Chemical Sciences is the CSIR NET paper with the least room to manoeuvre inside its subject section. Part B prints 40 questions and asks you to attempt 35 of them — five questions of slack across all of inorganic, physical and organic chemistry. In Mathematical Sciences the same section prints 40 and asks for 25.
It is also the subject whose bar has landed highest of the five more than once: 59.00% in both December 2023 and December 2024, the highest JRF cutoff any subject other than Earth Sciences has recorded in this period.
This article is about the Chemical Sciences paper specifically: how it is built and marked, what the forty-four topics of the syllabus actually cover, and what eight sessions of official cutoffs — both the June and the December cycles — say.
If you have not sat CSIR NET before, the general guide to the exam covers what applies to all five subjects — the three result categories, eligibility and what each grade of result gives you. This page assumes them.
Which year is this data from? The exam pattern, marking scheme, eligibility, fee and stipend are from the Joint CSIR-UGC NET June 2025 Information Bulletin published by the NTA. The cutoff series runs from June 2021 to December 2025, taken from the official cut-off notices on the CSIR-HRDG website.
December 2025 is the most recent session whose result has been declared — it came out on 23 February 2026. This page is updated after each session rather than replaced, so the older figures stay here beside the new ones.
1. How the paper is built
Three hours, 200 marks, three parts, 120 questions printed.
| Part | Asked | You attempt | Per question | Wrong answer | Marks |
| A — General Aptitude | 20 | 15 | +2 | −0.5 | 30 |
| B — Subject MCQs | 40 | 35 | +2 | −0.5 | 70 |
| C — Analytical | 60 | 25 | +4 | −1 | 100 |
| Total | 120 | 75 | 200 |
Every question in all three parts is a four-option multiple choice with exactly one correct answer, and every part is penalised at 25% of the question’s value. There is no multiple-select section and no numerical entry.
Part B asks for 35 of 40. Part C asks for 25 of 60. That asymmetry is the single most useful thing to know about attempting this paper, and it points in a direction most candidates do not expect.
Part C is where the choice lives. Sixty questions are printed and you answer twenty-five, so more than half of Part C can be left untouched — and at 4 marks each with −1 for a wrong answer, choosing well there is worth 100 marks. Part B is where the choice does not exist. Five skips across the whole of chemistry means that a subject you never studied properly will cost you Part B marks no matter how the paper is arranged.
One rule to read carefully: only your first 15, 35 and 25 answers are evaluated. The bulletin is explicit that if you answer more than the limit in a part, only the first ones are taken up for marking. Answering 30 Part C questions does not give you a safety margin — it means the 25 that count are the first 25 you happened to answer, not the 25 you were most sure of.
2. The syllabus: four blocks, forty-four topics
The official syllabus is a flat list of numbered topics under four headings. There is no unit weighting published, no optional block, and no choice of specialisation — unlike Mathematical Sciences, which splits into a mathematics track and a statistics track, or Earth Sciences, where Part C divides into five streams.
| Block | Topics | What it covers |
| Inorganic Chemistry | 12 | Chemical periodicity, bonding and VSEPR, acid–base and HSAB concepts, main group and transition elements, inner transition elements, organometallics and homogeneous catalysis, cages and clusters, analytical methods, bioinorganic chemistry, nuclear chemistry |
| Physical Chemistry | 14 | Quantum mechanics and approximate methods, atomic structure and term symbols, bonding in diatomics, group theory, molecular spectroscopy, chemical and statistical thermodynamics, electrochemistry, kinetics, colloids and surfaces, solid state, polymer chemistry, data analysis |
| Organic Chemistry | 13 | IUPAC nomenclature, stereochemistry, aromaticity, reactive intermediates, addition, elimination and substitution mechanisms, named reactions and rearrangements, reagents, retrosynthesis, asymmetric synthesis, pericyclic reactions, heterocycles, natural products |
| Interdisciplinary | 5 | Nanoscience and technology, catalysis and green chemistry, medicinal chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, environmental chemistry |
Structure determination is not a topic — it is three topics. IR, UV-Vis, NMR, mass spectrometry, EPR and Mössbauer appear separately in the inorganic block, the physical block (as molecular spectroscopy) and the organic block (as structure determination of organic compounds). It is the one skill the syllabus asks for three times over, which makes it the highest-return thing in it.
The interdisciplinary block is the one candidates leave until last and it is the smallest, but it is also the only block written in the language of current research rather than of a textbook chapter — nanoscience, green chemistry, medicinal and supramolecular chemistry. Five topics is not many hours, and they are the least contested marks on the paper.
3. Eight sessions of cutoffs
| Session | JRF (General) | Out of 200 | Asst. Professor (General) | PhD only (General) |
| June 2021 | 52.750% | 105.5 | 47.475% | — |
| June 2022 | 50.75% | 101.5 | 45.675% | — |
| Dec 2022 / June 2023 | 53.75% | 107.5 | 48.375% | — |
| December 2023 | 59.00% | 118.0 | 53.10% | — |
| June 2024 | 55.500% | 111.0 | 49.950% | not published |
| December 2024 | 59.00% | 118.0 | 53.10% | 42.5% |
| June 2025 | 50.75% | 101.5 | 45.675% | 36.750% |
| December 2025 | 48.500% | 97.0 | 43.650% | 35.000% |
Because the cutoff is a percentage of the same 200 marks each session, it converts straight into marks. The bar has ranged from 97 to 118 marks out of 200 — a 21-mark swing, or five Part C questions.
