UGC NET 2018 Notification released: Exam in July, Pattern changed

The long-awaited UGC NET 2018 notification has been released today in newspapers. National Eligibility Test (NET) for awarding Assistant Professorship and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) will be held on July 08, 2018. The notification also states important changes introduced in the paper and dates for form filling.

CBSE will release its detailed notice on February 01, 2018. The application form for UGC NET July 2018 will release on March 06, 2018. Candidates will be able to fill the application form online, from cbsenet.nic.in. The last date to apply is April 05, 2018, but the payment of fee can be done until April 06, 2018. To submit the application form successfully, the candidates will first have to fill details in it and upload the scanned image of photograph and signature on it.

Last year, Board introduced few changes in the pattern of the exam but this year it has made drastic amendments.

#1 First change in UGC NET 2018 is the change in exam pattern

Now UGC NET will have only two papers. Paper 1 will be held on July 8 from 9:30 am to 10:30 am, and paper 2 will be held on the same date from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The first paper will have 50 compulsory questions. The second paper will have 100 compulsory questions. Earlier there used to be three papers of 50, 50, 75 questions.

Paper 1 will be for reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking, and general awareness. The questions in Paper 2 will be related to the chosen subject only.

Also, instead of 1 hour 15 minutes, the candidates will now only get 1 hour to attempt the first paper. The duration for second paper will be two hours.

#2 Second change is the change in age limit

Another important change in the process of the exam is that the age limit for JRF candidates has been increased. Earlier, candidates above the age of 28 could not apply for JRF but now the limit has been changed to 30 years. On the upper age limit, OBC / SC / ST / PWD candidates get relaxation of 5 years.

As far the Assitant Professorship is considered there is no age limit. However, all the candidates should have secured 55% marks in Master’s degree program, in which they must have studied the chosen subject. The degree program must have been passed from a recognized institute.

No clarification from CBSE yet on whether UGC NET will be held once or twice in 2018

No comment has been received from CBSE if the paper will be held twice this year or once. The reports of UGC NET being conducted only once has been making rounds for some time now. Until now, the exam was conducted in the month of June and November but now that CBSE is conducting it in July, the possibility of UGC NET being conducted once a year seems higher.

Now that the examination process has been cut short it will be less exhaustive for the students. Taking three papers back to back made the candidate too worn out to perform well in the exam. The increasing of the upper age limit is also a good sign for the candidates as they get more chances to grab JRF. However, conducting of the examination only once a year put candidates at disadvantage.

What is your opinion on the matter? Are all these changes for the good or should the pattern of the exam remain the same but candidates must get two chances to crack the exam within a year? Let us know it the comment section below.

Payment of application fee is an important step because, without it, the candidates will not be allowed to appear for the examination. The amount of application fee has not been revealed yet, however, last year it was Rs. 1000 for general category candidate and Rs. 500 for OBC NCL candidates. The candidates belonging to SC / ST/ PwD category only had to pay Rs. 250.