The provisional answer keys for UGC-NET June 2026 are now live, and candidates who spot a mistake have a short window to object. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has opened the UGC-NET June 2026 answer key challenge for 84 subjects, letting aspirants flag any question they think has been marked wrong. The catch: it closes at 11:59 P.M. on 18 August 2026, so there’s little time to sit on it.
NTA held the UGC-NET June 2026 exam from 22 to 30 June 2026 across 87 subjects. The test decides the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), eligibility for the post of Assistant Professor, and admission to Ph.D. programmes.
UGC-NET June 2026 answer key challenge: dates and fee
Candidates can view their recorded responses along with the provisional answer key on the official website and object to any question they disagree with. Here’s the core information at a glance.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Activity | Answer Key Challenge |
| Subjects covered | 84 subjects |
| Fee | Rs. 200 per question challenged (refundable in full for accepted challenges) |
| Challenge window | 16 August 2026 to 18 August 2026 (up to 11:59 P.M.) |
| Fee payment deadline | 18 August 2026 (11:59 P.M.) |
| Payment modes | Debit Card, Credit Card or Net Banking |
The processing fee of Rs. 200 per question is refunded in full for every challenge the expert panel accepts. No challenge will be entertained without receipt of the fee.
Three subjects held back for now
NTA is not inviting challenges for all 87 subjects yet. English, Commerce and Sociology have been kept aside. A committee was set up to examine complaints about various errors in the question papers of these three subjects, and NTA says a separate public notice on them will follow later today.
Points candidates should keep in mind
- Challenges are accepted only through the online mode on the official website, during the stipulated window, with the fee. Objections sent by email, fax or letter, or without the fee, will be rejected.
- If subject experts accept a challenge, the correction is applied uniformly to every candidate of that subject. So there’s no need to raise the same objection more than once.
- No challenge or grievance about the answer keys will be entertained once the window shuts or after the result is declared.
How challenges are processed
Subject matter experts verify every objection. Where a challenge is found correct on merit, the provisional answer key is revised, and responses are then evaluated against the revised final answer key before the result is prepared. Individual decisions won’t be sent to candidates one by one. Instead, the revised final answer key will be published on the official website before the results come out.
Candidates should check https://www.nta.ac.in/ and https://ugcnet.nta.ac.in/ for updates and rely only on official communication from NTA. The clock is ticking: log in, cross-check your responses, and raise any objection well before 11:59 P.M. on 18 August 2026.