Alright then! This is where the waters begin to get mucky. Till now you have been frolickingly reading about all the dreamy and feel-good topics related to the UGC NET, like the JRF profile, or the scope one has after he clears the exams, and whatnot. But, here in this article, you’ll come face to face with the unignorably mucky waters of practicality.
To clear the UGC NET exam one needs score above the present year’s UGC NET cut off score. Now, the present year’s cut-off scores are not revealed until after the exams. So, in such a situation, a wise and pragmatic person always looks for solutions by studying the past.
Likewise, in this article, you’ll get to know about, how to calculate the cut-off scores for this year, by studying the past years’ cut-off scores. Now, getting to know the future by analyzing the past is something, also to be done while preparing for the exam. Therefore, it’s absolutely imperative for an aspirant to solve the UGC NET previous year question papers, if he so wishes to clear this year’s exam.
To top it all off, this article will also lay bare the links to numerous UGC NET mock tests and previous year question papers. So, let’s begin.
Meaning of UGC NET Cut off and How to Calculate It
The cut off basically means, the minimum marks you should obtain to qualify for the next round.
This means that if you are able to pass the UGC Cut off scores, then you get to qualify for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) Program and the post of Assistant Professor.
According to the official data released by the agency responsible for conducting the exam, only about 6 % of the total number of candidates that appear, are able to clear all the sessions of the UGC NET.
So yeah, it’s not an easy exam to crack, but wait, there’s more.
Just securing scores above the overall UGC NET cut off is not enough. You’d need to score above the cut-off marks of both the papers, namely papers I & II separately if you want to find your name in the shortlisted candidates roll.
If you are able to do all of that, only then shall you qualify to be appointed as an assistant professor or a Junior Research fellow or both in an Indian college/university.
Phew, that was exhausting, wasn’t it? Just writing about it took all my energy out. Imagine, actually going through the process. Anyway, carrying on.
The UGC NET tests your waters by availing about 100 subjects to choose from. The cut-off score is different for every subject.
Now that you have been briefed about all the details of qualification for the UGC NET exams. Let get down to actually calculating it.
Category Wise Cut Offs for Papers I & II of UGC NET:
As it has been made adequately clear in the section above that both the papers of UGC NET need to be qualified separately as both have their own separate cut-offs, we won’t delve further into the details.
For candidates belonging to the general category, the qualifying marks both Papers I & II is 40%.
For candidates belonging to the reserved categories, the qualifying marks both Papers I & II is 35%.
And finally, when the results sheets are announced, they will contain the results of only those candidates, who have cleared the cut-off scores of both the papers.
How to calculate Paper-wise UGC Net Cut off Marks:
You can calculate the overall Cut off from the aggregated percentage of the two papers with respect to the number of exam sessions.
The number of students qualifying in any subject is computed on the basis of the method endorsed by NTA.
Moving forward lets now talk about calculating the UGC NET Cut off score for JRF and Assistant professorship.
Calculating UGC NET 2020 Cut Off for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF):
The Assessing agency called NTA, also the one which conducts the UGC NET Exam, selects a certain number of candidates from the top 6% of the qualified candidates to contend for the JRF positions. They do so after consider the candidates’ ages.
This is because the upper age limit for a person of general category, to be eligible for the JRF position is 30 years. The same for the reserved category candidates is 33 years.
Candidates belonging to the categories of SC/ST/OBC-NCL/PwD/Transgender classes/Women candidates are given the option to have the upper age limit barrier relaxed by 5 years.
Ultimately, the number of seats allotted for JRF positions are distributed among the qualified candidates according to the government reservation policy.
The Method to allocate JRF seats on the basis of subject cum class is laid out below.
| Example: | |
| The number of candidates to be declared qualified for JRF and also for Assistant Professorship, both in the subject ‘Economics’ for the category of Scheduled Tribe (ST) | A number of candidates from the ST category that have opted for the position of JRF, and also have qualified for the post of Assistant Professor both in the subject of ‘Economics’ (x) Total JRF seats reserved for ST category (÷) Total number of candidates from the ST category from all available subjects that have opted for JRF and have also qualified for the post of Assistant Professor. |
The Aggregate scores of the two papers computed with respect to the number of JRF seats allocated for people from the ST category will help derive the passing cut off marks for the JRF for the ST category in “economics”
A similar strategy is used for all subjects and classes.
Calculating UGC NET 2020 Cut Off for post of Assistant Professor:
The Method to allocate seats for the assistant professor post on the basis of subject cum class is laid out below:
| Example: | |
| Number of candidates to be declared qualified for Assistant Professorship in the subject ‘Economics’ for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category | A number of candidates from the SC category that have scored at least 35% marks by aggregate in both papers taken together for the SC category for the subject of ‘Economics’ (x) Total slots derived for SC category as per Step II (÷) Total number of candidates from the SC category from all available subjects who scored at least 35% marks by aggregate in both the papers taken together. |
The Aggregate scores of the two papers computed with respect to the number of posts of Assistant Professor allocated for people from the SC category, will help derive the passing cut off marks for the post of Assistant professor for the SC category in the subject of “economics”
A similar strategy is used for all subjects and classes.
Standardization Process to Compute Cut off Scores for 2020:
The Cut off for NET 2020 is derived by NTA using a standardization method based on percentile score.
