The three papers will be re-conducted in September, according to the NTA’s latest decision. The English and Commerce examinations are scheduled for September 9, while the Sociology paper will be held on September 10.
The UGC-NET June 2026 examination was conducted in computer-based mode from June 22 to June 30. A separate re-examination was subsequently held on July 5 for candidates affected by a technical problem at an examination centre in Jalandhar.
The decision to re-conduct the three papers follows complaints about the quality and accuracy of the question papers. Candidates appearing for the Sociology examination had earlier reported several spelling, grammatical and translation errors, including alleged misspellings of the names of prominent scholars. Similar concerns were also raised over the English paper, with candidates alleging that a substantial number of questions had been repeated from an earlier examination.
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Among the examples cited by Sociology candidates were “Putzer” instead of sociologist George Ritzer, “Parsow” instead of Talcott Parsons, “Ghunye” instead of G.S. Ghurye and “Nusbaut” instead of Martha Nussbaum. Candidates also complained about errors in the Hindi translation and poorly framed questions. These examples were initially reported as complaints by candidates rather than independently established errors.
The controversy over the English paper was similarly fuelled by claims that numerous questions had appeared in an earlier UGC-NET examination. Reports at the time cited an allegation that 67 questions were repeated from the 2024 paper.
NTA’s decision to hold fresh examinations means the affected candidates will get another opportunity to take the tests rather than having disputed questions dealt with solely through the answer-key objection process.
The re-examination schedule announced by NTA is:
- English: September 9, 2026, Shift 1 — 9 am to noon
- Commerce: September 9, 2026, Shift 2 — 3 pm to 6 pm
- Sociology: September 10, 2026, Shift 1 — 9 am to noon
Candidates will not be required to pay an additional examination fee for the re-test. Details concerning examination cities, centres and admit cards will be communicated separately by NTA.
The UGC-NET examination is conducted to determine eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship and Assistant Professor positions and for admission to PhD programmes, making the accuracy of its question papers particularly significant for thousands of candidates.
For the other subjects in the June 2026 cycle, the answer-key and result process will continue separately. Candidates have been advised to rely on official NTA communications for updates on the re-examination, admit cards and examination centres.
The latest decision comes after the UGC-NET examination had already come under scrutiny over alleged question-paper irregularities, including concerns about repeated questions and errors in the Sociology paper.
