I cracked UGC NET English in July 2018 and June 2019. I also passed the NE SLET exam in July 2018. Things have changed in four years. However, the strategy to prepare for and crack the exam remains the same.

When I was trying to figure out how to prepare, one of our seniors passed the exam. Therefore, I congratulated her and asked her about the preparation.

She advised me to read history and every major work. Instead of clarity, it made me more confused. 

We cannot read each work line by line. There must be some methods to prepare. Therefore, I will explain how to prepare for UGC NET in English literature.

Question: Is coaching necessary for NET?

It depends on individual requirements, and there is no generalized answer. Some aspirants do not have time and need guidance. 

But the problem is many groups are waiting to steal your or your parent’s hard-earned money. It is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake. 

In my opinion, self-study is the best approach. If you invest your money, make sure the teacher is reliable. Find a guide who wants to teach beyond self-interest.

Syllabus

If you look at the syllabus, it is blunt. It makes an aspirant confused. It does not state what to study.

To understand the syllabus, discover what the committee wants you to read. Every exam has a committee that sets the question paper. 

The topic they think is necessary for the exam is mandatory for you. 

But how would you know that?

You can find the secret only in the previous years’ question papers.

If you study the questions, you can figure out what you need to read. I am not asking you to skim the question papers. There is a method for that.

• First, analyze each question carefully and determine the category it falls. 
• Second, read all options of a question. 

For example,

It is a question from the September 2020 exam.

Mazeppa is a poem by Lord Byron. Therefore, it falls into the category of romantic poetry. It means romantic poetry is a mandatory topic.

Study other poets as well, along with the poem and Byron. The works of Cowper, Shelley, and Coleridge are also necessary.

The reason for following the method is none can exhaust reading literature. You are preparing for an exam, not doing research. Therefore, productive study matters more than blunt preparation.

This method will ease your preparation. Otherwise, you will drain your energy and waste your time.

In this way, examine each question. The method is time-consuming, but it is worth it. The topics give you an idea of what to read and what not. That is the syllabus of UGC NET.

How to Study?

For Every Major Literary Figure, note down the following points:

1. Name of the Author.
2. Birth and death year of a literary figure and chronology of the literary figure’s works. These are for the basic idea. It is useless to remember the birth and death years of every author. None can do it.
3. Read the biography of the author briefly on Wikipedia and their works. Collect information about the person. For instance, Eric Arthur Blair used the pseudonym George Orwell.

How to Read?

You do not need to read each important novel/poem/drama line by line. Instead, read the summary. But, there is a method. We can explain it in the following points:

1. What is the full title of the work? For instance, the complete title of Macbeth is The Tragedy of Macbeth.
2. Subtitle or alternative title if it has.
   • “Which of the following had the alternative title “Things as They Are”?
   • a. Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto
   • b. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
   • c. William Godwin’s Caleb Williams
   • d. Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley” (December 2018)
3. What is the publication year? Is it complete/incomplete work? Who is the publisher? If it is posthumous, then who published it? For example,
   • “Which one of the following novels of Jane Austen was abandoned unfinished?
   • Northanger Abbey
   • Persuasion
   • The Watsons
   • Emma” (June 2019)
4. What is the setting of the work? For instance, the novel The Power and the Glory sets in Tabasco. Its background is an anti-Catholic purge in Mexico during the 1930s.
   • “David Malouf’s novel Ransom is based on:
   • a. A War Memoir by Edmund Blunden
   • b. An Episode in Trojan War
   • c. A War Poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
   • d. An Episode in The Mahabharata” (December 2018)
5. What is the significance of the title? For instance, based on Marlow’s description of Africa and its people, darkness in the title Conrad’s Heart of Darkness means the blackness that prevails in the interior territories of Africa. It also implies the darkness that lies in the uncivilized tribes of the Congo.
6. Has the author taken the title from another source?
7. What is the genre of writing?
8. What is the social/political/literary background of the literary text? For example, Wordsworth and Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads to break the monotony of Neo classical poetry.
9. Is it dedicated to anyone?
10. What is the meter/rhyme scheme of the poem?  
11. How many parts are there? For instance, Pope divides The Rape of the Lock into five cantos.
12. Don’t miss its prologue/epilogue/first line/last line scene if it has.
    • For example, “Which post-war British poet ends a poem with the line “Get stewed: Books are a load of crap”
    • a. Philip Larkin
    • b. Ted Hughes
    • c. Thom Gunn
    • d. Craig Raine” (December 2018)
13. Focus on the first scene (chapter) and last scene. How does the literary work end?
14. Do not forget some quotes and their meaning.
15. Understand the major events of the work. 
16. Find out its narrator and narrative structure.
17. Prepare a character list. For example, Nnu Ego is a character in The Joys of Motherhood.  
18. Define relationship with other characters. 
19. You can not ignore themes. Study both main themes and minor themes.

