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How to crack UGC NET JRF Environmental Science

Most Recent Five

1. Introduction  Sudarshan Kriya

and Other Unlikely
Adventures
I had cracked UGC NET JRF Environmental Science in my first
attempt, despite coming from a background in social science. It is
 How to crack UGC
not difficult at all, but one needs to study and prepare strategically
NET JRF
— instead of spending a lot of time and energy in it. In this article, I
Environmental
shall break down how to do it.
Science
The syllabus, according to the official UGC NET website (Row 89,
https://www.ugcnetonline.in/syllabus-new.php or  On the Farm Bill
and the protest at
http://ucgv2.ap-south-
IISc
1.elasticbeanstalk.com/NTA_All_R_Syllabus/89/Environmental%20Science_English%20Only.pdf),
is divided into ten modules that are listed below. The YCT book I
 ‘Dollar Bahu’ by
have attached below is also a good PDF to just view the syllabus and
Sudha Murty
browse through previous years’ question papers.

1. Fundamentals of Environmental Sciences  UK factsheet (in my

opinion)
2. Environmental Chemistry
3. Environmental Biology
4. Environmental Geosciences
5. Energy and Environment Archives by Page
6. Environmental Pollution and Control
7. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Literature (1)
8. Environmental Assessment, Management and Legislation
Music (3)
9. Statistical Approaches and Modelling in Environmental
Sciences ...And Everything Else
10. Contemporary Environmental Issues (8)

Please do not commit the mistake of going through the syllabus in Complete Archive (12)
the order in which it exists. If one arranges the modules according
to their weightage on the test papers, then this is more or less the
order that one would end up with: Archives by Time

1. Environmental Biology (50)  January 2022 (1)

2. Environmental Pollution and Control (30)
3. Energy and Environment (22)  March 2021 (1)
4. Environmental Geoscience (20)
5. Fundamentals of Environmental Science (18)  December 2020 (2)
 6. Environmental Chemistry (16)
 February 2019 (2)
7. Statistical Approaches and Modeling In Env Sc (16)
8. Environmental Impact Assessment, Management and
 December 2017 (1)
Legislation (12)
9. Contemporary Environmental Issues (12)
 October 2017 (1)
10. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management (4)

The numbers in brackets show the marks allocation that each  August 2017 (1)
module got in the Dec 2019 exam. I did not bother calculating that
for the Jun 2020 exam session. Please refer to Singh (2020) for a  July 2017 (2)
much more detailed table.
 May 2017 (1)
In the next section, I will break down how to go about these ten
modules; and I have listed them in the order in which they appear  February 2017 (1)
in the syllabus and not according to their weightage, just to make it
 December 2016 (3)
easier for you to keep the syllabus on one side and my blogpost on
another. But do remember to prepare it in the order of marks-
allocation.

I usually stick to peer-reviewed academic journals/books when I

am doing academics. However, cracking competitive exams is a
different game, so please do not hesitate in picking up some
sections from popular textbooks or even books that are specifically
written for UGC NET Environmental Science. I will be referring to
both kinds of books hereon.

A checklist of sorts has been provided at the end of this blogpost

that might or might not be useful to you.

2. Module breakdown

2.1 Fundamentals of Environmental Sciences

This module is essentially just a summation of 2.2 to 2.10.

Two topics that I had specifically studied for this were:

Remote sensing, Madhuraj (2020: 62-9), which I think is

sufficient.
Atmospheric stratification (NCERT Textbook for Physical
Geography for Class 11: 73). You may also refer to p68-9,
Glossary 20 Sep 2020 for this purpose.

You will find numerical questions that are often asked in this
section scattered through Masters and Ela (2014) or covered in
Numericals 20 Sep 2020.pdf.

2.2 Environmental Chemistry

I would call it a moderate investment-low return module. This is
quite a tough nut to crack. It has a lot of concepts, and if one gets
too deep into it, then one will miss out on the other topics that are
more important (read, scoring).

