NTA defends ₹200 answer key challenge fee, says valid objections benefit all candidates

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has defended its answer key challenge fee amid concerns from candidates and educators over the cost of raising objections to multiple questions.

The agency said the challenge mechanism is intended to identify and correct genuine errors in examination answer keys, with any accepted correction applied to all candidates who took the test.

According to the NTA, if a candidate challenges a question and subject experts determine that the objection is valid, the revised answer key will be used for every candidate who appeared for the examination.

The agency also clarified that the ₹200 fee charged for each challenged question is refunded when the objection is upheld.

"The fee exists to discourage frivolous challenges, not to profit from genuine ones," the NTA said.

The testing agency said candidates who identify legitimate errors and submit valid objections will receive a refund of the challenge fee. It added that a correction based on a single valid objection can benefit lakhs of other candidates.

The clarification came after educators and aspirants visited the NTA office on Tuesday to raise concerns about the answer key challenge process.

Student Suchitra Srivastava highlighted the financial burden of challenging several questions, particularly for candidates from middle-income families.

"I appeared for the Political Science paper. The problem right now is that 14 questions are challengeable. These are basic questions that any Political Science student can easily answer... But challenging 14 questions is not easy for a middle-class student. It costs Rs 200 per question, which means Rs 2,800 for 14 questions,” she said.