Paper I

It is impossible to attempt all 50 questions in the General paper. Ignoring it is a blunder. Most aspirants procrastinate the preparation for the Paper I till the last days. Instead, give equal time to the first paper.

Even if you master paper II but leave the first paper, you can not crack it. Make proper notes like paper II and prepare accordingly.

Study Material

• Gradesaver is reliable, but sometimes it doesn’t have the required information.
• Read every important text on Gradesaver/ Sparknotes/Encyclopedia/Wikipedia.

Toppers Tips

1. Having seen the last two papers, I would recommend that you read the history of English literature thoroughly. You can skip literary histories of other countries if you don’t have time, but British literary history should be your first priority. However, if you have an abundance of time, you can also read the histories of American and Indian English literature, but there’s no need to go into great depth.
2. Follow Pomodoro Technique. For instance, instead of reading for 60 minutes, take a break for 10 minutes. That means you can divide 60 minutes into 50 readings and 10 minutes break. 
   But take no long gap of 2-5 hours. Reading for one hour after taking 5 hours break is counterproductive. 
3. No one inherently likes to read, but a topper has more control than others. Give importance to discipline rather than to passion. Do not get emotional about the result
4. Keep changing your subjects at least twice a day. It would train your brain to switch from one topic to another for the exam.
5. Surround yourself with only those who can help with your study. Toppers will never surround themselves with negative and demotivating people.
   The environment directly affects your mood. Therefore, if you don’t have supportive people around you, then make it. You can find them on YouTube.
6. Take care of the body. Do mild exercises and take light foods. Avoid packaged foods as much as possible. I used to go for an evening walk if I failed in the morning.
7. If you cannot exercise, play your favorite songs and dance. The aim is to circulate blood in the body.
   Our brain releases chemicals like serotonin and dopamine if we work out regularly. It improves your mood.
   Mood swing is quite common during the preparation. You can tackle it by working out regularly. It also improves memory and concentration and makes you healthy.
8. Make a list of why you want to pass the exam. Take ten prints and stick them to the places you commonly visit, like the washroom, bed, study table, door, etc. 

Saving notes digitally saves time. You can edit them, which you cannot do with paper and pen.

The Right and Easy Strategy

Break your goal into small parts.

Splitting your goal into small parts has psychological benefits. For instance, to complete British History in a month, break the goal into small portions. You can plan to complete Elizabethan drama or University Wits in a day.

Achieving a goal before you sleep every day makes you feel satisfied. Trust me, feeling motivated during the journey is crucial.

If you don’t do it, even if you study religiously, you will feel empty after a few days.
I often felt nothing, even if I had studied. When I looked at my progressive report, I felt better.

Therefore, having a visual record of your progress is essential. It inspires you to push hard.

How to Memorize?

Forgetting is neither a curse nor a blessing.

According to the Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting, we lose learned information after some time. What you read does not matter unless you revise it.

Therefore,

• revise it immediately after you complete a topic.
• Then repeat it after one day.
• In the third stage, revise it after one week and redo it after one month.

Revision is too crucial. I did not have time to revise everything I had studied. Therefore, fifteen days before the 2018 June exam, I felt demotivated and gave up.

I sat in the exam because my admission card was in my hand. Thankfully, I passed the exam, but I do not want you to commit the same mistake.

So, I learned that always keep at least one month for revision.

Teaching others is the best way to remember a topic.

Use color in notes. It is visually appealing and easy to scan than the same colored pen or pencil. It can help you remember information effectively.

Gamify Your Preparation

First, set a goal and reward yourself.

Keep a realistic goal and reward yourself after achieving the goal. It is how you can gamify your study and make it fun rather than monotonous.

For instance, reward yourself with a bar of chocolate after successfully revising Elizabethan drama within three days.

You can set rewards such as eating your favorite food, talking with your loved ones, watching a movie, etc. It must be something you enjoy.

But you should not watch a movie just after completing the Elizabethan drama. Instead, reward yourself with it after revising the Elizabethan literature.

The simple reason is rewarding makes your brain release dopamine. After doing it a couple of times, your brain will start to crave it.

It is how big companies play with your brain and make you addicted to using their product.

Sometimes our brain might ask for pleasure without doing it. At this stage, practice delayed gratification and reward yourself after you achieve your goal.

Therefore, practice mock tests as much as you can.

My pattern

When I am embarrassed before someone for making an error, I quickly retain it. I rarely forget the mistake.

I also remember things efficiently when I discuss topics with a person and the person teaches me during the discussion.

So, what is your pattern?

Conclusion

I want to conclude with a quote from Abraham Lincoln:

Therefore, how you read matters more than what you read.

Source

NET English Past papers 2