This is done to guarantee that the standardization process remains as impartial and as rational and as possible. The guarantee is needed mostly because the standardization itself is a very complicated process. Complicated because of the many variables to be taken into account; E.g. subjects, categories, different exam dates, variable difficulties of question papers, different question paper sets, etc.
The percentile score used to derive the cut off is also used as the standardized score for assessing the candidates, based on which the merit list is prepared.
Also, the percentile score for each candidate is computed up to 7 decimal places so that no 2 scores can be counted as the same.
Having read all of this, you might be wondering about the cut off scores for the previous years. So, given below are the links to UGC NET Cut off 2018 and of 2019.
If, before opening any of the links you are feeling fidgety, trust me, you are acting exactly as a human should. It’s very understandable that by analyzing the information provided in these links you might try to extrapolate your results for this year’s exams. However, you should keep in mind the fact that whatever you might insinuate, might not turn out to be true.
| Year | NET JRF Cut Off List |
| December 2019 | Download PDF |
| July 2019 | Download PDF |
| December 2018 | PDF Download |
| July 2018 | Download PDF |
Now, the best course of action for you would be to read through the past years’ cut-offs as it would point you towards the UGC NET JRF results and the level of difficulty.
You might want to go through the exam pattern and syllabus of UGC NET HERE (https://www.anujjindal.in/ugc-net-apply-online-syllabus-selection-criteria/).
Now that we are finally done with the Cut off section, let us learn more about how you should practice so that your secure scores higher than the Cutoffs.
Benefits of Solving UGC NET Mock Tests and UGC NET previous year question papers:
- The First Benefit of solving UGC NET Mock Tests and UGC NET previous year question papers is that you’ll understand the design of the UGC NET exam. This in turn would give you an idea about the sections you can focus on first, according to your strengths.
- The second benefit is that with more and more practice your speed of comprehension would improve. That way you’d be able to solve more questions in a short duration.
- The more you’d solve these papers, the then you’d get an idea about what all to expect in the actual exam.
- As you go through the different mock tests and previous year papers, you’d get to understand the variable levels of difficulty with respect to both papers, I & II, and also to the different topics.
- More practice would also render you the superior ability to recognize the significant topics so that you can expect the same in the real exams.
- Last but not least you’d get to know how much water you are in. As in, you’d get to know the areas where you are strong and the ones you are weak in.
Now that you know the benefits you must ask where you can find the UGC NET previous year question papers and UGC NET mock tests.
Hey! Don’t sweat it. I have got you covered. You’ll find the previous year papers along with the mock tests down below.
Feel free to download the UGC NET previous year question papers along with the solved papers and detailed Solutions, provided below –
UGC NET Mock tests
Feel free to access the myriad mock tests given here. (https://www.anujjindal.in/ugc-net-mock-test-and-books/)
UGC NET Previous Years Question Papers list:
June 2019 Papers
- UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 25 June 2019)
- Answer Key – UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 25 June 2019)
- UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 24 June 2019)
- Answer Key – UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 24 June 2019)
- UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 20 June 2019)
- Answer Key – UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 20 June 2019)
- UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 26 June 2019)
- Answer Key – UGC NET June 2019 Paper 1 (Paper 1 Held on 26 June 2019)
December 2018 Papers
- Management Paper 2 – UGC NET Dec 2018
- Commerce Paper 2 – UGC NET Dec 2018
- First Shift Part 1 – 18 Dec 2018
- First Shift Part 2 – 18 Dec 2018
- Second Shift Part 1 – 18 Dec 2018
- Second Shift Part 2 – 18 Dec 2018
- First Shift Part 1 – 19 Dec 2018 First Shift Part 1
- First Shift Part 2 – 19 Dec 2018 First Shift Part 2
- Second Shift Part 1 – 19 Dec 2018
- Second Shift Part 2 – 19 Dec 2018
- 21 Dec 2018 Second Shift Part 1
- 21 Dec 2018 Second Shift Part 2
- UGC NET 22 Dec 2018 Commerce Paper 1 Question with Answers
Answer Key 2018-2015
- Ques Papers of NET July 2018– Answer Key
- Ans Key – Ques Papers of NET November 2017
- Ques Papers of NET July 2016– Answer Key
- Ans Key – Ques Papers of NET December 2015
June 2014 Papers
December & June 2013 Papers
- Ques Papers of NET Dec. 2013
- Ques Papers of NET June 2013 (UGC NET re-conducted on 08th September 2013)
- NET June 2013 (UGC NET on 30th June 2013) Ques Papers
December & June 2012 Papers
June & December 2011 Papers
December & June 2010 Papers
December & June 2009 Papers
Conclusion
In this article, I have tried to be as comprehensive and exhaustive as possible. Clearing the UGC NET exam isn’t exactly a walk in the park, and I do understand that. It does take a lot of energy as an aspirant to find the right materials to study and then to actually get down to studying it. The studying portion will have to be taken care of, by you yourself. I can’t help you with that. But everything else, like; telling you everything you need to know about the exams; arranging the materials for you to study, and to advise you about how to plan your strategy; you can leave up to me. With that said I bid adieu.
Best of Luck!
Keep Learning!
