 And in this video lecture, I'm going to talk about the new syllabus of NTA UDC Net English Retreater. But before I do that, I would like to congratulate all those students who have cleared Net NJR of this time. You know, in the last video, I shared with you all the screenshot of the results of our students. And I was so amazed to see the overwhelming response and feedback. You know, I developed this platform because this platform amalgamates my passion for literature as well as teaching. And with the grace of Almighty God, I'm so happy that this time we had a bunch of students clearing Net NJR and all these students made us really, really proud. NTA released the new syllabus for the next UDC Net English Retreater exam. And this syllabus went viral. Okay, I received in two days, in previous two days, I've received more than thousand screenshots of the same syllabus and almost all the students asked me the same question. What is this new syllabus? What about the new pattern? And I can really well see from their messages that the students are extremely tense and they should be because syllabus is one of the most important part of any exam preparation. And if you don't have clarity on the syllabus, then, you know, how will you prepare? So I took time to analyze the syllabus. I took time to decode it. And now in this video, I'm going to share with you some really, really important facts and truths about the syllabus. And I'm pretty sure that if you would have sat down calmly and have analyzed the syllabus, you would have come out with the same stats. Before I talk about the new syllabus, I would like to quickly take you through the changes that has happened in UDC over a period of time so that you can understand the new syllabus even better. Now, since inception till 2011, UDC conducted a net exam in three papers. So paper one was general, paper two and three were subject papers in which paper two was objective and paper three was descriptive. So the syllabus design was according to this pattern. So if you look at the subject syllabus, the old syllabus that we still follow till the new syllabus was released, it had two divisions, paper two topics and then paper three. So paper three topics were descriptive because acid type answers were written at that time. Then in 2011, there was a major change. What they did? They made paper three objective. So three papers were conducted from 2012 till 2017 and all the three papers were objective. But they clearly mentioned in the notification that the syllabus remains the same. So whatever syllabus they were earlier following, the same syllabus was following. Now came the third change. In July 2018, paper three was eliminated and only two papers were conducted, paper one and two. And they still mentioned that the syllabus of paper two is going to include everything which was earlier included in paper two and three. So again there was a mention that no change in syllabus. Till July 2018, we were following the same old syllabus that was according to the descriptive pattern. Then came another shift where UGC gave the net conducting authority to NTA that is National Testing Agency and National Testing Agency released their own syllabus. Now there's a myth guys, the new syllabus is not released right now. It was released before the December's net exam was conducted because my students shared the syllabus with me and we had a long discussion over the new syllabus which was designed by NTA. So the hype was just made in the past two days. This syllabus was already released before December's net was conducted and December's net was conducted according to the new syllabus of NTA. So if you look at the journey, since 2004 we were following the same syllabus and for the first time in November 2018, NTA released another syllabus in which NTA released all the topics that would be covered in the coming exam and December's exam was according to the new syllabus. I've already made a detailed video analyzing the December's net exam in which I broke the myth of students that the paper was hard. The paper was extremely easy, it was simple. The only thing is that there was a shift in paper pattern. So please make sure that you don't have this myth anymore in your mind that the syllabus was recently released. It was there on internet since November 2018. Now if you look at the old syllabus as well as the new syllabus of NTA UGC net you'll find that both these syllabus are extremely indicative and ambiguous. The problem is that when a student starts preparation he needs to have a clear blueprint of what he needs to read and what to skip. In all the other competitive exam across India you will see that the students have a detailed syllabus. The governing body or the exam conducting body gives them all the topics and the sub-topics that they must study. But in case of UGC net this has never been a case which is very surprising. Now when I started my preparation I was facing the same issue which almost all other students face. What to read? Which writers to cover? Because they have just mentioned some ambiguous titles, that's it. So after analyzing all the previous year papers, after going through hundreds of websites after referring to all the available books in market I was finally able to make a comprehensive and detailed syllabus which I term as the real syllabus of net. And this is the syllabus which is available on my website, arpathakarva.com and also this is the same syllabus which I teach in my online course. Now when I was making the syllabus with the grace of God I was able to divide the writers and make such clear cut divisions that I can challenge that even if NDA changes syllabus 10 times the syllabus that they are going to release is still be covered in my real syllabus. Because I have tried to include everything that can come under the term English literature taking care of the Indian education system and that is the reason which is why I am so confident that everything that I am teaching in my online course is going to be relevant in the next exam as well. There is always a scope for updation, for upgradation and that we do from time to time. But if you look at the new syllabus you don't need to get worried because there is no drastic change. I am going to decode that myth very soon but before that let me share with you the real syllabus of NDA UGC net English literature. To put it very simply, I have divided my syllabus in 10 modules. Now I am first going to talk about the first five modules and I am going to tell you the science behind the first five modules. If you look at any previous year paper you will find that they have included writers from across the globe. All the writers who either write in English or whose work are translated in English are a part of English literature syllabus. So in order to understand this I opened the