Top 10 Toughest Exams in India

The Top 10 Toughest Exams in India play a crucial role in the educational process that we go through. Exams have a vital dual purpose: first, they determine the level of the student’s aptitude; second, they teach fundamental qualities such as discipline, time management, the value of hard effort, and patience. Exams are the main way that people are chosen, whether they are going to a university to study abroad or for a job.


Numerous students hail from India, a country whose exams are well-known for their demanding structure and the calibre of preparation they necessitate. Some exams are descriptive, while others are multiple-choice, but qualifying for an exam may be difficult and often disappointing without a systematic study strategy. In this blog, we’ll talk about the Top10 Toughest Exams in India. These exams are in many different fields of study, so you should know about them.
List of Top 10 Toughest Exams in India
- UPSC Civil Services Exam
- IIT- JEE
- NEET UG
- UGC NET
- Graduate Aptitude Exam in Engineering (GATE)
- CAT (Common Admission Exam)
- Common-Law Admission Test (CLAT)
- Chartered Accountant (CA)
- National Defence Academy (NDA)
- National Institute of Design Entrance Exam
1. UPSC Civil Services Exam
The UPSC Civil Services Exams are probably the most important. They are used to hire people for top management jobs in the Central Government of India. The exam covers many services, including IAS, IPS, and IFS. The three-level exam, which includes a preliminary exam, a main exam, and an interview or personality exam, requires a lot of focus, hard work, and dedication. The UPSC curriculum is very large and covers a wide range of topics. This makes it one of the toughest exams in India.
It is one of the toughest exams because there are so many people taking it (over 10 lakh people take the UPSC Prelims every year) and because there is so much to learn. The UPSC exam is very tough all the way through. There are different rounds, such as Prelims, Mains, and Interviews.

Particulars | Details |
Full form | Union Public Service Commission Civil Service Examination |
Conducting Authority | Union Public Service Commission, Government of India |
Frequency | Once a year |
Mode of exam | Offline |
Medium of exam | English and Hindi |
Exam Duration | Preliminary: 2 Hours and Mains: 3 Hours |
Type of questions | Prelims: Objective type questions; Mains: Descriptive type questions |
Official website | https://www.upsc.gov.in/ |
2. IIT- JEE
Students who want to take an engineering course at one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) must take the Joint Entrance Exam. There are two parts to the exam: the IIT-JEE Mains and the IIT-JEE Advanced. Many students take the exams to get into the famous IITs, but only a small number of them are chosen to study there. It is one of India’s toughest exams because the curriculum is hard to understand and there is a lot of competition.
IIT JEE is thought to be one of the tough exam exams because the list of topics covered is very long and the questions are application-based and meant to examine how well the candidate knows the key subjects. Every year, more than 6.35 million people took the exam, but only the top 2.50 million got into JEE Advanced.

Particulars | Details |
Full form | Joint Entrance Examination |
Conducted By | National Examing Agency (NTA) |
Official Website | jeemain.nta.nic.in |
Exam Type | Undergraduate |
Exam duration | 3 hours |
Eligibility | 75% aggregate marks in class 12 |
Exam Level | All India Level |
3. NEET UG
UGC NET is a national exam that is used to find good people for the jobs of Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) at Indian universities and schools. It is one of the Top 10 Toughest Exams in India, and it is given in 83 different topics and 81 different places. Since 2018, it has been run by the National Examing Agency (NTA). Most people who take it are either studying for or have already finished their master’s degree.

UGC NET is a national exam that is used to find good people for the jobs of Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) at Indian universities and schools. It is one of the Top 10 Toughest Exams in India, and it is given in 83 different topics and 81 different places. Since 2018, it has been run by the National Examing Agency (NTA). Most people who take it are either studying for or have already finished their master’s degree.

