CSIR NET Answer Key December 2026: Challenge Fee, Marking Scheme

The Joint CSIR-UGC NET December 2026 answer key is not out: the exam is on 19, 22 and 27 December 2026, and NTA says the recorded responses and provisional key "will be intimated later on website". For the June 2026 exam (17 and 18 July 2026), the provisional key came out on 16 August 2026 and the final key on 29 August 2026.

How to challenge the CSIR NET provisional answer key

• Window: the December 2026 Information Bulletin says keys are likely to be displayed for two to three days. In June 2026 the window ran from 16 to 18 August 2026, up to 11:00 PM, and the fee had to be paid by the same deadline.
• Fee: ₹200 per question challenged, as a non-refundable processing fee, by credit card, debit card, net banking or UPI.
• Steps (June 2026): on csirnet.nta.nic.in click 'Challenge(s) regarding Answer Key', log in with your Application Number and Password and the captcha, find each question by its Question ID, and tick the Option ID(s) you dispute.
• Evidence: combine all supporting documents into a single PDF of up to 500 KB. Challenges without justification or evidence are not considered.
• Payment: 'Save Claim and Pay Fee' takes you to the gateway, and nothing can be modified after successful payment.
• NTA does not tell candidates individually whether a challenge was accepted.

Full June 2026 procedure: NTA notice of 16 August 2026.

How to calculate your CSIR NET score from the key

Every subject is marked out of 200, but the number of questions you may attempt, the marks and the negative marking differ by subject and part. If you answer more than the limit, only the first questions up to the limit are evaluated.

Your score is the marks for correct answers minus the deductions for wrong ones, over the evaluated questions. In Mathematical Sciences Part C, a question may have one or more correct options, and you get credit only if you identify all of them. The qualifying benchmark is applied to the total of all three parts, with no separate cut-off per part: at least 33% for General, EWS and OBC, and 25% for SC, ST and PwD/PwBD.

How NTA applies accepted challenges

• If a question is found to be wrong, only candidates who attempted it get the benefit of marks.
• If another option is found correct along with the original key, candidates who marked any of the correct options get the marks, except in Mathematical Sciences Part C.
• A revised key is applied to the responses of all candidates, and the result is prepared on the final key. No grievance about the key is entertained after the result.

After the challenge stage, NTA posts the final key; in June 2026 candidates viewed it by logging in with their credentials, and scores were declared the same day.

CSIR NET answer key in past cycles