What to Expect In Upcoming CSIR NET June 2019 Exam?

What to Expect In Upcoming CSIR NET June 2019 Exam?

CSIR NET has always been considered as one of the most important & toughest National level examinations for entry into research / Ph.D. programmes of science subjects. Students always treat this exam as equivalent to any university examinations which they have appeared previously during their degree courses – but that’s not a right approach! It’s because of this notion, the tendency of memorizing notes and opting for the selective study has been a common problem among the candidates. This approach not only reduces their chances of qualifying the exam but also prevent them from expanding their knowledge. Stereotype study needs to be converted to a more vast but tactful study method if you want to qualify the CSIR NET June 2019 Exam.

As we know the basic structure of CSIR NET LIFE SCIENCE syllabus covers almost all aspects of life science- Biochemistry, Molecular biology, Cell biology, Cell communication and signaling, Developmental biology, System physiology- Animal and Plant, Genetics, Diversity of life forms, Ecology and Evolution, Applied biology and Methods in biology. Questions are set from all the subparts and almost with equal weightage.

Now, talking about questions, the basic question

pattern as we all know is either of 2 marks, which are of objective types and of 4 marks which are of application based. You can expect a 4 marks question to be based solely on just one topic i.e. only one idea, or it can be an amalgamation of ideas, like for example, you can get a genetic-based question say a pedigree analysis given not in the traditional chart manner but as an electrophoretic gel plate data involving molecular markers. So expanding your knowledge in all the related fields of biology or the subparts as per your syllabus, is the keystone for solving these kinds of questions.

Before discussing what to expect in CSIR NET June 2019 June exam, let us first go through the previous sessions CSIR NET December 2018 question paper. The question paper has seen a lot of new conceptual questions – From floral diagrams to bond energy specifications to specific experiment based questions, these concepts were comparatively new to the aspirant. It must also be noted that unlike the last few examinations, this time, there were very few or negligible repetitions in the question concepts.

See Also: CSIR NET Dec 2018 Question Paper Analysis – Unit Wise Explanation

As the number of fellowships awarded has increased since the last two examinations, the chances of qualification seem bright this time as well. New experiment based analytical questions seem to be dominant in this session’s questionnaire and overall we can say the difficulty level has significantly gone up.

What type of questions one can expect in the upcoming CSIR NET June 2019 exam. This is the prime question lingering right now in minds of thousands of CSIR NET aspirants preparing for the June 2019 exam. Upon thorough analysis & discussions among peers at Biotecnika, we present to you a list of important topics from which you may expect questions in upcoming CSIR NET June 2019 exam. But remember these are just predictions, you can master these topics well but don’t neglect other concepts, pay equal attention.

Questions that can be expected in Upcoming CSIR NET June 2019 Exam

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PART A 

One can expect to get sums based on height and distance, time and distance, time and work, profit and loss, area and perimeter, mensuration sums based on volume and of course reasoning based questions.

UNIT 1 – MOLECULES AND THEIR INTERACTION RELEVANT TO BIOLOGY 

Ramachandran Plot has always remained a hot topic for the examiners. Amino acid charge and structure, Nucleic acid structure, enzymology and rate kinetics, thermodynamics and bond energy, are among the others from which questions can be expected.

Reference Books: Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry – David L. Nelson and Michael M. Cox., Principles of Biochemistry – Voet, Pratt, and Voet.

UNIT 2 – CELLULAR ORGANIZATION

Last time no questions have been set from microbial growth curve and operon. So there is a high chance that question can come from this area. Apart from that, questions can come from transposons, protein translocation, and membrane structure and function.

Reference Books: The Cell: A Molecular Approach – Geoffrey M. Cooper, Molecular Biology of the Cell – Bruce Alberts.

UNIT 3 –FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES

The whole of unit 3 is important because questions come from anywhere and everywhere. There is no exact pattern of question sorting from this section.

Reference Books:  Molecular Cell Biology: International Edition – Harvey Lodish, Cell, and Molecular Biology: Concepts and Experiments – Gerald Karp.

UNIT 4 –CELL COMMUNICATION AND CELL SIGNALING

Subunit 4 A is very important wherein special emphasis should be laid upon HIV, Malaria, TB, Cholera, Diphtheria related topics. Cell signaling and chemotaxis are equally important as those of immunology, Apoptosis, and aging.

Reference Books: Advances in Plant Tolerance to Biotic Stresses by Geoffrey Onaga and Kerstin Wydra, Biology by Peter H Raven

UNIT 5 – DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

This unit comprises of both Animal and Plant developmental biology. The important chunks from the animal developmental biology include-Potency commitment induction, specification, Sea Urchin, C. elegans, Drosophila, amphibian gastrulation, mammals and regeneration are important topics. For plant developmental biology two of the parts are very important Subunit 5 D &B is important with respect to organogenesis and morphogenesis. Extra effort must be given plant taxonomy as questions are now quite common from that part and students have an obvious tendency to skip the same.

Reference Books: Developmental Biology – Scott F. Gilbert, Plants Physiology – Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zeiger

UNIT 6 – SYSTEM PHYSIOLOGY – PLANT

In this unit, parts A and B always stand out to be the most important i.e Photosynthesis and Respiration. These two parts are a must do, as the benefit of preparing these two units prepares for some parts of Unit1-J. Questions can be expected from abscisic acid, gibberellic acid, ethylene among the plant hormones alongside secondary metabolites, abiotic stress and sensory photobiology.

