The first shift of the CUET-UG exam was delayed at several centres across the country on Monday morning which National Testing Agency (NTA) officials said was due to technical glitches in the server. NTA officials, however, said that the “issue was resolved after some time and the exam was conducted successfully at all centres. It was ensured that candidates were provided the full time for the examination.” Centres in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Patna, Varanasi, Srinagar, Samastipur, Dehradun, Dhanbad, Hyderabad, and Kalyani were affected more than others, an official said. On social media, candidates complained of a long wait outside exam centres as the test began well after the scheduled time of 9 am. A computer-based exam, CUET-UG is for undergraduate admissions to central universities and other participating institutions. Around 13.48 lakh candidates appeared for the exam last year. While the NTA had initially announced that the CUET-UG exams would begin on May 8, it later informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) that it was not prepared to conduct the exam. The exam then began on May 13. Due to technical glitches at a centre in Srinagar’s Rangreth on May 13 and 14, the NTA had said on May 14 that the exams would be cancelled and rescheduled. The NTA has also offered a re-test for students who appeared for the accountancy paper from May 13 to 16, explaining that a revised question paper pattern would be implemented for the accountancy test from May 22 onwards. The NTA said this was intended to “achieve convergence between the notified syllabus and the design of the question paper.” The CUET-UG exams this month came close on the heels of NEET-UG, which was held on May 4.
