Hi friends,
To my knowledge, (after extensive search in internet), I can say that there are no enough information about the preparatory materials (other than published guide books by upkar etc). I don't believe that by getting an exam guide alone, we can clear the examination. For every topic given in the Syllabus, we must check through sites like amazon (where good review about the books are given as well as we are allowed to look into the contents of the books to compare with the syllabus given by UGC) and proceed to get some top rated books.
We can't finish every topic with single book. Moreover most of the sites which takes us to the UGC's home site for the syllabus and old question papers. You may please refer to the original UGC site for the correct information about syllabus as well as Old question papers.
We can use the exam guides for just a reference about previous year questions as well as to get a general idea about the exam.
Clear understanding of the subject alone will help us to clear the paper it seems (after verifying the previous year questions).
I am using the following approaches to get the list of books.
1. Searching through the universities (like MIT, Carnegie Melon, IGNOU etc) for their computer science subjects and their recommended books list
2. Amazon's site for the book review and book recommendations, as well as the table of contents
3. Checking the list against the available books in Indian market by physically verifying on Book shops.
Following list is in my favourites url collections in my browser. (Please note that I can't say all are too good, but can give you some idea about UGC-NET after visiting them)
1.
http://www.want2learn.com/ugc-net-csir/
2.
http://examrace.com/ugcanswerwriting.aspx
3.
http://wwwtargetugc.blogspot.com/
For every subject, please start with a basic (elementary) level book to gain some good understanding of the subject and progress through the standard reference books.
I am now starting with Discrete Mathematics as a first step (Planning to take up the exams at Jun-2010 for first attempt; I don't believe in that by spending 2 or 3 months I can clear one of the toughest exams in India; I think there are no enough people in India who have cleared this examination and I couldn't get any success story in this subject; I also don't believe that with first attempt itself we can clear it. I know many of the lecturers with couple of years of experience can't clear it after several attempt)
I am a working software professional with a long term goal to switch to teaching job and preparing for NET keeping it in mind. I have limited hours for study.
Unfortunately in India, rather than industry experience, only Achademic qualifications are important to work in this teaching field. One of the best country for technical education is Germany, and there a person without industry experience for a minumum of 5 years will not at all be allowed to teach in colleges and universities. Here in India the situation is totally reverse. A professor, without having any knowledge about whats happening in the industry (where the send their students after doing their studies with them), they teach, preach for years to the students. Horrible!
