The University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test for English, Commerce and Sociology will be re-conducted as the question papers for the subjects contained several factual, typographical and translation errors, said the National Testing Agency on Sunday.

Several questions that appeared in the exams held in June also repeated from previous years, added the testing agency.

The test is conducted for the post of assistant professor in universities and colleges, determines eligibility for Junior Research Fellowships, and is also used for admission to Doctor of Philosophy programmes.

This year, the National Testing Agency conducted the exam in 87 subjects from June 22 to June 30 as a computer-based test in two daily shifts.

The National Testing Agency said that it received multiple complaints about errors in the question papers for English, Commerce and Sociology. “Accordingly, NTA formed a committee to enquire into and look into these errors,” it added.

The committee found that names of scholars had been misspelt in the question papers, book titles were unclear, there were errors in the wording of questions and non-standard coined terms were used for established concepts.

“Papers carrying such defects do not meet the standards of fairness and error-free examination, and defects of this extent cannot be cured merely by dropping questions after the challenge process,” said the National Testing Agency.

The retests will be held on September 9 and September 10. The English paper will be held on September 9 from 9 am to noon, followed by the Commerce paper from 3 pm to 6 pm on the same day. The Sociology paper will be held on September 10 from 9 am to noon.

The process for the other 84 subjects will continue as scheduled, with results to be declared on time, the testing agency said.

The announcement came following large-scale youth protests in the country in July, which led to the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister.

The protests were held against the alleged mismanagement of several competitive exams.

The UGC-NET, held in June 2024, also had to be cancelled after the Union government said the integrity of the examination “may have been compromised”.

Written by Sneha. Edited by Sara Varghese.

Also read: Why the National Testing Agency continues to fail students in India

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