NTA Cancels UGC-NET Papers for English, Commerce, Sociology; Fresh Exams in September

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has cancelled the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) papers for English, Commerce and Sociology after an expert committee found multiple errors, including repeated questions and typographical mistakes. The fresh examinations will be held on September 9 and 10, and no additional fee will be charged from affected candidates.

The decision follows complaints from candidates who flagged irregularities soon after the tests were conducted between June 22 and June 30. The NTA's own committee, constituted to examine the grievances, found factual, typographical and translation errors, along with repetition of a significant number of questions from earlier cycles.

In the Sociology paper, candidates reported misspellings in the names of prominent scholars, with 'Ritzer' appearing as 'Putzer', 'Ghurye' as 'Ghunye', 'Parsons' as 'Parsow' and 'Nussbaum' as 'Nusbaut'. In English, several questions were allegedly repeated from previous UGC-NET examinations, including ones on the publication year of 'Kanthapura', the author of 'The Life Divine', and literary classifications involving 'The Time Machine' and 'Brave New World'. Questions on William Shakespeare's plays and concepts such as Ecocriticism and the Flaneur were also said to have been repeated with identical answer options.

Commerce candidates raised similar concerns, pointing to questions on Arm's Length Pricing, TDS provisions under Sections 194C and 194F, break-even analysis, Margin of Safety, the Modigliani-Miller Hypothesis and the extended 7 Ps of Service Marketing.

In a statement, the NTA said: "The Committee found that the three papers had many factual, typographical, translation 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."

Earlier, when candidates first raised concerns, a senior NTA official had said that repeated questions and typographical errors are not unusual and encouraged students to challenge questions. The official also noted that professors set the paper and the NTA does not review them. However, the latest decision confirms that the issues were substantial enough to warrant cancellation.

The cancellation adds to the credibility challenges facing the NTA, which conducts several high-stakes examinations for millions of students every year. The agency has faced scrutiny over previous irregularities, including a paper leak in the NEET-UG medical entrance test. While the NTA has not yet announced a detailed timeline for the re-test, it has assured candidates that the fresh papers will be error-free.

The English paper is scheduled to be held on September 9, while Commerce and Sociology will be conducted on September 10. Candidates have been advised to check the official NTA website for further instructions and updated admit cards.