TIPS FOR CLEARING NET-JRF EXAM

UGC NET, which is conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) is a national level examination for the eligibility of Assistant Professor. Candidates who qualify for Junior Research Fellowship are eligible for scholarships for pursuing Ph.D. (more). Clearing NET in any subject is not an easy task and not everyone’s cup of tea. However, proper guidance could prove very useful in clearing this exam. I am about to give some important suggestions that would help you in clearing this examination.

I am going to list some of the tricks which I used during my preparation. With the help of these tricks (I would call it a methodology), I have qualified NET-JRF in Commerce, NET in Management and Human Resource Management.

1. Solving previous years papers is the key.

Solving previous years papers is essential to start with the preparation, but the way it should be approached is often misunderstood. Many of us solve the papers by simply going through the questions and answers, that is the wrong way of solving any question paper. Since it is a Multiple choice question paper, one should enquire about all the options given in the question. Even if you get the answer from the answer key, enquire about the other options and make notes of every detail you get about the options.

To make notes, buy 10 notebooks for all the 10 subjects given in the syllabus. each notebook should be 400 pages. When you start solving the paper, have all the notebooks beside your table and whatever the question comes, pick the notebook of that subject and write down the topic of that question and go into detail of that topic. Enquire about every option given in the notes. You may assign numbers to the notebooks to identify them easily and quickly. For example, if the question is

” Which of the following dividend model is known as dividend capitalization model”

The probable options would be (A) Walter Model (B) Gordon’s Model (c) MM Hypothesis, (D) Lintner Model

You might get the answer directly from the answer key, i.e (B) Gordon’s Model. Now, your main task starts here. Pick the notebook of Financial Management, go and google the topic ‘dividend capitalization model’. When you search this, you will get an explanation of the dividend capitalization model. You may also take the help of any good financial management book. Now search for models that are given in options i.e. Walters Model, MM hypothesis etc. Make notes of all of them carefully and thoroughly. Make sure you cover all the Models of Dividend Policy. If you do this, you will have covered the topic ‘Models of Dividend Policy’.

After you have studied the topic thoroughly, go to google and search “MCQs on dividend models”. When you solve MCQs of a topic just after you have studied it, it reinforces the information in your memory and helps you register that information firmly. Also, solving more and more MCQs increases your chances of getting a question in the exam which you have already solved somewhere.

Do this for every question. If you follow this method, Solving one paper would take you 2-3 weeks or even a month. But don’t worry, if you solve a paper and cover the topics thoroughly, it becomes easier for you to solve other papers as the questions from these topics are repeated. When you will solve another paper, you may get a question: ” Which theory says that dividend policy does not have to do anything with the value of the firm”. If you had solved the previous years question thoroughly, you will not have to make more effort to solve this.

You may use the book on previous years solved paper from R. Gupta publication.

2. Watch a lot of lectures:

Many topics may not be easy to understand. For such topics, get the help of youtube. There are many good youtube channels nowadays which are providing quality content free of cost. Suppose I get confused on MM Hypothesis, I would take the help of youtube. I will scroll through various lecture which explains MM Hypothesis. Now, if I get a good lecture on this topic, I would be sure that this particular channel must be sharing good youtube videos on financial management. So now, I must check the playlist of this youtube channel. In this way, you will end up in the playlist of a youtube channel which would be very helpful for you to learn Financial Management. Some lecturers speak very slow, in such a case, you must increase the speed of the video to 1.50x or 1.75x.

Watching youtube lectures is a boon as it opens up your mind. Otherwise, it becomes boring and monotonous if you only read them. it happened to me once that I watched a lecture on youtube about EBIT-EPS Analysis. The lecturer was explaining it with an example. The question in the example was asked word to word in the exam.

Now, what happens…. you have fed your mind with a lot of information about a particular topic. First, you saw a question which is very difficult and you don’t know the answer. You study the concept, you solve the MCQs, you watch a youtube video on that topic. This is simply a reinforcement of information in various ways into the mind. I am sure that you will not forget any concept if you learn this way. You need to keep revising the notes every week.

3. Solve the papers of other state-level exams

Using this same methodology, you have to solve the papers of other state-level exams like Kerala SET, Maharashtra SET, Karnataka Set, Assistant Professor exams conducted by various state governments. I have seen many questions in NET exams which were previously asked in SET exams and Assistant Professor exams.

4. Solve the NET papers of allied subjects

Yes, you read that right. Many topics are common among allied subjects. For example, 5-6 subjects are common in the syllabus in Commerce and Management subjects. A candidate who is preparing for commerce should solve the questions of related topics from the question paper of management. Generally, questions from marketing management, principles of management, economics, Financial management etc. are interchangeably asked in commerce and management.

If you follow these steps, you will certainly clear this exam. It will take hard work of a minimum of six months. But in the end, you will end up victorious.

Thanks for reading.