world map in front of me and I started charting out writers based on different countries. So if you look at my first module that is British literature I have tried to jot down all the major writers in British literature which were as in previous year papers since Britain is the most important country associated with English literature we have put it first. After Britain comes America the next important English speaking country so Britain becomes British literature America and the literature produced in America becomes American literature and since we are from India Indian literature holds special importance so the first module is Indian literature but after looking at these three countries literature you must also find that in the world map there are various other countries which have a lot of good writers but which we have not included in the syllabus. So what I have done I have grouped these countries in two headings. First one is postcolonial and the second one is European. Now if you look at the European countries these European countries colonize some or the other continent at some point in time. So all the other continents became the postcolonial countries and that is why the literature produced is known as the postcolonial literature. So the major postcolonial literature countries would be Canada then we have South Africa then we have all the countries in Asia then Australia for that matter so all these writers are grouped together as the postcolonial writers. So if you look at the first five modules you find that I have covered all the writers who are a part of English literature. Now comes the next five modules of my course. Now after looking at the main writers it's also important to understand that as a literary student you must know how to analyze and critique a literary work. For that reason we also study literary criticism and theory. Literary criticism started in the ancient time when Plato wrote about who are good poets and it came down till the T.S. period. So the writers who fall under this category are actually talking about what makes a good literature they critique a particular work and tell us merits and demerits in that work. On the other hand literary theory is lens through which you analyze a literary work. For example if you are looking at any work written during the Victorian society you can analyze that work through different lenses. You can either apply feminist theory and see the condition of females in that work or you can apply Marxist lenses and see the class conflict in those novels. So literary criticism and theory becomes the next module. Now if you look at the seven modules you'll still find that there are certain things we have missed and those things are covered in the last three modules. So module 8 is literary terms and devices. Now literary terms and devices help us to understand and appreciate a text in a better way. So if you know the rhyme, the meter, if you know about the literary devices, figures of speed you are able to understand and analyze a work even better. So all these topics are covered in module 8. In module 9 we cover all the literary groups and movements. So in all the countries there was a trend which happened and a lot of writers were associated to that trend. So all these trends we know as schools or literary groups. All these literary groups are covered in module 9. So a separate study is done so that you can understand who are the main members and you can understand the main philosophy they followed. Because even in December 2018, the recent net exam they had questions from literary groups and movement even though they have not mentioned it anywhere in their new syllabus. So we can't just stick to the new syllabus and say that this is where I need to draw the line because literature is a very vast thing and you need to cover things which are not actually written by them. And finally comes the 10th module which is linguistics. Now in linguistics I cover all the things related to linguistic and language. We also cover history of English language. How it began, how in different parts of the country, in different parts of the world English as a language started. So we also talk about India and its history of English language. We talk about different other countries and how English emerged and became better day by day as a language. Plus since linguistics is a module which doesn't have to do with so many things I've already included in it some other mislingious topics like teaching of English language. As a teacher because we all are aspiring to become assistant professors you must have the knowledge of how to teach English as a language to students. So there are different methodologies which you can use through which you can teach English as a second language. So all these methodologies are included. Teaching of English language is included. Research methodology is included so that you equate yourself to other tools which can make you a better teacher. So if you look at the 10 modules there's nothing apart of these 10 modules which can if ever come in the exam. There can be a few topics which might be unknown to us. We keep on adding and updating it in our syllabus as I've already mentioned in my past video. So that's a process, that's how we upgrade and make ourselves better day by day. But if you look at the comprehensive syllabus that I'm offering or which is available on my website you'll find that nothing apart from this syllabus can ever be asked in an exam. So now in front of me I have the old syllabus. If you look at the old syllabus you'll find that they have divided the old syllabus in two categories, paper two and three. Paper two and three have various things in common. Why? Because paper three was written according to the descriptive pattern. So the topics were same, yet in paper three descriptive questions were asked from the same topics and paper two objective questions were asked from the same topic. So if you look at the few periods that they have mentioned in paper two Chaucer to Shakespeare, Jacobian to Restoration tell the contemporary period. You'll find that all these periods are actually covered in British literature. These are the periods of British literature which are covered in my module one. Moving forward, American literature, module two then non-British literature. What they have done very simply they have written non-British. Now non-British is going to cover all the four modules. Module two, American, module three, post-colonial, module four, European and module five, Indian. So anything written across the globe except Britain is non-British literature. So in just one word they have covered all the four modules. Then they have literary theory and criticism very simply from module six and seven rhetorics and prosody. This is what I know as literary terms and devices. Because