CUET day 1: Students in Bengaluru complain of delay in getting admit cards, distant exam centres

Many students complained of the admission card reaching them two days before the examination amid mounting uncertainty about the examination centre. However, many who appeared for Slot 1 papers like general test, economics, English, legal studies and mathematics, among others, found general test and legal studies to be difficult while the rest were not so difficult.

Questions in the general test included those related to Hindu kingdoms, logical reasoning and family trees. In English, the questions were on antonyms and synonyms, poetic devices and grammar, among others.

Kul Gaurav, who appeared for English, legal studies and the general test, said, “I felt legal studies to be a bit difficult because it was not my domain. However, I prepared for this subject by referring to legal service-related videos on YouTube. The other subjects were quite easy,” said Gaurav who wants to pursue medicine and is preparing for NEET as well.

Astha Verma, who appeared for English, mathematics, general test and computer science, believes that students should have been given more time for preparation. She also complained that the examination centre was very far. “The examination dates and admit cards were scheduled and processed haphazardly, leaving me very uncertain. I travelled almost 27 km (from Hebbal) to write the examination,” said Verma, who wants to pursue computer science engineering. “Most of the questions were NCERT-based and I felt they were easy,” she added.

An official with the National Testing Agency (NTA) said, on condition of anonymity, that distant examination centres may have led many students to opt out of appearing for the examination at the last moment.

Adyanshika Rai, a pre-university student from Bengaluru, complained of technical glitches during the CUET examination. She appeared for economics, general test and English, which was slotted for the morning, and mathematics, which was slotted for the afternoon, on the same day. “I was supposed to finish the first slot exam by 12.15 pm, but I finished 30 minutes late. The system started hanging and the screen blacked out. The technical glitches affected all my three papers and I lost 20 minutes in total due to this. There were a couple of other candidates as well who flagged technical problems in the system,” said Rai who wants to pursue economics at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

“We are allowing a buffer time of 15 minutes after the deadline for reporting at the centre, ensuring that students do not miss out on their examination. Students are a little stressed out, considering that CUET is being conducted for the first time and it is an important milestone in their academic life,” an NTA official said.