Most concepts, equilibriums and thermodynamics are well

explained in Masters and Ela (2014: 47-86). I also referred a
bit to some NCERT school textbooks.
For atmospheric chemistry, I went through Manahan (2017:
211-243), although I am not sure if I understood a lot or even
if it is required to study all this in detail. Madhuraj (2020: 25-
31) is a good resource to just memorise the relevant bits.
Definitely read up on analytical techniques and
instrumentation. They won’t ask you very difficult questions.
Even if you just read what each technique is for and a get a
basic understanding of how it works; it should be sufficient.
For this, you may read up on either or all of the following
Madhuraj (2020: 82-7)
P71-4, Glossary 20 Sep 2020.pdf.
Maybe read a little bit of the techniques mentioned in
Madhuraj (2020)/Glossary 20 Sep 2020.pdf from the
web (?).
I think I have solved nearly all the numerical questions from
this module in Numericals 20 Sep 2020.pdf.

2.3 Environmental Biology

This is a moderate-investment-high-return module in that you

can put in some effort and expect a lot of questions. You can do a
reasonable job in a week or so, I would expect.

Stiling (2012) is an excellent book for this topic. However,

you do not have to read the entire thing. I will leave it for
you to decide which chapter you would like to read from
this. I, for instance, read the portion on energy flow and food
webs (Stiling 2012: 518-35) and natural selection (Stiling
2012: 47-67).
Enger and Smith (2015: 109-42). This is the book I had
referred to for studying succession, biogerography and
biomes (terrestrial + marine). I personally feel this is a very
good chapter for it, although feel free to refer to Stiling
(2012: 446-515) for the same, if you feel like. I personally feel
that studying Enger and Smith (2015: 109-42) for biomes and
Stiling (2012: 450-5) will be the best combination.
Definitely read up Spooner (2012: 89-105) as it covers a lot of
key concepts that you will need for tackling modules 3
(Environmental Biology) and 1 (Fundamentals of
Environmental Science). In fact, I suggest you read this
 before picking up Enger and Smith (2015: 109-42) or Stiling
(2012: 446-515) for biomes etc.
Spooner (2012: 107-29) is an excellent source for brushing up
population biology. I found it sufficient for UGC NET
Environmental Science and you can do it in a day. I suggest
going in further detail after you have finished the entire
syllabus. If you feel like going in further detail, you may
consider Masters and Ela (2014: 87-126), although I had
admittedly only glanced over it.
Other than that, I suggest going through the following. I have
included most of it in my Microsoft Word document
(Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf).
Different bacteria used in industry (industrial
microbiology, basically)
Different antibiotics
Different earthworms and their types
Plant hormones
National Parks, sanctuaries, protected areas, sacred
groves. No need to remember all of these, but do brush
up their definitions. Try seeing the map on p82,
Glossary 20 Sep 2020.
IUCN categories for the various species, and some
common Indian species that come in those categories.

2.4 Environmental Geosciences

This is a moderate investment-moderate return module. It is

difficult to really get your head around all these concepts,
especially when you are preparing other modules as well — and it
does not make much sense considering you do not get very many
questions from this module either. The best thing, I felt, was to go
through the previous years’ question papers and just read a bit on
the terms you do not understand on Wikipedia. I did that and
prepared my own Word document (please see References section
below), however I strongly advise you to search for jargon and
prepare your own Microsoft Word document.

Check out Spooner (2020: 61-115) should hopefully be

sufficient for rocks and minerals. It is a very good book, and
you can read other bits as you like but only if you have time.
Definitely memorise the Mohs Hardness Scale (Fig 6-1,
Spooner 2020: 65). You always get a question on that
one.
Try memorising the mineral classification tables from
Spooner (2020: 74-6), but not at the expense of other
modules. Only if you have time, that is.
Also, there are quite a few questions with respect to
clay minerals (that are silicates), so maybe try my
 notes (p64, Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf) or Madhuraj
(2020: 12-3).
Biogeochemical cycles have been dealt with quite well by
Stiling (2012: 562-78)
Do not forget to memorise
Discontinuities in Earth’s interior (p62, Glossary 20 Sep
2020.pdf)
Concentration of elements in Earth’s crust-mantle-
core (p62, Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf)
Concentration of ions in sea water (Allaby 2013: 519)
Of course, to reiterate my previous point, read up on
previous year’s question papers and just Google search for
the words you do not understand. Most of these words that
will throw you off-guard are with respect to landforms etc.,
and I personally felt the Oxford Dictionary for Geology and Earth
Sciences (Allaby 2013) is a very good resource for that.

