The first-ever Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to undergraduate courses in central universities will be held between July 15 and August 10, the national testing agency (NTA) announced on Wednesday.
The agency also announced the reopening of the registration process for two days, on June 23 and 24, to give another to candidates who could not apply to appear in the test thus far. Candidates, who have already registered, will also be allowed to make corrections during this window.
According to the notification issued by NTA on Wednesday, the computer-based exam will be conducted over 10 days between July 15 and August 10. The dates of examination are July 15, 16, 19, and 20, and August 4, 5,6, 7,8 and 10.
The Union government said in March that it would conduct CUET-UG, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and made its score a mandatory admission yardstick for all central universities, while keeping it optional for others. As many as 86 universities —43 central universities, 13 state universities, 12 deemed universities and 18 private universities— are participating in the CUET-UG this year.
Officials said the exam will be conducted over 10 days because of the complexity involved . “On an average, one candidate has applied to more than 5 universities, and there are more than 54,000 unique combinations of subjects chosen by various candidates. Therefore, it was decided to conduct CUET-UG over multiple days. The admit cards that will be issued to students will mention the dates when they have to appear for their exams,” said a senior NTA official who asked not to be named. Candidates will be tested on language , general aptitude, and several specific subjects.
{{/usCountry}}Officials said the exam will be conducted over 10 days because of the complexity involved . “On an average, one candidate has applied to more than 5 universities, and there are more than 54,000 unique combinations of subjects chosen by various candidates. Therefore, it was decided to conduct CUET-UG over multiple days. The admit cards that will be issued to students will mention the dates when they have to appear for their exams,” said a senior NTA official who asked not to be named. Candidates will be tested on language , general aptitude, and several specific subjects.
{{/usCountry}}So far, 950,804 candidates have registered for the test with the highest number of applications being received for Delhi University (DU; over 600,000), followed by Banaras Hindu University (BHU; 394,000), and Allahabad University (231,000).
The registration portal on CUET-UG official website (cuet.samarth.ac.in) will be reopened on Thursday and Friday for fresh registration and correction. “Since it is the only exam for entry into the Central University System (UG Courses), the registration is once again being opened for one last time on the demand of the candidates,” NTA said in the notification.
“Only one-time correction will be allowed to the candidate i.e. once the corrections are done and submitted, the form shall be frozen,” it added.
The exam will be conducted in 554 cities across India and 13 cities outside the country. It will be conducted in 13 languages: English, Hindi, Gujarati, Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
The exam will be divided into four sections I-A, I-B, II, and III. While Section I-A and I-B will have language subjects, section II will test the domain specific knowledge of candidates. There will be 27 subjects offered under this section and candidates may choose a maximum of six as desired by the applicable universities. The domain specific exams will be strictly based on NCERT syllabus. Section III will be a general test.
The Candidates can take the test in any of the 13 mediums being offered, select any combination out of 33 languages and 27 domain subjects. The candidates are free to apply to as many universities as they want. They have been advised to visit cuet.samarth.ac.in for further updates.
Official at Delhi University said that the NTA’s schedule to wrap CUET by August 10 will help them starting the new academic session by September first week. “The University will have enough time to conduct counselling session and seat allotment. The University will try to make sure that everything goes smoothly and the session beings from September first week,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.
Candidates also welcomed the NTA’s decision to reopen the registration and correction process for two days. “I had to change my medium of examination and there was no option for it. Now I’ll get another opportunity to correct it,” 17-year-old Dheeraj Kumar, an aspirant from Delhi, said.