CUET PG 2026 Result: NTA Issues Clarification on Rescheduled Tests Evaluation Amid Normalisation Controversy

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has issued a detailed clarification regarding concerns circulating on social media about the conduct and evaluation of the Common University Entrance Test Postgraduate (CUET PG) 2026. The agency addressed allegations related to examinations conducted on multiple dates and claims that candidates who appeared for rescheduled tests were exempted from the normalisation process.

The clarification comes weeks after NTA announced the CUET PG 2026 results on April 24. The entrance examination was conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from March 6 to March 30 across various cities in India and select overseas locations. Candidates were able to access their scorecards online through the official portal using their login credentials.

In an official statement shared through the social media platform X, NTA said it was issuing the clarification to prevent the spread of misinformation and speculation regarding the examination and result preparation process. The agency explained that a small number of candidates had been unable to take their examinations on the originally scheduled dates due to circumstances beyond their control.

According to NTA, a total of 565 candidates across 28 subjects were affected by disruptions during the examination period. The reasons included law-and-order disturbances in Tura, Meghalaya, and security-related challenges at certain overseas examination centres. To ensure that these candidates were not disadvantaged, the agency organised special rescheduled examinations on March 29 and March 30, 2026.

NTA stated that the decision to conduct the rescheduled tests was taken as a welfare measure aimed at safeguarding the interests of affected students. The agency reiterated that it is committed to ensuring that candidates do not suffer academic consequences because of circumstances outside their control.

Addressing one of the major concerns raised online, NTA clarified that no candidate appearing for CUET PG 2026 underwent score normalisation. The agency explained that its policy for CUET PG is to report absolute marks obtained by candidates in each subject. Therefore, candidates who took the rescheduled examinations were evaluated using exactly the same method as those who appeared during the main examination window.

The agency stressed that there was no exemption granted to any group of candidates because normalisation was not applied to any participant in the examination. All scores were calculated and reported on the basis of actual marks secured in the respective tests.

NTA further argued that applying a statistical normalisation process between the main examination group and the rescheduled cohort would not have been meaningful due to the significant difference in the size of the two groups. The agency pointed out that in subjects such as English, approximately 16,000 candidates appeared during the main examination period compared to around 120 candidates in the rescheduled test. Similar disparities existed in Political Science and History, where tens of thousands of candidates took the original examination while only a small number appeared later.

According to the agency, attempting to normalise scores between cohorts of vastly different sizes would not yield reliable or statistically valid results. It maintained that comparing a group of around 100 candidates with groups comprising tens of thousands would not support a meaningful normalisation exercise.

NTA also addressed concerns regarding the question papers used for the rescheduled examinations. The agency clarified that these papers were not created after the disruptions occurred. Instead, they formed part of a pre-approved pool of question papers prepared in advance by subject experts. These experts had assessed and certified that the papers used in the rescheduled tests were equivalent in difficulty level to those administered during the main examination period.

The testing agency concluded by reiterating that all CUET PG 2026 candidates were evaluated using the same absolute-marking approach and that the rescheduling process was designed solely to ensure fairness for students affected by unforeseen disruptions.