National Testing Agency (NTA) will issue the provisional answer key for the Common University Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses (CUET PG) 2025 sometime during this week. The move is being anxiously awaited by aspirants who have taken the exam, conducted from March 13 to April 1 across various centres of India. The answer key release is an important phase of the post-exam process since it enables students to gauge their performance and prepare for subsequent phases of admission.

The answer key will be made available once released on the official CUET PG website, and candidates will be able to access it using their credentials. This is a critical point in the testing cycle, providing clarity on the assessment process and providing an opportunity to candidates to object to any irregularities they observe in the key. Since the answer key is preliminary, it is susceptible to challenges, and the NTA will also open an objection window with the release. Via this facility, candidates can raise objections for any answer they find incorrect or inconsistent.

The challenge process will have a non-refundable cost of Rs 200 per question. The cost is to make sure only serious and thoughtful objections are raised. After receiving the objections, a panel of subject-matter experts will carefully scrutinise each of them. If an objection is deemed valid and results in a revision of the answer key, candidates who filled in the revised correct answer will be given corresponding marks. Significantly, in instances where a question has been determined to be technically flawed or invalid, the NTA has ensured that all candidates are awarded full marks regardless of whether they attempted the question.

The examination procedure, which is one of the biggest of its sort in the nation, witnessed a huge turnout this year. 4,62,586 applicants registered for CUET PG 2025, out of which 2,47,990 were female applicants, 2,14,587 were male applicants, and 9 applicants were from the third gender. Though this number is less than last year’s registrations, which were 7,68,414, the exam still drew a large number of candidates from all over India, testifying to its significance in today’s academic environment.

Students seeking access to the answer key are required to come to the official CUET PG website at https://exams.nta.ac.in/CUET-PG. Upon the homepage, candidates need to find the link known as “CUET PG 2025 Answer Key.” Having clicked on the link and logging in using examination credentials, the answer key is viewable on the screen. Candidates are advised to download the PDF copy and maintain a personal copy for ease of reference in case they are interested in making objections.

Release of the answer key and the consequent challenge process are crucial to upholding the integrity and justice of the CUET PG test. NTA, over time, has kept its assessment methodology transparent and included students. By providing candidates the ability to get involved in the evaluation process through reporting discrepancies and raising challenges, it ensures the final outcome as correct and fair as possible.

After the release of the final answer key, including all legitimate corrections, the NTA will go ahead with the declaration of results. These results will be utilized by the participating universities to initiate counselling and admissions. CUET PG, launched to simplify postgraduate admissions in central and participating universities, has now emerged as a central part of the higher education calendar in India. It uniformizes access and verifies that students belonging to different groups are evaluated based on a homogeneous platform.

With thousands of candidates holding their breath for the release of the answer key, the next few days will go a long way. For most, this step is the start of a new academic journey. With transparency as its pillar, the CUET PG 2025 process continues to strive for fairness, inclusivity, and efficiency, providing aspirant postgraduate students with a level playing ground in seeking higher education.