UGC NET 2018 to be held twice a year: Exam pattern, eligibility and important details

UGC NET 2018: From this year onwards, the UGC NET (National Eligibility Test) will be conducted twice a year, once in July and then in December, by the newly constituted National Testing Agency (NTA). Along with NET, other two important competitive examinations, JEE (Main) and NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test ) will also be conducted twice a year. The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Main), for undergraduate admission into various engineering colleges, will be held in January and April and NEET will be held in February and May. At present, both these tests are held only once a year.

Eligibility Criteria

Educational qualification: Candidates need to secure at least 55 per cent marks in master’s degree or equivalent examination from a recognised university/ institution. There is a five per cent relaxation for OBC, scheduled caste(SC)/ scheduled tribe(ST) /persons with disability(PwD) category and transgender candidates who have secured at least 50 per cent marks (without rounding off) in masters degree or equivalent examination.

Those who are pursuing their masters (final year) can also apply. Such candidates must complete their master’s degree or equivalent examination within two years from the date of NET result with required percentage of mark.

Those who have Ph.D degree and whose masters level examination had been completed by September 19, 1991 (irrespective of date of declaration of result) shall be eligible for a relaxation of 5 per cent in aggregate marks.

 Instead of 3 papers, there will be only 2 papers – paper 1 and paper 2.

Age limit:

Junior Research Fellowship (JRF): The candidate should not be over 30 years as on July 1, 2018. A relaxation of five years will be provided for the candidates belonging to OBC, SC/ST/PwD/ transgender categories and women applicants.

UGC also provides relaxation to the candidates have research experience, limited to the period spent on research in the relevant subject of post-graduation degree, subject to a maximum of fiev years.

Three years relaxation in age will be permissible to the candidates possessing LLM degree.

Five years for those who have served armed forces subject to the length of service.

Assistant Professor: There is no upper age limit.

UGC NET 2018: New exam pattern

– Instead of 3 papers, there will be only 2 papers – paper 1 and paper 2.

– Paper 1: It will be of 100 marks and will contain 50 objective type compulsory questions. Each question will carry 2 marks and will be of general nature and will test the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate.The duration of the same will be one hour (9:30 am to 10:30 am).

– Paper 2: It will be of 100 marks and will contain 100 objective type compulsory questions. Each question will carry 2 marks and will be based on the subject opted by the candidate. The duration of the same will be two hours (11 am to 1 pm).

Last year, CBSE successfully conducted NET on November 5 and about 9.30 lakh candidates had registered for the same. The exam was conducted in 91 cities at 1700 exam centres. To help differently-abled candidates, 25 minutes additional time was provided for paper-I and paper-II, while 50 minutes additional time was provided during paper III to such candidates
News Source (Indian Express)