E-Paper
As CUET-UG goes hybrid, number of centres to triple this year
NTA triples the number of CUET-UG exam centres to 2415 for 1.34M students, with hybrid format for 2023, combining offline and computer-based tests.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has increased the number of centres for the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admissions or CUET-UG, which will be in hybrid format starting this academic session, by three times to 2415, officials said on Friday.
The third edition of the country’s largest test, which is set to begin from May 15, will be conducted in hybrid mode for the first time. While the test for 15 subjects with the most registrations will be conducted in offline mode, the rest will be computer-based.
Each test will be conducted in one shift or one day unlike the last two editions of CUET when tests in the same subject were conducted over different days in different shifts. 1.34million students have registered for the exam this year.
“Using a combination of offline testing for papers with higher registrations and computer-based testing for smaller ones, we have expanded our test centre options significantly. In 2023, we had 821 centres, but this year that number has increased to around 2415 . We have tripled the number to ensure students have ample choices when selecting their test centres,”said chairperson of University Grants Commission (UGC) M Jagadesh Kumar, who is monitoring CUET along with NTA.
This was also a motive behind allowing for pen and paper tests for the popular subjects -- they can be conducted anywhere, obviating the difficulties associated with travel for test takers, especially from rural areas.
The number of cities where the test will be conducted has also increased to 380 this year from 308 last year.
According to a senior NTA official, the testing agency is likely to use schools, colleges and other educational institutions as exam centres for the offline tests. “Until last year earlier we could have only used centres equipped with a large number of computers ,” the official added, asking not to be named.
The computer-based tests will still be conducted in these centres.
Tests in pen and paper mode using the optical mark recognition (OMR) format will be conducted for subjects with high registration including Chemistry, Biology, English, General test, Economics, Hindi, Physics, Mathematics, Geography, Physical Education, Business Studies, Accountancy, History, Political Science and Sociology.
The offline tests will be conducted first between May 15 and May 19, and after that, compter-based tests for other subjects will be conducted between May 21 and May 24.
