The Start

Why this Blog?

When I decided to prepare for this exam, the sources were scattered (especially for Economics) & hence my knowledge of understanding this exam became bleak. 

With bits and pieces, I started the journey. 

I gave 1 week time to understand the pattern & hence followed the chronology 

1. watched toppers videos (at 1.5x speed in 1 day for 7-8 hours)
2. downloaded the syllabus
3. searched for Previous Year Question Papers (found it on Kumar Bharat website)
4. Tried to solve few questions from the above papers (to judge my knowledge)
5. Purchased few books (as recommended by toppers)

I got benefitted from this chronology immensely which resulted in my success very early (in few months) but point 5 is where I want to emphasize. 

Since the eligibility for this exam is after P.G. hence the books used in PG must be used as a reference for the preparation itself rather than buying any specific book recommended by so and so topper. 

As the exam is an application-based rather than rote learning based on the understanding of topic/subject matters, which can never be done by any specific book. 

Suppose - after reading about Monopoly from any book for a week, you may get a sense of achievement but after you solve the PYQs and you failed to answer questions based on that topic it is where the confidence collapses and people give up just by thinking that exam is not doable because the knowledge provided by that book is limited and maybe you have overdone a topic does not mean the exam is difficult but your strategy is incorrect.

After my video got uploaded on DKT, the response I received acted as fuel to my aim of helping future NET aspirants. 

In this blog, I will answers FAQs to which I replied via mail to 1000+ aspirants but due to increasing frequency of repetitive questions almost every alternative day I thought of clubbing the questions/answers and making this beautiful platform to help even those who do not find the courage to kickstart their preparation

Why NET despite preparing for Civil Services

In short - due to setbacks faced in Civil Services consecutively in 2 attempts.

I started doubting myself and self-confidence got shattered and there came a savior of my life Shubham, I call him this only now because the NET exam and this blog I am writing is only his advice.

Since college, I was having a dream of being a Civil Servant (the reason will be shared after I become one) hence did not opt for any jobs and started my preparation for the exam.

My father never trusted my abilities & hence ignored my request to enroll me in coaching (costing 1 lakhs) and with no one to advise me I just started reading any random stuff in the name of preparation. The knowledge increased but could not clear the exam because of a lack of strategy. 

Hence I secluded myself as much as possible, I avoided leaving my room with fear of people asking me about my career. 

I was facing tough times but lucky to have friends at my disposal. 

It was after my P.G results in the month of October, at around 8 pm I received a call from Shubham to congratulate me but he asked the Q which I always feared-

"Now what's your next step? are you still going to prepare for the exam in which you are failing and preparing since 2014?

His words were hurting me but were true, he suggested me for NET and it took him months to convince me and hence I swallowed my pride & started preparing for this exam which is a National level paper!

I decided that this attempt will be final and whatever will happen I will accept it as my fate and hence I never targeted for next attempt to get JRF 

How I cleared this exam despite earlier failures?

In Mahabharata - 

When Arjuna picked up his bow, set the arrow and drew the string, his teacher asked, 

“What do you see?” Arjuna replied, “The eye of the bird.” 

“Can you see the tree?” asked Dronacharya.

“No, only the eye of the bird,” was the answer. 

I treated this exam as only my 1st and the last attempt hence aim was just clearing the exam with the shortest possible way rather than following any set standard pattern, rules

I made my own strategy and focus was 1, only clearing the exam and nothing else entered my mind and I think I understood the focus of Arjuna in the process 

My Result/marks scored (June 2019)-

Paper I-         33Q correct 

Paper-II-       67Q correct 

Total marks- 200/300

Percentile -   97.78

Difference between NET & JRF 

NET is the National Eligibility Test. 

It is used to qualify a person as eligible for Lecturership (LS) or JRF (Junior Research Fellowship). 

With LS one is eligible for Assistant Professor posting and with JRF, one can pursue Ph.D 

Getting a job after NET?

This one is a bit tricky because of the high unemployment in India. 

Cracking an exam is itself a big dilemma and then getting a job is a daunting task.

But if you are ready to accept a job anywhere (any college) in India then it becomes slightly easy. 

I was fortunate enough to get a post of Assistant Professor in the same college where I did my graduation but since I got an offer to teach students of B.Com and subject which I was assigned was marketing despite me cleared NET in economics I left the job within 3 months of joining because of lack of interest in the subject and also to prepare for my dream job i.e. Civil Services.

Here I want to be true that many of my known ones who cleared NET got a job as Guest Lecturer with payment based on per lecture basis and even the salary is not credit on time and they have already worked for more than a year without salary. Try to opt for government colleges where they pay you at par with permanent teachers. 

If you seriously want to pursue your career in Higher Education sector target for P.hD which will offer a lot of opportunities. 

How to decide the subject?

it is very personal and depends on the interest of a person. 

I opted for economics because of my keen interest in the subject despite knowing the difficulty of the paper.

But try to avoid taking Commerce as your subject as it is relatively easy hence success rate is high, but vacancies are scarce so competition increases after clearing the exam

Paper I 

this is one which makes or breaks preparation. 