Since this topic is a bit onerous, maybe ten days should be a good
time-frame.

2.5 Energy and Environment

This is probably the best module of all, low investment – high

return. The concepts are quite easy, except for nuclear energy,
which too can be understood after investing 1-3 days on it. Most of
the questions asked in this module are numerical questions, and
are very easy and very scoring.

Smith (2005: 51-63) is probably all you need for renewable

energy sources (except nuclear energy, which I will cover in
the next bullet) from wind power to tidal to hydroelectric.
For nuclear energy…
…Smith (2005: 205-239) covers most of it very well
except nuclear fusion (see the next bullet). But if that
is a bit too difficult for you, consider starting with
Moore (2010: 43-54) before getting on to Smith (2005:
205-39)
For nuclear fusion, do not forget the memorise the
reactions 6.46 to 6.49 from Boeker and van Grondelle
(2011: 238). That is mostly all you need, other than the
basic concept, for which Moore (2010: 43-54) should be
sufficient. I have included a screenshot of those
reactions in p34, Numericals Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf.

***

This topic can be easily done in less than a week. I think I have
covered all the numerical questions in the Numericals Sun 20 Sep
2020.pdf.

2.6 Environmental Pollution and Control

This is a high-investment-high-return module. You simply

cannot ignore it for the sheer number of questions you find from
this module. But, whatever time you spend studying it will be
worth it. You can expect to spend around 10-15 days studying this
properly. The good thing is that you do not have to shuttle a lot
between books and articles. One book (largely) has it all.

Air Pollution
Masters and Ela (2014: 367-499).
If you have less time, just memorise (you have
no option) p30-7, Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf. I
have made those notes from Masters and Ela
(2014) and then read Masters and Ela (2014) if
you have time. One topic you won’t find in my
notes is Air Pollution and Meteorology (Masters
and Ela 2014: 438-51) so read those twelve pages
from the book directly. The concepts are a bit
twisted, so it might take a day to go through
Masters and Ela (2014: 438-51)
Spooner (2012: 223-36) is a good tool to brush up. You
can actually take it up before Masters and Ela (2014:
367-499) as I feel it will make the latter easier.
Water Pollution
Masters and Ela (2014: 173-280).
Each and every bit in this chapter is important,
from BOD to thermal stratification to Darcy’s
Law. The one sub-unit from this topic that I had
left was contaminant transport (P240-5) because
I never came across a question on that.
Again, if you do not have time, memorise p38-
42, Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf. But, I have
only covered some key water pollutants in my
notes. You won’t find thermal stratification or
aquifers or BOD in my notes.
Spooner (2012: 237-47), as usual, gives a good
overview of water pollution, and the bit on the
oxygen sag curve is explained very well. If you
wish, you may try reading it before Masters and
Ela (2014: 173-280)
Don’t forget to read heavy metal pollution in water
from Manahan (2017: 137-9) and make a table (you will
not find one in Glossary 20 Sep 2020.pdf because I had
no time to make one), because Masters and Ela (2014)
 gives short shrift to heavy metal water pollutants. I
clearly remember they asked a question on CH₃Hg in
the June 2020 and on Cadmium in Jun 2019. I am so
glad I studied this just a night before!
Masters and Ela (2014: 281-367) — honestly, I had not
studied this in great detail or made notes for it. But
even though I did clear NET JRF, I wish I had studied
this topic a bit more properly.
Noise Pollution
The questions that are mostly asked here are
numerical questions. Please see p18-21, Numericals 20
Sep 2020.pdf.
Soil Pollution
Not a lot of questions are asked from this one, but
Manahan (2017: 409-48) should be more than enough.
Focus on Air, Water and Noise Pollution more.