in literary terms and devices I have made different chapters on rhetorics on prosody and apart from these there are various other things which are included. Which was the net exam but not mentioned in their syllabus. Moving on to paper three that is known as the core group. These questions were descriptive and these were compulsory for the students to attend. Now if you look at paper three again they have written all the ages in British literature from beginning from Chaucer till the contemporary theory. Then in electives they have written History of English Language, English Language Teaching which I cover in my module number ten, Linguistics. Then we have European literature from classical to 20th century. That's clearly module number four. Then Indian writing in English and Indian literature in English translation covered completely in module number five Indian literature. Then we have American and non-British literature again the same thing, module two and all the other modules. And finally they have literary theory and criticism. So you can see they have just copied the items from paper two to paper three and rest the syllabus still falls under the ten modules. Now that we have seen the old syllabus it's time to look at the new syllabus. Now understand the fact guys that if you look at the new syllabus it might appear to be different but I'm telling you that the real syllabus that I've mentioned this syllabus is still covered in my real syllabus. There's no major change. They have just changed the pattern of writing the topics. So earlier they were mentioning countries and literature produced in that countries. Now they have specified categories. Unit one is drama, two, poetry, three, fiction, cold, non-fiction. If you look at these four units you'll find that all the writers which are going to belong to these four units are covered directly in my syllabus in module one to five. So all the dramatists in British literature, American, post-colonial, world literature that is European and Indian literature are covered. The same thing happens with poetry, fiction, non-fiction. If you go to my website you'll find that in every module I have divided the writers further on the basis of the genre they belong to. So all the poems are categorized under one head all the dramatists under another head all the fictional writers under one head and all the non-fictional writers under one head. So they have just divided it in a different manner yet the syllabus remains the same. Now comes the note. Now this note is very ambiguous but I can interpret two things out of this note. The first is that they are going to assess your critical reading and critical thinking. How are they going to do that? If you have seen the recent exam paper you must have observed that they have started putting up passages from novels, from dramas and on the basis of that passage you need to mark a correct option. This is how they are going to assess your critical reading and critical thinking. Now as far as writing skills are concerned since the paper is now going to be online I am damn sure that the paper is not going to be descriptive because in online exam the paper cannot be made descriptive. So make these two things very clear in your data that there is nothing new that you need to be afraid of. I prepare my students in a way that their concepts are clear then you can easily attend questions which fall under critical thinking and critical reading. Now we come on to the other unit. The next they have mentioned is language. Now the concepts, theories, English and use all these are directly covered in my module 10, Linguistics. So before they have even written it I knew that it has to be a part of my course and I have already added it in my 10th module Linguistics. So all the basic linguistic theories all the linguistic terms devices, all of them are covered in detail in my module number 10. So how words origin and how words are formed morphology, phonology all of these are covered in my 10th module that is Linguistics. Coming on to next, English and India History, Evolution and Future. Guys when I was talking about my module 10 I mentioned that in this I covered the evolution of English as a language and I don't only cover English and India, I cover how English as a language emerging all the different parts of the world. So India is obviously covered in it. Next we have cultural studies. Guys, cultural studies is a part of literary theory. You cannot understand new historicism, Marxism without having a solid knowledge of cultural studies. Because it is by analyzing a culture by understanding a culture that you understand literary theory. So cultural studies is a part of literary theory and it is very much connected to theory. So cultural studies, theories both are covered in my module 7. Next we have literary criticism very simply it's my module number 6 all the critiques beginning from Plato till T.S. Lyft is there in module 6. Then we have literary theory post World War II. When I teach literary theory in my course I begin with the first literary theory that is new criticism and then I slowly move down to post World War II literary theories. So all the contemporary theories are covered, you don't need to worry about that. There is no change in this. This was already being asked in previous NET exams also. Finally we have research methods and materials in English. Guys, research methods though I always cover it in module number 10 that is linguistics under the miscellaneous heading where I talk about how to research and how to teach English to students because we all are aiming to become assistant professors. Yet research methods for those of you who are not studying it for paper 2 is not new because you have been studying research methods in paper 1 as well. So if you look at the syllabus there is no specific change and very simply the syllabus that I have designed still covers everything which is there in the syllabus. Though there have been writers which I need to add and that's an upgradation that is going to happen throughout the lifetime. Every time in NET exam they are going to ask 10 new writers and that is how we keep on building up our course, keep on upgrading our course and that is how we keep on learning. So this was my take on the new syllabus if you don't need to worry the way you are preparing keep on going like that just remember one thing stay away from rumors and gossips because your time and energy is limited and I want you to focus entirely on clearing this exam rather than indulging in any type of gossip and rumors exhausting yourself making yourself tense and then coming up to no conclusion. So that's it for this video lecture we will meet very soon in the next lecture till the time we meet next happy learning, keep loving literature stay tuned to arpudakarvandt.com