UGC NET — Environmental Sciences (subject code 89) · India · National Testing Agency for the University Grants Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersUGC NET — Environmental Sciences (subject code 89) is a PhD, fellowship and lectureship exam run by National Testing Agency for the University Grants Commission, for candidates in India. Computer-based, 3 hours, two papers in one sitting: Paper 1 (teaching and research aptitude, 50 MCQs) and Paper 2 (subject, 100 MCQs), 2 marks each, no negative marking.
Official site: ugcnetonline.in.
We have not been able to confirm these details against the exam body's own specification, so fees, dates and pass marks are left out on purpose. Check the current format, eligibility, fees and dates on the official site.
Recall of LCA as a tool beside EIA and environmental auditing: the four phases, the ISO 14000 family numbers (14040, 14044, 14067, 14025, 14046), eco-labelling types, carbon footprint basics and greenhouse gas equivalence.
Quantifying the environmental impacts of a product from cradle to grave under ISO 14040 and 14044: goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation, with the agricultural complications of multifunctionality, land use and biogenic carbon.
Our 24 UGC NET questions in this subject: 12 easy, 10 medium, 2 hard, across 11 units.
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
These 10 were written to UGC NET and are not shown on any other exam's page.
A study compares lentils and beef using a functional unit of 1 kg of product. What is the main weakness of this choice?
D. The two foods differ in nutritional function, so a mass basis does not compare equivalent functions
Products can be compared only when they deliver the same function. One kilogram of lentils and of beef differ in protein, energy and micronutrients; protein- or nutrient-based units, each with their own judgements, are used to address this. ISO does not forbid mass units, mass units do not systematically favour beef, and mass converts to tonne-kilometres without difficulty.
Which elements of life cycle impact assessment are mandatory under ISO 14044?
B. Selection of categories and models, classification and characterisation
Mandatory LCIA elements are selection of impact categories, indicators and models; classification; and characterisation. Normalisation, grouping, weighting and data quality analysis are optional.
An inventory contains 100 kg CO2, 10 kg CH4 (biogenic) and 2 kg N2O. Using GWP100 values of 27 for non-fossil CH4 and 273 for N2O, what is the climate change indicator result?
C. 916 kg CO2-eq
Result = 100 × 1 + 10 × 27 + 2 × 273 = 100 + 270 + 546 = 916 kg CO2-eq. Using the older AR4 values (25 and 298) gives 946; omitting the CO2 gives 816; adding masses without characterisation gives 112.
Which gas is the reference substance for the GWP-based climate change category?
C. Carbon dioxide
GWP is defined relative to CO2, which has a GWP of 1 by definition. Methane and nitrous oxide are characterised relative to it; sulphur dioxide is the reference for acidification, not climate.
Newer LCIA methods split aquatic eutrophication into freshwater and marine categories. Which nutrient is taken as limiting in each?
A. Phosphorus in freshwater; nitrogen in marine water
Freshwater eutrophication is treated as phosphorus-limited (kg P-eq) and marine eutrophication as nitrogen-limited (kg N-eq); terrestrial eutrophication from N deposition is a third category. Potassium is not a eutrophication driver in these methods.
What is indirect land-use change (iLUC)?
D. Conversion elsewhere caused by displacing existing production to a new use
iLUC occurs when, for example, cropland is switched to bioenergy and food production moves to newly cleared land elsewhere. On-farm conversion within 20 years is direct LUC; tillage change is management-driven soil carbon change; harvest is not land-use change.
A contribution analysis shows that 70 % of a loaf's climate impact comes from wheat cultivation. Which interpretation element does this support?
A. Identification of significant issues
Contribution analysis identifies the processes and stages that drive results — the first element of interpretation. Classification is an LCIA step; critical review is a separate process; the functional unit is set in the scope.
Which ISO standard specifies requirements for quantifying the carbon footprint of a product?
C. ISO 14067
ISO 14067:2018 covers the carbon footprint of products. ISO 14064-1 covers organisational GHG inventories, ISO 14046 the water footprint and ISO 14001 environmental management systems.
Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are which type of environmental label under the ISO 14020 series?
B. Type III, under ISO 14025
EPDs are Type III declarations (ISO 14025): quantified LCA-based data under product category rules. Type I is a certified ecolabel (ISO 14024) and Type II a self-declared claim (ISO 14021); there is no Type IV and ISO 14067 is the carbon footprint standard.
Which conversion turns a mass of N2O-N into a mass of N2O?
D. Multiply by 44/28
N2O has a molar mass of 44 g/mol and contains 28 g of nitrogen, so N2O = N2O-N × 44/28. 44/12 converts carbon to CO2; the other ratios are inverted or wrong.
This plan follows where our questions actually fall, so the time goes where the marks are likely to be. It is our reading of the syllabus, not the exam body's weighting.
Read the manual chapters for these first and do every worked question you can find on them.
Aim for one sitting per unit, then mixed questions across them.
Learn the definitions, classifications and standard numbers; these units are more often recalled than worked.
Come back to these after a first pass, untimed, and read every explanation, including for the options you rejected.
Do these early in revision so they are fast on the day.
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