CUET Exam | Gateway to central universities

The University Grant Commission (UGC) announced the introduction of the Central University Entrance Test (CUET), which is now mandatory for undergraduate admission to any of the 45 Central Universities nationwide.

CUET is a revamped version of CUCET and it is now mandatory for all 45 central universities to adopt it. This follows the announcement of the new National Education Policy (NEP), which advocates the need for an entrance exam to enter university.

After the launch of CUET, Student Council grades will have no role in determining admission to a university or program. It will be based solely on your CUET score. At best, universities affiliated with the University of Delhi, or any central university, can use the qualifications of the Council as the minimum eligibility criteria for admission.

For skills-based courses that have significant practical elements, such as music, painting, sculpture, and drama, colleges will be able to conduct practical exams or interviews with CUET.For professional programs such as Engineering and MBBS, major universities will admit through JEE (main) and NEET entrance exams respectively.The government has not favored the use of board scores for admission due to the “diversity” of assessment methods adopted by different boards.

WHO WILL CONDUCT CUET EXAM ?

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will carry out CUET for all Central Universities during May-June. This is a computer-based test to be taken in two shifts and can be taken in 13 languages: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, and English. The three and a half hour computerized entrance test will consist only of multiple choice questions based on the content of the NCERT textbook.

CUET Exam Pattern

The first part will assess a candidate in a language of their choice. It will deal with reading comprehension, vocabulary questions, synonyms and antonyms, among other things. There will be a choice of 13 languages. In addition to the obligation to take a language test (out of 13 languages), the candidate will also have the option to take another test in an additional language from a basket of 19: French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

The second part of CUET focuses on testing a candidate’s domain-specific knowledge. This section offers a total of 27 domains, and a candidate can choose to have their knowledge tested in at least one and a maximum of six domains. Each central university will specify which field-specific test an applicant must take for which program. The 27 subject areas offered in CUET Part 2 are Accounting/Book keeping, Biology/Biological Studies/Biotechnology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Informatics/Computer Practices, Economics/Business Economics, Engineering Graphics, Entrepreneurship, Geography, History, Home Science , Knowledge Tradition-Practices India, Legal Studies, Business Arts, Mathematics, Physical Education/NCC, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Teaching Skills, Agriculture, Media/Mass Communications, Anthropology, Fine/Visual Arts ( sculpture/painting), performing arts and Sanskrit. The third part of the entrance test will be a general test with questions on general knowledge, current affairs, general mental capacity, numerical capacity, quantitative reasoning (simple, application of basic mathematical notions arithmetic/algebra geometry/ measurement/statistics taught up to grade 8), logical and analytical reasoning. A candidate will only take the general test if desired by the program and university of their choice.