2 girls among top 3 in CUET-UG, Delhi boy bags second position | India News
NEW DELHI: Two woman candidates feature among the top three in the Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduate programmes (CUET-UG 2025), results for which were declared by National Testing Agency Friday. But declaration of results has not stopped candidates, including high scorers, from questioning syllabus deviations, errors in question papers and response sheets, as well as the normalisation process.Ananya Jain from Punjab, with an aggregate of 1225.93, emerged as the topper and was the only candidate to secure 100 percentile in four of the five subjects opted for. Arjav Jain from Delhi secured the second-highest score, followed by Purva Singh from Haryana. Even CUET high scorers upset over discrepancies Aneesh Jain from Rajasthan was in fourth place, followed by Raghav Saraf from Haryana.Around 13.54 lakh students registered for the exam this year, marginally higher than 13.47 lakh in 2024, but the number of candidates who appeared dropped to 10.71 lakh from 11.13 lakh last year.In the top 20 candidates, five are from Haryana, three from Delhi, two each from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, and one each from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra.This year, candidates scored full marks (250) in just five subjects, compared to full marks (200) being achieved in 45 subjects in 2024. The test covered 37 subjects and 13 languages, and was conducted over 19 days across 300 cities, including 15 international locations. The number of universities participating fell to 239 from 283 in 2024, indicating that some institutions opted out amid concerns about the test’s evolving framework and operational challenges.Among subjects, psychology, political science, business studies, Punjabi, and Urdu saw candidates achieving the highest possible score of 250, while the top score in physical education was as low as 219, highlighting variations across disciplines. Seventeen candidates scored 100 percentile in three subjects, 150 managed it in two subjects, and 2,679 aspirants scored 100 percentile in one subject.Candidates continued to express frustration on social media over the exam and many have written to the education ministry seeking remedial action. Even high scorers voiced disappointment over discrepancies. Matangsih Zula from Ahmedabad, who wrote to the local MP and the ministry, said he had raised concerns with NTA about errors in response sheets and answer keys a month ago but got no reply. Zula, who scored 99 percentile in GAT, 97 in English, 94.5 in mathematics and 93 in economics, had challenged six questions in the provisional key, of which three were later corrected.Candidates particularly highlighted issues with the physical education paper, alleging that despite formal challenges, the agency failed to revise key answers. Aspirants pointed out that Unit 3 in the official syllabus allowed them to choose “one sport of their choice,” but the test carried mandatory questions from multiple sports. NTA had earlier stated: “The panel of subject experts decided not to provide options in Unit 3, as it was deemed impractical. Questions included in the paper were fundamental in nature”. The response failed to allay concerns.
