CSIR National Eligibility Test

CSIR NET, officially the Joint CSIR-UGC NET, is the national test that decides who is eligible for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), appointment as Assistant Professor, and admission to Ph.D. programmes in the sciences. The National Testing Agency (NTA) conducts it for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as a computer-based test, usually twice a year, in June and December.

This page covers the CSIR NET 2026 December cycle. NTA's tentative exam calendar, released on 16 September 2026, lists 20 and 21 December 2026 as the exam dates. The notification and application form were not out when this page was last checked on 8 October 2026, so the fee, eligibility, pattern and fellowship details below follow the latest official bulletin we could verify, the June 2025 Information Bulletin. Recheck them against the December 2026 bulletin on csirnet.nta.ac.in the day it is published.

Table of Contents

CSIR NET

Latest update for the December 2026 cycle

• Exam dates: NTA's calendar for December 2026 to March 2027 lists the Joint CSIR-UGC NET for 20 and 21 December 2026. NTA has said the calendar is tentative and is not a notification for any exam.

• Notification and form: Not released at the time of writing. The registration window, fee deadline and correction dates will come with the Information Bulletin.

• Life Sciences syllabus: CSIR-HRDG now lists a revised Life Sciences and Biotechnology syllabus with 14 units and labels the older document as valid up to the June 2026 cycle.

• Pattern: The June 2025 bulletin is the latest we could verify. Check the new bulletin for any change in question counts or marks.

Important dates

Tentative dates come from the NTA calendar and can change. Track the official site and your registered email, and rely on the date printed on your admit card.

For planning, here is how the last cycle with a published bulletin ran:

That gives roughly three weeks to apply and a short correction window, so keep your documents ready before the notification arrives.

Eligibility criteria

Educational qualification

• General, Unreserved and General-EWS: A Master's degree or equivalent with at least 55 percent marks, without rounding off.

• OBC (Non-Creamy Layer), SC, ST, PwD and Third gender: At least 50 percent marks in the Master's degree or equivalent.

• Final-year and result-awaited candidates: You can apply, but your entry is provisional. You must pass with the required percentage within two years of the NET result, or within one year if you qualify for Ph.D. admission only.

• Four-year bachelor's degree holders: At least 75 percent in aggregate, with a 5 percent relaxation for SC, ST, OBC-NCL, Differently-Abled and EWS candidates. You become eligible for JRF and Ph.D. admission, but not for appointment as Assistant Professor.

• Ph.D. holders: A 5 percent relaxation applies if the Master's examination was completed by 19 September 1991.

Age limit

For JRF, the upper age limit is 30 years on the first day of the month in which the examination concludes. In the June 2025 cycle that date was 1 July 2025, so for a December 2026 exam it should be 1 December 2026 if the rule is unchanged. There is no upper age limit for Assistant Professor or for Ph.D. admission.

Only Indian citizens can take the test.

Application fee and how to apply

Payment is online by net banking, debit card, credit card or UPI. Bank or gateway charges are extra. The fee is not refunded once paid.

1. Register on the official NTA site with your own email address and mobile number, and note the application number.

2. Fill in the form: personal details, category, qualification, NET subject and four exam cities.

3. Upload the documents listed below.

4. Pay the fee and download the confirmation page. The form is complete only after successful payment.

Two mistakes cause most trouble: a mismatch between the photo ID and the name on the form, and a wrong subject choice. NTA does not change the subject or exam cities after the correction window.

Exam pattern and marking scheme

Every paper has three parts. Part A is a General Aptitude section common to all subjects. Part B has conventional subject MCQs, and Part C has higher-order, application-based questions. There is no break between parts, and you can attempt only a fixed number of questions in each.

What this means for you

• Attempt limits are strict: If you answer more than the allowed number, only the first answers in each part are evaluated. Choose your questions before you start answering.

• Part C decides the paper: It carries about half the marks, and a wrong answer costs more here, so do not guess blindly.

• Mathematical Sciences Part C: Each question can have one or more correct options, and credit is given only when all correct options are marked. There is no partial credit and no negative marking.

• One merit list: There is no separate cut-off for Parts A, B and C. Total marks count.

Syllabus summary

The syllabus is published by CSIR's Human Resource Development Group (CSIR-HRDG), not by NTA. Parts B and C follow a unit-wise syllabus for each subject. Part A has an official description of the skills tested, but no topic list.

The unit-by-unit topics are on the CSIR NET syllabus page. Always download the official files from the CSIR-HRDG site before you finalise your plan.

Selection process and award categories

Selection rests on one computer-based test. For papers held in more than one shift, NTA converts marks to percentile and normalises them with the equi-percentile method. The result committee then prepares the merit list. A candidate must clear the minimum benchmark of 33 percent marks in General, EWS and OBC categories, or 25 percent in SC, ST and PwD categories.

For Ph.D. admission through Categories 2 and 3, NET marks carry 70 percent weightage and the university interview carries 30 percent. These NET marks stay valid for one year from the result date. The Assistant Professor qualification does not expire.

JRF fellowship and career options

As per the June 2025 bulletin, a JRF selected through CSIR NET receives Rs. 37,000 per month for the first two years, plus a contingent grant of Rs. 20,000 a year. After two years, a fellow registered for Ph.D. can be upgraded to Senior Research Fellow after an assessment, with a stipend of Rs. 42,000 per month. The number of fellowships in each subject is limited, and amounts can be revised, so confirm them in the new bulletin.

A fellowship is for a fixed tenure and does not promise a job. Beyond fellowships, qualifiers use the score for Assistant Professor eligibility and Ph.D. admission, and NTA may share candidate data with universities and public sector undertakings for admission and recruitment.

How to prepare for CSIR NET

• Start with the official syllabus: Tick off units for your subject and mark the ones you studied least in your Master's.

• Build concepts before speed: Part C rewards application, so solve numericals and derivations by hand instead of memorising results.

• Give Part A 30 to 40 minutes daily: It is 30 marks that every candidate can score with regular practice.

• Practise previous papers: They show how Part B and Part C questions are framed for your subject.

• Keep an error log: Note why each mock question went wrong, concept gap, calculation slip or time pressure.

For timed practice in the current pattern, you can attempt CSIR NET online tests on Testkart and use the section-wise analysis to plan your revision. Pair them with subject-wise CSIR NET mock tests and previous year papers to judge the real difficulty level. Educators who want to build a CSIR NET test series for their own students can create and manage tests on Testkart as well.

Cut-off reference

The only fixed figure is the minimum qualifying benchmark of 33 percent for General, EWS and OBC candidates and 25 percent for SC, ST and PwD candidates. Subject-wise cut-offs for JRF and Assistant Professor are set by the result committee and published with the result, and they change every session with difficulty and the number of candidates. Treat past figures as a benchmark only, and aim for a clear margin above them.