Since it was my 1st attempt I tried to cover this paper well but my fondness for movies/web series ruined its preparation. 

As I have decided to prepare for this paper at the end of the day, It got postponed almost every alternate day due to laziness/binge-watching and costed me in the exam. 

June 2019 paper was very easy (especially Data Interpretation) but due to my lack of preparation I could mark only 33 Q correct but I could have marked 40Q correct if I have not postponed it. 

June 2019 cutoff was also high due to Paper I hence I could only clear NET with such high scores and missed JRF by few Q.

I regret it but since NET was just to judge my knowledge base and not to make a career in the teaching field, I gave up on my dreams of clearing JRF in next attempts and made it as my last attempt

Hence I advise you to give it proper time and prepare it well to avoid the mistakes I did. 

Preparation Strategy 

I followed the simple rule of solving 20Q daily in the initial days of my preparation and after a month I solved around 1paper daily.

Here also I tried 2 approaches- 

1. Randomly solving 20Q daily 
2. Solving any specific subtopic (say statistics) Q from PYQs daily 

I think approach 2 is what I liked/used the most.

Do not go into the nitty-gritty of numerical, if you can solve them it's fine but if u cant, leave them and move ahead with theoretical subjects which require less effort & fetch more marks.

Econometrics is what I left almost except making notes of a few theoretical terms. You can find that in my notes. 

Statistics is covered in the same way as Econometrics.

I have a B.Tech topper friend, who tried to help me with mathematical portion but since I was having less time I ignored the subject looking at its difficulty and devotion it required 

How to start with tricky topics?

Before starting any such topic try to watch freely available videos on YouTube and then make just short notes of that topic from the video itself.

Leave numerical data because it is not important and only 1 or 2 Q comes in the exam. 

Key is to just make crisp notes by understanding the topics and then adding any points of that theory from PYQs statements 

Don't overread any topic/theory 

For eg. Bains Theory is very big but Q asked in the exam is 

"Who gave limits to price theory"? 

Ans is- Bain 

and so solve PYQs to judge which theory needs a lot of reading and which needs just a few points.

Are PYQs important since the syllabus changed?

See it's true syllabus has changed but they have added more topics rather than eliminating any topic hence PYQs importance never reduces for both Paper I & II

Indian Economy (Paper-II)-

It requires a different bent of mind. You need to cram facts, schemes for it.

Buy Pratiyogita Darpan yearly Issue (which has budget highlights) for the year you are targeting.

Write a summary of Pratiyogita Darpan in your notes

Current Affairs coverage source-

follow YouTube channels I have suggested, they help in covering this section sincerely

Environment - use Wikipedia pages and make pointers in your notes

The ideal time to start preparation?

there is no right time, there is just time and what you choose to do with it. hence-

start preparing in 1st year of your P.G. just to build your understanding but don't start in UG days. Please!

How to search for any topic or make notes?

After I cleared my exam, I got a job within a few months and left it too in a few months and I handled queries related to NET preparation on my mail very well hence never got time to look at my notes after June 2019

But recently when I looked at my notes I felt amazed and a word of awe entered my mind, with the thought, "How the hell I made such crisp yet quality notes"?

I was shocked to see even my own notes because it was not easy then nor even now, hence I thought just as a beginner before writing this answer -

 

suppose I saw a question related to "air pollution" in December 2014 paper I

what I will do is just write statements verbatim in my notes sheet without searching for it on the internet,

Then again suppose in June 2017 paper, I saw another question related to air pollution or say some pollutant "Carbon monoxide" I will again just write the correct answer to that question in my notes.

I will also write other options given in question which are not correct for that Q but can become a potential Q next year, hence suppose options are -

Oxygen, Particulate Matter, Nitrogen, 

I will write them separately on other 4 demarcations of my A4 sheet (look at my notes)

I will do this for all questions related to pollution until I realize that questions related to pollution are ALL done, only then and only then I will search the topic on the internet to add fillers or any doubt I have related to "air pollution/pollutants"

See searching on the internet is very easy and one can do this full day and can fool oneself with the satisfaction of studying but this isn't actually studying.

While surfing the internet sit with pen paper in your hand and don't just copy-paste stuff on your device because it will be a sin if you do this for each topic and in the end, you will end up having an encyclopedia of every small unnecessary topic. 

P.S. "nakal k lie bhi akal ki zaroorat padti hai" 

use this jumla well in your preparation, it helps in strange ways!

Schedule/hours to study 

Since consistency is key in the preparation so I joined library (7km away from my home) I use to reach the library at 7-8 am (in winters) and return home after 1-2 pm

I use to cook my breakfast early in the morning and carried it to the library.

After lunch and Nap, I gave tuitions (to sustain my expenses) and after returning home I use to study for Paper I till 8-9pm

I use to watch a movie/walk/call a friend and day retired after dinner. 

This was in initial months but as exam nearing I stopped going to the library and starting learning notes at home full day with slots of 1hours each hence I studied around 6-7hours.

Hence hours doesn't matter but the quality of study matters  

I have attached my schedule which I made on google sheets below for your reference. 

