Common entrance test in July for UG admissions in central universities, Class 12 marks won’t count

The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is a computerized exam and will be administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which will announce the test pattern Tuesday, he said. The registration window for the exam will open in the first week of April.

Admission to undergraduate courses at these universities will henceforth be based solely on the CUET score, and Class 12 Board marks will carry no weight, Kumar said. At best, the universities can use the Council’s exam grades as the eligibility criteria for the test, he said.

This basically means that performance in the Class 12 Board exam is no longer a factor in admissions to central universities. In other words, the sky-high limits at Delhi University are now history. This year, seven colleges from DU had asked for 100 percent points in the first list to admit students to a total of 10 degree programs.

The government did not support the use of Board marks for admission due to the “diversity” in evaluation methods. “Some boards are more generous than others in grading and this gives their students an unfair advantage over others,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

After the CUET, each university will admit students based on a merit list prepared by NTA, and there will be no common guidance.

Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Indira Gandhi National Open University in the national capital, and Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University in UP are among the well-known central universities that will now come under CUET.

When asked whether central universities that reserve seats for minorities, such as AMU and Jamia, will also have to adopt CUET, Kumar clarified that the test is mandatory for all 45 central universities funded by UGC. He added that CUET will not affect the quota of reserved places at such institutions, but they will be required to admit all students through the common test.

“The only difference is that these students will also have to come through CUET, like students to be admitted in general places. The reservation policy and regulations of the universities will remain unchanged’, says the UGC president.

AMU and Jamia have not yet clarified their position on participating in the admission test.

CUET will contain multiple choice questions based on NCERT textbooks and students will be assessed negatively for incorrect answers. The admission test has three parts (see box). The CUET 2022 is offered in 13 languages ​​namely Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia and English.

The exam is taken in two shifts. Candidates for Section I (languages), two chosen domain subjects and the general test appear in the first shift. In the second shift they appear for the other four domain subjects and possibly an extra language test.

International students are exempt from CUET; their recordings will be performed on the existing supernumerary basis.