NTA
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar made his first visit to National Testing Agency (NTA) recently. While addressing the gathering the Minister said that the establishment of the NTA is in line with the vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct fair, transparent and user-friendly examinations and NTA is doing this job perfectly. He said that the Ministry has established National Testing Agency (NTA), as an independent, autonomous and self-sustained organisation to conduct efficient, transparent and international standardized tests in order to assess the competency of candidates. The Minister said that NTA will bring out the best practices in conducting examinations like Psychometric data analysis of previous years’ performance of candidates and its interpretations in the light of question papers, etc.
He said that the first major examination, viz. UGC-NET, December 2018 is currently underway since 18th December 2018. Before this, the NTA conducted examinations for SWAYAM on December 1 and 2, 2018 in which about 3800 candidates participated in 90 subjects. He further informed that the major examinations to be conducted by NTA include University Grant Commission-NET Eligibility (UGC- NET), JEE (Main), CMAT, GPAT and NEET.
He also informed that for the first time in national professional examinations, CCTV Surveillance through more than 8000 CCTV cameras is being done for approximately 600 examination centres spread all over India. The main aim for having a live CCTV surveillance system in each of the exam rooms of these examination centres is to ensure fair examination and curb malpractices in the examinations. Also, NTA has established a network of more than 4000 Test Practice Centres, especially for students of rural areas, so that candidates have an opportunity to practice on computers before the exam.
Exams by NTA:
Important Pre-Examination Activity
The following Pre-Examination activities have been taken up to ensure smooth, fair and valid examinations.
a. Psychometric data analysis of previous years’ performance will be done.
b. Question paper analysis and its co-relation to the blueprint and sharing thereof.
c. The orientation of all “Paper Setters” to ensure item-writing is qualitatively improved for the current cycle.
NTA’s first major Examination
UGC-NET December 2018 is conducted by the NTA in Computer-Based Technology mode for the first time.
About 9.5 lakh test takers will take the test between 18 and 22 December in two shifts on each day. There are 10 shifts and in each shift about, 95,000 examinees will be appearing. On day one there were28 subjects scheduled for testing in two shifts. On days two, three, four, five these of numbers are 19, 24, 9, 4 and 1 respectively. Overall, there are 85 subjects being tested. These exams are being conducted in 598 centres in 295 cities across the country every day. There used to be about 91 cities earlier.
The NTA has made elaborate preparations to conduct these examinations in a free, fair, transparent and scientific manner through NTA Control Room, 24 State Coordinators, 295 City Coordinators and 742 Observers.
The State Level Co-ordinators, who are senior Principals will anchor NTA-CBT at the State Level, by bridging between CCCs and NTA Control Room, gain an understanding of end to end CBT process and ensure compliance through CCCs (Certified City Coordinators). The SCs will stay connected with NTA control room through video conferencing and stay connected till the end of the examination on each exam day.
The Principals who are acting as CCCs will visit all the test centres assigned to them during each shift, oversee and report status updates to CSCs, act as a link between the Test Centre and NTA though State Coordinators. They will remain connected with Observers and Centres in their city and maintain interaction as recommended.
1400 Observers have been oriented in a 3-hour session at 13 venues across the country.
500 Observers who could not attend orientation in face to face mode have been oriented in the virtual mode through ‘hangouts and video-conferencing’. These Observers are Professors/ Associate Professors/Assistant Professors of School/Universities/Deemed University/Private Aided Colleges and Private Un-aided Colleges.
Provision of live CCTV-
The NTA has made arrangements for live viewing at a remote location and recording CCTV Systems of almost all examination centres at control room situated in the NTA. Simultaneously, there is a recording of live CCTV footage.
Test Practice Centres for Mock Tests-
As decided by the MHRD, NTA has established a network of more than 4000 Test Practice Centres. These TPCs are opened on Saturdays/Sundays, and any student can use the facility free of charge. NTA made Notification/s, inviting candidates, desiring to appear in various competitive examinations, conducted by NTA, to register online, for using TPC for practice. In addition, the NTA has also provided a mobile app to allow for ease of registration. So far about 99739 candidates have availed this facility in TPCs.
Jammers
In order to stop cheating using mobile networks, Jammers have been installed in all the Centres. A total of about 40000 jammers have been put in place during various shifts of examination.
Announcement of Results
The results of the UGC-NET December 2018 Examination will be announced before January 10, 2019. NTAs next major Examination NTAs next major examination is JEE (Main) which is scheduled to be held from 8–12 January 2019. Preparations are underway for the same.
Salient Details of UGC-NET December 2018 Examination are as below-
- Number of Subjects: 85
- Number of Centres: 598
- Number of Cities: 235
- Max Candidates at one centre – 25076 in 10 Shifts at Kolkata
- Min Candidates at one centre – 23 in 1 Shift at Tripura
