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Sunday, July 5, 2015

How to Ensure Great Score In NET Exam?

Hello Friends!

From the analysis of past UGC NET exams of last 3 years, I have found some very useful and interesting insights. I am here sharing my views which may help candidates appearing in forthcoming January 2017 UGC NET exam.

Point #1.
Solve all available previous Question papers of NET exam. They are available to download from the links below:
1. July 2016 

The best way to solve previous question papers is not just to check the answer keys, but research the aspects related to the right answer choice as well as other choices. For example:

Q. The mode of communication that involves a single source transmitting information to a large number of receivers simultaneously, is called
(A) Group Communication
(B) Mass Communication
(C) Intrapersonal Communication
(D) Interpersonal Communication

The right answer is B here. Now, you must study other terms also. Research about Intrapersonal Communication,  Interpersonal Communication and Group Communication. There definitely are questions where right answer is from any of these 3 terms.

Point #2.
Give very much importance to Paper I. Some candidates think that Paper II and Paper III are more demanding and need more time to prepare. It's true that one needs very good preparation for subject papers, but if you give enough time and attention to paper I, it will prove to be a deciding factor in clearing the exam. Let me tell you how it may work for you:

One must target to score at least 80% in paper I and it is very much easy. I have myself scored 80%+ score thrice.
Why it is important? As you know, only top 15% candidates are declared qualified. Subject-wise cut-off is different, but for all subjects, paper I is common. In my observation, most of candidates fail to score even 50% marks in paper III. If you fall under unreserved category, it becomes very crucial to pass all papers as well as rise above the high cut-off percentage. Further, those candidates who pass all papers, very few candidates score 60% or above in paper III. As I said, if you score around 80% in paper I, you will be on safe side and can hope to score marks near or above the cut-off.

Now, how to plan your efforts to target 80% marks in paper I? You get 60 questions and are required to solve 50 only. There are 10 topics and you will be given 6 questions from each topic. That means, you are supposed to solve only 66% questions (40 correct answers). You must solve all 50 required questions. There is no negative marking, and who knows, some of your guesses also turn out as correct :-) !!! Anyways, if your 10 answers are wrong, you will still get 80% marks. Isn't it good?
Check the list of topics from which you will be asked questions:-

Topic 1. Teaching Aptitude-> Most of the questions are based on common sense and you can prepare this topic very well by solving different MCQs from books and previous NET papers.

Topic 2: Reading Comprehension-> Answers to all 6 questions are hidden in the passage itself. Read the passage at least twice and re-read the lines from which question is asked, and you are done!

Topic 3. Information and Communicating Technology (ICT)
-> Being and IT person, these questions are peace of cake for me and people like me. But for others, one must focus on the theory of those topics which are mostly asked in NET. (In a later post, I will post about important topics for computer questions).

Topic 4. Data Interpretation
-> This is one of the easiest topic. You are given a tabular data and are asked questions which mostly require little bit of statistical analysis. For example, there is a data of salary figures of 5 different years for different age groups. You are asked to find the age-group which had the higher income than the others for 3 years. To solve this question, find the average of each age group for given 3 years. You then can find the age group.
With a little calculation and concentration, you can get full 12 marks (6x2) for this topic.

Topic 5. Logical Reasoning
-> If you have been preparing for different competition exams, then you will find the level of questions very easy here. Otherwise you will need to practice questions on reasoning topics. Example: blood relation, direction, jumbled words, analogies, Venn diagrams, argument & reasoning, types of reasoning. etc. are common topics.

Topic 6. Mathematical Reasoning
-> It covers number & letter series, classification etc. This topic too is easy if you solve a lot of practice questions.

Topic 7. Communication
: If you are not a student of mass communication like me, then you may follow the approach I follow. I have a habit of reading news paper and find that answers to many questions of communication stem because of this habit. For example, I found answer to questions like "what is grapevine?" "What is yellow journalism?" from the articles I read in newspapers. Rest of questions are asked from class-room communication. Follow tips in Point #1 to handle this topic.

Topic 8. Research Aptitude
-> This topic cover research methodologies, types, steps to research, research ethics.

Topic 9. People and Environment
-> I find this particular topic a bit tough. It may not apply to you if you have good understanding of it. Since your target is to score 40 questions and if you are short of time, then you should decide to leave one particular topic; it might be "People and Environment" on any other. If you need to study this topic, focus more on questions on natural hazards, pollution agents and gases.

Topic 10. Higher Education System : Governance Polity And Administration-> To cover this topic, gather facts from different education related websites of different governing bodies like NCTE, AICTE, UGC.AC.IN, MHRD etc. But before that, analyse the type of questions from previous papers and accordingly target your fact finding.

Since one cannot be expert in all topics, it is wise to leave one or two topics you find hard and focus only on 8-9 topics you can study. 

Point # 3
Have faith in your abilities. It does not matter if you are appearing for the exam for the first time or it is tenth time. If you doubt yourself, you will doubt your answer and get confused while solving the questions. Since there is not much of time to think, you must make yourself mentally prepared also before exam day. In a later post, we will discuss about mental preparation. Here, I will make only one point-stay confident, focused and relaxed.

Point #4
Don't waste time and energy on tough questions: There need to be a strategy before you start solving your papers. While attempting the questions, sometimes, we try to solve every question. Since there is no negative marking, you may not like to leave any question unanswered. But at the same time, it does not mean that you devote good amount of time to every question. Make it a rule to first answer only those questions for which you know the answer well. Then, devote the rest of time for other questions.

Point #5
Don't forget to carry your wrist watch with you. Since you will not be allowed to carry your mobile, you should carry a wrist watch with you to check the available time. I hear many a times that candidates failed to answer all questions (especially in paper I and paper II) because of no time left.

I hope this post will help you to score well and clear the NET exam. Best of luck!!