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PREPARATION OF PAPER I

Paper I of UGC-NET consists of sixty (60) MCQs of two marks each, out of which the candidate is required to answer any fifty (50). The prime objective of this paper is to decide student’s interest and abilities in teaching and research. The ability to understand subject, logical reasoning and application of methodological reasoning is also assessed in this paper. There are ten units in the syllabus:

â–º Teaching Aptitude

â–º Research Aptitude

â–º Reading Comprehension

â–º Communication

â–º Reasoning (including Numerical aptitude)

â–º Logical Reasoning

â–º Data Interpretation

â–º Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

â–º People and Environment

â–º Higher Education System: Governance, Polity and Administration

Most of NET aspirants have a opinion that Paper I is very easy and there is no need to spend much time in its preparation. This is true to some extent as there are many questions in Paper I which can be solved by using common sense. However, such questions are comparatively less in number. Majority of questions asked in paper I (especially on logical reasoning) are very tricky. We misunderstand that these questions are very easy but in reality they are quite complicated. Few examples of such questions are given below. I suggest you to attempt these questions.

Q.1) Ten people attended a social gathering where they complemented each other by shaking their hands.  The number of hand shakings in the gathering will be

A) 10                                       B) 09                           C) 45                                       D) 100

Q.2) A does a particular work in 2 days. The same work is completed by B in 4 days. How much days will be required to complete the same work if A & B decide to work together?

A) 3 days                                B) 2 days                     C) 1.75 days                            D) 8/6 days

Q. 3) For a certain programme, doctor is allotted a seat No. 12, Engineer is allotted a seat no. 16. What seat no. should be allotted to professor?

A) 20                                        B) 24                          C) 08                                       D) 18

Let us have a look at answers of these questions. The correct answers for above questions are 45 and 8/6 and 18 respectively. I am sure that you might have chosen wrong answers while solving the above questions. This usually happens because of certain reasons. The first one is that we use our own reasoning ability instead of actual tricks that are required to solve such questions. Our reasoning ability is many a time not rational and thus leads to wrong answers. The other reason that makes us choose wrong answers is that whatever answers we determine using our irrational reasoning ability is always there in options. This gives us more confidence about wrong answer that we have chosen for such questions. For example, when we consider question no. 3, it is obvious that one will opt for the answer 20 thinking that question is based on difference of 4. Actually, the question is based on a different reasoning ability than what we have thought. It is based on coding/decoding. Both doctor and engineer have 6 and 8 letters each. Multiplying 6 and 8 by 2 gives 12 and 16 which are seat numbers allotted to them. Similarly, professor, which consist 9 letters when multiplied by 2 gives 18 which is the correct answer. The trick to solve first question is to use formula N(N+1)/2 where N is number of people. To solve question no. 2, you have to find work done by both A and B in one day which is calculated using the formula 1/N where N is number of days in which each of them completes whole work. You have to add work done by each of them in a day (1/2 + 1/4= 6/8) and then make reciprocal of result to get answer which is 8/6 in this case.

You might have now realized that questions asked in Paper I are very easy to solve provided tricks are known. The other important thing is that questions asked in Paper I are more easy as compared to those asked in Paper II and III. In addition, the literature required for preparation of Paper I is comparatively less and easily available with. Due to these reasons preparation of Paper I can be accomplished in a very less time. One can score more than 80 % times in Paper I with very less efforts. In contrast to this, thorough preparation of Paper II and III requires lot of time as there is a big list of reference books. Even if all these reference books are studied thoroughly, scoring high marks in these papers still cannot be accomplished. Thus, it is always better to target for a very good score in Paper I.

 Literature for Paper I: You can refer various books available in market for paper I. These books cover all the ten topics of paper I quite comprehensively. In addition, reading National Talent Search Exam (NTSE) books of 7^th standard can help you in raising your reasoning related to logic based questions.  There is a lot of syllabus concerning education. You can consult your friends who have done B. Ed. Or M. Ed. for the reference books regarding education syllabus.

Solving MCQs from old question papers of NET/SLET/SET will help to develop excellent reasoning ability. To complete the paper in time, students must practice sample papers or mock test papers based on Paper I. The syllabus wise guidance for all the ten topics of Paper I will be soon updated on this site.