The University Grants Commission National Qualification Exam (NET) is a national-level exam that determines the qualifications of Assistant Professors and Junior Research Fellowships (JRF). It was developed by a national testing agency and is also known as NTA UGC NET. Those with NET qualifications can work as associate professors at Indian universities and colleges. If a candidate is interested in teaching at a prestigious institution, it is important to qualify on the NET. JRF qualifications will help you earn an MPhil or Ph.D. at the best universities with scholarships. In addition, aptitude tests increase their salary package and increase their chances of being selected for non-educational jobs such as Research.

Benefits of Qualifying UGC NET Exam:

There are many benefits of qualifying NET Exam which include various academic and financial factors. The scope is wider after qualifying NET Exam. The Major of the same is mentioned below.

Can apply for Assistant Professor of Psychology
Can explore the research field in Psychology
Can Enroll for the PhD Programme
Can avail the Govt. Scholarship (If completed JRF)
Can get Direct admission in some institutions for M.Phil in Clinical Psychology (If completed JRF)

Eligibility:

Those who achieve a minimum of 55% in the master’s program will be admitted to the exam. Students in the reserved category can take this exam with at least 50% points. Post-graduation is required to take the exam, but master’s students in the final year can also take this exam. Their score is valid only if the master’s is completed. the candidate must have a psychology degree in master if they want to study further in psychology.

Know the syllabus of UGC – NET/JRF Psychology

Many students have confused about the syllabus of papers I and II. So, start the preparation after knowing the complete syllabus. This must be noted that the syllabus of paper II has been changed recently, so, one should go through the changed topic and prepare notes, especially Eastern Philosophy must not be ignored. Ask your mentor for the notes as there is less literature available for this topic in relevance to Psychology.

Examination Pattern

UGC NET JRF will conduct the Net exam in the computer-based test and the test will have 2 papers and both the papers will be completely objective. There would be no break between the papers.

The pattern of the Exam

Time limit: 180 minutes

Paper 1:

General Paper, this paper will consist of questions from Reasoning, English, etc.

Total Marks: 100

No of Question: 50

Paper 1 is crucial to crack NET, SET and JRF, but it’s not time-consuming and paper 2. Reading newspapers and practising are the only keys to scoring well on paper 1. Starting to read the newspaper for 15 minutes and practising all the sections individually is essential. You may practice using the UGC NET JRF Paper-1 book, where you can find more than 4000 questions with their explanations in digital format.

Paper 2:

This section contains the main Psychology Paper

Total Marks: 200

No of Questions: 100

The medium of the Question Paper shall be in English & Hindi only. Each question carries 02 (two) marks and there will be no negative marking. Read the article to get expert insight on how to prepare for UGC NET JRF Psychology (Paper 2).

Age limit:

For JRF: Not more than 31 years as of (October 1, 2021). (This age limit is applicable for the current examination only). A relaxation of up to 5 years is provided to the candidates belonging to OBC-NCL/SC/ST/ PwD/Third gender categories and to women applicants.

For Assistant Professor: There is no upper age limit.

Syllabus:

The syllabus of the entrance is mostly the syllabus of your undergraduate and post-graduation but in a detailed way. Paper 1 is common for all the candidates irrespective of their major with topics like aptitude, English, logical reasoning, mathematics, etc. but paper -2 is domain-specific, so for those who opt for psychology as their subject, the subject-related question will come in paper -2.

Some major Topics of psychology are

Emergence of Psychology
Research Methodology and Statistics
Psychological testing
Biological basis of behavior
Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory, and Forgetting
Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity
Personality, Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping
Social Psychology
Human Development and Interventions
Emerging Areas

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NET JRF exam is one the most competitive exam of all time. The level of competition is higher due to the number of applicants applying each year being in lakhs. It will take intense preparation and consistency to qualify for the exam. The early you start, the chances are more to qualify it.