National Testing Agency (NTA) Driving Major Change To Competitive Exams Including UGC NET, JEE And NEET.

For the first time, major changes have been introduced regarding exam pattern and age limit eligibility. Check out the following changes:

The newly-established National Testing Agency (NTA) is driving a major revamp in the country’s competitive exams system from next year, relying heavily on technological tools like artificial intelligence, psychometric analysis and computer-based adaptive testing, reports The Times Of India.

The agency, which is expected to test around 1.5 crore candidates annually, will conduct its first exam in December this year – the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test.

According to the report, other competitive exams such as Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) are also set for a major overhaul from next year. The changes include having a unique set of questions for each candidate, with a software picking questions at random, and multiple dates for taking an exam.

 

First Change –

Newly Established NTA Conduct Examination: –

NTA will conduct UGC NET for inviting applicants for pursuing Junior Research Fellowship and Lectureship in universities and colleges across India.

 

Second Change – 

Exam Pattern: – Instead of 3 papers, there will be only 2 papers – paper 1 and paper 2.

The Test will consist of two papers. Both the papers will consist of only objective type questions and will be held on 02nd December 2018 (Sunday) in two separate sessions as under:

— Paper 1: It will be of 100 marks and will contain 50 objective type compulsory questions. Each question will carry 2 marks and will be of general nature and will test the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate.The duration of the same will be one hour (9:30 am to 10:30 am).

— Paper 2: It will be of 100 marks and will contain 100 objective type compulsory questions. Each question will carry 2 marks and will be based on the subject opted by the candidate. The duration of the same will be two hours (11 am to 1 pm).

Read | 2nd UGC NET exam 2018 Notification Out, National Testing Agency (NTA) conduct in the month December, check dates here.

 

Third Change – 

Age limit increased: – The age limit has been raised by 2 years. Earlier, the upper age limit for appearing for JRF was 28 years, but now, it has been increased to 30 years.

 

Fourth Change – 

Qualifying Criteria: – The University Grant Commission has changed the selection criteria for UGC NET Exam for the candidates who are going to appear for the UGC NET 2018 Exam.

Below we have shared the complete details regarding the changed selection criteria of UGC NET Exam. Let’s have a look at the details.

Key Changes in the UGC NET Qualifying Criteria

 With the ongoing debate on the reservation, the UGC has decided to change the selection criteria for the candidates appearing for the Net Exam.

UGC has decided that 6% of the candidates appearing for the NET Exam will be declared as qualifying to be eligible for the entry-level post of Assistant Professor and the Reservation Policy as per the category will be applied to this 6% qualified candidates.

Top 6% of the candidates who take the exam (all three papers) and score minimum 40% aggregate marks (at least 35% aggregate marks for candidates belonging to social groups viz., Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes/ Other Backward Classes (Non-creamy layer)/ People with Disabilities) will be eligible for Assistant Professor.

As per the estimates by UGC data trends of last two decades, around 68% to 92% candidates qualifying UGC NET Exam are from the reserved category.

 

Current Norms v/s the Latest Change in UGC NET Selection Procedure 

As per the current UGC norms regarding the procedure and criteria for declaration of UGC NET Result, the top 15% candidates from each of the four reservation category (OBC, SC, ST, PWD) on the merit list with prescribed minimum marks will be declared as qualified for Assistant Professor.

The Merit List of the candidates who have secured minimum marks would be prepared subject wise and category wise.

Now, as per the new notification, only 6% of candidates of previously 15% will be now declared as qualified.

This means that if suppose 6 Lakh candidates appear in UGC NET Exam then 6% of 6 lakh i.e. 36000 slots will be provided for the qualifying candidates for different categories as per the new policy.

 

Why was the decision to change the Qualifying Criteria undertaken?

The decision to change the selection criteria of UGC NET Exam came after a petition was filed by Nair Service Society with the Kerala High Court.

According to the HC order in January 2017, the selection criteria of giving relaxation marks to reserved categories were considered as unconstitutional and as a move which is unfavorable for the general candidates.

As per the petition filed, the High Court had argued that because of the UGC NET Qualifying minimum marks prescribed to the reserved categories candidates, there are more candidates qualified with minimum marks from these categories as compared to the number of general candidates qualified for the exam.

As per the current Reservation Policy, the reservation provided for the four categories are mentioned below.

There would be no change in the method of allocation of these candidates and the various disciplines for UGC Junior Research Fellowships.

 

Last year, CBSE successfully conducted NET on November 5 and about 9.30 lakh candidates had registered for the same. The exam was conducted in 91 cities at 1700 exam centres. To help differently-abled candidates, 25 minutes additional time was provided for paper–I and paper–II, while 50 minutes additional time was provided during paper III to such candidates.