NTA defends Rs 200 answer key challenge fee, says it benefits all candidates
The NTA has defended its Rs 200 answer key challenge fee, saying the system is designed to benefit all candidates. The agency said the fee discourages frivolous objections and is refunded when a candidate’s challenge to an answer is upheld.
New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday night said its ‘answer key challenge’ system is designed to be fair to all students and rejected concerns about it being expensive.
An NTA answer key challenge is an online process where candidates who take an exam (like JEE Main, NEET, or UGC NET) can object to errors in the provisional answer key.
The NTA has been under fire lately over issues ranging from NEET-UG paper leak to errors in the UGC-NET examinations.
“On the concern being raised that answer key challenges are ‘too expensive’: a quick clarification for candidates. The answer key challenge system is designed to be fair to every student, not just the one who challenges,” NTA said in a post on X.
“One challenge, everyone benefits. If even a single candidate challenges a question, and the subject experts accept the challenge, the revised answer key applies to every candidate who wrote the exam.
The NTA said fee is charged for challenging an answer to discourage frivolous challenges and it is refunded if the challenge turns out to be right.
“The Rs 200/question is refunded to the candidate whose challenge is upheld. The fee exists to discourage frivolous challenges, not to profit from genuine ones,” the agency said.
“So if you have identified a genuine error and raised it, if found correct will not only be refunded but one accurate challenge from any candidate can correct the record for lakhs of others,” it added.