2.7 Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

I do not really know what to make of this topic as I have only seen
one or two questions per year from this one. So, I will categorise it
as a low return module.

Try reading

Spooner (2012: 249-75)

Some random bits that I have just collated p83-6, Glossary
PDF.
Masters and Ela (2014: 601-84) — truth be told, I did not read
this one.

2.8 Environmental Assessment, Management and Legislation

Another low investment high return module. There is nothing

to understand here, only memorise. You can start preparing this
from today itself.

Memorise Table 19, p77, Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf. You

always get one question on that.
International Environmental Legislation
I personally believe that Table 20, p78-80, Glossary Sun
20 Sep 2020.pdf that I have prepared should enable
you to understand and memorise things easily in a
condensed manner. I have referenced to the relevant
Wikipedia pages on p80. But…
…try reading Spooner 2012 (311-6) first. A very good
place to get started before you move on to my table.
Indian Environmental Legislation
 Madhuraj 2020 (94-101) does a very good job of
condensing Indian environmental legislation into five-
six pages. But do consider memorising it in
chronological order: I found that a bit easier.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Honestly, I had just memorised the bit from Madhuraj
(2020: 75-86)…
…but consider reading chapter 4 from Masters and Ela
(2014) as well if you have time.
Although solving previous years’ question papers is
important for each topic, I’d stress that particularly for this
one. Just doing that will cover a lot of things already. I
remember there were quite a few questions on Jun 2020
session that have been asked in the previous years’ question
papers, especially with respect to EIA, which I had just
memorised and regurgitated.

2.9 Statistical Approaches and Modelling in Environmental

Sciences

This could be a low or high return module depending on your

statistical prowess. I am no statistics wizard, but I have tried
solving some questions on my Numerical PDF. Read Rumsey (2019)
— I won’t suggest any specific chapters or pages. Just read
whatever you think you want to.

At any rate, please do not spend more than 7-10 days for this topic
because if you are good at it, you won’t need to spend more than
that and if you are a total statistics noob, then spending more than
ten days won’t really benefit you a lot and just take away from the
time you spend

2.10 Contemporary Environmental Issues

I had not prepared anything for this topic in particular. There is

quite a bit of overlap between this and Module 8. Just solve and
memorise previous years’ question papers and read up on things on
the web e.g. important biodiversity hotspots, Ramsar sites, wildlife
reserves, dams in India. I have covered a little bit of that in the
Glossary PDF.

***

I hope you do not find anything in the question papers that is not
covered in the resources mentioned above. Even if they are
covered, it is probably not worth reading the entire chapter.
Whenever this happens, a quick online search usually suffices.
All the books mentioned in this blogpost, except Singh (2020),
which you will have to buy from Amazon, are available for free.
Please see the References section below for URLs to free PDFs or
purchasing the book, whichever is applicable. Most of the URLs to
the free PDFs are not hyperlinked as WordPress does not allow me
to paste URLs from pirated websites like sci-hub or LibGen. So, just
copy and paste the URL in your browser.

Please visit http://ritvikc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/UGC-

NET-EVS-Checklist.pdf for a rough checklist. Please exercise your
own discretion while using it.

3. References

3.1 Previous Years’ Question Papers

Singh R. 2020. Fundamentals of Environmental Science for NET JRF.

Catalyst Publications. https://www.amazon.in/Fundamentals-
Environmental-Sciences-Theory-Practice/dp/8193786157.

YCT. 2019. Environmental Science UGC NET JRF Solved Papers. Full Text
PDF.

3.2 Resource Books and other PDFs

Allaby M. 2013. Oxford Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences. Oxford

University Press, New York, USA.
https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9NBLGGGZ19SN
(Application for PC),
http://library.lol/main/41ECB68326E37F7DF6732F6574C45618
(Free full text PDF). I personally prefer the PC application over the PDF,
even though it is paid, as it is easier to search for words and it is updated
constantly.