Chemical Sciences is the steadiest of the five subjects after Earth Sciences: a 10.5-point range where Physical Sciences moved 15.4 and Mathematical Sciences 16.9. But steady is not the same as low. In six of these eight sessions the bar sat above 50%, which is 100 marks out of 200 — and every one of those marks has to come out of a paper where a wrong Part C answer costs you five.
A higher cutoff means an easier paper, not a harder one. The bar is set after the exam, from how the cohort actually scored. The two 59.00% sessions do not mean those papers were brutal — they mean enough candidates scored well that the bar landed high. December 2025’s 48.500% means the opposite. Last session’s figure describes a paper you will not sit.
How Chemical Sciences compares with the other four
Chemical Sciences sat third of five in December 2025 and last of five in June 2025 — not because the subject changed, but because the five papers are written, marked and cut off entirely separately.
That is the thing to take from this chart: a cutoff is not a difficulty rating you can compare across subjects. Earth Sciences has the highest bar in six of the last eight sessions, and that reflects how its much smaller cohort scores, not that earth science is harder than chemistry. You sit one subject, chosen at registration, and the only series that tells you anything is your own.
The three results, and the arithmetic that links them
You do not pass or fail CSIR NET. Your marks put you in one of three bands, each with its own published cutoff. Here are the two most recent sessions in full.
| December 2025 | UR | EWS | OBC | SC | ST | PwD |
| Category 1 — JRF | 48.500 | 42.250 | 41.750 | 32.250 | 27.250 | 25.000 |
| Category 2 — Asst. Professor | 43.650 | 38.025 | 37.575 | 29.025 | 25.000 | 25.000 |
| Category 3 — PhD only | 35.000 | 33.000 | 33.000 | 25.000 | 25.000 | 25.000 |
| June 2025 | UR | EWS | OBC | SC | ST | PwD |
| Category 1 — JRF | 50.75 | 44.50 | 43.75 | 33.25 | 28.00 | 25.50 |
| Category 2 — Asst. Professor | 45.675 | 40.05 | 39.375 | 29.925 | 25.200 | 25.000 |
| Category 3 — PhD only | 36.750 | 33.00 | 33.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 |
There is a rule hiding in those rows that CSIR does not state anywhere: the Assistant Professor cutoff is exactly 90% of the JRF cutoff, in every category and every session. 48.500 × 0.9 = 43.650. 50.75 × 0.9 = 45.675. It holds across all five subjects and all eight sessions above.
The one qualification is the floor. A minimum benchmark of 33% applies to General, EWS and OBC candidates and 25% to SC, ST and PwD candidates in all three categories. Where 90% of the JRF figure would fall below the floor, the floor is published instead — which is what happened to the ST column in December 2025, where 90% of 27.250 is 24.525 and the published figure is 25.000.
The practical value is that you never need to wait for your category’s number. Take the General JRF figure, multiply by 0.9, and apply the floor.
What each result actually gives you
| Category 1 — JRF | A funded fellowship of ₹37,000 a month for the first two years, plus a ₹20,000 annual contingency grant. On registering for a PhD and clearing a review it rises to ₹42,000 from the third year. Also carries Assistant Professor eligibility and PhD admission. |
| Category 2 | Assistant Professor eligibility and PhD admission. No fellowship. |
| Category 3 | PhD admission only. |
Category 3 is much the largest. In the December 2025 session — across all five subjects — 8,035 candidates qualified for PhD admission only, 2,941 for Category 2, and about 3,370 for a fellowship. In June 2025 the same figures were 9,232, 2,886 and roughly 2,890.
4. Shifts, and why they do not change your cutoff
Chemical Sciences has been examined in a single shift in each of the recent sessions — 28 July 2025 in the June 2025 cycle, 28 February 2025 in the December 2024 cycle, and 18 December 2025 in the December 2025 cycle. Other subjects have been split: Mathematical, Earth and Life Sciences each ran two shifts in December 2024.
The rule for that case is in the bulletin, and it is worth knowing whichever subject you sit. When a subject runs in multiple shifts, raw marks are converted to percentile scores, the shifts are merged, and if the percentiles come out unequal then “the lowest will be the eligibility cut-off for that category for all candidates”. It is deliberately generous — it protects whichever shift got the harder paper rather than averaging the two.
So there is nothing to plan for. You cannot choose your shift, a harder shift is not a disadvantage you have to make up, and there is no separate “shift 1 cutoff” to look for — only one number per subject, per category, per session.
One more rule from every cut-off notice CSIR publishes: there is no separate cutoff for Part A, B or C. Only the cumulative total decides the merit list. You do not have to clear a bar in each part.
