UGC NET December 2025 Subjects and Normalization Process

UGC NET Dec 2025 Notification Out: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has released the UGC NET December 2025 notification for 85 subjects on October 7, 2025. A critical aspect for every UGC NET 2025 aspirant to understand is the normalization procedure. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has outlined a robust and scientific process to ensure absolute fairness for all candidates, especially when the exam for a subject is conducted in multiple shifts. Read the article to understand the process in details.

UGC NET Dec 2025 Notification Released

The NTA has published the detailed information bulletin for the UGC NET December 2025 examination. This document contains crucial information regarding eligibility, application procedures, fees, exam patterns, and the list of subjects. Candidates are advised to download and carefully read the official notification before filling out the application form.

Also Read: UGC NET December 2025 Notification OUT at ugcnet.nta.nic.in, Apply Online for JRF, Assistant Professor & Ph.D. Admission

UGC NET 2025 Subjects and Codes

The UGC NET exam will be conducted for a total of 85 subjects. The General Paper on Teaching and Research Aptitude (Paper-I) is compulsory for all candidates. The list of subjects and their respective codes for Paper-II is provided below.

S. No.	Subject	Code	S. No.	Subject	Code
1	Economics / Rural Economics…	01	44	Maithili	18
2	Political Science	02	45	Malayalam	22
3	Philosophy	03	46	Management (including Business Admn…	17
4	Psychology	04	47	Manipuri	35
5	Sociology	05	48	Marathi	38
6	History	06	49	Mass Communication and Journalism	63
7	Anthropology	07	50	Museology & Conservation	66
8	Commerce	08	51	Music	16
9	Education	09	52	Nepali	34
10	Social Work	10	53	Oriya	23
11	Defence and Strategic Studies	11	54	Pali	83
12	Home Science	12	55	Performing Art – Dance/Drama/Theatre	65
13	Public Administration	14	56	Persian	42
14	Population Studies*	15	57	Physical Education	47
15	Music	16	58	Prakrit	91
16	Management/…	17	59	Punjabi	24
17	Maithili	18	60	Rajasthani	43
18	Bengali	19	61	Russian	41
19	Hindi	20	62	Sanskrit	25
20	Kannada	21	63	Sanskrit traditional subjects…	73
21	Malayalam	22	64	Santali	95
22	Oriya	23	65	Sindhi	101
23	Punjabi	24	66	Social Medicine & Community Health	81
24	Sanskrit	25	67	Spanish	40
25	Tamil	26	68	Tamil	26
26	Telugu	27	69	Telugu	27
27	Urdu	28	70	Tourism Administration and Management	93
28	Arabic	29	71	Tribal and Regional Language/Literature	70
29	English	30	72	Urdu	28
30	Linguistics	31	73	Visual Art (including Drawing…	79
31	Chinese	32	74	Women Studies**	74
32	Dogri	33	75	Yoga	100
33	Nepali	34	76	Adult Education/ Continuing Education…	46
34	Manipuri	35	77	Arab Culture and Islamic Studies	49
35	Assamese	36	78	Archaeology	67
36	Gujarati	37	79	Bodo	94
37	Marathi	38	80	Buddhist, Jaina, Gandhian and Peace…	60
38	French	39	81	Comparative Literature	72
39	Spanish	40	82	Comparative Study of Religions	62
40	Russian	41	83	Criminology	68
41	Persian	42	84	Disaster Management	104
42	Rajasthani	43	85	Ayurveda Biology	105
43	German	44

UGC NET Normalization Process

When an exam is conducted in multiple shifts, the difficulty level of question papers can vary. To ensure fairness, the NTA uses a normalization process to equate the scores of candidates across different sessions. This ensures that no student is at a disadvantage or advantage due to variations in paper difficulty. For UGC NET, the Equi-percentile method is used.

Also Read: CSIR UGC-NET December 2025 Notification OUT, Check Eligibility, Exam Pattern, and How to Apply

Why Do We Even Need Normalization?

First things first, why does the NTA use normalization?

For many popular subjects, the UGC NET exam is conducted over multiple days and in different shifts (e.g., a morning shift and an afternoon shift). It’s impossible to create two question papers with the exact same difficulty level. One shift might end up with a slightly tougher paper than another.

