Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 13 (ANI): Nearly a dozen aspirants missed their exam on the first day of CUET UG on Tuesday at the Noida centre after being denied entry for arriving just minutes past the reporting time.

Candidates and parents, frustrated and helpless, stood outside the gates pleading with officials for over half an hour.

Many blamed traffic diversions, delayed public transport, and incorrect directions for the delay issues they say were beyond their control.

Students and Parents have now requested the NTA to reschedule the exam and make proper arrangements.

Anmol Bhati left home at 4 AM, but his journey was disrupted by late buses or wrong auto drop-offs.

'I left Bulandshahr at 4 AM thinking I'd have ample time,' Bhati, 17, told ANI. 'But the bus was late, and when I finally reached Noida, the auto dropped me at the wrong location. I had chosen Agra as my centre but was allotted Noida. None of this feels fair.'

CUET UG 2025 is being conducted by the National Testing Agency from May 13 to June 3 in computer-based mode across India and select international locations.

CUET UG 2025 exam is being held in three shifts: shift 1 from 9 am to 10 am, shift 2 from 12 noon to 1 pm and shift 3 from 3 pm to 4 pm.

The test serves as a gateway to undergraduate programmes in central, state, and participating universities.

Parents voiced deep concern over the rigid rules and lack of empathy shown at the centre. 'We left home well over 1.5 hrs back,' said Dr Nigam Pandey, who accompanied his daughter. 'Still, traffic diversions held us up. The authorities should consider genuine cases--children shouldn't lose a whole year over a few minutes.'

Several candidates highlighted the issue of being allotted centres far from their home cities, despite having selected nearby options during registration.

'Why are students being sent 60-200 km away? This needs to be reviewed. NTA should consider our plea.'

Another candidate, Dharmendra Singh from Bahadurgarh City, shared that he ran nearly 2 km after being dropped at the wrong spot by an auto. 'We reached the area at 8:20 AM but lost precious time figuring out the location,' he said.

Some families had travelled over 200 km for the exam, only to return home empty-handed. 'I couldn't earn today, and neither could my son attend his exam. Both our time and money are wasted,' said Pappu, a daily wager who had travelled with his son from Etah. 'We just want another chance.'

Outside the centres, parents endured the sweltering heat without shelter or basic seating. 'There was no place to sit, no shade--nothing,' one parent said. 'They must make basic arrangements for waiting families.'

The CUET UG paper covers 37 subjects, including 13 languages, 23 domain-specific subjects and one general aptitude test.

The CUET UG 2025 exam is being held in 13 languages, including Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. (ANI)