NTA PhD Entrance Exam Pattern: Marking Scheme 2027, Syllabus, Question Types and Difficulty Level

The NTA PhD Entrance Exam Pattern 2027 no longer runs as a single joint test. Instead, the National Testing Agency (NTA) routes PhD admissions through separate national exams depending on your subject:

• UGC NET for Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Commerce;
• CSIR NET for core Science subjects;
• GATE for Engineering and Technology; and
• ICAR AICE JRF/SRF for Agriculture.

These exams can help you get PhD admission to central and participating universities such as DU, JNU, BHU, and BBAU. Each exam has its own pattern, total marks, marking scheme, and syllabus.

• High-Weightage Common Topics: Research Methodology, Research Ethics, Thesis Writing, Referencing, Quantitative Aptitude, and Data Interpretation are important topics covered in both CSIR NET and UGC NET.
• Reasoning & Teaching Aptitude: Logical Reasoning is common to both exams, while Teaching Aptitude is a major UGC NET Paper 1 area.
• The standalone joint PhD entrance exam was discontinued from 2024–25 onward, and candidates now depend entirely on these four national-level exams for PhD entry.

Related Links:

• GATE Syllabus 2027: Branch-wise Syllabus PDF, Exam Pattern, Topic Wise Weightage & Preparation Resources
• ICAR AICE JRF SRF 2027 Part A, B and C: Marks Distribution and Strategy
• NTA Ph.D Entrance Exam 2027: Application Form, Exam Dates, Eligibility, Pattern, Syllabus

Key Summary

• NTA PhD admissions run through four separate exams—UGC NET, CSIR NET, GATE, and ICAR AICE JRF/SRF—each with its own exam pattern.
• CSIR NET total marks are 200, spread across three parts with negative marking, while UGC NET total marks are 300 with no negative marking.
• GATE exam total marks are 100, scored from 65 questions that mix MCQs, MSQs, and Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions.
• Negative marking rules vary sharply. There's no CSIR NET negative marking exemption in Parts A and B, GATE penalises only MCQs, and UGC NET has no negative marking at all.

NTA PhD Entrance Exam Pattern: Marking Scheme 2027

Each exam under the NTA PhD Entrance Exam Pattern follows a different marking scheme, so understanding your specific pathway's rules matters before you start preparing.

UGC-NET Marking Scheme

The entire exam is conducted in a single, continuous session of 3 hours with no sectional limits. It contains a total of 150 compulsory questions worth 300 maximum marks. 1 exam is split into 2 papers:

• Paper 1 (General Paper): Common for all candidates across all 80+ humanities and commerce subjects. It evaluates your analytical capability, core teaching principles, basic data comprehension, and fundamental research logic.
• Paper 2 (Domain Specialization): This focuses purely on advanced, postgraduate-level curriculum concepts of your chosen subject domain [lexibal.com].
• Both Paper 1 and Paper 2 in the UGC NET exam pattern carry the same +2 marks per correct answer, keeping the scoring uniform across the whole test.
• Since there's no negative marking, total marks in UGC NET purely reflect the number of correct answers; there's no downside to attempting every question.

Check out:

• ICAR AICE JRF/SRF in agriculture and allied subjects.
• ICAR AICE JRF SRF 2026 Chapter-Wise Weightage for Agriculture: High-Priority
• PhD Admission 2026: Fees, Eligibility, Duration, Top Universities, Entrance Exam, Last Dates

CSIR-NET Marking Scheme

The CSIR NET marking scheme is far stricter than UGC NET's, with CSIR NET negative marking applied differently across each part of the paper. The CSIR-NET exam features a single question paper divided into three parts:

• Part A,
• Part B, and
• Part C

Every subject paper is scored out of a maximum of 200 marks, but the exact question distribution, marks per correct answer, and negative penalties change based on your specific science stream.

• Part A (General Aptitude): Identical for all 5 subjects. It contains 20 questions, and you must attempt any 15. It evaluates logical reasoning, quantitative ability, and graphical data analysis.

• Part B (Conventional MCQs): Focuses on direct, memory-based, or foundational subject concepts from the core syllabus.

• Part C (Scientific Application): This features advanced, higher-order analytical problems designed to test your research logic and scientific interpretation. It contains a large pool of choices, but you are capped on how many you can answer.

• CSIR NET negative marking ranges from -0.50 to -1.25 marks depending on the section and subject stream, unlike UGC NET's flat no-penalty rule.

