'Problems' in CUET answer keys, NTA to revise them

NEW DELHI: After the National Testing Agency (NTA) released the answer keys for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) taken by undergraduate aspirants this year, several candidates and university teachers have identified discrepancies in the answers.However, a senior NTA official, speaking to TOI, stated that these were typographical errors and that a new set of provisional answer keys would be uploaded within the next few days.Teachers also noticed discrepancies in the answer key for the political science examination, which took place on June 6 during the third shift. For instance, the answer key incorrectly identified the flag of the European Union as the SAARC flag. Similarly, the correct answer to a question about a country leaving the EU was mistakenly marked as the USA.An aspirant who did not wish to be named said, "At this point, it is impossible to challenge so many questions. If there were three or four errors, it would be manageable. Now we can only hope that the NTA will rectify the mistakes."Samrendra Kumar, a Hindi teacher at Delhi University's Shyam Lal College, pointed out that there were at least 16 incorrect answers indicated as correct in the answer key for the Hindi paper. "The answer key contains multiple wrong answers marked as correct. These include basic questions from passages that students were tested on. The correct answers were among the options provided to students. NTA is a large organization, and they should have reviewed the answer key before uploading it," Kumar said.Aspirants are facing a dilemma because they have to pay Rs 200 per question to challenge the answers. This has led to concerns among aspirants and members of the academic community about the financial burden on students.Kumar highlighted the difficulties aspirants will face, stating, "The answers will only be corrected if they are challenged. To challenge 16 questions, a student will have to spend Rs 3,200."However, a senior NTA official said, "This has been done humanly, which is why typographical errors have emerged in major subjects like political science and accountancy. The provisional answer keys will be put up once again so that students are completely satisfied. We got several mails and even phone calls. Anybody who contacted us was told not to challenge the questions as the same would be rectified.""The students should not worry as they will be evaluated based on the correct answers," added the official.