Conducted By | National Examing Agency |
UGC NET 2022 Exam Date | 1st Week of June 2022 |
Official Website | https://ugcnet.nta.nic.in/ |
Exam Type | Post Graduate |
Eligibility | Post Graduation with a minimum of 55% |
Exam Level | All India Level |
5. Graduate Aptitude Exam in Engineering (GATE)
The GATE exam is given to help people get into graduate engineering programmes at IITs. The Indian Institute of Science is in charge of the exam. The GATE is thought to be one of the Top 10 Toughest Exams in India. Its curriculum is made up of the ideas that students learn in their first four years of college. It is set up as an online exam, and exam-takers are graded on two things: their general intelligence and how well they know Technical and Engineering Mathematics.
GATE is thought to be the toughest exam because a large number of people take it every year and there aren’t enough places for everyone. For example, 7.11 lakh people took the GATE exam in 2021, but only 1.26 lakh of them passed. It checks how well the applicant knows the B.Tech/B.E programme.
Conducted By | Indian Institute of Science |
Official Website | gate.iitkgp.ac.in |
Exam Type | Post Graduate |
Eligibility | Graduation in Science or Engineering |
Exam Level | All India Level |
Also, read Predicted Hot Topics for UGC NET Management Subject 2023
6. CAT – Common Admission Exam
The Common Admission Exam (CAT) is also thought to be one of the Top 10 Toughest Exams in India. Many people who want to get into top IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) take the CAT more than once. This exam is usually given once a year at the end of November. IIMs invite the student with the best score on this exam to an interview and a group discussion. Most people who want to go to business school or management school are familiar with this exam. Even though many people think this exam isn’t as hard as the Civil Service Exam or the Joint Entrance Exam, it’s still not easy.
To pass the exam, we must study for a long time and take practice exams often to see how well we are doing. The goal of the exam is to see how well people can handle different situations they might face as business heads or managers. Because of how hard it is, CAT may only let 1500 or 2000 people pass, even though between 2 and 5 lakh people try to get in.
Conducted By | IIM |
Official Website | iimcat.ac.in |
Exam Type | Postgraduate |
Eligibility | Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) with at least 50 % marks or equivalent GPA |
Exam Level | All India Level |
7. CLAT – Common Law Admission Exam
CLAT is one of the top 10 Toughest Exams in India for students who want to become lawyers. This national exam is listed with the Consortium of National Law University so that it can be used to get into both undergraduate and graduate law programmes. For this exam, you need to know about the current state of the economy and the law. Most of the time, questions are asked about recent events and the law.
Common-Law Admission Exam (CLAT) is an entrance exam for getting into LLB and LLM programmes. Even though some law schools use the LSAT and others use the CLAT to decide who gets in. The exam is given once a year, and it is done in a traditional way. For a bachelor’s course, you need to have passed your 12th-class exams. For a master’s course, you need a bachelor’s degree. The exam requires a wide range of information, which makes it one of the tough exam exams in India.
Conducted By | National Law Universities |
Official Website | consortiumofnlus.ac.in |
Exam Type | Undergraduate and Postgraduate |
Eligibility | UG: Class 12th with minimum of 45% PG: 3-year LLB with minimum 50% |
Exam Level | All India Level |

The Chartered Accountant course is one for professionals. It’s also thought to be one of the toughest exam exams in India. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is in charge of people who want to become CAs. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) gives the CA course many exams, which follow a strict plan. If you pass the exam, you can be sure of a successful job with good pay, but it will take a lot of hard work. The exam has three parts: the CA Final Examination, the Common Proficiency Exam (CPT), and the Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC). The CA competitive exam has three parts:
- CA Foundation Exam
- CA Intermediate Exam
- Final CA Exam
Conducted By | Institute of Chartered Accountants of India |
Official Website | icaiexam.icai.org |
Exam Type | Under Graduate |
Eligibility | 12th with a minimum of 60% |
Exam Level | Foundation, Intermediate and Final |
9. National Defence Academy (NDA)
The Services Selection Board (SSB) is in charge of the NDA exam, which is used to hire people for the Army, Navy, and Airforce. The exam is given twice a year to find the best people for the most famous military school in the country. The NDA exam starts with a written exam, then moves on to the SSB interview, and then a list of outdoor tasks to examine the candidate’s skills on the ground. To get into NDA, students must pass all rounds of the exam
Conducted By | UPSC |
Official Website | upsc.gov.in |
Exam Type | Under Graduate |
Exam Level | All India Level |
Mode of Exam | Offline |
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10. National Institute of Design Entrance Exam
Another pivotal mention amongst the top 10 toughest exams in India, The NID Exam is a design aptitude exam given by the National Institute of Design’s admissions committee to choose candidates for its design courses, such as Bachelor of Design (BDes), Master of Design (MDes), and others. It is one of the top 10 toughest exam exams in India. It is done in two steps: NID Prelims and NID Mains. This is how people who want to get into one of the National Institutes of Design across the country are chosen.
Conducted By | National Institute of Design |
Official Website | https://admissions.nid.edu/ |
Exam Type | Undergraduate and Post Graduate |
Eligibility | 10+2 with a minimum of 50% |
Exam Level | All India Level |
CONCLUSION
India’s toughest exams are listed above. That’s why. The goal is to determine whether applicants who take these exams are qualified. It’s hard to pass India’s toughest exams. The goal is to choose the appropriate person for a high-profile job or prestigious institution
The toughest exam, however, does not always indicate that one should avoid them. If you want to do well on these exams, you need to put in a lot of effort beforehand.
India’s Top 10 Toughest Exams in India A good course of action would be to follow the advice of knowledgeable people. Those hoping to do well on these exams should prepare to work hard consistently with a positive mindset.
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