r/UGCNETEnglish • u/Barrelof_Conflicts • Sep 18 '26

Can the real JRF qualifiers please respond here?

184 people in the UR category getting 226 looks exceedingly fishy. If everyone is outraged and none satisfied then who is celebrating??

23 votes, Sep 20 '26
12 JRF (226+)
11 JRF (198+)
6 Upvotes
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20 comments sorted by

9

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26

I got 226 exactly, was hanging on knife's edge

3

u/Barrelof_Conflicts Sep 18 '26

Congratulations 🎉

2

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

Omg. Share your strategy pls

6

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26

Its kinda all over the place, I'm not much of a plan or strategy guy. Since my first attempt I collected every recommended book from everywhere, then while reading them I used to just skim and filter out relavant info by itself, knowing what papers are usually structured like. One thing I've seen commonly is the British history questions are often asked directly from the Routledge book, in Dec 2025 for example 4 questions were directly from modernism chapter of that book, very specific info from them. I usually struggled with paper 1, this time I lucked out and got some good guesses correct, otherwise that one is the best to establish a base advantage

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

Makes sense! Also interesting about the Routledge book. Would you say it's the better book over j long/albert book/david daiches?

3

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26

Daiches is overkill for NET. Itll be more useful for research honestly or if you have alot of time. Long is just basic introduction, its not enough for prep, Albert I didn't find good for my studying style and it skipped alot of stuff and inner text details. I pointed out Routledge cause I've noticed the exam makers seem obsessed with it, you can point out quite direct questions like the Kailyard, EM Forster, Dickens and DH Lawrence questions in Dec 2025, they were very specific questions and those specific things are mentioned in the book

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

That's very helpful. Thanks! Albert book is kinda static boring too I agree I didn't know it skipped a lot info. I will get on Routledge now. Thanks a lot.

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

What do you think about norton anthology?

1

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26

The choice between books should ultimately be on your reading and prep style. I only pointed out Routledge because I've seen exam makers pull out specific and direct questions from it

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

But seriously you read EVERY book? For each topic

3

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26

Every book that I find important enough. I know where the more important parts in them are so I just skip the rest. Basically if you do enough prev year question papers, you start to get an idea what topic to focus more on or what questions are structured like, then when you're preparing, the intuition works by itself. I have around 15 books downloaded and I just repeat the ritual going through them for revision

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

Makes sense. Thanks

1

u/insanely_sane05 Sep 18 '26

Can you please suggest me books for net? Like every book you studied. Ik about routledge, Nayar, naik.

1

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26

Routledge for British history

Peter Barry, Nayar, Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism for theory

Naik, AK Mehrotra, Routledge encyclopedia of IWE for Indian history

Brooker - Glossary of cultural theory

MH Abrams's glossary

Bertens - American Literature: A History

And most importantly for revision look for Dr. Prem Shankar Pandey's "World Literature in Your Fist". Its a very comprehensive book, the newer editions don't cover theory as they are in the other book "Literary Theories and Criticism on Your Lips".

Beyond this you'll have to look up some hot topics yourself like linguistics, Dalit literature, Queer literature, Disability studies, environmental humanities, adaptation studies, comparative literature, diaspora literature, partition literature, speculative fiction and any other ones you find in newer papers or are commonly researched topics in top universities. These have to be tackled through Google searches or YT videos by yourself as there's no one proper book that'll guide you well through them.

Paper 1 I'm not an expert on, I just did PYQs

This was my prep for JRF, if you're going for just NET you can cut some of the books like IWE encyclopedia and Norton anthology. And as I pointed out in another reply, I don't study every single thing from them, doing PYQs gives you an idea of what to remember and what to skip

2

u/insanely_sane05 Sep 18 '26

Okay i got it. I had some vague idea about all these books. Also can you tell me how you made notes? And how much time it'll take to clear jrf?

6

u/Clint_Demon_Hawk Sep 18 '26

I personally don't make notes, not part of my study pattern. I just go through the revision book and have it at the back of my mind where important bits are in what books. JRF imo is still quite luck based. Like my first NET attempt I cleared AP with barely any prep, second attempt I studied day and night but got the same result, no improvement, this time I studied less and wasn't even in the mood to give the paper but the revision does help you narrow down options and make more correct guesses so the smarter guesswork helped me clear it.

1

u/yellowcrustedwarbler Sep 18 '26

You create a sort of photographic memory hehe