NEW DELHI: Even as the first-ever Common University Entrance Test-UG, the country’s second biggest examination after NEET-UG in terms of sheer numbers of applicants, will begin on Friday, anxiety and confusion gripped students about the new exam pattern as many of them will be travelling long distances from their home cities to exam centres.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has assured the students that their request for a change of examination centre will be considered. Still, it hasn’t reduced the tension. Phase 1 of the exam will begin on Friday in over 510 cities in India and ten cities abroad. The second phase will be in August. The last exam is on August 20.
UGC Chairperson, M. Jagadesh Kumar, accepted that students who are appearing for CUET-UG have requested for change of examination centre.
Requests for a change of centres are being considered by the National Testing Agency (NTA), and students need not feel anxious about it, Kumar said.
But that's not the end of their worries. Students complained about delays in receiving admit cards and less time for preparation for those appearing in phase 1 of the CUET exam. Also, many flagged that on the same day, they had to take multiple papers.
With 14.9 lakh registrations, CUET, the standard gateway for undergraduate admission in all central universities, is now the second biggest entrance exam surpassing the Joint Entrance Examination-Main’s average registration of nine lakh.
NEET-UG is the most prominent entrance test in India, with an average of 18 lakh registrations.
Nearly 14,90,000 candidates have registered for CUET UG 2022, of which 8,10,000 have been allotted Phase I and 6,80,000 have been taken in Phase II of the CUET-UG 2022 exam.
These candidates have applied for 54,555 unique combinations of subjects across 90 universities, including Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
As there are a large number of subjects, a unique date sheet for every individual candidate has been created, said Kumar.
Accordingly, advance intimation slip for examination city to all candidates with the date and city of the exam has been issued followed by admit cards, he added.
Candidates who have opted for Physics, Chemistry or Biology have been assigned for Phase 2 of the CUET exam given the NEET (UG) - 2022 will be held on July 17.
Elaborating on the scoring format, Kumar said it would be the NTA score in percentile format.
"The score will indicate a candidate's position vis-a-vis other candidates who took the test. It is an indicator of the candidate's relative position," he said.
Kumar, in March, had announced that CUET scores, and not Class 12 marks, would be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities, which can fix their minimum eligibility criteria.
As students taking state boards had raised concerns about being at a disadvantage while getting admissions to undergraduate programmes, Kumar said with CUET, they will not be facing problems under the new system, and the exam will not push the coaching culture.
A total of 44 central universities, 12 state universities, 11 deemed universities, and 19 private universities have applied to participate in the CUET for UG admissions in the 2022-23 academic session.
The UGC has also asked universities to fix their deadline for admission to undergraduate courses after CBSE declares its class 12 exam results. Some universities have started their admission process even though the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was yet to declare the class 12 marks; the UGC said this would lead to the board's students being deprived of a seat in these institutes. The class 12 results are expected in the last week of July.