NEW DELHI: Even as CUET-UG 2025 results are awaited, the conduct of the exam has raised concerns over biometric verification gaps, shift-wise disparities and deviations from the syllabus. These have drawn criticism from candidates, parents, and experts, who say the exam fell short on basic fairness, syllabus integrity, and identity verification protocols.
Adherence to protocols had been explicitly recommended by a govt-appointed high-level committee headed by former Isro chief K Radhakrishnan. One of the committee's core recommendations was multi-stage candidate verification, including Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, to prevent impersonation.
National Testing Agency (NTA), in response to queries from TOI, accepted that biometric authentication of all candidates was not done at centre entry gates. Instead, the agency said, Aadhaar details were validated during online application process for 96% of the 13.54 lakh registered candidates, and that biometric data and photographs were captured inside exam halls due to time constraints between shifts.
The agency said "for CUET-UG 2025, Aadhaar validation was performed when candidate's name, date of birth, & gender matched during e-registration". This indicates that photographs of candidates were not matched with Aadhaar data either at time of registration or during the exam, raising apprehensions of impersonation. This approach also resulted in a verification gap for the remaining 4% of candidates.
Another concern is uneven shift-wise distribution of candidates, which could undermine percentile-based normalisation process. For instance, based on attendance documents accessed by TOI, physics paper had nearly 5,000 candidates in one shift and 570 in another, with similar variations seen in mathematics & general aptitude. While NTA did not provide subject and session-wise data, it said "sample sizes were sufficiently large" and cited the English test, for which around 43,000 candidates were accommodated in each shift.
This raises a critical statistical issue: normalisation assumes comparable cohorts. If sample sizes differ across shifts, percentile rankings may not accurately reflect relative difficulty levels.
On syllabus front, for physical education, the syllabus uploaded by NTA states candidates should, while naming their sport, opt for "one of your choice" for Unit 3. However, students reported that the questions were mandatory with no options available.
While NTA maintains that CUET-UG 2025 was conducted "successfully" with approximately 78% attendance, several of these issues have cast doubt over the agency's capacity to uphold fairness, transparency, and comparability for the exam.
Adherence to protocols had been explicitly recommended by a govt-appointed high-level committee headed by former Isro chief K Radhakrishnan. One of the committee's core recommendations was multi-stage candidate verification, including Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, to prevent impersonation.
National Testing Agency (NTA), in response to queries from TOI, accepted that biometric authentication of all candidates was not done at centre entry gates. Instead, the agency said, Aadhaar details were validated during online application process for 96% of the 13.54 lakh registered candidates, and that biometric data and photographs were captured inside exam halls due to time constraints between shifts.
The agency said "for CUET-UG 2025, Aadhaar validation was performed when candidate's name, date of birth, & gender matched during e-registration". This indicates that photographs of candidates were not matched with Aadhaar data either at time of registration or during the exam, raising apprehensions of impersonation. This approach also resulted in a verification gap for the remaining 4% of candidates.
Another concern is uneven shift-wise distribution of candidates, which could undermine percentile-based normalisation process. For instance, based on attendance documents accessed by TOI, physics paper had nearly 5,000 candidates in one shift and 570 in another, with similar variations seen in mathematics & general aptitude. While NTA did not provide subject and session-wise data, it said "sample sizes were sufficiently large" and cited the English test, for which around 43,000 candidates were accommodated in each shift.
This raises a critical statistical issue: normalisation assumes comparable cohorts. If sample sizes differ across shifts, percentile rankings may not accurately reflect relative difficulty levels.
On syllabus front, for physical education, the syllabus uploaded by NTA states candidates should, while naming their sport, opt for "one of your choice" for Unit 3. However, students reported that the questions were mandatory with no options available.
While NTA maintains that CUET-UG 2025 was conducted "successfully" with approximately 78% attendance, several of these issues have cast doubt over the agency's capacity to uphold fairness, transparency, and comparability for the exam.
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