When Ananya Mehta from Jaipur opened her CUET-UG result, her heart skipped a beat. She had scored a perfect 800 out of 800. Her parents cheered, her coaching centre sent congratulatory sweets, and her Instagram flooded with “Future SRCC topper” comments. But just two weeks later, reality hit: she wasn’t even in the top 50 rankers for her chosen subject.

In fact, thousands of students across the country had also scored 800. Identical scores. Identical hopes. Identical confusion. This is the new face of Indian university admissions a system designed to reduce inequality and subjectivity, now accused of creating a different kind of pressure. CUET, launched with the promise of a “level playing field”, is fast becoming a new battleground, where scoring full marks isn’t a victory it’s just the starting line of another race.

In 2024, over 13.4 lakh students appeared for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG). When results were declared, over 22,000 candidates scored a perfect 800/800 a score so flawless that it has ironically sparked chaos rather than clarity. Across the country, students and parents scrambled to make sense of the new admission dynamics. Colleges that once set 99% as sky-high cutoff are now flooded with students scoring 100 percentile across multiple subjects, making it nearly impossible to stand out unless you aced not just one subject but three or four.

FROM 99% TO 800/800: THE GAME HAS CHANGED

Before CUET, Delhi University’s cutoffs were infamous. In 2021, Lady Shri Ram College for Women demanded 100% for three honours courses, sparking national outrage. But now, thanks to the CUET, the race has simply shifted format.
“Back then we were debating if 99% was too much. Now we have thousands scoring 800/800. What’s next – 801?” says a retired DU professor

ACCORDING TO NTA DATA:

• 22,000+ candidates scored the 100th percentile in at least one subject
• In subjects like Political Science, Psychology, and English, over 5,000 scored full marks
• The normalisation process, meant to account for different exam sessions, has led to multiple students with identical top scores – creating a clustering effect

NORMALISATION VS REAL RANKS: WHAT’S THE CONFUSION?

Unlike board marks, CUET uses normalized percentile scores, meaning your final result depends not just on your performance but how others fared in your slot. Students have expressed deep confusion over how raw marks translate into percentile scores, especially in multi-shift exams. “I got 198/200 in English and was still in the 98 percentile. Another friend with 194 had 99.3. We didn’t understand how it worked,”

Shreya Jha, CUET aspirant from Patna, “The result? A perfect score doesn’t always mean the best rank , making the admission process highly unpredictable. Even universities are struggling to interpret scores when hundreds of students have exactly the same result.

PARENTS FEEL THE PRESSURE, TOO

Parents, many of whom had navigated simpler admission processes in the past, now find themselves caught in the CUET coaching spiral. “We didn’t expect CUET to become like NEET or JEE. Now my daughter is doing mock tests daily, with a tutor just for General Test. The stress is immense,” Nitin Kapoor, parent from Gurgaon.

Several edtech platforms like Physics Wallah and Unacademy have launched CUET-specific courses, and physical coaching centres in metros have quickly adapted mimicking the older pattern of competitive exams.

IS THIS MODEL SUSTAINABLE? EXPERTS SAY: NO

Educationists and policy researchers have started questioning whether CUET, launched to bring uniformity and fairness, is now promoting a different kind of elitism.
Many policy analysts argue that CUET’s overemphasis on perfect scores may “drown out genuine academic talent.”

COLLEGES CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Colleges under Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, and others using CUET have received applications from hundreds of students with identical scores, forcing them to rely on tie-breaking criteria like:

• Class 12 marks (ironically, which CUET was supposed to replace)
• Age (older student gets preference)
• Lottery (in extreme cases)

DU’s own admission data from 2023 showed that in over 20 popular courses, the number of 100-percentilers exceeded available seats, especially in colleges like Hindu, SRCC, and Miranda House.

TIE BREAKER RULES FOR CUET SCORE TIES AT DELHI UNIVERSITY (AND OTHER CUET-BASED INSTITUTES)

Class 12 marks as the first tie breaker

Per Delhi University VC Yogesh Singh “In case of a tie between two students’ CUET scores the scores of best of three subjects will be compared. If the best three are the same, then the best four, then the best five will be considered.” Age used as a secondary tie breaker: If Class 12 marks are still tied across best five subjects, the older student gets preference.

Extended to other central universities. Institutions like Banaras Hindu University and Ambedkar University use a similar tie-breaking framework – first board marks, then age – often documented in their admission bulletins

Practical impact confirmed by student reports: A Reddit user shared, “It was used extensively in the high-demand courses like BCom (H), Pol sc, psychology. People with the same scores had ranks varying by over 100 (e.g., 2 people scoring 782 marks had ranks of 210 and 320 after tiebreaker)”

Summary of Tie Breaker Flow
1. CUET score (normalised)
2. Best 3 Class 12 subjects (if CUET tie)
3. Best 4 ? Best 5 Class 12 (if still tied)
4. Age (older applicant prioritised)
5. Some universities even use Class 10 marks after this

Several educators now advocate for a hybrid model, where CUET scores are weighed alongside board exam results, interviews, or written statements similar to admission systems abroad.

The UGC, however, maintains that CUET will continue to be the “single gateway” for central university admissions, with slight tweaks to normalisation in the future.

“In a 2022 interview with PTI, UGC Chairman Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar emphasised that CUET “will provide a level playing field to students from all boards” while maintaining that board examinations remain important. He also reiterated that CUET is meant to standardise admissions rather than diminish the role of board exams.

A PERFECT SCORE, BUT AN IMPERFECT SYSTEM

As the dust settles from CUET 2024, one thing is clear: scoring full marks doesn’t guarantee peace of mind. In chasing standardisation, the system may be unintentionally creating a new kind of anxiety-driven arms race, one that’s eerily similar to the very pressure cooker CUET aimed to dismantle.

– Ends