Candidate Numbers Dip but Test Takers Double: CUET-UG 2024 Sees Shift in Subject Choices and Gender Participation

The number of candidates for Common University Entrance Test - Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2024 dropped by around 1.5 lakh this year, but the number of tests opted for more than doubled (from 28 lakh to 57.6 lakh in this period). A CUET-UG aspirant is allowed to apply for a maximum of six subjects and the latest application trend indicates that the number of subjects per applicant is up to 4.3 from 2.3 last year.

- Approximately 75% of CUET-UG aspirants will take the English exam this year.

- About 62% of candidates will sit for the General test.

- The subject-wise application trend shows a surge in popularity for sciences and language papers.

- English exams have reached a new milestone, with over 10 lakh applicants.

- However, there is a dip in commerce, social sciences and humanities. The test also recorded nearly a 3% increase in female participation.

This year over 13.4 lakh candidates have registered for the common entrance test for admission to central universities as well as for participating state, deemed and private universities. In 2023 the test recorded over 14.9 lakh registrations, up from 9.9 lakh in 2022 in the first edition of the test.

"Anything above 10 lakh is a big number. This is a small variation, which happens in such a large examination and 13.4 lakh anyways is a big number," said UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar.

According to National Testing Agency (NTA) officials, the number could marginally increase as payment reconciliation of some candidates is still pending.

"Though there is a marginal drop in the number of candidates, we hope the attendance will be better this year due to two reasons. There are more cities and centres where the exam will be delivered and therefore candidates will have to travel comparatively less. Another reason is the hybrid mode where for some subjects the exam will be conducted in pen-paper mode, such as subjects with higher registrations as well as for those in certain specific regions where computer/ IT infrastructure is an issue," said Subodh Kumar Singh, director general, NTA. The final dates and the subjects for which pen-paper mode will be available will be decided next week. Category-wise the percentage of female candidates has moved up from 44.3% in 2023 to 47% this year. In the first edition in 2022, the percentage of female participation was 43.4%.

Category Wise Registration 

- General candidates account for 5.4 lakh (40.3%) of the total.

- OBC (non-creamy layer) candidates make up 4.8 lakh (35.8%) of the total.

- There are 1.4 lakh SC aspirants.

- Both Gen-EWS and ST categories have over 88,000 candidates each.

Even though the total number of candidates witnessed a dip, subject-wise numbers of test takers have increased in the third edition of the exam for the seven of the 10 top choices.

In Sciences Top Choice

In sciences, chemistry with seven lakh registrations is the top choice, followed by physics (6.7 lakh), mathematics/ applied mathematics (4.8 lakh), and biology (3.9 lakh). Barring biology, each of these subjects as well as other science/ technology subjects like computer science (1 lakh) has registered a new high. Domain subject registration is led by General test with a record 8.3 lakh candidates. On the other hand commerce, humanities and social sciences have seen a drop in numbers.

Top 10 domain subjects

General test 8,34,207

Chemistry 7,01,750

Physics 6,72,773

Maths/ Applied mathematics 4,86,365

Biology/Biological studies/Biotecnology/ Biochemistry 3,91,409

Economics/ Business economics 2,13,996

Business studies 1,93,252

Accountancy/ Book-keeping 1,80,795

Political science 1,61,333

History 1,37,568

Top 5 language subjects

English 10,07,336

Hindi 2,07,839

Sanskrit 8,901

Bengali 9,065

Urdu 6,726