After NEET, NTA faces fresh row over NET question paper errors

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has landed in fresh controversy after candidates alleged that the UGC NET Sociology question paper contained multiple errors, weeks after it faced criticism over the NEET question paper leaks.

Candidates who appeared for the UGC NET Sociology examination on June 30 alleged that the question paper was riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and poorly worded questions.

Students pointed to several apparent errors in the paper, claiming that the name Ritzer was printed as "Putzer", "social" appeared as "oval", Parsons was printed as "Parsow", Ghurye as "Ghunye", A R Desai as "A K Desai", and Nussbaum as "Nusbaut".

There was no response from the National Testing Agency (NTA) on the claims.

A candidate, Antara Chakrabarty, took to social media platform X, alleging that the said question paper "crossed all limits of academic deceit and accountability".

"Not even getting started on the irregularity of the paper asking AI-generated questions, random thinkers and books not even remotely associated with the syllabus provided. 50 pc of the paper had terrible spelling errors and grammatically disastrous sentence formation.

"Thinkers like 'Ritzer' were replaced as 'Putzer', 'social' was given as 'oval', 'Parsons' as 'Parsow', 'Ghurye' as 'Ghunye', A R Desai as 'A K Desai', 'Nussbaum' as 'Nusbaut' and many more," the post read.

Chakraborty said the Hindi translation of the questions was framed as "if translated by a five-year-old".

"Students could not even understand the questions, let alone attempt them. Half the time went in literally making sense of what nonsense was scribbled in the name of a paper like NET, which is literally supposed to make you eligible for Assistant Professor or PhD admissions. Is this some joke?" she asked.

Another X user also criticised the paper, alleging that it was "filled with spelling errors, arbitrary questions, and the omission of many foundational sociological thinkers in favour of content that appeared outside the prescribed syllabus".

The user criticised the inclusion of a question asking candidates to arrange former education ministers in chronological order, arguing that such questions do not meaningfully assess critical thinking skills.

Meanwhile, a candidate claimed that 67 out of 150 questions in the English paper were identical to questions asked in the 2024 exam.

Even the sequence of the answer options was reportedly unchanged, raising concerns over the quality of the question paper and the examination's integrity, the candidate said.

UGC-NET is conducted to determine the eligibility of candidates for the posts of Assistant Professor and admission to PhD programmes. The examination consists of two papers: Paper I, which includes 50 questions on teaching aptitude, reasoning ability, and general awareness, and Paper II, which contains 100 subject-related multiple-choice questions.

On May 12, the NTA cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 examination held on May 3 amid reports of alleged irregularities. According to police officials, over 400 questions were circulated in the days before the examination, and questions related to two subjects, Biology and Chemistry, were similar.

The rescheduled exam was later conducted on June 21.

Following the incident, the Centre handed over the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a comprehensive probe into the allegations linked to the examination.

(With PTI inputs)