- NTA cancelled UGC-NET papers for English, Commerce, Sociology due to multiple errors
- Re-examinations scheduled for September 9 and 10 without extra fees for candidates
- Errors included typographical, factual, translation mistakes, and repeated questions
Three months since the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is facing another major examination setback. The agency has now cancelled the UGC-NET papers for English, Commerce and Sociology and ordered fresh examinations after an expert committee found multiple typographical errors, including repeated questions and mistakes in the question papers.
The development raises fresh questions over the reliability of the country's premier testing agency, which conducts several high-stakes examinations for millions of students every year.
The three UGC-NET papers, conducted between June 22 and June 30, will now be re-conducted on September 9 and 10. No additional examination fee will be charged from the affected candidates.
The decision is particularly significant because the problems in UGC-NET were not limited to isolated typographical errors. The NTA's own committee found factual, typographical and translation errors, along with repetition of a significant number of questions from previous examinations.
What went wrong in UGC-NET?
The irregularities varied across the three subjects.
In the Sociology paper, candidates flagged misspellings in the names of prominent scholars, including "Ritzer" appearing as "Putzer", "Ghurye" as "Ghunye", "Parsons" as "Parsow" and "Nussbaum" as "Nusbaut".
In English, candidates and coaching teachers alleged that several questions were repeated from earlier UGC-NET examinations, particularly the December 2024 and 2025 cycles. These included questions on the publication year of 'Kanthapura', the author of 'The Life Divine', literary classifications involving 'The Time Machine' and 'Brave New World, and "Match the Following" questions involving critics Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes.
Questions on the chronology of William Shakespeare's plays and concepts such as Ecocriticism and the Flaneur were also alleged to have been repeated, with the same sequence of multiple-choice options.
Commerce candidates raised similar concerns, pointing to questions on Arm's Length Pricing, TDS provisions under Sections 194C and 194F, break-even analysis, Margin of Safety, the Modigliani-Miller Hypothesis and the extended 7 Ps of Service Marketing.
What has NTA said
The NTA has constituted a committee after receiving complaints regarding the English, Commerce and Sociology question papers.
In a statement, the agency said, "The Committee found that the three papers had many factual, typographical, translation errors, including misspelt names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, errors in the stem wording of questions, grammatical errors, gender and number agreement errors, punctuation mistakes, and non-standard coined terms for established concepts, as well as repetition of a significant number of questions previously administered. The Committee recommended that, in the interest of holding a fair and error-free examination, these three papers should be re-conducted".
Candidates had raised concerns earlier
Candidates had claimed about repeated questions and typographical errors soon after the examinations.
When NDTV had first reported the concerns, a top NTA official had told NDTV, "questions are repeated; it's not something that doesn't happen every year. Typographical errors also occur. Professors set the question papers; NTA does not even review them. We encourage students to challenge the questions, and our teams will look into their concerns".
NDTV had also earlier reported allegations from Sociology candidates that a 100-page PDF containing handwritten questions had circulated before the June 30 examination. Candidates claimed that nearly 90 questions and their answer options matched those in the actual paper.
The NTA's latest decision now confirms that at least some of the concerns raised by candidates were substantial enough to warrant cancelling the papers and conducting the examination afresh.
When will the UGC-NET re-test be held?
The English paper will be held on September 9 from 9 am to noon, while the Commerce paper will be conducted the same day from 3 pm to 6 pm.
The Sociology examination will be held on September 10 from 9 am to noon.
The NTA said details of examination cities, centres and admit cards will be notified separately.
"Further details of the city, centre and admit card details will be notified separately on the official website. No additional examination fee will be charged from the candidates of these three subjects for the re-conduct," it added.
Why this matters?
For candidates appearing for national-level competitive examinations, errors in a question paper are not merely administrative lapses. These examinations determine eligibility for jobs, admissions and academic careers, meaning even a flawed question can affect a candidate's score and ranking.
The UGC-NET is conducted to determine eligibility for appointment as Assistant Professors and for admission to PhD programmes.
The latest decision therefore comes at a particularly difficult time for the NTA, which has already faced intense scrutiny over the conduct of major examinations.
The NEET-UG 2026 examination held on May 3 was cancelled after a paper leak. The Central Bureau of Investigation has said the leak originated from a person linked to the examination system, adding another layer to concerns over examination security.
The issue of examination credibility has also been raised previously by a parliamentary committee. A Rajya Sabha committee report noted that several NTA-conducted examinations had faced serious problems and observed that such incidents "does not inspire confidance of the examinees in the system". It recommended that the NTA urgently address these shortcomings.
