CUET 2022: All you need to know before registration starts on 2nd April 2022

The registration process for?Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2022?is set to begin on April 2, 2022 for admissions in central universities for the academic session 2022-23. This newly-introduced entrance exam has created quite a buzz, but candidates still have several doubts regarding this.

What is the deadline for registering for CUET?

The online application form for CUET 2022 will be made live on CUET’s official website —?cuet.samarth.ac.in —?on April 2 and will be available till April 30, 2022.

?What is official CUET website?

Candidates can find all CUET information on the official website —?cuet.samarth.ac.in Additionally, information can also be accessed from the NTA’s official website —?nta.ac.in

?When is the CUET 2022 exam?

While no?set exam date has been announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) yet, it has been announced that the exam will be held in July 2022. Once the date is finalized, NTA will notify students through the official CUET website —?cuet.samarth.ac.in

?What is the syllabus for CUET?

The UGC Chairman has repeatedly made it clear that students need not enroll themselves for extra coaching classes or buy extra books to pass the CUET exam. The questions of this entrance exam will purely be based on the syllabus taught to students in schools in class 12. Students only need their assigned NCERT books to prepare for CUET 2022.

?Mode of exam

CUET 2022 will be conducted in a Computer Based Test (CBT) mode. It will be held in held in 13 languages — namely Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odiya, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, English, Hindi and Urdu. Additionally, a candidate can also pick from 19 other languages such as French, German, Japanese, Russian, Bodo, Santhali and many more.

?What will be the format of the test and how will be designed?

The test will be conducted in two sessions of roughly about four hours duration each. In the first session, a student has to attempt one language paper out of 13 languages (as specified above). They can also choose two domain subjects out of 27 and then if a student chooses to write, they can also write a general test. In the second session, the student can take up to four domain subjects and also write a language test. In this case, the student can pick any language from a list of 19 — French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and Chinese. This will be for those looking to sign up for UG degree programmes in foreign languages offered by certain Central Universities.

?Sections of test

CUET has 3 sections – Section 1, a compulsory section tests command over language, used as a medium of instruction. Section 2 tests domain subjects. Section 3 is a general test comprising of GK and aptitude testing, which may be required by certain universities for specific courses.

?Section I

The CUET 2022 exam has been divided into two different language sections:

Section IA is a 45-minutes long compulsory section which is designed to test the students’ command over the English language and one Indian language — which has to be chosen from Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia.

Section IB will be attempted by students who are aiming to get admissions in undergraduate programmes for foreign languages. Under this section, students have to choose from a list of 19 languages — French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

?Section II

This section will assess a student’s understanding of the core subjects that he/she aims to pursue in their undergraduate programmes. Candidates will be given 45 minutes to solve 40 questions from a choice of 50.

In this section, students will be allowed to pick six out of 27 subjects, namely

1.???Accountancy

2.???Book Keeping;

3.???Biology/ Biological Studies/Biotechnology/Biochemistry;

4.???Business Studies;

5.???Chemistry;

6.???Computer Science/ Informatics Practices;

7.???Economics/ Business Economics;

8.???Engineering Graphics;

9.???Entrepreneurship;

10.Geography/Geology;

11.History;

12.Home Science;

13.Knowledge Tradition and Practices of India;

14.Legal Studies;

15.Environmental Science;

16.Mathematics;

17.Physical Education/ NCC /Yoga;

18.Physics;

19.Political Science;

20.Psychology;

21.Sociology;

22.Teaching Aptitude;

23.Agriculture;

24.Mass Media/ Mass Communication;

25.Anthropology;

26.Fine Arts/Visual Arts (Sculpture/ Painting)/Commercial Arts;

27.Performing Arts – (i) Dance (Kathak/ Bharatnatyam/Odissi/ Kathakali/Kuchipudi/ Manipuri (ii) Drama- Theatre (iii) Music General (Hindustani/ Carnatic/ Rabindra Sangeet/ Percussion/ Non-Percussion); Sanskrit.

?Section III

The last section of CUET 2022 is designed to test general knowledge of a student. However, this is not a compulsory section as this will be attempted by students whose choice of undergraduate programme demands assessment of general knowledge rather than simply hard-core testing of domain-centric subjects. Students will be given an hour to attempt 60 out of 75 questions which will be based on current affairs, general knowledge, quantitative reasoning, application of basic mathematical concepts.

?Can past year students apply for CUET 2022?

Yes, UGC has made it clear that if any university allows students who have cleared class 12 exams in recent years to take admissions in 2022 session, then they can apply for CUET 2022 too.

?Can students switch streams?

CUET has not limited students from changing their streams, i.e. a student who pursued Science stream in high school is welcome to pursue humanities-based undergraduate courses. However, it is students to ensure that they check the eligibility criteria from their desired universities, in such a case, and make sure they choose domain and language courses accordingly.

How will universities prepare merit lists and admit students based on the CUET?

The?CUET will not rank students,?it will simply provide them scores. There will be negative marking for wrong answers in the test which will be computer-based and will have multiple choice questions (MCQ format). Marks scored in the class 12 board exam will not be given any weightage, however, universities have been given the option to use board exam scores in one count. For example, a particular university can say, irrespective of a candidate’s score in the CUET, their application for admission will be considered only if they score at least 60 per cent in the boards exams. But that will vary from university to university and not all of them will use board exam scores as qualifying criteria. There will be more clarity on this aspect after the guidelines are formally issued.

?How necessary will it be for a student to take special coaching to clear CUET??

Prof Kumar believes coaching will not be necessary as the questions in the test will be based on the NCERT syllabus which is widely accepted in the country. However, the UGC is mindful of the fact that there are some differences when it comes to certain state boards.

“These issues (board-wise syllabus variations) will be taken into account. These exams are not going to be like the IIT exams. Experts will moderate the difficulty level and questions will be confined to class 12 syllabus alone,” Prof Kumar said. He added, “In the case of the IIT entrances, over a million candidates compete for around 16,000 seats. But in the case of central universities, Delhi University alone has around 70,000 seats and when the other universities (total 45) are taken into account, there will be a couple of lakhs seats. The ratio of seats against applicants will be 1:5 as against 1:50 or 1:60 in the case of IITs. In the case of IITs, tough questions drive people to coaching. But in CUET, the difficulty level of questions will be moderated so that students are comfortable without coaching.”

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