CUET-UG: Several candidates allege errors in answer keys

Several candidates, who appeared for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG on Monday alleged the responses in the answer keys announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) are incorrect.

The claims came a day after the NTA announced the answer keys. The agency also said it will conduct a retest for CUET-UG candidates from July 15 to 19 if any grievance raised by them about the conduct of the exam is found correct.

The candidates can now challenge the answers online till 5 pm on July 9 by paying ₹200 per answer.

"Sir i found multiple errors in cuet ug answer key and know if I challenge all error (that I think those are errors ) the cost of challenging is much more than my CUET application," Rishabh, a candidate, wrote on X.

Another candidate Bishal Bhowmik said, "when I checked my Geography OMR sheet with the CUET(UG) answer key. I am shocked because 80 pc of the answer key was wrong. When I calculated the number with the wrong answer key that NTA provides,I only got 26 but in reality I will get 122 . Where my 17 questions are correct."

"Look @NTA_Exams you provide so many wrong answers in key who is going to pay thousand of rupees for your mistake ? We are not going to pay or accept evaluation on this bogus answer key," another X user shared.

Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak also raised the issue on X and shared a screenshot of a question from a Psychology paper which asked what if an accident happens on a road and many people gather at a place what will it be called.

"The answer is in NCERT book Crowd and the answer in NTA's Answer Key is audience. Now the student answering the question is stuck in limbo," she said.

While the NTA officials did not comment on the grievances received by the agency, the candidates claimed there was loss of time at certain exam centres and technical issues.

"Challenges made by the candidates will be verified by a panel of subject experts. Based on the revised final answer key, the result will be declared," a senior official said.

The delay in CUET-UG results comes amid a raging row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, including NEET and NET.

The CUET-UG exam conducted in a hybrid mode for the first time across the country was cancelled in Delhi a night before the exam, citing logistical reasons. The exam was conducted in the national capital later.

The NTA had earlier announced that the third edition of CUET-UG will be completed in seven days and there will be no normalisation of scores as all exams will be conducted in a single shift.

For 15 subjects, the tests were in pen-paper mode and for the other 48 subjects, the exam was held in computer-based mode.

Over 13.4 lakh candidates registered for the common entrance test for admission to undergraduate courses in 261 central, state, deemed and private universities this year.

In the first edition of the exam in 2022, the test was plagued by technical glitches. Also, as a result of tests for a subject being conducted over multiple shifts, the scores had to be normalised during the announcement of results.