22,836 CUET-UG aspirants in 100 percentile this year

There has been an increase in the number of students scoring in the hundredth percentile of the new, all-India entrance examination for college admissions this year, according to the results of the common university entrance test for undergraduate courses (CUET-UG) that was declared on Saturday, showing 22,836 were in the topmost performance band.

- Fareeha Iftikhar

Last year, when the test was held for the first time, 21,159 scored in the hundredth percentile, suggesting this year, college admissions will see a tougher competition than last time.

A total of 1.1 million students -513,978 women and 602,028 men- took the test, which was held over multiple sessions between May 21 and July 5. In all, 249 universities will hold their admissions on the basis of applicants' CUET-UG performance this includes all central government-run universities, and some private varsities.

To be sure, the 22,836 number represents multiple hundredth percentile scores being counted separately even if attained by the same student.

Unlike last year, the National Testing Agency (NTA) did not provide the number of students scoring hundredth percentile in more than one subject to up to five subjects. It did not announce the names of toppers either.

The maximum number of hundredth percentile scores were in English (5,685), followed by Biology (4,850), Economics (2,836), Business Studies (2,357), Political Science (1,796), History (1361), and Accountancy (1074).

A percentile represents the relative performance of a student-being in the hundredth percentile means they were virtually better than 100% of the others (this number is in reality likely to be a minute decimal point away from 100). For college admissions, a second metric will come into play: the "normalised score".