After a delay in releasing the UGC NET response sheet June 2026, NTA officially confirmed on August 14 that it will release the provisional answer keys on August 16. Initially, NTA planned to release the answer keys before August 15, and aspirants expected them on August 14. However, NTA has put an end to the anticipation with an official update, which is a sigh of relief for over 7.8 lakh aspirants.

The answer key release has already been delayed by more than 30 days, with the exam concluding on June 30 and a re-exam for certain candidates on July 5. Apart from the UGC NET, CSIR NET and ICAR AIEEA PG/ PhD answer keys were also delayed. NTA confirmed that the announcement will happen for these three exams simultaneously on August 16.

Students who expected the answer key on August 14 were disappointed by the one-day delay and are requesting that NTA announce the keys without further delay. Sravani K, a UGC NET aspirant from Guntur, said, 'It has already been a long wait, and a further delay will impact my PhD admission aspirations.' Due to the delay in releasing the answer key, some aspirants are missing PhD admission deadlines and will have to wait another six months to apply for the January 2027 admission session.

Ram Kumar from Vijayawada said, 'I am hopeful of clearing UGC NET this session and planned to apply for an Assistant Professor job in private engineering colleges. Since I don't have a PhD, my only hope was UGC NET, and this delay in the exam process impacted the entire plan'.

The aspirants further request the NTA to declare the results as soon as possible so they can plan their career options accordingly. However, the candidates are happy that NTA is now providing official updates on the answer key.