The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for undergraduate courses like BBA will now be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on May 13 and onwards instead of the previously scheduled date, which was May 08, 2025. Although the previously announced date was a tentative date of May 8.

The reason for the delay in conducting the exam was a lack of preparation by the NTA as indicated by the sources. 

Sources have informed that the NTA has informed the University Grants Commission (UGC) about its inability to conduct the test on the initially announced date. However, an official announcement regarding new dates for the exam is expected after a meeting between the NTA and the UGC, which was held on Tuesday, May 06, 2025. 

NTA is seeking extra time from UGC to conduct CUET exam for undergraduate programs, specifically for BBA due to the time lag in preparing for the CUET examination, which was primarily caused by giving priority to conducting the NEET-UG entrance exam last Sunday.

Thousands of candidates are waiting for the exam city slips and proper communication from the conducting body, NTA on the complete schedule, which has led to confusion as a result of the failure to release the exam schedule.

As per the tentative schedule released by the NTA, the exam is tentatively set to be held between May 8 and June 1. This is as per the NTA's March releases for CUET-UG registration and application.

CUET-UG is being conducted as a computer-based exam this year, just like it was conducted in 2023 and 2022. In 2024, the test was conducted in hybrid mode involving both pen-and-paper and computer-based parts. Some of the sources have mentioned that the multinational company TCS is helping with the computer-based examination.

While responding to the query of the candidates about whether Sunday’s NEET exam for undergraduate programs has led to the delay in the CUET-UG test, sources representing the Ministry of Education mentioned that NEET-UG is a pen-and-paper-based test, while CUET-UG is a computer-based test and the test centres for the two exams are separate. 

There won't likely to be too much overlap in the centres where the two tests will take place, as per the source. They further stated that the NTA personnel were gearing up for CUET-UG alongside NEET since it was already going to commence a few days after NEET-UG.

There were 37 topics in the exam. The exam is made up of 50 multiple-choice questions and takes 60 minutes. The exam will be conducted in two to three shifts per day. However, the total number of shifts will be dependent on the availability of exam centers. Talking about last year, the exam was conducted for around 13.48 lakh candidates. 

NTA has not come out with an official date sheet for the year yet, in contrast to previous years.  The agency, instead, should use the city intimation slips to convey exam information instantly.  These slips can be used to give subject-specific test dates, apart from making candidates aware of where their exam centers are. Parents and students all over the world have been complaining about the communication lapse, particularly due to travel and accommodation arrangements remaining excluded.

These are- English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Rules laid out in the information bulletin on the official website have to be followed carefully by the candidates.  However, there is no eligibility criterion for the applicants regarding age if they want to appear in the CUET-UG 2025 examination. Applicants should, however, fulfill any age requirements that have been established by the university or other organization to which they wish to apply.

About UGC

The University Grants Commission, a statutory body is located within the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India.  It was set up according to the UGC Act 1956 and ensures the coordination, establishment and maintenance of India's standards of higher education. The University Grants Commission is the parent body for the examination and NTA conducts the exam on the behalf of UGC.