This year UGC NET Exam was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) from 18th December 2018 till 22nd December 2018. The mode of examination was online for various subjects at selected Examination Centers across the country for the post of Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) or Assistant Professor only. Below is the basic structure of the paper:
| NTA UGC NET 2018 |
| Session | No.of Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| Paper1 | 50 | 100 | 1 Hour |
| Paper 2 | 100 | 200 | 2 Hour |
| Total | 150 | 300 | 3 Hours |
Paper 1 is the same for all the subjects. The domain of subjects for Paper 1 consists of questions from Teaching Aptitude, General Knowledge, Research Aptitude and Other general topics. The table below lists the broad topics of Paper 1 along with their difficulty level.
| Category/ Average Number of Questions Asked | Important Topics | Difficulty Level |
|
Teaching Aptitude (12-14) |
Teaching Methods, Teaching: Nature, objectives, characteristics and basic requirements | Moderate to Difficult |
| Research Aptitude
(7-9) |
Research: Meaning, characteristics and types; Steps of research
Methods of research; Research Paper Writing and Methods |
Difficult |
| Reading Comprehension
4-5 (1 set) |
Short Passage | Easy to Moderate |
| Communication
3-4 |
Communication Nature, characteristics, types, barriers and effective classroom communication | Easy to Moderate |
| Maths
5-6 |
Time & Work; Time, Speed & Distance; Boats and Streams, Average, Probability; Geometry and Mensuration | Easy to Moderate |
| Logical Reasoning
7-8 |
Blood Relationship, Syllogism, Number Series, Coding Decoding,Direction Test, Alphabet Series | Easy |
| Data Interpretation
4-5 (1 set) |
Table Chart involving the concepts of Percentage and Average | Easy to Moderate |
| Information & Communication Technology (ICT)/ Computer Knowledge
3-4 |
LAN, WAN, Bluetooth, ROM RAM, Full Forms, Primary & Secondary Storage, World Wide Web, Internet, Decimal to Binary, TB/GB/MB | Moderate |
| People & Environment
1-2 |
Ozone Layer, Conservation of Energy, Fuel Efficiency, Agriculture, Sustainable Development, Carbon Emission | Moderate |
| Current Affairs
3-4 |
NITI AYOG: Backward Districts List, Parameters; Swatch Bharat, Govt. Schemes and Yojanas like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, National and International Appointments | Easy to Moderate |
| Total Questions | 50 Questions of 2 Marks each | Easy to Difficult |
This can actually help the future aspirants to plan their strategy for their upcoming Exams. One of the important keys for increasing the score of NET Exam is to score well in Paper 1 and this could be easily done if an individual does a thorough study of the past patterns.