NTA blunder again: UGC NET Socio, English, Commerce papers hit by errors, retest likely

The release of UGC-NET 2026 provisional answer keys by the NTA has once again drawn scrutiny, with candidates flagging spelling and grammatical errors, poor translations, alleged AI-generated questions, and questions beyond the prescribed syllabus. While keys for 84 subjects have been released, three subjects remain excluded, adding to the concerns.The provisional answer keys released by the NTA for UGC-NET 2026 have once again raised questions over the credibility of the testing agency. While answer keys for 84 subjects have been released, the exclusion of three subjects has drawn concern among candidates. As reported by The Times of India, Sociology candidates alleged spelling errors, distorted names of prominent thinkers, poor print quality and awkward Hindi translations, while also claiming that several questions appeared to be completely outside the prescribed syllabus.Earlier, the NTA had said that committees were constituted to examine candidates’ complaints concerning three subjects, Sociology, English and Commerce.Candidates also flagged concerns over the quality and printing of the question papers. In a separate controversy, the English paper was alleged to contain multiple questions repeated from the 2024 examination, with as many as 67 of the 150 questions reportedly appearing again.As per TOI, the sources indicated that the three answer keys which were not released, the exams for the same will be organised again. The Sociology paper drew particularly sharp criticism, with candidates pointing to errors in the names and terminology of prominent thinkers. Ritzer appeared as “Putzer”, “social” as “oval”, Parsons as “Parsow”, Ghurye as “Ghunye”, A R Desai as “A K Desai” and Nussbaum as “Nusbaut”.Taken together, these errors have raised broader questions about the paper-setting process and quality-control mechanisms for an examination of national importance conducted by the NTA. On X, candidate Antara Chakrabarty described the Sociology paper as having “crossed all limits of academic deceit and accountability” and alleged that it contained AI-generated questions, references to thinkers and books she believed were outside the syllabus, and widespread spelling and grammatical errors.“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. This is where the last nail in the coffin comes. 50% of the paper had terrible spelling errors and grammatically disastrous sentence formation,” she wrote.She then detailed the alleged errors in the paper:“Thinkers like ‘Ritzer’ was 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 Hindi translation of the questions was framed as if translated by a 5-year-old. Students could not even understand the questions, let alone attempt them.”She further questioned the amount of time candidates had to spend deciphering the paper:“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 Asst Prof/PhD admissions. Is this some joke? Call the profs who framed this paper to sit and attempt,” she wrote.Another X user, @janwangnao, alleged that the Sociology paper 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 NTA, meanwhile, has indicated that candidates should use the prescribed mechanism to raise objections to discrepancies. The agency has also maintained, in response to the controversy, that typographical errors can occur and that complaints can be examined through the established process.- EndsPublished By: Rishab ChauhanPublished On: Aug 16, 2026 19:09 IST