U will not find a number of hours I have studied but the topics I covered. 

Try to revise 2-3 subjects in a day just to avoid boredom. 

Paper I also deserves time so try to balance the schedule accordingly

The time required to complete the preparation?

It depends on the person's caliber and interest to study for the exam. 

Since I was (still I am) preparing for Civil Services hence having a habit of long sitting hours in the library, 

Those who are still in their P.G. can kickstart their preparation giving a few hours daily to exam

"If you start early, you will reach early"

Notes making mandatory or not?

without it, one can never clear the exam. Reading notes of topper/coaching can never build your understanding hence notes making is mandatory

How to use my notes?

Do not learn from my notes, just read them after you made your own notes.

Use them as a reference and try to understand how crisp notes should be made but yet detailed 

Role of Previous Question Papers 

PYQs are Bible for the exam, re-read your notes and solve PYQs almost daily even though your notes are derived from PYQs still you need to solve them until you learn the Q (I almost learned the year of Qs)

I solved each paper more than 10 times diligently 

I solved 3-4Q in the exam within a few seconds because of the repetition of Q

How to judge oneself after preparing from PYQs?

Since there are very few test series available in the market and are not reliable, 

This was the Q I was faced every now and then during the course of preparation but my search ended on SET papers. 

If one solves 100/120 Q of SET papers of any state (eg. Kerala SET). 

Bravo, you will ace this exam with flying colors.

SET papers become very easy if you are prepared for NET so use them to the most. I will attach papers which I have so that you do not need to search and download them

Ignore Q which is asked in SET papers but out of syllabus for NET. 

Caution - If you are marking 50-60Q correct then you need to re-check your preparation.

Solve them after you revised your notes twice and treat them as actual exam papers

During the exam, the 3hours battle

My center was near some village hence it took me 2hours to reach by scooty.

I saw various kinds of aspirants of all ages, one who got my attention was a lady nearing her 50s (or more)

After I got my seat, and since the exam was to start after an hour or so I saw almost 80% of people talking to the neighboring candidate and 15% were sleeping, and the rest 5% (including me) were staring at everyone with a gaze.

I became terrified that how can they be so cool and are the least concern about exam still I was staring each one of them as much as my eyes permitted because of lack of other entertainment options

As the exam started I solved 20Q with the confidence in Economics &10Q of Paper I in 1hour and then I looked at everyone else just to relax for a second.

To my utmost surprise, I saw people who were earlier talking with Josh lost all their hopes and are sleeping.

It trembled my confidence because I thought that they have completed the paper in just an hour and hence sleeping and here I am stuck with barely 30Q.

After that, I never took my eyes off from my computer screen just to maintain my mental equilibrium in the exam.

Many of you might be thinking that I solved just 30Q in 1hour then how I marked rest 120 Q in 2hrs with such speed.

See I read all Q in that 1hour, in fact in mind I have already solved 100+ Q but marked only 30Q with surety hence in the next 2hours, I think I was marking 1Q per minute or sometimes 3Q in a minute.

I called it a battle because it was a tough fight. Frankly, I was aware of only 50/150 Q but rest I marked purely on the basis of my knowledge. I think I used my mind to the fullest in those 3hours.

I solved paper in 3-4 rounds.

Please avoid looking beside your computer screen even for seconds because every second matter (I realized it then) and I solved Questions till the examiner stood near my chair.

Don't drink water else you will end up wasting time in the washroom !!

How clearing NET helped me?

• Build my bank balance from the salary I received from my ex-job (hahaha)
• But I think it boosted my confidence and helped in enriching my civil's preparation because now I am more focused on following shortcuts and not becoming a material collector.
• It also gave a shut-up call to my relatives who looked at me with suspicion earlier doubting my abilities to achieve anything in life.
• It gave me an opportunity to help aspirants
• It made me inspiration for many girls who mail me greeting me as their elder sister
• Moreover, it gave me a place in my father's eyes who always thought I am good for nothing.

P.S. my father now wants me to join coaching for civil services if I needed but happily I didn't agree because I don't need it.

Websites recommended 

this is only based on my personal opinion, I used them interchangeably for Paper I and Paper II

Word of caution- do not join any of paid courses by such YouTubers 

I installed Unacademy free learning app and used all the free content related to the NET exam to enrich my preparation

• Kumar Bharat 
• Commerce Net Achievers (for paper I)
• Chanakya Group of Economics (very low-quality videos still used for statistics)
• Management Classes 
• EZ Classes
• Arpita Karwa
• Unacademy- free learning app 

Hidden Secrets-

• I skipped the library many times just to have extra sleep (winters sleep) but compensated by studying at home
• I took a day off many a time just to binge-watch on Netflix/Amazon Prime/read a novel
• I use to start missing my daily study targets after a week and prepared a fresh schedule after 9-10days hence schedule was often re-made as per convenience
• The pen I used - Pilot V5 (a must)

In this blog, I think I have answered each Q with the utmost integrity, and if it helps even a one-person I will consider myself fortunate.

All the Best

P.S. feel free to ask me queries that are not answered here so that I can update it.