The National Testing Agency (NTA) has ordered a fresh examination for UGC-NET June 2026 candidates in English, Commerce and Sociology after an expert committee found serious errors in the question papers. The re-test will be held on September 9 and 10. Candidates who appeared for the three affected subjects will not have to pay any additional examination fee.According to the NTA notice, the English paper will be conducted on September 9 from 9 AM to 12 noon in Shift 1. The Commerce examination will follow on the same day from 3 pm to 6 pm in Shift 2.The Sociology paper will be held on September 10 from 9 am to 12 noon in Shift 1.The agency said the re-test was necessary after an expert committee examined complaints received from candidates and reviewed the three question papers.
Committee finds factual, language and translation errors
The committee’s findings point to failures that go beyond minor printing mistakes. The three papers contained factual, typographical and translation-related errors, according to the NTA.The problems included misspelled names of well-known scholars, incorrect or distorted book titles and poorly worded questions. The committee also identified grammatical mistakes, errors involving gender and number agreement, punctuation problems and the use of non-standard terminology for established concepts.More seriously, the committee found that a significant number of questions had been repeated from earlier examinations.The NTA has now accepted that papers containing such defects cannot be treated as meeting the required standard of a fair and error-free examination.
Decision comes after complaints from candidates
The UGC-NET June 2026 examination was conducted between June 22 and 30 across 87 subjects. The test is a crucial examination for candidates seeking Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Assistant Professor eligibility. It is also used for admission to PhD programmes.Candidates from the three affected subjects raised concerns over the quality of the question papers following the examination. The complaints eventually led to a committee review and the decision to conduct fresh tests.For candidates who have spent months preparing for a national-level examination, the re-test means another round of preparation, travel and uncertainty. While the NTA has waived the additional fee, the disruption itself remains significant.
Other 84 subjects will not be affected
The NTA has made it clear that the re-test will not hold up the UGC-NET process for the remaining 84 subjects.Results for those subjects will be declared according to the existing schedule. The agency has also said that the allocation of JRF seats and the issuance of eligibility certificates for Assistant Professor positions and PhD admissions will not be delayed because of the re-examination.For English, Commerce and Sociology, the NTA said the allocation of JRF seats, Assistant Professor eligibility and PhD eligibility will follow the rules laid down in the examination information bulletin.
