UG aspirants need to appear for CUET: All about its new structure, syllabus and pattern
Common University Entrance Test, popularly known as CUET, which so long used to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for post-graduate (Master’s degree) candidates of all central universities, will now be conducted for their undergraduate candidates as well, according to the new UGC guidelines. It is mandatory for all the central universities to use this score for UG admission and the rule will be applicable from the upcoming academic year 2022-23. State and private universities will also be urged to use CUET test scores for admission into their UG courses. According to the recently released UGC notice, this computer-based MCQ test will tentatively take place in the first week of July. The application process, which is online, will start from the first week of April.
So far, admission to undergraduate courses used to happen on the basis of Class XII marks and the cut-offs used to be impossibly high. On 22nd March, DU’s Academic Council decided that admissions for all general undergraduate courses from the following academic session (2022-2023) will be solely based on the scores of CUET. The proposal, initiated by the university’s Standing Committee and approved by the Academic Council now awaits the final stage of approval by the Executive Council on 25th March. However, universities are free to set a minimum benchmark for class 12 marks in deciding eligibility.
This change is aimed to make UG admission process more inclusive. Moreover, one centralised test will save the candidates from the hassle of multiple entrance exams that used to be held by different colleges. The CUET can be taken by any student who has passed the Class XII Board exam and is aspiring to get admission to an undergraduate course.
Structure and Syllabus of CUET 2022
This UG entrance exam will comprise multiple choice questions and the syllabus will be based on NCERT textbooks. CUET will constitute Section 1A, Section 1B, general test and domain-specific subjects. It will be offered in 13 languages: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia and English. There will be negative marking for incorrect answers.
According to media reports, the exam will be held in two shifts. In the first shift, students will have to appear for Section I (languages), two chosen domain subjects and the general test. In the second shift, they will appear for the other four domain subjects and an additional language test, if they opt for it.
Pattern of CUET 2022
The information available so far suggests that section 1A will be compulsory and candidates will have the option of choosing a language. The section 1B will be optional for candidates who choose a language not included in Section 1A. Some of the offered languages would be French, Arabic, German, etc. There are 27 test domains for the CUET 2022. Candidates can sit for two domain tests in the first shift and the remaining four in the second shift. The subjects included are anthropology, bookkeeping, sociology, psychology, mathematics, political science, etc.