NTA to re-conduct UGC-NET exams for English, Commerce and Sociology after 'multiple errors' in papers

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced the re-examination of three papers from the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) due to significant errors. The subjects affected are English, Commerce, and Sociology, with the original exams taking place between June 22 and June 30.

An NTA committee investigated the papers after receiving numerous complaints. The committee identified a range of issues, including factual and typographical errors, misspelt names of scholars, garbled book titles, incorrect question wording, grammatical mistakes, and non-standard terminology. The committee concluded that these errors compromised the fairness of the examination and recommended re-conducting the affected papers.

The UGC-NET is a crucial examination determining eligibility for Assistant Professor positions and admission to PhD programs. It consists of two papers: Paper I, assessing teaching aptitude and general awareness, and Paper II, focusing on subject-specific knowledge. The NTA's decision to re-examine these papers aims to ensure a fair and accurate assessment for all candidates.

The English and Commerce papers are now scheduled for September 9, while the Sociology paper will be re-conducted on September 10. This measure underscores the NTA's commitment to upholding the integrity of the national eligibility tests.

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In respect of three subjects, namely English, Commerce and Sociology, NTA had received several complaints on multiple errors in these papers. Accordingly, NTA formed a committee to enquire into and look into these errors. The Committee found that the three papers had many factual, typographical, errors including misspelt names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, errors in the stem wording of questions, grammatical errors, gender and number agreement errors, punctuation mistakes, and non-standard coined terms for established concepts, as well as repetition of a significant number of questions previously administered. The Committee recommended that, in the interest of holding a fair and error-free examination, these three papers should be re-conducted.