergraduate level program in design.

Private institutes offering fashion and design courses after class 12 also conduct their separate entrance exams.

AVIATION

• Candidates seeking a career as an air hostess or flight steward can appear in entrance exams of various private institutes for the training courses.

Entrance test for Government jobs and National Services

Students who prefer joining the national services or Government sector jobs right after class 12, need to appear in and crack the respective entrance exams. 

MARINE, NAVY, DEFENCE

• National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy (NA) Exams:  NDA and NA entrance exams are selection processes for Army, Air Force, and Navy.

• Indian Maritime University Common Entrance Test: This All India entrance for science stream students offer admission in Diploma in Nautical Science (DNS) with a BSc. (Nautical Science) degree.

• Indian Navy B.Tech Entry Scheme: This test is meant for the Indian Navy B.Tech course.

• Indian Navy Sailors Recruitment: A competitive exam for science background students to enter basic training at INS Chilka, followed by professional training.

• Indian Army Technical Entry Scheme (TES): Class 12 students with PCM background can appear for this.