Home » Govt Exams Syllabus » CBSC UGC NET: Exam Syllabus, Pattern, Books & Preparation Tips
The University Grants Commission (UGC) organized a National Eligibility Test for candidates who pursued Post Graduation who were passionate about teaching. This CBT mode online exam is conducted by NTA (National Testing Agency) twice a year to select candidates for JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) and Assistant Professor posts in top universities/ institutions all over India. As the National Eligibility Test exams that are to be conducted in December 2020 and June 2021 are merged, the NTA announces the syllabus to remain the same. The Exam Pattern, Syllabus and other important dates for UGC NET 2021 have been released on August 10, 2021.
On this page, you will come to know these things about UGC- NET 2021.
The UGC- NET syllabus consists of two different papers which are conducted online for 3hours. The total time duration is divided into two sessions. The first session holds the first hour and the second session brags the remaining two hours with no intervals in between. The NTA has published the syllabus for UGC- NET 2021 officially. The First paper which is also known as the general paper which focuses on testing the candidate’s ability on General awareness. Whereas, the Second paper focuses on the selected subject of Interest by the candidates. The Syllabus consists of various topics on both papers. The General paper holds 10 topics that focus on different subtopics and the second paper holds 82 subjects in total. The UGC NET syllabus can be downloaded for both General paper and Paper- II from the NTA website.
The General paper holds 10 topics based on General Awareness to test the basic qualities and knowledge of the aspirants. Five Multiple choice questions are asked on each topic of general awareness. Each topic contains several subtopics which are listed below.
Main Topic | Sub Topics |
Research Aptitude | 1. Meaning, characteristics and types of Research 2· Paper, Article, Workshop, and Symposium. 3· Steps and Methods of Research 4· Ethics of Research 5· Characteristics and format of thesis writing |
Teaching Aptitude | 1· Basic requirements of Teaching. 2· Aids of Teaching 3· Characteristics of Learners 4· Methods of Teaching 5· Evaluating systems |
Reading Comprehension | 1· Associated Questions 2· Comprehensive Passage |
Mathematical Reasoning | 1· Letter Series 2· Series of Numbers 3· Classifications 4· Codes 5· Relationship |
Communication | 1· Types of Communication 2· Characteristics 3· Barriers 4· nature of Communication 5· Effective classroom Communication |
Logical Reasoning | 1· Analytical Reasoning 2· Types of Logical Diagrams 3· Understanding the structure of arguments 4· Venn Diagram 5· Verbal Classification 6· Analogies of Verbal 7· Distinguishing Deductive and Inductive Reasoning |
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) | 1· Advantage and Disadvantages 2· Basics of Internet and E-mailing 3· Abbreviations and terms |
Data Interpretation | 1· Qualitative and Quantitative Data 2· Sources, Acquisition and interpretation 3· Mapping and graphical representation of Data |
Governance, Politics and Administration of Higher Education System | 1· Structure of the Institutions for Higher Learning and Research in India 2· Concepts, Institutions and their Interactions 3· Value education: Governance, Polity and Administration. |
People and Environment | 4· Interaction of People on Environment 5·Energy Resources and their impact on Humans life |
The second paper of UGC- NET has a total of 82 subjects which the candidates can select one subject each according to their interest. This paper has 47 technical subjects and 38 language subjects to choose from. The total number of questions asked in Paper-II is 100. Each question carries two marks and sums up a total of 200 marks. Each subject has its unique UGC NET syllabus issued by the NTA which is published on this website. The subjects that candidates can select for UGC- NET is listed below:
No | Subject |
1 | Teaching & Research Aptitude (Paper -I) |
2 | Development Planning/ Applied Economics/Development and Business Economics |
3 | Political Science |
4 | Philosophy |
5 | Psychology |
6 | Sociology |
7 | History |
8 | Anthropology |
9 | Commerce |
10 | Education |
11 | Social Work |
12 | Defense and Strategic Studies |
13 | Home Science |
14 | Public Administration |
15 | Population Studies |
16 | Music |
17 | Management (including Business /Marketing/ Industrial Relations and Personnel Management). |
18 | Adult Education, Andragogy and Non-Formal Education. |
19 | Physical Education |
20 | Arab Culture and Islamic Studies |
21 | Indian Culture |
22 | Labour, Social Welfare and Human Resource Management |
23 | Law |
24 | Library and Information Science |
25 | Buddhist, Jaina, Gandhian and Peace Studies |
26 | Comparative Study of Religions |
27 | Mass Communication and Journalism |
28 | Performing Art – Dance/Drama/Theatre |
29 | Museology & Conservation |
30 | Archaeology |
31 | Criminology |
32 | Tribal and Regional Language/Literature |
33 | Folk Literature |
34 | Comparative Literature |
35 | Sanskrit traditional subjects include Jyotisha, Mimansa, Sahitya, Puranotihasa, Agama, etc. |
36 | Women Studies |
37 | Visual Art (including Drawing & Painting, Sculpture Graphics, History of Art, etc.) |
38 | Geography |
39 | Social Medicine & Community Health |
40 | Forensic Science |
41 | Computer Science and Applications |
42 | Electronic Science |
43 | Environmental Sciences |
44 | Politics including International Relations and Studies including Defense, Strategic Studies, West Asian Studies, Soviet Studies, American Studies, etc. |
45 | Prakrit |
46 | Human Rights and Duties |
47 | Tourism Administration and Management. |
48 | Maithili |
49 | Bengali |
50 | Hindi |
51 | Kannada |
52 | Malayalam |
53 | Oriya |
54 | Punjabi |
55 | Sanskrit |
56 | Tamil |
57 | Telugu |
58 | Urdu |
59 | Arabic |
60 | English |
61 | Linguistics |
62 | Chinese |
63 | Dogri |
64 | Nepali |
65 | Manipuri |
66 | Assamese |
67 | Gujarati |
68 | Marathi |
69 | French (French Version) |
70 | French (English Version) |
71 | Spanish |
72 | Russian |
73 | Persian |
74 | Rajasthani |
75 | German |
76 | Japanese |
77 | BODO |
78 | Yoga |
79 | Sindhi |
80 | Pali |
81 | Kashmiri |
82 | Konkani |
You cannot choose your mode of language for a language subject.
