CUET UG 2023: What Is UGC’s Normalisation Process & How Does It Affects Student’s Scores? – News18

National Testing Agency has released the CUET UG 2023 Results. This year, there were some 22,000 thousand students who have scored cent percent marks in English subject. Moreover, the number of Common University Entrance Test 2023 applicants were high as compared to last year. Despite this, there are some students who have complained that due to UGC’s normalisation process, there scores have been reduced. However, UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar informs that CUET UG 2023 scores of each student are a result of ‘equi-percentile method‘.

It has to be noted that scores received by the students in their CUET UG are normalised scores. But what is the process of normalisation and how it impacts a candidate marks? This article will trace the impacts and process of normalisation. So continue reading!

What Is Normalisation Process And Its Concerns?

The Common University Entrance Test is country’s second largest single examination. Many students across the country appear for the NTA CUET examination. Due to this NTA conducts CUET examination in various shifts. For example, the examination of subject like English can be conducted twice or even thrice due to large number of students applying for the language. Thus the questions and its difficulty level for each CUET Session will be different and hence the raw score or the average score for each CUET session will be different. This will not keep all the applicants on same footing thus a process of normalisation is introduced.

To quote NTA ” Unlike CUET-UG, other entrance examinations are limited to fewer subjects. In single session entrance tests, one common statistically established method is to transform the raw marks into a common uniform scale using the percentile method so that the performance of students can be compared to each other. But in entrance tests such CUET-UG since the test is conducted on different days and in multiple sessions for the same subject, it will give rise to multiple percentiles for each group of students”

Sharing concerns the NTA in its normalisation document mentions that for some courses like fine arts and sports, universities gives ‘skill component‘. Skill component is like an extra marks to these students of having such skills and now making career in the field as well. Various universities offers different percentage like 25% for the skill component factor. These marks are usually added to the raw marks of the candidate. An average applicant of CUET who is not appearing for sports or fine arts may not get the advantage of skill component. Thus creating difference and NTA puts it “it would be similar to adding oranges to apples.”

Solution Of NTA’s Concerns- Equi Percentile Method

The equipercentile approach can be used as a solution for this circumstance. By comparing each candidate’s raw score to the scores of other candidates taking the same exam, the percentile for each candidate is determined using this method. This is carried out for each session of the same subject across several days. After that, these percentiles are equalized and changed into normalized marks. Sessions with fewer candidates are combined with sessions with more candidates.

The equipercentile technique makes applicants’ performance similar across NTA sessions by using the same scale for all candidates. Therefore, if a particular university is using skill component with a weightage for instance 25% and then adding it to the remaining weightage of say 75% then here is each subject for which examination is held in multiple shifts, raw marks are converted into normalised marks on a common scale.

NTA CUET Normalisation Process Formula

Total Percentile multiplied by 100 and divided by number of candidates appeared from the session with raw score/ total number of students appeared in the examination session.

The exam administration organizations implemented this normalizing procedure to decrease student discontent with the establishment. Considering how many candidates showed up to take the test. Some may have shifts that are difficult with good-level questions, while others may have shifts with simple questions. It is challenging to keep the same level of questions when there are several applicants or shifts.