All you need to know about CUET-UG 2022 registration, syllabus and guidelines

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday released the guidelines for Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate (CUET-UG) admissions.

NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday released guidelines for the Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate (CUET-UG) admissions in central universities. The online registration process for the test will begin from April 2.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made it mandatory for all central universities to conduct undergraduate admissions only on the basis of CUET-UG. (Representational Image/HT Photo)

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Monday made it mandatory for all central universities to conduct undergraduate admissions only on the basis of CUET-UG. However, the universities will be allowed to keep some minimum eligibility criteria for applying with them in terms of class 12 marks.

The NTA notification issued on Saturday said CUET-UG will be a computer-based, objective-type test and will be conducted in 13 languages including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The last date of the submission of forms will be April 20 (on cuet.samarth.ac.in). The test is likely to be conducted in the first week of July over multiple days.

The exam will be strictly based on the class 12 NCERT syllabus. “All questions in various testing areas will be benchmarked at the level of Class 12 only. Students having studied Class 12 board syllabus would be able to do well in CUET-UG,” the agency said.

NTA has advised the aspirants to refer to the information bulletins of respective universities for their eligibility criteria and for selecting the courses being offered by them.

Structure of CUET

The CUET-UG will be divided into four sections i.e I-A, I-B, II, and III.

Section I-A and I-B will consist of language subjects. Section II will be domain specific and section III will be a general test. It is not mandatory for the candidates to choose options from each section. They can choose the sections based on the requirements of the desired University.

A candidate can choose a maximum of any three languages from Section I-A and Section I-B together, and up to six domain subjects. However, the third language can only be chosen as the sixth domain subject.

It means, overall, candidates can take a test in a maximum of nine subjects i.e 2 languages + 6 domain specific subjects + one general test or 3 languages + 5 domain specific subjects + one general test.

“Flexibility being provided to help a candidate apply for many universities depending on their eligibility conditions,” NTA said.

Section I-A, I-B

Section I-A consists of 13 different languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, English, Hindi and Urdu. Candidates have to appear in any of these languages.

Section I-B consists of 19 languages, including French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian, Chinese. That means, any other language apart from those offered in Section I-A may be chosen in Section I-B.

The candidates will have to attempt 40 questions out of 50 in each language. The duration for each language test will be 45 minutes.

The section will test the proficiency of the candidate’s language through reading comprehension, literary aptitude and vocabulary.

Section II

Section II will test the domain specific knowledge of the candidates. There will be 27 domain specific subjects offered under this section and candidates may choose a maximum of six domains as desired by the applicable universities.

The domain options that will be available under this section are: Accountancy/ Book Keeping, Biology/ Biological Studies/ Biotechnology/Biochemistry, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science/ Informatics Practice, Economics/ Business Economics, Engineering Graphics, Entrepreneurship, Geography/Geology, History, Home Science, Knowledge Tradition and Practices of India, Legal Studies, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Physical Education/ NCC /Yoga, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Teaching Aptitude, Agriculture, Mass Media/ Mass Communication, Anthropology, Fine Arts/ Visual Arts (Sculpture/ Painting)/Commercial Arts, Performing Arts – (i) Dance (Kathak/ Bharatnatyam/Odissi/ Kathakali/Kuchipudi/ Manipuri (ii) Drama- Theater (iii) Music General (Hindustani/ Carnatic/ Rabindra Sangeet/ Percussion/ Non-Percussion) and Sanskrit.

The candidates will have to attempt 40 questions out of 50 in each domain specific test. The duration of each subject will be 45 minutes. The domain specific exams will be strictly based on NCERT class 12 syllabus.

Section III

Section III will consist of a General Test. A candidate can attempt this section for any undergraduate programme/ programmes being offered by universities where a General Test is being used for admission.

The section will have questions based on general knowledge, current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning (simple application of basic mathematical concepts arithmetic/algebra geometry/mensuration/s taught till Grade 8), logical and analytical reasoning.

The candidates will have to attempt 60 questions out of 75 in an hour.

Spread over multiple days

According to UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar, CUET will spread over multiple days. Each day, two sessions will be conducted. In the first session, a student has to attempt one language paper out of 13 languages and they choose two domain subjects out of 27 and then if a student chooses to write, they can also write a general test. In the second session, the student can take up to four domain subjects and also write a language test from section I-B.

“CUET will be conducted over multiple days. Each day will have two sessions. Certain domain specific tests will be scheduled each day. NTA will release a detailed schedule soon,” Kumar said.

Choice of Subjects

According to the NTA notification, the languages and subjects chosen by the candidates should be the ones that they opted for in class 12 board examinations. However, universities are allowed to provide flexibility to the candidates.

“Candidates must carefully refer to the eligibility requirements of various Central Universities in this regard. Moreover, if the subject to be studied in the Undergraduate course is not available in the list of 27 Domain Specific Subjects being offered, the Candidate may choose the Subject closest to his/her choice for e.g. For Biochemistry the candidate may choose Biology,” the notification said.

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar earlier told HT that the universities can use the general test score for cross-disciplinary admissions. “If the university wants to admit students in BA political science, they don’t have to look for students who have studied political science in class 12. They can select students through their general test score. However, these guidelines will be decided by the individual universities,” he said in an interview with HT earlier this week.

How will universities select candidates

According to Kumar, universities can opt for a two-step process. First, they can fix some qualifying marks in class 12 exams. Second, from among qualified candidates who have applied, they can make a merit list on the basis of their CUET-UG scores.

What about students from previous years of class 12

According to NTA, if any university permits students of previous years of class 12 to take admission in the current year, such students will also be eligible to appear in CUET-UG.