UGC NET DECEMBER 2025

CONDUCTING BODIES

The exam was initially conducted solely by UGC. But as the number of candidates increased, the responsibility was handed over to other agencies .

In 2014, CBSE became incharge of conducting the exam. In 2018, the task was handed over to the then newly-formed National Testing Agency (NTA). This is when the UGC NET exam started following computer based testing (CBT) and the entire system shifted online.

UGC NET exam is held twice a year- June and December. The exam is three hours long and is conducted in two shifts, Shift I from 9:00am to 12:00 pm and Shift II from 3:00 pm to 6:00pm. The number of subjects included are around 85, which covers a wide spectrum of academic disciplines.

FORMAT AND MARKING SCHEME

The UGC NET consists of two papers, both conducted on the same day in a single sitting without a break.

Paper I – General Teaching & Research Aptitude (Common paper for all subjects)

Purpose: To assess overall teaching/research aptitude, reasoning, comprehension, and general awareness.

1. Number of Questions: 50
2. Marks: 100 (2 marks per question)
3. There is no negative marking.

Paper II –Designed to evaluate the candidate’s comprehensive understanding of the subject chosen for the exam.

Purpose: To test in-depth knowledge of Psychology at the postgraduate level.

1. Number of Questions: 100
2. Marks: 200 (2 marks per question)
3. There is no negative marking.
4. The total marks for the entire exam (Paper 1 and Paper 2 combined) is 300.

 ELIGIBILITY

The criteria is as follows:-

-The candidate should have a Master’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognized university with 55% marks (50% for OBC-NCL/SC/ST/PwD/Third gender).

-Final-year Master’s students can apply but must submit their final marks within 2 years of the result.

-The chosen NET subject should match the candidate’s postgraduate subject.

CUT OFF

• JRF + Assistant Professor – Highest cut-off. If a candidate qualifies here, it means they are eligible for the Junior Research Fellowship (with its stipend, research opportunities, and age relaxation benefits for selected categories) and for Assistant Professor posts.
  
  
• Assistant Professor only – Slightly lower cut-off where a candidate is eligible to apply for faculty positions in Indian universities/colleges but not for JRF benefits. It is valid for a lifetime.
  
  
• PhD Admission Eligibility – This is used by universities to shortlist candidates for doctoral programs. The validity is usually 1 year from the date of result declaration.

SYLLABUS

Paper 1 (10 Units)

Unit-I Teaching Aptitude

• Teaching: Concept, Objectives, Levels of teaching (Memory, Understanding and Reflective), Characteristics and basic requirements.
• Learner’s characteristics: Characteristics of adolescent and adult learners (Academic, Social, Emotional and Cognitive), Individual differences.
• Factors affecting teaching related to: Teacher, Learner, Support material, Instructional facilities, Learning environment and Institution.
• Methods of teaching in Institutions of higher learning: Teacher centred vs. Learner centred methods; Off-line vs. On-line methods (Swayam, Swayamprabha, MOOCs etc.).
• Teaching Support System: Traditional, Modern and ICT based.
• Evaluation Systems: Elements and Types of evaluation, Evaluation in Choice Based Credit System in Higher education, Computer based testing, Innovations in evaluation systems.

Unit-II Research Aptitude

• Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics, Positivism and Post- positivistic approach to research.
• Methods of Research: Experimental, Descriptive, Historical, Qualitative and Quantitative methods.
• Steps of Research.
• Thesis and Article writing: Format and styles of referencing.
• Application of ICT in research.
• Research ethics.

Unit-III Comprehension

• A passage of text be given. Questions be asked from the passage to be answered.

Unit-IV Communication

• Communication: Meaning, types and characteristics of communication.
• Effective communication: Verbal and Non-verbal, Inter-Cultural and group communications, Classroom communication.
• Barriers to effective communication.
• Mass-Media and Society.

Unit-V Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude

• Types of reasoning.
• Number series, Letter series, Codes and Relationships.
• Mathematical Aptitude (Fraction, Time & Distance, Ratio, Proportion and Percentage, Profit and Loss, Interest and Discounting, Averages etc.).

