S. Vishnu Sharma
UGC NET May 2021 (December cycle 2020) exam dates and schedule are released, students aspiring to become assistant professors or junior research scholars can apply from 2 February to 2 March.
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal-Nishank announced the dates for UGC NET May 2021 exam on 2 February.
As per the announcement, UGC NET May 2021 will be conducted on May 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 17 this year.
UGC NET May 2021
National Testing Agency (NTA) will be conducting the exam on behalf of University Grants Commission (UGC).
The last date and time to pay the fee is 11:50 pm of 3 March.
Point to remember
UGC NET is conducted twice a year and the popular exam could not be held as per the schedule during 2020 due to outbreak of corona virus.
June 2020 exam had to be postponed to September and November to conduct all the exams.
Similarly, UGC NET December 2020 exam had to be postponed due to the outbreak and is being conducted in May now and the dates for which are mentioned earlier.
It is this December 2020 cycle exam which is also being known as UGC NET May 2021 exam as it is being conducted in May this year.
About the exam
UGC NET May 2021 exam is for those who wish to take up research or join educational institutions as assistant professors.
History, Japanese, German, Law, Library and Information Science are among the subjects where students can take up research work or become assistant professors and take up teaching work in that subject.
There about totally about 81 subjects in which applicants can either undertake research or take up a teaching job after getting a good score in UGC NET May 2021 exam.
Candidates who choose to become research scholars will be known as Junior Research Fellows (JRF) and the grant they get upon passing UGC NET May 2021 exam will be known as Junior Research Fellowship (JRF).
Similarly, candidates who wish to take up teaching jobs in various subjects can write UGC NET May 2021 exam and those who pass it with good score can use it to apply for the post of assistant professorship in various colleges located across the country.
Those who take up teaching job will be known as Assistant Professors.
Awarding JRF or Assistant Professorship to a candidate depends upon his or her performance in both – Paper 1 and Paper 2 of UGC NET May 2021 exam.
Candidates applying for UGC NET 2021 exam are advised to apply for JRF or Assistant Professor in the subject they have completed their post graduation study.
For those whose post graduation subject is not mentioned in the list can choose a related subject.
Who can apply
Candidates who have completed their post graduation in anyone of the 81 subjects taught in recognised colleges or universities located across India can apply for UGC NET May 2021 exam.
The list of the subjects and their upgraded syllabus can be accessed from the official website of UGC at the link ‘https://www.ugcnetonline.in/syllabus-new.php’
Also, the list of UGC recognised colleges and universities is available at the link ‘www.ugc.ac.in’
Candidates of UGC NET May 2021 exam must be having 55 percent pass marks without rounding off in their qualifying post graduate exam if they belong to general category.
The same for OBC-Non Creamy Layer, SC and ST, Third Gender, Persons with Disability (PwD) category candidates must be having 50 percent pass marks without rounding off.
Point to remember
Candidates targeting JRF through this UGC NET May 2021 exam shall be not more than 31 years as on 1 March 2021.
There is no upper age limit for those who are trying to aspire for assistant professorship.
How to apply
Applicants of UGC NET May 2021 exam must remember that procedure to apply for the exam is online.
Candidates have to visit the official website of UGC NET May 2021 exam at ‘https://ugcnet.nta.nic.in/WebInfo/Page/Page?PageId=1&LangId=P’
They have to scroll down the page and look for the button ‘Fill Application Form Dec 2020 Cycle (May 2021)’
Post clicking the button candidates will witness downloading of another page ‘https://testservices.nic.in/examSys21/root/Home.aspx?nc=Ei4cajBkK1gZSfgr53ImFV/yIzhTZHBze3wooSg9DjgglM5OzxXA3c3OOztO/6sA’
Soon after the new webpage downloads, applicants will find ‘New Registration’ button on the leftside written in white colour on orange background.
Applicants must click ‘New Registration’ and commence registration to obtain username and password.
Candidates can come back to the webpage where they clicked ‘New Registration’ and find space to enter username and password and login on the rightside.
Post login, candidates can commence applying for the UGC NET May 2021 exam.
Point to remember
Applicants can directly access the registration page of UGC NET May 2021 exam at ‘https://testservices.nic.in/examSys21/root/Home.aspx?enc=Ei4cajBkK1gZSfgr53ImFV/yIzhTZHBze3wooSg9DjgglM5OzxXA3c3OOztO/6sA’
Documents to upload
Applicants for UGC NET May 2021 exam have to upload legible scanned image of a recent photograph in jpg/jpeg file and it size is to be in between 10Kb – 200Kb.
The photograph of the applicant can be in black and white or in colour, candidate’s face should be visible without any mask.
Also applicant must upload their scanned image of his or her signature and it size must be from 4kb to 30kb.
After the upload of self photograph and scanned image of their signature, applicants can move ahead towards paying the registration fee for UGC NET May 2021 exam.
Registration fee
Registration fee to be paid for UGC NET May 2021 exam will be Rs 1000 for General or Unreserved category candidates.
Economically Weaker Section and Other Backward Classes – Non Creamy Layer category candidates have to pay Rs 500 as registration fee.
Also read ‘Know where are top colleges to study MSc Economics in India located‘
The same for SC/ST and PwD and third gender category candidates is Rs 250.
Fee payment method
The registration fee for UGC NET May 2021 exam can be paid through respective payment gateways that are integrated to the online application system with help of debit card/credit card/UPI/Wallets.
Final confirmation
Post payment of the fees, applicants can verify the details provided in the application form and check for errors in them.
After ensuring nil errors, applicants can finally submit the application for UGC NET May 2021 exam and take a print out of the same.
Exam application correction
Candidates registering for UGC NET May 2021 exam have to ensure no mistakes are done while filling the form.
In case if applicants come to know of any mistake after final submission, they can take up rectifications from 5 to 9 March.
Important dates
Application submission for UGC NET May 2021 exam can be done from 2 February to 2 March this year.
The registration fee can be paid till 11:50 pm of 3 March.
The date to download the admit card for UGC NET May 2021 exam will be announced on the official website of the exam at the appropriate time.
The test dates are 2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,14 and 17 May 2021.
The examination
UGC NET May 2021 exam will be held for a duration of three hours and will have no break between both the papers – Paper 1 and Paper 2.
The exam will be conducted in two shifts – first and second shift. First shift is from 9 am to 12 pm and second shift is from 3 pm to 6 pm.
The shift allotted to candidate will be mentioned on his or her admit card.
The exam pattern
The question papers of Paper 1 and Paper 2 will objective type questions in multiple choice format.
Paper 1 is for 100 marks and will have 50 questions and Paper 2 will have 100 questions for 200 marks.
The questions in Paper 1 intends to assess the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate.
It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, reading comprehension, divergent thinking
and general awareness of the candidate.
Similarly, questions in Paper 2 will have are based on subject selected by the candidate and will assess domain knowledge.
Point to remember
The list of subjects and its revised syllabus is available on UGC website ‘https://www.ugcnetonline.in/syllabus-new.php’
The syllabus for subjects covered by UGC NET exam has been revised and has turned applicable from June 2019 onwards.
Each question will carry two marks and there is no negative marking for incorrect response.
The information
Information about the UGC NET May 2021 exam and how to apply for it and the method of the conducting the exam is available on the information bulletin at ‘https://ugcnet.nta.nic.in/webinfo/File/GetFile?FileId=56&LangId=P’