GATE Marking Scheme

The vast majority of the 30 available GATE subject papers follow a rigid two-section framework:

• General Aptitude (GA): Compulsory for all papers. It contains 10 questions worth 15 marks total. This section assesses verbal, quantitative, spatial, and analytical reasoning.
• Core Technical Discipline: Contains 55 questions worth 85 marks.
  • For Engineering streams: This technical chunk explicitly dedicates 13 marks to Engineering Mathematics and 72 marks to core subject topics.
  • For Basic Sciences/Humanities: There is no separate math allocation; all 85 marks target the core subject questions directly.
• A 1-mark MCQ loses -1/3 mark for a wrong answer, while a 2-mark MCQ loses -2/3 mark, so higher-value MCQs carry a proportionally bigger penalty.
• MSQs require every correct option to be selected for any marks at all — there's no partial credit, but also no negative marking risk.

Related Articles:

• GATE Exam Pattern, Subject-wise Question Paper Pattern, Marking Scheme, Total Marks
• GATE Question Paper with Solutions PDF: Download Subject-wise Answer Keys

ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Marking Scheme

Conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on behalf of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, this exam requires you to solve 120 questions totaling 480 maximum marks in a single 2-hour (120-minute) session

• Section A (General Agriculture): Contains 20 questions. This covers general knowledge regarding Indian agriculture, recent landmark developments, standard agro-climatic zones, and basic mathematical/analytical reasoning.
• Section B (Core Group Discipline): Contains 50 questions. This tests foundational master’s-level concepts belonging to the wider academic branch you selected (e.g., broad Plant Sciences or Animal Sciences clusters).
• Section C (Specialized Subject Domain): Contains 50 questions. This dives deep into the specific sub-discipline you intend to pursue your PhD in (e.g., Agronomy, Genetics & Plant Breeding, or Veterinary Pathology).
• ICAR's 480 total marks are the highest across all four PhD pathways, split as 80 marks (Part A), 200 marks (Part B), and 200 marks (Part C).

NTA PhD Entrance Exam Syllabus: High-Weightage Topics 2027

The overall NTA PhD Entrance Exam syllabus splits into two broad parts across every exam pathway:

• Part 1 covers Research Methodology or General Aptitude, and
• Part 2 covers Core Subject Knowledge specific to your chosen field.

The core topics include:

• The syllabus for science subjects leans heavily on advanced, specialised topics like Quantum Chemistry, Molecular Genetics, and Real Analysis, which are far more technical than the general aptitude section.
• Engineering Mathematics alone makes up about 13% of the total score weight for GATE subjects, making it one of the highest-leverage topics in the entire GATE exam syllabus.

Check out:

• Delhi PhD Admission 2027: Registration Dates, Entrance Exams, Eligibility, Application Process, Fees, Top Colleges

GATE Entrance Exam Syllabus 2027

What Types of Questions Are Asked in the NTA PhD Entrance Exam?

Since the standalone joint entrance exam no longer exists, question types now depend entirely on which of the four national exams applies to your subject.

Common formats across all exams:

• Assertion-Reasoning (A-R) Questions
• Statement-Based Questions (True/False pairs)
• Match the Following (Matrices)
• Chronological Ordering (mainly in humanities/history papers)

CSIR-NET Format:

• Part A – General Aptitude: Tests basic reasoning through graphs, shapes, patterns, speed-distance problems, and probability.
• Part B – Foundational MCQs: Covers basic concepts, formulas, definitions, and standard subject-based questions.
• Part C – Experimental Case Studies: Uses experiment- and data-based questions where you analyse information, identify outcomes, and solve scientific problems. It features Multiple Select Questions (MSQs) where a question has more than one right answer

ICAR AICE-specific formats:

• Match-the-Following: Matches crops, pests, soil types, or chemical formulas with their correct classifications or uses.
• Assertion-Reason: Tests whether you can identify the correct statement and the reason behind it, such as irrigation methods and soil moisture management.
• Scenario-Based MCQs: Present short agricultural situations and asks you to identify crop diseases, farming practices, or calculate basic fertilizer requirements.

GATE-specific formats:

• MCQs and Multiple Select Questions (MSQs): All correct options must be selected
• Numerical Answer Type (NAT): No options given; candidates type the exact numeric answer

Check out:

• PhD Syllabus 2024: Subjects, Entrance Exam Syllabus, List of PhD Courses
• ICAR AICE JRF SRF 2026 Part A, B and C: Marks Distribution and Strategy