Step1: Visit the official UGC NET website.
Step2: Now search for the Syllabus option in the menu and click it.
Step3: You can see the syllabus page loaded on your screen.
Step4: The download option for the syllabus will be shown both in English and Hindi.
Step5: Click the download button across the required subject name.
Step6: The syllabus will be downloaded to your device in PDF format.
The exam pattern for UGC -NET defines the time duration of the exam, the number of questions asked and further details. As we know, the UGC- NET is a Multiple choice question type examination and is a computer-based test (CBT) conducted online. According to the UGC NET exam pattern, the Exam will be conducted for 3 hours and the prior language for this exam is English and Hindi. It is divided into two sessions. The first session ends in 1 hour and the session will be held for 2 hours. The Exam pattern for UGC NET is Tabled below for easy understanding.
Description | Details |
Time Duration for Paper- I | 1 Hour (60 minutes) |
Time Duration for Paper- II | 2 hours (120 minutes) |
Interval between sessions | NO |
Total number of Questions in Paper-I | 50 questions |
Total number of Questions in Paper- II | 100 questions |
Maximum Marks in Paper- I | 100 marks |
Maximum Marks in Paper-II | 200 marks |
Marks for each Question | 2 marks |
Negative mark for each Question | No negative marks |
The timings for each session and paper is given below.
Sessions | Paper | Exam Time | Total marks |
I | I | 9.00 AM to 10.00 AM | 300 marks |
II | 10.00 AM to 12.00 PM | ||
I | 2.30 PM to 3.30 PM | ||
II | II | 3.30 PM to 5.30 PM |
Topics from the General awareness syllabus of General Paper carry 5 questions each. A question holds 2marks which sums up to 100 marks for the general paper alone. Every question is a multiple-choice question.
Topics | Number of MCQs |
Research Aptitude | 5 |
Teaching Aptitude | 5 |
Reading Comprehension | 5 |
Mathematical Reasoning | 5 |
Communication | 5 |
Logical reasoning | 5 |
ICT | 5 |
Data Interpretation | 5 |
Higher education system: Governance, politics and administration | 5 |
People and Environment | 5 |
The time duration for Visually challenged people can be compensated. The time can be extended up to 30 minutes for both papers. The visually challenged candidates can also get the service of the scribe. A valid certificate must be provided to obtain the services.
The Candidates who aspire to find a career in the research and lectureship field are competing for the UGC- NET. To prepare well for this examination, as a Post Graduate candidate, you can almost learn yourself with the help of well-designed books. Several numbers of Books are available for the Preparation of the UGC- NET examination. But, some books are specially designed for UGC- NET and published by renowned publications and are recommended by the government as well as the major coaching institutions. The Candidates should select the books for preparation based on the subjects they choose. He/ She should always look for the latest edition of the book they chose to prepare. The books are available for both General paper and Paper-II. We listed some quality and well-known books all over the colleges and institutions.
Books listed here are for some popular subjects which are selected by most of the candidates.
Subject Name | Books |
Economics, Development Planning, Development Studies, Econometrics, etc. | Trueman’s UGC NET Economics book by Sriniwas Shirur |
Philosophy | Trueman’s UGC NET Philosophy by A.M. Tripathi |
Sociology | S.Hussain’s Trueman’s UGC NET Sociology |
Psychology | Trueman’s UGC NET Psychology published by Akhilesh Mani |
Education | UGC NET Education by Trueman |
Commerce | Trueman’s UGC NET Commerce |
Political Science | Trueman’s UGC NET Political Science which was published by KA Babu and Sajit Kumar |
History | Pramod Singh’s Trueman’s UGC NET |
Management (including Business Administration, Marketing Management/ Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Cooperative Management, etc. | Trueman’s UGC NET Management published by M. Shivani |
English | UGC NET/SET (JRF & LS) English Literature Paper II & III published by Arihant |
Hindi | Trueman’s UGC NET Hindi Literature (Hindi Sahitya) published by Boards of Authors |
Defence and Strategic Studies | CBSE presents UGC-NET Defence and Strategic Studies |
Electronic Science | CBSE UGC NET/SET ELECTRONIC SCIENCE published by Sunil Kushwaha (Author) |
You can buy these books from Amazon, Flipkart, coaching institutions and local book stores.
Since the UGC- NET exam is one of the toughest exams conducted by NTA for recruiting JRF and assistant Professors, only 6% of the candidates who have appeared for this exam are getting qualified. Thus the candidates must work harder with a dedication to clear this exam successfully. Here are some tips and tricks that could ease your stress of preparing for the exam.
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Ans. Credit 2 marks for each correct question and sum it up
Ans. No, The qualifying mark is the minimum mark that is to be obtained by the candidate. whereas, the cut off marks are the marks that a candidate must obtain to get selected in the UGC NET exam.
Ans. You can select four exam centres during registration for the UGC- NET exam. Then the NTA finalizes the exam centre. The exam centre and its location will be informed on the admit card.
Ans. If you can’t practice self-study regularly, enrolling in a coaching centre is much preferred. Else you can rely on Books, sample papers, online mock tests, etc. , for self-preparation.
Ans. You cannot cancel the registration for the UGC- NET exam and can never request a refund for the registration fee.