UGC-NET Re-Test To Be Free, Qualifying Seats Will Not Be Reduced

Candidates appearing for the UGC-NET June 2026 re-test in English, Commerce and Sociology will not have to pay any additional examination fee, and the number of qualifying candidates or subject-wise allocations will not be reduced because of the fresh test, sources told ANI on Monday.

“The re-test is being held at no additional fee, and the number of qualifying candidates and the subject-wise allocations for those subjects will not be reduced on account of the re-test,” the sources said.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is also reviewing its internal procedures after an expert committee found multiple errors in the three papers, prompting the agency to order fresh examinations.

“NTA is using this experience to strengthen its internal processes and protocols at the stages of setting, moderating, translating and composing question papers, so that errors of this kind are prevented at source, and to fix responsibility for the lapses that occurred,” sources told ANI.

They added, “NTA is committed to conduct a fair, accurate and error-free examination system. All corrections are being made in the overall interest of candidates and to reinforce the foundation of a more accountable examination system. Internal processes and protocols are under review to ensure necessary corrections in the future.”

When Will The Re-Tests Be Held?

English will be re-conducted on September 9 from 9 am to noon, followed by Commerce from 3 pm to 6 pm. The Sociology re-test will take place on September 10 from 9 am to noon.

The original UGC-NET June 2026 examinations were held between June 22 and June 30 across 87 subjects. The test determines eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship, assistant professor positions and admission to PhD programmes.

What Errors Were Found?

The NTA constituted an expert committee after receiving complaints about the English, Commerce and Sociology papers.

The panel identified factual, typographical and translation errors, including misspelt names of scholars, garbled book titles, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, gender and number agreement errors and non-standard terminology. It also found that a significant number of questions had been repeated from previous examinations.

“It has therefore been concluded by NTA that papers carrying such defects do not meet the standards of fairness and error-free examination, and defects of this extent cannot be cured merely by dropping questions after the challenge process,” the agency said.

Results For Other Subjects To Continue

The re-test will not delay results for the remaining 84 subjects, the NTA said.

“Allocation of JRF seats and issuance of e-certificates for eligibility for Assistant Professor and for admission to PhD for these 84 subjects will not be delayed due to re-conduct of the examination for the three subjects,” it said.

For assistant professor eligibility, the qualifying pool will be capped at 6 per cent of candidates who appeared in the original test or the re-test, whichever is higher.

The agency also assured candidates that allocations already made for the three affected subjects would be protected.

“After the retest, the numbers already allocated for each subject shall not be reduced under any circumstances,” the NTA said.

Candidates have been advised to rely only on official NTA websites and communications for updates related to the re-examinations.