This national level test is conducted twice every year by CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) in June and December. The notification of the June examination usually appears in February-March, while that of the December examination would appear in August-September.

Objective of the test
This national level test is conducted to determine the eligibility of Indian nationals for the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRF)-NET and eligibility for appointment of Lecturers (NET) in certain subject areas falling under the Faculty of Science. This test is conducted twice every year by CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) in June and December. The notification of the June examination usually appears in February-March, while that of the December examination would appear in August-September.

Fellowship
The stipend payable to JRF working in the research schemes is Rs.12000/- per month in the first and second year. Progress of JRF working in a research scheme will be assessed at the end of two years by a Committee. The stipend of JRF is increased from Rs.12000/- pm to Rs.14000/- pm for the remaining tenure of the scheme, provided the research progress has been found satisfactory by the Committee. On up gradation, the designation of JRF will be changed to SRF (Senior Research Fellowship).

Eligibility
M.Sc. or equivalent degree under the subjects Chemical Sciences/Atmospheric Sciences/Life Sciences/Mathematical Sciences/Physical Sciences with minimum 55% marks for General and OBC candidates; 50% for SC/ST candidates, Physically and Visually Handicapped candidates . For JRF (NET), minimum age can be 19 years and maximum age can be 28 years Upper age limit is relatable by 5 years for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories, physically/visually handicapped and female applicants. For LS (NET), there is no upper age limit, but minimum age should be 19 years as on cut off date.

Scheme of examination
The Joint CSIR-UGC JRF/LS (NET) Examination shall comprise 2 papers:
Paper I
This paper shall be of 2 hours and 30 minutes duration and shall have a maximum of 200 marks.
Part ‘A’ of Paper I shall contain 40 General Science questions. These questions shall be common to all subject areas of NET Examination. A candidate shall be required to answer a maximum of 25 questions from Part ‘A’. In case, a candidate answers more than 25 questions, only the first 25 answered questions will be taken up for evaluation.
Part ‘B’ of Paper I shall have 100 questions. A candidate shall be required to answer a maximum of 75 questions. In case a candidate answers more than 75 questions, only the first 75 answered questions shall be evaluated.
All questions shall be of two marks each. There will be negative marking for wrong answers.
Paper II
This paper shall be of 2 hours and 30 minutes duration and shall have a maximum of 200 marks.
This Paper shall consist of 39-45 short answer type questions requiring descriptive answers. To answer each question, a candidate will be provided one page each.
There shall be one compulsory question of twenty Marks. In addition to the compulsory question, the candidate is required to answer a maximum of 15 questions of twelve marks each.

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