CSIR UGC NET (CHEMICAL SCIENCES) CSIR UGC COMBINED NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY TEST (CSIR UGC NET) for RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP & LECTURESHIP for chemical sciences is conducted twice every year (in June & in December) to select right candidates to award research fellowships, initially for two years (JRF) which can be further extended for three more years (SRF). This exam is also popularly known as CSIR NET or CSIR UGC NET exam. Most of the admissions into Ph.D courses in prestigious institutions of India like IISc, Central University of Hyderabad, IITs and several CSIR laboratories require the qualification in CSIR UGC NET exam. CSIR NET EXAM PATTERN (NEW) According to new pattern implemented from June 2011 onwards, the CSIR NET exam in chemical sciences is: * a single paper test having multiple choice questions (MCQs) * carries a maximum of 200 marks. * is divided into three parts (A, B & C). * conducted for the duration of 3 hours. Part - A carries 20 questions and is common to all the subjects. The candidate is required to answer any 15 questions. Each correct answer is awarded with 2 marks. The total marks allocated to this section shall be 30 out of 200. The revised pattern for this part will test general aptitude with emphasis on logical reasoning, graphical analysis, analytical and numerical ability, quantitative comparison, series formation, puzzles etc. There is no syllabus prescribed for this. Part - B contains 50 multiple choice questions generally covering the topics given in the syllabus. A candidate is required to answer any 35 questions and each correct answer is awarded with 2 marks. The total marks allocated to this section shall be 70 out of 200. The standards of these questions from this section may range from 10+2 to PG level in chemistry subject. Part - C consists of 75 questions. A candidate shall be required to answer any 25 questions, each carrying 4 marks. The maximum marks allocated to this section is 100 out of 200. The questions shall be of analytical nature where a candidate is expected to apply the scientific knowledge in chemistry to arrive at the solution to the given problem. There will be negative marking @25% for each wrong answer. Part # of questions To be attempted Marks allotted per each question Maximum marks A 20 15 2 30 B 50 35 2 70 C 75 25 4 100 Cutoff marks for previous CSIR NET exams in chemical sciences paper are tabulated below. Note that these are percentages and are not same for each exam. Multiply with 2 to get actual score per 200. CSIR never announced the criteria for deciding the cutoff marks. They never announced them before exam too. So no guess work please. % Cutoff marks for Chemical sciences Month & Year of Exam Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) Lectureship (LS) General/OBC SC/ST General/OBC SC/ST DEC, 2011 45% 35% 40% 30% JUNE, 2012 47% 37% 42% 32% DEC, 2012 43.5% 33.5% 38.5% 28.5% JUNE, 2013 53% 48% 43% 38% I am expecting further increase in the cutoff marks for future exams. GATE (CHEMISTRY) GATE exam is conducted once in every year in chemical sciences along with other engineering subjects. It is organized by IITs and the purpose of this exam is to select candidates who want to pursue their masters courses in technology (M. Tech). The candidates with very good GATE score are also eligible to get the CSIR scholarship in some selected institutes and preferred over others while taking into project work. CSIR NET CHEMITRY SYLLABUS The syllabus for CSIR NET and GATE exams including other exams for Ph.D entrance exams is almost same. The common syllabus for both part B & C of CSIR NET exam in chemical sciences is given below. Inorganic Chemistry : 1. Chemical periodicity 2. Structure and bonding in homo- and heteronuclear molecules, including shapes of molecules (VSEPR Theory). 3. Concepts of acids and bases, Hard-Soft acid base concept, Non-aqueous solvents. 4. Main group elements and their compounds: Allotropy, synthesis, structure and bonding, industrial importance of the compounds. 5. Transition elements and coordination compounds: structure, bonding theories, spectral and magnetic properties, reaction mechanisms. 6. Inner transition elements: spectral and magnetic properties, redox chemistry, analytical applications. 7. Organometallic compounds: synthesis, bonding and structure, and reactivity. Organometallics in homogeneous catalysis. 8. Cages and metal clusters. 9. Analytical chemistry- separation, spectroscopic, electro- and thermoanalytical methods. 10. Bioinorganic chemistry: photosystems, porphyrins, metalloenzymes, oxygen transport, electron- transfer reactions; nitrogen fixation, metal complexes in medicine. 11. Characterization of inorganic compounds by IR, Raman, NMR, EPR, Mössbauer, UV-vis, NQR, MS, electron spectroscopy and microscopic techniques. 12. Nuclear chemistry: nuclear reactions, fission and fusion, radio-analytical techniques and activation analysis. Physical Chemistry: 1. Basic principles of quantum mechanics: Postulates; operator algebra; exactly- solvable systems: particle-in-a-box, harmonic oscillator and the hydrogen atom, including shapes of atomic orbitals; orbital and spin angular momenta; tunneling. 2. Approximate methods of quantum mechanics: Variational principle; perturbation theory up to second order in energy; applications. 