Phase one of CUET concludes — Nearly 2 lakh students take the entrance test, maximum from UP
Education

Phase one of CUET concludes — Nearly 2 lakh students take the entrance test, maximum from UP

According to the National Testing Agency’s data, 49,915 students were from UP, followed by 20,840 from Bihar and nearly 19,000 from Madhya Pradesh.

   
Students appearing for CUET at an exam centre in Delhi on Friday | ANI

Students appearing for CUET at an exam centre in Delhi on Friday | ANI

New Delhi: Over 1.9 lakh students appeared for the first phase of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) which concluded Wednesday. CUET, which has replaced the system of ‘cut-offs’ for admission to undergraduate programs across several universities, saw maximum students from Uttar Pradesh taking the test, data compiled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) reveals.

Accessed by ThePrint, the data shows that 2,50,495 students were allotted centers to write the exam in the first phase which took place on 15, 16, 19 and 20 July. Of those who were allotted centers, 1,91,586 candidates sat for the exam.

According to the NTA’s state-wise data, the maximum number of test-takers — 49,915 were from UP, followed by 20,840 from Bihar and nearly 19,000 from Madhya Pradesh.

While students from the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have dominated the seats with high-cut offs in Delhi University colleges, in CUET, the number of test takers from the states were not big. Over 7,000 students from Kerala and 1,000 from Telangana took the test, while, from Tamil Nadu, merely 667 showed up. The number of test-takers from Karnataka was even lower at 526.

The second phase of CUET will begin on 4 August.

The first phase of the exam saw chaotic scenes with last minute exam center changes leading to some students missing the exam. The exam at two centres in West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri and Punjab’s Pathankot was cancelled due to technical issues.

The NTA, however, later said that “genuine cases” where students were informed of their center change at the last minute and those who were allocated centers where the exam got cancelled will be given another chance to take the test during phase 2.

There were 14.9 lakh registrations for CUET in its debut year, making it the second largest entrance exam in the country after National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: Expensive crash courses, students dropping out of school – how CUET is driving change in higher education