Reference Books: Plants Physiology – Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zeiger, Plant Physiology – Ross and Salisbury.

UNIT 7 – SYSTEM PHYSIOLOGY – ANIMAL

Endocrine system and excretion are the most important topics from this unit from where you can expect questions for sure. For June 2019 examination stress has to be given on-Unit 7 B, C, D, F and J

Reference Books: Essentials of Animal Physiology – Rastogi, Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology.

UNIT 8 – INHERITANCE BIOLOGY

Questions are likely to be set from the Mendelian principle, i.e.,  Part A, and also from Part B and C with emphasis on epistasis, linkage mapping, tetrad analysis. Other mapping techniques, mutation, microbial genetics, recombination, and QTL are important topics for this June 2019 examination.

Reference Books: Genetics: Principles and Analysis – Daniel L. Hartl, Elizabeth W. Jones, Principles of Genetics – D. Peter Snustad, Michael J. Simmons.

UNIT 9 –DIVERSITY OF LIFE FORMS

From this section, questions can come from Cladistics part and the characteristics of all the phylums of plant and animal kingdom. Characteristic-based questions come all the time. So if one memorizes the characters well, then this section can be very scoring.

Reference Books: Biology by Campbell and Reiss

UNIT 10 – ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

Ecology is a scoring section where questions are based on the concepts. Niche, community ecology, succession, ecosystem, biodiversity, pollution, biogeography, and conservation are the areas where questions can come from.

Reference Books: Basic Ecology: Fundamentals of Ecology – Eugene P. Odum, Ecology by Thomas Smith.

UNIT 11 – EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOUR

Population genetics, molecular evolution, migration, song learning, endosymbiotic theory and paleontological periods – these are very important topics with regard to this examination. You can get sums on Altruism and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and related topics.

Reference Books: Organic Evolution (Evolutionary Biology) – Veer Bala Rastogi, Biology by Campbell and Reiss.

UNIT 12 – APPLIED BIOLOGY

Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer is the hot topic, which may be asked individually as Part B/C questions or in combination with other statement based questions. What more can be expected here looking at past question papers is from subunit 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12H. All of these have elaborate data to remember, which can give rise to match the following types of questions. Not to forget PCR (AFLP, RFLP, Nest), which usually form a Part C situation-statement based question.

Reference Books: Molecular Biotechnology: Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA – Bernard R. Glick and Jack J. Pasternak, Principles of Gene Manipulation and Genomics – Sandy B. Primrose and Richard Twyman.

UNIT 13 – METHODS IN BIOLOGY

Questions were witnessed from gene knockout by Cre-Lox and Neor, so chances are more for questions to be set from these sections. This is one of the most important units from CSIR point of view, which can render approx. 8 Part B + Part C questions singly or in combination with other units. Problems based on rDNA technology are expected. Combined questions are expected from subunits C, E and F in Part C. Also, one match the following type of question can be expected from subunit G.

Reference Books: Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis – TA Brown,  Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual – Joseph Sambrook and David Russell, Principles of Gene Manipulation and Genomics – Sandy B. Primrose and Richard Twyman.

So this was a summary of what can be expected for CSIR NET June 2019 Examination.

Note: Part A can be a game turner. Most of the students are weak in this section and avoid sums or get a negative score here. If you practice the sums and solve it, then this will add to your total. Even 5 correct sums can add 10 points to the total. Part B is mainly based on subject and can be scoring for those who have memorization capability. But again Part C is what will give you the rank. Each question is of 4 marks so automatically will build the score.

See Also: CSIR NET Life Science Important Topics / CSIR NET Reference Books

Historical mark sheets of students who have cleared CSIR NET JRF have shown that they have all got more than 90 marks alone in Part C. Also they have at least got 5 questions correct in Part A. Hence one must prepare very well to solve Part C and Part A type of questions. In fact, Part C is quite easy if your basics and concepts are clear and many a time the answers lie in the questions or graphs itself hence look for cues while solving Part C type of questions.

One important suggestion here is to be extremely careful while solving Part B type of questions. Out of 50 questions you can at max solve any 35, but as this section consists of factual questions, your reading should be very thorough specifically from the standard reference books for each unit. Also as for every wrong answer, you lose 0.5 marks, you must attempt only those which you are confident about.

Another important aspect that one needs to keep in mind is that, as the fellowship has increased and as CSIR NET has become mandatory for working in the research and teaching domains in India, many students have started taking it sincerely and hence the cut-off has gone up in the past few years. With respect to the December 2018 exam itself, the lectureship cut-off for CSIR NET-LS and JRF were 53.33% and 59.25%, respectively. Hence, to be safe and certain for clearing CSIR one must aim at getting 130-140 out of 200 in order to clear JRF.

Keeping all these points in mind, if one studies a topic clearing the concept and practicing the sums, Qualifying CSIR NET Exam is not a tough task. These national exams are not qualifying examinations, but elimination test. You have to fight against the tide to prove yourself worthy of the post. Remember, hard work always pays back. All the Best!!