How Difficult is UGC NET? Let’s Decode Here

University Grants Commission conducts National Eligibility Test – NET also called UGC NET for candidates who want to pursue their careers as Junior Research Fellowship JRF or Assistant Professor in India. CBSE conducted the NET in 84 topics in 91 cities across the country until June 2018. Following that, the National Testing Agency now conducts the UGC-NET from December 2018 onwards (NTA).

The official notification for UGC NET for December 2020 and June 2021 has been released on the official website. The application process is ongoing from 10, 2021 and the last date to apply for the exam is September 05, 2021.

The eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Assistant Professorship is based on the candidate’s overall performance in UGC-NET Papers I and II. Candidates who only fulfil the criteria for Assistant Professorship will not be considered for a JRF. Candidates who clear the eligibility test for Assistant Professorship are subject to the university/college/state government’s rules and regulations. Here, we will look into the difficulty level of the exam last year

What UGC NET 2020 Paper Analysis Says

The UGC NET Exam 2020 took place between September 24 and November 13, 2020. Every time after the exam, the UGC NET Exam Analysis 2020 is provided to students to get an idea about the level of difficulty of the exam. The analysis acts as reference for future aspirants.

The UGC NET Exam Analysis 2020 contains information about the exam’s difficulty level, topics covered in the exam, good tries, and question papers highlights.

The overall analysis of the paper can be described as Easy to Moderate for the General Paper 1 and for Paper 2 , some subjects papers were easy whereas some were moderate to hard.

For the UGC NET, Paper 1 is required of all aspirants, Paper 2 is subject-specific and depends on the aspirants’ chosen subject. Mentioned below is the analysis.

Paper	Number of questions	Marks	Difficulty level
Paper-1	50	100	Moderate
Paper-2	100	200	Moderate-tough

It consisted more of concept-based questions, whereas logical reasoning and DI was somewhat easier.

UGC NET 2020 Analysis Shift 1 for 24^th September 2020 (9 am to 12 pm)

Paper 1

Sections	Analysis
Teaching Aptitude	Moderate
Research Aptitude	Tough
Comprehension	Tough
Communication	Moderate
Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude	Easy
Logical Reasoning	Moderate
Data Interpretation	Easy
Information and Communication Technology	Moderate
People, Development and Environment	Moderate
Higher Education System	Moderate

UGC NET Paper-2 Analysis

Paper-2 was conducted for the following subjects mentioned in Shift-1

Tribal and Regional Language/Literature	Spanish
Sindhi	Sanskrit
Rajasthani	Prakrit
Persian	Manipuri
Maithili	Konkani
Kannada	Japanese
Indian Culture	Gujarati
German	Dogri
Comparative Study of Religions	Chinese
Continuing Education/Adult education/ Non Formal Education/Andragogy	–

UGC NET Analysis – Shift 2, 24^th September 2020 (3:00 pm to 6:00 pm)

Paper	Number of questions	Marks	Difficulty level
Paper – 1	50	100	Moderate
Paper – 2	100	200	Moderate-tough

The Compression section was easier for the 2nd shift than the morning shift. Teaching Aptitude was a common topic in both shifts.

Paper-1 analysis

Sections	Analysis
Teaching Aptitude	Moderate
Research Aptitude	Moderate
Comprehension	Easy
Communication	Easy
Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude	Moderate
Logical Reasoning	Moderate
Data Interpretation	Easy
Information and Communication Technology	Moderate
People, Development and Environment	Moderate
Higher Education System	Moderate

Paper-2

Paper-2 was conducted for the following subjects mentioned in Shift-2.

Arab Culture and Islamic Studies	Arabic
Jains, Buddhist, Gandhian and Peace Studies	Defence and Strategic Studies
Linguistics	Mass Communication and Journalism
Nepali	Oriya
Pali	Tamil

The UGC NET 2020 Shift 1 paper was neither hard nor easy. It had a moderate difficulty level. Most of the questions in shift1 paper1 were conceptual. There were lots of questions from Teaching aptitude. The Shift 2 overall papers were on a moderate level.

UGC NET 2020 Paper Analysis – 25^th September 2020

UGC NET was conducted in two shifts on September 25, 2020: Shift 1 and Shift 2. Check the analysis below.

Paper	Number of questions	Marks	Difficulty level
Paper – 1	50	100	Easy-Moderate
Paper-2	100	200	Easy-Moderate

Paper-1 Analysis Shift 1 (9:00 am to 12:00 pm)

Section	Analysis
Teaching Aptitude	Moderate- Tough
Comprehension	Moderate- Tough
Research Aptitude	Tough
Communication	Moderate
Logical Reasoning	Moderate
Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude	Moderate
People, Development and Environment	Moderate
Data Interpretation	Easy
Information and Communication Technology	Moderate
Higher Education System	Moderate

Paper-2

Paper-2 was conducted for the following subjects mentioned in Shift-2.

Comparative Literature	Criminology
Folk Literature	Forensic Science
French (French Version)	Museology & Conservation
Psychology	Tourism Administration and Management

UGC NET Analysis of exam in Shift 2 (3:00 pm to 6:00 pm)

Paper	Number of questions	Marks	Difficulty level
Paper – 1	50	100	Easy- Moderate
Paper-2	100	200	Moderate-tough

Paper-1 Analysis

Section	Analysis
Teaching Aptitude	Moderate
Comprehension	Tough
Research Aptitude	Moderate-tough
Communication	Moderate
Logical Reasoning	Moderate
Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude	Easy-moderate
People, Development and Environment	Current affairs
Data Interpretation	Easy
Information and Communication Technology	Moderate
Higher Education System	Moderate-tough

For Shift1, the overall paper was easy to moderate. Again, the aptitude questions were difficult where Maths and Reasoning questions were easy to solve.

For Shift 2, the papers were comparatively difficult and reasoning questions seemed tough to solve.

Likewise, the exams were being conducted in 2 shifts – 9 am to 12 pm and 3 to 6 pm on the respective dates – 29 , 30 September, 1,9,17 October and 4,11,12,13 November.

The Overall Analysis of UGC NET 2020

• The Paper 1 for UGC NET 2020 stands on a Moderate level of difficulty as the questions asked in the paper were more from Research and Teaching Aptitude.
• There were comparatively less questions from Maths and LR sections. There were a scant amount of questions from Environment , Communication and other sections.
• Few questions of Comprehension were hard and candidates struggled to solve bit lengthy paragraphs.

The section-wise difficulty and total number of question can be interpreted from following table:

Topics For Paper 1	Difficulty Level	Questions
Teaching Aptitude	Moderate	10 -12
Research Aptitude	Difficult	8 – 10
Reading Comprehension	Moderate to Difficult	5
Reasoning	Easy	5
Data Interpretation	Easy to Moderate	5 – 7
Mathematics	Moderate to Difficult	5 – 7
Communication	Moderate	4 – 5
People and Environment	Easy to Moderate	3 – 4
Higher Education System	Moderate to Difficult	3 – 4
Information and Communication Technology	Moderate	3 – 4

The UGC NET Paper 2 is subject-wise paper and different subject tests are taken to assess the candidates. So the difficulty level of this paper in 2020  is based on the paper for which a candidate is giving an exam and they are different for different candidates.

Finally, it can be said the papers were a good combination of tricky questions along with the direct one. If a student’s basics for Maths, and English are clear, half of the task is over. Practising the difficult questions and previous years papers will help the students to reach their desired goal to score good in UGC NET.