3. Atomic structure and spectroscopy; term symbols; many-electron systems and anti-symmetry principle. 4. Chemical bonding in diatomics; elementary concepts of MO and VB theories; Huckel theory for conjugated p-electron systems. 5. Chemical applications of group theory; symmetry elements; point groups; character tables; selection rules. 6. Molecular spectroscopy: Rotational and vibrational spectra of diatomic molecules; electronic spectra; IR and Raman activities – selection rules; basic principles of magnetic resonance. 7. Chemical thermodynamics: Laws, state and path functions and their applications; thermodynamic description of various types of processes; Maxwell’s relations; spontaneity and equilibria; temperature and pressure dependence of thermodynamic quantities; Le Chatelier principle; elementary description of phase transitions; phase equilibria and phase rule; thermodynamics of ideal and non-ideal gases, and solutions. 8. Statistical thermodynamics: Boltzmann distribution; kinetic theory of gases; partition functions and their relation to thermodynamic quantities – calculations for model systems. 9. Electrochemistry: Nernst equation, redox systems, electrochemical cells; DebyeHuckel theory; electrolytic conductance – Kohlrausch’s law and its applications; ionic equilibria; conductometric and potentiometric titrations. 10. Chemical kinetics: Empirical rate laws and temperature dependence; complex reactions; steady state approximation; determination of reaction mechanisms; collision and transition state theories of rate constants; unimolecular reactions; enzyme kinetics; salt effects; homogeneous catalysis; photochemical reactions. 11. Colloids and surfaces: Stability and properties of colloids; isotherms and surface area; heterogeneous catalysis. 12. Solid state: Crystal structures; Bragg’s law and applications; band structure of solids. 13. Polymer chemistry: Molar masses; kinetics of polymerization. 14. Data analysis: Mean and standard deviation; absolute and relative errors; linear regression; covariance and correlation coefficient. Organic Chemistry: 1. IUPAC nomenclature of organic molecules including regio- and stereoisomers. 2. Principles of stereochemistry: Configurational and conformational isomerism in acyclic and cyclic compounds; stereogenicity, stereoselectivity, enantioselectivity, diastereoselectivity and asymmetric induction. 3. Aromaticity: Benzenoid and non-benzenoid compounds – generation and reactions. 4. Organic reactive intermediates: Generation, stability and reactivity of carbocations, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes, benzynes and nitrenes. 5. Organic reaction mechanisms involving addition, elimination and substitution reactions with electrophilic, nucleophilic or radical species. Determination of reaction pathways. 6. Common named reactions and rearrangements – applications in organic synthesis. 7. Organic transformations and reagents: Functional group interconversion including oxidations and reductions; common catalysts and reagents (organic, inorganic, organometallic and enzymatic). Chemo, regio and stereoselective transformations. 8. Concepts in organic synthesis: Retrosynthesis, disconnection, synthons, linear and convergent synthesis, umpolung of reactivity and protecting groups. 9. Asymmetric synthesis: Chiral auxiliaries, methods of asymmetric induction – substrate, reagent and catalyst controlled reactions; determination of enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess; enantio-discrimination. Resolution – optical and kinetic. 10. Pericyclic reactions – electrocyclization, cycloaddition, sigmatropic rearrangements and other related concerted reactions. Principles and applications of photochemical reactions in organic chemistry. 11. Synthesis and reactivity of common heterocyclic compounds containing one or two hetero atoms (O, N, S). 12. Chemistry of natural products: Carbohydrates, proteins and peptides, fatty acids, nucleic acids, terpenes, steroids and alkaloids. Biogenesis of terpenoids and alkaloids. 13. Structure determination of organic compounds by IR, UV-Vis, 1 H & 13 C NMR and Mass spectroscopic techniques. Interdisciplinary topics: 1. Chemistry in nanoscience and technology. 2. Catalysis and green chemistry. 3. Medicinal chemistry. 4. Supramolecular chemistry. 5. Environmental chemistry. PREPARATION (OR) PLAN OF ACTION FOR CSIR UGC NET EXAM Most common question asked by students is What should be the plan of action to crack CSIR NET exam? or How should I prepare for this exam?. My sincere, but very simple, suggestion is to read standard textbooks (see the list of suggested textbooks) and solve old question papers of CSIR, GATE, IISc etc. If you are already done with reading lots of classroom notes and other textbooks then start with solving old question papers. This is the best way to crack any exam. What should be the plan of action? For Part-A, one can go through books on General Aptitude and Logical Reasoning. For Part-B, you need to be thorough in all the areas of chemistry from 10+2 level to undergraduate level. Everything is important here. For Part-C, choose any area of chemical sciences i.e, either organic or inorganic or physical, depending on your taste and specialization at PG level.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:29:12 +0000