Unit-VI Logical Reasoning

• Understanding the structure of arguments: argument forms, structure of categorical propositions, Mood and Figure, Formal and Informal fallacies, Uses of language, Connotations and denotations of terms, Classical square of opposition.
• Evaluating and distinguishing deductive and inductive reasoning.
• Analogies.
• Venn diagram: Simple and multiple use for establishing validity of arguments.
• Indian Logic: Means of knowledge.
• Pramanas: Pratyaksha (Perception), Anumana (Inference), Upamana (Comparison), Shabda (Verbal testimony), Arthapatti (Implication) and Anupalabddhi (Non-apprehension).
• Structure and kinds of Anumana (inference), Vyapti (invariable relation), Hetvabhasas (fallacies of inference).

Unit-VII Data Interpretation

• Sources, acquisition and classification of Data.
• Quantitative and Qualitative Data.
• Graphical representation (Bar-chart, Histograms, Pie-chart, Table-chart and Line-chart) and mapping of Data.
• Data Interpretation.
• Data and Governance.

Unit-VIII Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

• ICT: General abbreviations and terminology.
• Basics of Internet, Intranet, E-mail, Audio and Video-conferencing.
• Digital initiatives in higher education.
• ICT and Governance.

Unit-IX People, Development and Environment

• Development and environment: Millennium development and Sustainable development goals.
• Human and environment interaction: Anthropogenic activities and their impacts on the environment.
• Environmental issues: Local, Regional and Global; Air pollution, Water pollution, Soil pollution, Noise pollution, Waste (solid, liquid, biomedical, hazardous, electronic), Climate change and its Socio-Economic and Political dimensions.
• Impacts of pollutants on human health.
• Natural and energy resources: Solar, Wind, Soil, Hydro, Geothermal, Biomass, Nuclear and Forests.
• Natural hazards and disasters: Mitigation strategies.
• Environmental Protection Act (1986), National Action Plan on Climate Change, International agreements/efforts -Montreal Protocol, Rio Summit, Convention on Biodiversity, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, International Solar Alliance.

Unit-X Higher Education System

• Institutions of higher learning and education in ancient India.
• Evolution of higher learning and research in Post Independence India.
• Oriental, Conventional and Non-conventional learning programmes in India.
• Professional, Technical and Skill Based education.
• Value education and environmental education.
• Policies, Governance, and Administration.

Paper 2 -Psychology (10 Units)

1. Emergence of Psychology

• Psychological thought in some major Eastern Systems: Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism, Sufism and Integral Yoga. Academic psychology in India: Pre-independence era; post-independence era; 1970s: The move to addressing social issues; 1980s: Indigenization; 1990s: Paradigmatic concerns, disciplinary identity crisis; 2000s: Emergence of Indian psychology in academia. Issues: The colonial encounter; Post colonialism and psychology; Lack of distinct disciplinary identity.
• Western: Greek heritage, medieval period and modern period. Structuralism, Functionalism, Psychoanalytical, Gestalt, Behaviorism, Humanistic-Existential, Transpersonal, Cognitive revolution, Multiculturalism. Four founding paths of academic psychology – Wundt, Freud, James, Dilthey. Issues: Crisis in psychology due to strict adherence to experimental-analytical paradigm (logical empiricism). Indic influences on modern psychology.
• Essential aspects of knowledge paradigms: Ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Paradigms of Western Psychology: Positivism, Post-Positivism, Critical perspective, Social Constructionism, Existential Phenomenology, and Co-operative Enquiry. Paradigmatic Controversies. Significant Indian paradigms on psychological knowledge: Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism, Sufism, and Integral Yoga. Science and spirituality (avidya and vidya). The primacy of self-knowledge in Indian psychology.

