NTA releases new test dates for UGC NET 2026 exam for 3 subjects, issues notice on fee and admit card

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Sunday announced that it has decided to cancel UGC-NET June 2026 examination for 3 subjects, namely English, Commerce and Sociology. It acknowledged that these exams had certain errors which could not be overlooked and hence declared new test dates.

“In respect of three subjects, namely English, Commerce and Sociology, NTA had received several complaints on multiple errors in these papers,” NTA's notice dated 16 August states. The cancellation of UGC NET June exam follows scrapping of NEET-UG 2026 exam which prompted massive public uproar.

The UGC-NET 2026 examination was conducted for a total of 87 subjects from 22 to 30 June 2026. This national level examination is conducted for the award of Junior Research Fellowship, eligibility for Assistant Professor and admission to PhD programmes.

According to the testing agency, a committee was set up to assess the magnitude of errors in the UGC NET exam of these three subjects which found “many factual, typographical, translation errors including misspelt names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, errors in the stem wording of questions, grammatical errors, gender and number agreement errors, punctuation mistakes, and non-standard coined terms for established concepts, as well as repetition of a significant number of questions previously administered.”

Re-examination dates

Recognising the need for “fair and error-free examination”, NTA decided to re-conducted test for the above, the three subjects — English, Commerce and Sociology. The re-test will be conducted as per the following schedule:

• English: 9th September 2026

Shift 1 - 9 AM to 12 Noon

• Commerce : 9th September 2026

Shift 2 - 3 PM to 6 PM

• Sociology : 10th September 2026

Shift 1 - 9 AM to 12 Noon

What did NTA say on exam fee and admit card?

“Details of city, centre, and admit card details will be notified separately on the official website. No additional examination fee will be charged from the candidates of these three subjects for the re-conduct," the testing agency said.

What happens to 84 other subjects?

NTA released the provisional answer key for 84 subjects on 16 August whose final results will be declared as per schedule. “Allocation of JRF seats and issuance of e-certificates for eligibility for Assistant Professor and for admission to PhD for these 84 subjects will not be delayed due to re-conduct of the examination for the three subjects,” NTA said. The NTA opened provisional answer key challenge window for these subjects on the same day. The last date to submit objections is 18 August.