Imagine this:

Anjali took the exam in the morning shift and got a very tough paper. She scored 170 out of 300.
Ben took the exam in the afternoon, and his paper was much easier. He scored 185 out of 300.

On the surface, it looks like Ben did better. But is that fair to Anjali, who faced a tougher challenge? No!

This is where normalization comes in. It’s a scientific and statistical method to create a level playing field. It ensures that no candidate is at an advantage or disadvantage just because they got an easier or harder paper.

How Does Normalization Actually Work? The Magic of Percentiles

The NTA uses a method called the “Equi-percentile Method.” It sounds fancy, but the idea is simple. It’s all about your rank within your group, not just your raw score.

Let’s break it down into three simple steps:

Step 1: Finding Your Rank in Your Shift (Calculating Your Percentile)

Before anything else, the NTA looks at each shift separately. For your specific shift, they calculate your percentile score.

What’s a percentile? It’s NOT your percentage of correct answers. A percentile score tells you what percentage of candidates in your shift scored equal to or less than you.

For example, if your percentile is 95, it means you performed better than or equal to 95% of the students who took the exam in your session. The topper of every single shift will get a 100 percentile, regardless of their raw marks.

Step 2: Comparing All Shifts (Putting Everyone on the Same Scale)

Next, the NTA takes the percentile scores from all shifts and puts them together. They see which raw marks correspond to which percentile in each shift.

Going back to our example:

In Anjali’s tough shift, a raw score of 170 might be the 98th percentile.
In Ben’s easy shift, a raw score of 185 might also be the 98th percentile.

By doing this, the NTA establishes that Anjali’s performance (170 marks) in her tough shift is equivalent to Ben’s performance (185 marks) in his easy shift. They both hold the same rank within their respective groups.

Step 3: Calculating Your Final “Normalized Score”

Finally, your percentile is used to calculate a normalized score. This new score is not your original raw score. It’s an “equated” score that reflects your performance compared to all candidates in that subject, across all shifts.

This final normalized score is what is used to prepare the merit list and determine the cut-offs for JRF and Assistant Professor.

How the Equi-percentile Method Works?

The process involves three main steps:

Step 1: Convert Raw Scores to Percentile Scores

First, the scores of every candidate are converted into a percentile score for their specific shift. A percentile score represents the percentage of candidates who scored equal to or less than that candidate in that particular session. The formula is:

Percentile Score (P)=Total number of candidates in the sessionNumber of candidates with raw score EQUAL TO OR LESS than you×100

This means the topper of every shift will get a 100 percentile score.

Step 2: Equate Scores Across Shifts

The percentile scores from all shifts are then merged. A process called linear interpolation is used to create a common scale, mapping the raw scores from different shifts to their corresponding percentiles. This step makes the scores from different sessions comparable.

Step 3: Calculate the Final Normalized Score

The final normalized score is calculated by taking the average of the raw scores from all sessions that correspond to the same percentile value. This final score is the one used for preparing the merit list.

To understand more about the UGC NET December Normalization Process Read the Official Notification Page to 65 to 78 Given Here

UGC NET December 2025 FAQs

Q1. What is the normalization process in UGC NET?
Ans. Normalization is a statistical method used by NTA to ensure fairness when the exam is conducted in multiple shifts. It adjusts scores so that candidates are not benefited or penalized by the varying difficulty of different question papers, using the Equi-percentile method.

Q2. Is the UGC NET application form for December 2025 released?
Ans. Yes, the application form was released on October 7, 2025.

Q3. How many subjects are available for UGC NET 2025?
Ans. There are 85 subjects, including new additions like Indian Knowledge System, Disaster Management, and Ayurveda Biology.

Akash Chowdhury Content Writer (Competitive Exams & Railway Specialist)

Akash Chowdhury is an Electrical Engineering graduate and a passionate Railway exam aspirant. He has cleared the RRB NTPC exam twice and now shares his knowledge as a content writer at IndiaExamAlert. Akash focuses on syllabus updates, exam patterns, cut-off analysis, and study guides to help students prepare better.

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