5. Who may sit it
| Rule | What it says |
| Qualifying degree | A Master’s degree with at least 55% marks — 50% for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and third-gender candidates. Final-year students may apply and are admitted provisionally. |
| Four-year bachelor’s degree | Eligible with 75% in aggregate (relaxed by 5% for reserved categories). Such candidates can qualify for JRF and PhD admission, but not for Assistant Professor. |
| Age — for JRF | Not more than 30 years as on the first day of the month in which the exam concludes, with up to 5 years’ relaxation for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD, third-gender and women candidates, and for research or armed-forces experience. |
| Age — for Assistant Professor and PhD | No upper age limit at all. |
| Attempts | No limit. Held twice a year. |
| Application fee | ₹1,150 General · ₹600 EWS and OBC-NCL · ₹325 SC, ST, PwD and third gender. |
The age rule is the one most often reported wrong. The limit exists for the fellowship, not for the exam. A candidate past 30 can sit the paper, qualify, and be certified for Assistant Professor and for PhD admission — they simply cannot be awarded the JRF.
6. What this paper is actually asking for
- Part B is where coverage is tested, and it does not forgive gaps. Thirty-five of 40 means you will answer questions in your weakest of the three chemistries whether you want to or not.
- Part C is where the paper is won or lost. Twenty-five answers out of 60 printed, at 4 marks each, is 100 marks decided by which questions you pick. Read before you answer.
- Learn to read spectra properly. Structure determination is the one skill the syllabus asks for in all three blocks.
- Do not leave the interdisciplinary block. Five topics, no textbook chapter to grind, and the least contested marks on the paper.
- Guess carefully. Every part is penalised at 25%, and a wrong Part C answer swings 5 marks against you once you count the 4 you did not get.
- Do not prepare against last session’s cutoff. It has ranged from 97 to 118 marks out of 200, and it is a description of a paper that has already been written.
- Do not ignore Part A. Thirty marks of general aptitude, no chemistry in it at all, identical for every subject — and the cheapest marks in the paper for anyone willing to practise them.
The syllabus is public and every candidate has the same one. What separates a Category 1 result from a Category 3 result in this subject is Part B coverage you cannot fake, and Part C choices you have to make in the room.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many questions are there in CSIR NET Chemical Sciences?
One hundred and twenty are printed — 20 in Part A, 40 in Part B and 60 in Part C — and you attempt 75 of them: 15, 35 and 25. Part B is the tight one: 35 of 40 leaves only five questions you can skip in the entire subject section.
Is there negative marking in CSIR NET Chemical Sciences?
Yes, in all three parts, at 25% of the question's value. A wrong answer costs 0.5 in Part A, 0.5 in Part B and 1 mark in Part C. Because a Part C question is worth 4 marks, getting one wrong instead of right swings 5 marks against you.
What was the CSIR NET Chemical Sciences cutoff in December 2025?
For the General category, 48.500% for JRF (Category 1), 43.650% for Assistant Professor (Category 2) and 35.000% for PhD admission only (Category 3). Since the cutoff is a percentage of 200 marks, the JRF figure works out at 97 marks.
What is the highest CSIR NET Chemical Sciences cutoff so far?
59.00% for General-category JRF, reached twice — in December 2023 and again in December 2024, which is 118 marks out of 200. The lowest in the same period was 48.500% in December 2025. A higher cutoff means the paper was easier that session, because the bar is set after the exam from how the cohort scored.
What is the CSIR NET Chemical Sciences syllabus?
Four blocks and forty-four numbered topics: Inorganic Chemistry (12 topics), Physical Chemistry (14), Organic Chemistry (13) and Interdisciplinary topics (5). There is no optional block and no published unit weighting — the paper draws across all four.
How are the category cutoffs for CSIR NET decided?
The Assistant Professor cutoff is exactly 90% of the JRF cutoff in the same category, subject to a floor: a minimum benchmark of 33% for General, EWS and OBC candidates and 25% for SC, ST and PwD candidates. Where 90% would fall below the floor, the floor is published instead.
Do I need to clear a separate cutoff in Part A, B and C?
No. Every CSIR cut-off notice states it explicitly: there is no separate cutoff for Part A, B or C. Only the cumulative total across all three parts is used to draw the merit list.
Which is harder, Chemical Sciences or another CSIR NET subject?
The cutoffs cannot answer that. The five subjects are set, marked and cut off entirely separately, so a bar in one says nothing about another. Chemical Sciences was third of five in December 2025 and last of five in June 2025 — that reflects how each cohort scored, not the difficulty of the discipline.
How much is the CSIR NET JRF stipend?
₹37,000 a month for the first two years, plus a contingency grant of ₹20,000 a year. On registering for a PhD and clearing an assessment it rises to ₹42,000 a month from the third year.
Is there an age limit for CSIR NET Chemical Sciences?
Only for the fellowship. JRF has an upper age limit of 30 years as on the first day of the month in which the exam concludes, relaxed by up to five years for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and third-gender candidates, for women, and for research or armed-forces experience. There is no upper age limit at all for Assistant Professor eligibility or for PhD admission.
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