2. Research Methodology and Statistics

• Research: Meaning, Purpose, and Dimensions.
• Research problems, Variables and Operational Definitions, Hypothesis, Sampling.
• Ethics in conducting and reporting research
• Paradigms of research: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed methods approach
• Methods of research: Observation, Survey [Interview, Questionnaires], Experimental, Quasi-experimental, Field studies, Cross-Cultural Studies, Phenomenology, Grounded theory, Focus groups, Narratives, Case studies, Ethnography
• Statistics in Psychology: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion. Normal Probability Curve. Parametric [t-test] and Non-parametric tests [Sign Test, Wilcoxon Signed rank test, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Friedman]. Power analysis. Effect size.
• Correlational Analysis: Correlation [Product Moment, Rank Order], Partial correlation, multiple correlation.
• Special Correlation Methods: Biserial, Point biserial, tetrachoric, phi coefficient.
• Regression: Simple linear regression, Multiple regression.
• Factor analysis: Assumptions, Methods, Rotation and Interpretation.
• Experimental Designs: ANOVA [One-way, Factorial], Randomized Block Designs, Repeated Measures Design, Latin Square, Cohort studies, Time series, MANOVA, ANCOVA. Single-subject designs.

3. Psychological testing

• Types of tests
• Test construction: Item writing, item analysis
• Test standardization: Reliability, validity and Norms
• Areas of testing: Intelligence, creativity, neuropsychological tests, aptitude, Personality assessment, interest inventories
• Attitude scales – Semantic differential, Staples, Likert scale.
• Computer-based psychological testing
• Applications of psychological testing in various settings: Clinical, Organizational and business, Education, Counseling, Military. Career guidance.

4. Biological basis of behavior

• Sensory systems: General and specific sensations, receptors and processes
• Neurons: Structure, functions, types, neural impulse, synaptic transmission. Neurotransmitters.
• The Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems – Structure and functions. Neuroplasticity.
• Methods of Physiological Psychology: Invasive methods – Anatomical methods, degeneration techniques, lesion techniques, chemical methods, microelectrode studies. Non-invasive methods – EEG, Scanning methods.
• Muscular and Glandular system: Types and functions
• Biological basis of Motivation: Hunger, Thirst, Sleep and Sex.
• Biological basis of emotion: The Limbic system, Hormonal regulation of behavior.
• Genetics and behavior: Chromosomal anomalies; Nature-Nurture controversy [Twin studies and adoption studies]

5. Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting

• Attention: Forms of attention, Models of attention
• Perception:
• Approaches to the Study of Perception: Gestalt and physiological approaches
• Perceptual Organization: Gestalt, Figure and Ground, Law of Organization
• Perceptual Constancy: Size, Shape, and Color; Illusions
• Perception of Form, Depth and Movement
• Role of motivation and learning in perception
• Signal detection theory: Assumptions and applications
• Subliminal perception and related factors, information processing approach to perception, culture and perception, perceptual styles, Pattern recognition, Ecological perspective on perception.
• Learning Process:
• Fundamental theories: Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull
• Classical Conditioning: Procedure, phenomena and related issues
• Instrumental learning: Phenomena, Paradigms and theoretical issues; Reinforcement: Basic variables and schedules; Behaviour modification and its applications
• Cognitive approaches in learning: Latent learning, observational learning.
• Verbal learning and Discrimination learning
• Recent trends in learning: Neurophysiology of learning
• Memory and Forgetting
• Memory processes: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval
• Stages of memory: Sensory memory, Short-term memory (Working memory), Long-term Memory (Declarative – Episodic and Semantic; Procedural)
• Theories of Forgetting: Interference, Retrieval Failure, Decay, Motivated forgetting

6. Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity

• Theoretical perspectives on thought processes: Associationism, Gestalt, Information processing, Feature integration model
• Concept formation: Rules, Types, and Strategies; Role of concepts in thinking Types of Reasoning
• Language and thought
• Problem solving: Type, Strategies, and Obstacles
• Decision-making: Types and models
• Metacognition: Metacognitive knowledge and Metacognitive regulation
• Intelligence: Spearman; Thurstone; Jensen; Cattell; Gardner; Stenberg; Goleman; Das, Kar & Parrila
• Creativity: Torrance, Getzels & Jackson, Guilford, Wallach & Kogan
• Relationship between Intelligence and Creativity

