UGC Chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar.
UGC Chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar.(Photo | ANI)

CUET-UG exams may be held in May, results in June: UGC Chairman

He said following the recommendation of the Committee, led by former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, all entrance exams will now be held in CBT mode.
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NEW DELHI: The National Testing Agency (NTA) may conduct the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2025 exam in Computer Based Test (CBT) in May, and the results may be announced in the first week of June, said the University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar.

Speaking with TNIE, he said the NTA will announce the CUET-PG examination date sooner as they are scheduled for March.

Apart from the CUET-PG exam, other admission-related examinations like NEET-UG, JEE-Main, and CUET-UG, will be announced by NTA in one go on the same day.

He said following the recommendation of the Committee, led by former ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, all entrance exams will now be held in CBT mode. “So we have switched to CBT mode for CUET.”

He said the CUET-UG exam will happen only after the board exams.

“Typically, board exams are over by April. It is in the NTA’s domain to announce the exam date, depending on the logistics and when the (board) results are announced. They may hold the CUET-UG in May. The results will then be announced in June, and admissions can take place from July, so from July mid, the new academic session can start,” he said.

The committee was set up to recommend exam reformation, better security protocols, and its operation by the Union Education Ministry following allegations of cheating and mismanagement in the NEET-UG exams last year.

Following the Committee's recommendation, entrance exams will see changes this year. While the NTA will ensure that the centres are more efficient and accessible to students and manage the examination in a secure manner to avoid paper leakages, the UGC has announced several changes in the CUET-UG 2025 exams.

Now, students will take a maximum of five subjects. They are allowed to take subjects in the CUET irrespective of the subjects opted in Class 12. All exams will be one hour per subject per paper, and all the questions will be compulsory and based on the NCERT syllabus. Each question carries five marks, and one mark is a negative mark for a wrong answer. All question papers are 250 marks.

Also, the medium of examination will be in 13 languages (English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu). Moreover, for the 13 languages, the language-specific papers to test proficiency will be conducted as per CUET-UG 2024.

For all the remaining 20 languages, including foreign languages, the admissions will be made based on performance in the General Aptitude Test. “We changed the language paper because the number of students was less. So we have introduced the General Aptitude Test for making admission for these language papers,” he said.

The General Test currently will be redesigned as the General Aptitude Test.

The UGC has also discontinued six papers on ‘Entrepreneurship’, ‘Teaching Aptitude’, ‘Fashion Studies’, ‘Tourism’, ‘Legal Studies’ and ‘Engineering Graphics.’ Admissions will now be based on performance in the General Aptitude Test.

“So now the number of papers has decreased from 63 to 37. This makes scheduling the papers logistically easy. Earlier, some papers had 45 minutes, some had 50 minutes, and now we are making all the papers 60 minutes. It means uniform time for all papers,” Prof. Kumar said.

Students will now have to attempt all 50 questions. “Earlier, 50 questions were given in some papers, and students were asked to answer 40. In some papers, such as the General Test, 60 questions were given, and the students were asked to answer 50. Now, we are saying in all question papers, there will be only 50 questions. This is how a standardised examination is conducted,” the UGC chief said.

With the idea to take public feedback, the UGC Chairman met with 60 students, including those who had taken the CUET-UG exam last year and those who will be taking it this year, alongwith teachers, during a two-hour consultation last month. He said the discussions were “genuinely insightful, and their (students) constructive feedback and enthusiasm reaffirm our commitment to making CUET 2025 a student-centric initiative that aligns with their aspirations and academic goals."

The main takeaways from the consultation were the emphasis on board exam preparation, lesser dependency on coaching, and informed subject choices like the potential use of the General Aptitude Test for diverse fields like foreign languages, entrepreneurship, fashion studies, and tourism was also discussed, and opening up exciting possibilities for students. 

“One of the most discussed topics was providing enough time for all kinds of papers like humanities, maths and sciences. Considering these demands and to take away the time management stress from students, we decided that all CUET-UG papers will have 60 minutes. It will reduce stress, promote fairness and encourage comprehensive assessment of the candidates. This is a balanced and equitable testing environment where all students have a fair opportunity,” he added.

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