NTA orders fresh exams for 3 subjects of UGC-NET, several errors were found in question papers:Details

The NTA has announced fresh UGC-NET June 2026 examinations for English, Commerce and Sociology after a committee found multiple errors and repeated questions in the original papers.
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On Sunday, 16th August, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced that it will conduct the UGC-NET June 2026 examination again for three subjects: English, Commerce and Sociology. The decision came after a committee found several errors in the question papers and concluded that they did not meet the required standards of a “fair and error-free examination”.

The re-examination will be held on 9th and 10th September. Candidates who had appeared for the three affected papers will not have to pay any additional examination fee.

UGC-NET re-exam dates announced

According to the NTA, the English paper will be held on 9th September from 9 am to 12 noon in the first shift. The Commerce paper will take place on the same day from 3 pm to 6 pm. The Sociology examination will be conducted on 10th September from 9 am to 12 noon.

The decision follows complaints raised by candidates after the original UGC-NET examination, which was conducted from 22nd to 30th June across 87 subjects.

The UGC-NET examination is used to determine eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Assistant Professor positions. It is also used for admission to PhD programmes.

Committee finds several errors in papers

The NTA said a committee formed to examine the complaints found multiple problems in the question papers of the three subjects.

These included factual, typographical and translation errors. The committee reportedly found misspelt names of well-known scholars, incorrect or unclear book titles and problems with the wording of questions.

The papers also contained grammatical mistakes, errors in gender and number agreement, punctuation problems and non-standard terms for established concepts. The committee further found that a significant number of questions had been repeated from earlier examinations.

Based on these findings, the NTA said the papers could not be considered suitable for a proper examination. “NTA concluded that papers carrying such defects do not meet the standards of fairness and error-free examination,” the agency said in its notice.

Other 84 subjects will not be affected

The re-examination will only cover English, Commerce and Sociology. The NTA said the examination process for the remaining 84 subjects would continue as planned.

Results for those subjects will be declared according to the existing schedule, and the retest will not delay the allocation of JRF seats or the issuance of eligibility certificates for Assistant Professor positions and PhD admissions.

For the three affected subjects, the agency has also set a minimum benchmark for Assistant Professor eligibility. The number of candidates qualifying will be equal to 6% of those who appeared in either the original June examination or the re-examination, whichever number is higher.

The NTA said the allocation of JRF, Assistant Professor and PhD eligibility in these subjects would follow the examination’s information bulletin. It also clarified that the number of seats already allocated to each subject would not be reduced after the re-examination.

Fresh setback for NTA

The latest UGC-NET controversy comes at a time when the NTA is already facing questions over the conduct of major competitive examinations. The agency has come under scrutiny following controversies surrounding exams such as NEET-UG.

The UGC-NET itself was cancelled in June 2024 after the government said it had received inputs indicating that the examination’s integrity may have been compromised.

While the latest controversy involves errors and repeated questions rather than allegations of a paper leak, the decision to hold fresh examinations in three subjects adds to the challenges facing the testing agency.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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