Boeker E, van Grondelle R. 2011. Environmental Physics: Sustainable

Energy and Climate Change. John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, United
Kingdom.
http://library.lol/main/8FCADD5D7AF790D22EB1EDDA8DB5D0A0.

Enger ED, Smith BF (eds). 2016. Environmental science: a study of

interrelationships. McGraw-Hill Education, New York.
http://library.lol/main/9986E76E1C21B4527191B2F2BF0ECC50.

Glossary Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf

Madhuraj P. 2020. UGC NET JRF Environmental Science: Complete Guide.

Environ Books, Thalassery, Kerala.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19VUmxbSiaqlafpH0rQANyHnPkorMFabR/view.
Manahan SE. 2017. Environmental chemistry. CRC Press/Taylor &
Francis Group, New York.
http://library.lol/main/A1AF22D2545A53A55EDCC62857FA580C.

Masters GM, Ela WP. 2014. Introduction to environmental engineering

and science. Pearson, Harlow.
http://93.174.95.29/main/2235000/db38533af11c5158e0779ca66560c69a/%28Pearson%20custom%20library%2
%20Introduction%20to%20environmental%20engineering%20and%20science-
Pearson%20%282014%29.pdf.

Moore JT. 2010. Chemistry essentials for dummies. Wiley Pub., Inc,
Hoboken, NJ.
http://library.lol/main/B491BC9D20B8F491F0CFE63C9867C964.

NCERT. 2020. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (Textbook in

Geography for Class 11). Full Text PDF.

Numericals Sun 20 Sep 2020.pdf

Rumsey D. 2019. Statistics essentials for dummies. John Wiley & Sons,
Indianapolis, IN, USA.
http://library.lol/main/6FAF11330686E2BE6CA7F6B447E8918B.

Smith C. 2005. Environmental physics. Routledge, London; New York.

http://site.ebrary.com/id/10615112.

Spooner AM. 2012. Environmental Science for Dummies. John Wiley &
Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA.
http://library.lol/main/5AAF28669DBC5E5EBAC4FD8240D72995.

Spooner AM. 2020. Geology for dummies. John Wiley & Sons,
Hoboken, NJ, USA.
http://library.lol/main/9A64FADE9B5466EB16C96ECB8638CAD7.

Stiling PD. 2012. Ecology: global insights & investigations. McGraw-Hill,

New York.
http://library.lol/main/CB77ECECA3C8C7ED91807E8120AED723.

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Tue, 9 Mar 2021 | 9 Comments

Ramiza Wed, 12 Jul 2023 at 16:10 - Reply

Sir plz provide 2022 23 ugc net paper

Ramiza Wed, 12 Jul 2023 at 16:07 - Reply

Thank you so much for your efforts

Shrushti Negi Fri, 14 Apr 2023 at 05:00 - Reply

Sir, can we completely rely on these resources? As I’m

trying to prepare with a full time job, I need this
assurance from you. Please help. Thankyou.

Vishal barad Sun, 19 Mar 2023 at 12:08 - Reply

Thank a lot sir

ranti Mon, 14 Nov 2022 at 22:19 - Reply

thanku u so much for ur efforts but ….the books u

mentioned are not available in market ……..so what to
do….its a great problem ……

ranti devi from j&k

Ritvik Mon, 14 Nov 2022 at 22:55 - Reply

Hello Ranti, Ritvik here. The URLs to the books

are given above. You are supposed to copy and
paste them in your browser. That should take you
to the relevant PDFs (I myself did not buy any
books for the exam, other than Rupendra Singh’s
previous years’ question papers.)

If you need any more help, please write me an

email at mail[at]ritvikc[dot]com. I will help you
out.

Soumya Banerjee Wed, 21 Dec 2022 at 14:54 - Reply

Thank you sir, you are a lifesaver. With z lib

having gone down we have no choice but to
 look for alternatives such as the links
posted by you.

Ali Tue, 1 Nov 2022 at 21:27 - Reply

Thank You

Wongtochu Sun, 2 Oct 2022 at 09:16 - Reply

Thanks for your guidance

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