Now, students get psychology paper instead of sociology in CUET horror

NEW DELHI: Many students who appeared for the second session of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) on August 5 reported receiving the psychology question paper instead of sociology that they had opted for. They said they were under tremendous pressure because they had to appear for a paper that wasn’t one of the domain papers that they had chosen.
Stating that they were worried about missing out on admissions in DU if their CUET marks were affected by this, Anurag Meena, who had his exam at Nalanda Modern Public School in Burari in north Delhi, said, “When we informed the invigilators about getting the psychology question paper instead of sociology, they said we had to inform the National Testing Agency (NTA) and that the invigilators could do nothing about it. They then asked us to attempt the paper as that was better than scoring nothing. I haven’t studied psychology in school and just answered randomly. I am interested in pursuing a sociology degree from DU, but my entrance marks now are uncertain.”
At the Sushant University exam centre in Gurgaon, students had to sit through the designated 45 minutes for the timer to run out. Palak Sinha said, “I had four domain papers of which I attempted the psychology paper first. But when I switched to the sociology paper, it displayed the psychology question paper instead. When we informed the invigilators, they asked us to wait for the exam time to elapse. Later, we were made to write to NTA.”
Examinees from across the country have written to various authorities, including NTA, over the problems related to CUET in the last couple of days but haven’t received any response. Ajay Singh of Lucknow said, “I have sent around 10 emails, all in vain. I was told that my psychology paper would be marked even when it is not a subject I opted for. My other papers went well, but I am worried because of the psychology score.”
Speaking to TOI, an NTA official said that these students would be given a chance to appear for the right paper in the third phase of CUET. “Wherever there have been such technical lapses, students will be given another opportunity. They might not be getting a response to their messages right now because it is not possible to respond to individual mails,” the official said.
Meanwhile, after several glitches in the past few days, students at a CUET centre in DU said on Monday that their exam went off smoothly. Shreya, a Paschim Vihar resident, said, “There were no glitches and it was a relief since we had heard from friends about the earlier hassles.”
Parent Mansi Sharma talked of how children had been nervous and disturbed because of the CUET glitches. “They study through the night only to find out next morning that the examination has been cancelled or postponed. Our children are anxious about admission. Not everyone can afford private universities. Because of CUET, they could end up wasting a year.”