7. Personality, Motivation, emotion, stress and coping

• Determinants of personality: Biological and socio-cultural
• Approaches to the study of personality: Psychoanalytical, Neo-Freudian, Social learning, Trait and Type, Cognitive, Humanistic, Existential, Transpersonal psychology.
• Other theories: Rotter’s Locus of Control, Seligman’s Explanatory styles, Kohlberg’s theory of Moral development.
• Basic motivational concepts: Instincts, Needs, Drives, Arousal, Incentives, Motivational Cycle.
• Approaches to the study of motivation: Psychoanalytical, Ethological, S-R Cognitive, Humanistic
• Exploratory behavior and curiosity
• Zuckerman’s Sensation seeking
• Achievement, Affiliation and Power
• Motivational Competence
• Self-regulation
• Flow
• Emotions: Physiological correlates
• Theories of emotions: James-Lange, Canon-Bard, Schachter and Singer, Lazarus, Lindsley.
• Emotion regulation
• Conflicts: Sources and types
• Stress and Coping: Concept, Models, Type A, B, C, D behaviors, Stress management strategies [Biofeedback, Music therapy, Breathing exercises, Progressive Muscular Relaxation, Guided Imagery, Mindfulness, Meditation, Yogasana, Stress Inoculation Training].

8. Social Psychology

• Nature, scope and history of social psychology
• Traditional theoretical perspectives: Field theory, Cognitive Dissonance, Sociobiology, Psychodynamic Approaches, Social Cognition.
• Social perception [Communication, Attributions]; attitude and its change within cultural context; prosocial behavior
• Group and Social influence [Social Facilitation; Social loafing]; Social influence [Conformity, Peer Pressure, Persuasion, Compliance, Obedience, Social Power, Reactance]. Aggression. Group dynamics, leadership style and effectiveness. Theories of intergroup relations [Minimal Group Experiment and Social Identity Theory, Relative Deprivation Theory, Realistic Conflict Theory, Balance Theories, Equity Theory, Social Exchange Theory]
• Applied social psychology: Health, Environment and Law; Personal space, crowding, and territoriality.

9. Human Development and Interventions

• Developmental processes: Nature, Principles, Factors in development, Stages of Development. Successful aging.
• Theories of development: Psychoanalytical, Behavioristic, and Cognitive
• Various aspects of development: Sensory-motor, cognitive, language, emotional, social and moral.
• Psychopathology: Concept, Mental Status Examination, Classification, Causes
• Psychotherapies: Psychoanalysis, Person-centered, Gestalt, Existential, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, Behavior therapy, REBT, CBT, MBCT, Play therapy, Positive psychotherapy, Transactional Analysis, Dialectic behavior therapy, Art therapy, Performing Art Therapy, Family therapy.
• Applications of theories of motivation and learning in School
• Factors in educational achievement
• Teacher effectiveness
• Guidance in schools: Needs, organizational set up and techniques
• Counselling: Process, skills, and techniques

10. Emerging Areas

• Issues of Gender, Poverty, Disability, and Migration: Cultural bias and discrimination. Stigma, Marginalization, and Social Suffering; Child Abuse and Domestic violence.
• Peace psychology: Violence, non-violence, conflict resolution at macro level, role of media in conflict resolution.
• Wellbeing and self-growth: Types of wellbeing [Hedonic and Eudemonic], Character strengths, Resilience and Post-Traumatic Growth.
• Health: Health promoting and health compromising behaviors, Life style and Chronic diseases [Diabetes, Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease], Psychoneuroimmunology [Cancer, HIV/AIDS]
• Psychology and technology interface: Digital learning; Digital etiquette: Cyber bullying; Cyber pornography: Consumption, implications; Parental mediation of Digital Usage.

IMPORTANCE

Qualifying UGC NET exam can lead to great research opportunities through JRF and make you eligible for direct PhD admissions in many institutions. Beyond academics, it opens doors to roles such as educational consultant, content creator for learning platforms, or subject matter expert in various organisations.