NRA CET 2021 Exam Date Announced

The government has recently announced the conduction of a new common entrance exam for the non-gazetted posts in the SSC, RRB, and Banking. This common entrance exam is conducted as a preliminary exam for all government departments. So, aspirants willing to join the government sectors must know in-depth details about NRA CET 2020. This article takes you through, why NRA CET? advantages of this common eligibility test, and other important details. 

Latest: As per the recent announcement by Dr Jitendra Singh, the NRA is expected to conduct the CET Exam from September 2021. Government has set up this NRA for conducting the initial screening test for various government exams like SSC, RRB, and Banking. Aspirants can check the NRA CET Latest News to know more about the examination and the CET Exam Date.

NRA Common Eligibility Test 2020-21

Every year there are lakhs of students applying for various government examinations. In order to offer an efficient, uniform, and transparent way of the exam, the government decided to conduct a combined entrance exam. Thus, to conduct this examination, the government has decided to set up an exam conducting authority i.e., the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) which is a centralized exam conducting authority for various government exams. The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be the nodal agency to conduct CET every year. All the preliminary exams conducted for SSC, Railways, and Banking will be replaced by the Common Entrance Test. The NRA CET Exam will conduct twice a year and the scores will be valid for three years. The aim of this common eligibility test is to reduce the multiple application forms filling for different exams. Now, students can just fill one single form to attempt any exams among the three sectors. 

This NRA Common Eligibility Test will be held for three different levels i.e., graduate, higher secondary, and matriculate. Based on the performance in this preliminary examination, candidates will be shortlisted for further applied sector i.e., either SSC, RRB, or Banking. NRA assures to conduct the exam in an efficient, uniform, and transparent way. The National Recruitment Agency is also responsible for conducting quality screening tests for the participating members. Also, there is no restriction on the number of attempts by each candidate, unless the candidate fulfills the eligibility criteria completely. 

Members of NRA CET

The NRA will have a Governing body which composes of 

1. Chairman, NRA - President
2. Secretary, DoP&T, or his representative -Member
3. The representative of Ministry of Railways -Member
4. The representative of D/o Financial Services -Member
5. Chairman, Staff Selection Commission -Member
6. Chairman, Railway Recruitment Board -Member
7. Chairman, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection -Member
8. Two experts from the field of academics -Members
9. Secretary and Controller of Examinations, NRA -Member Secretary

NRA CET Latest News 

Cabinet Approves the Setting up of New Recruitment Agency

• As per the recent news, the DoPT Secretary C. Chandramouli announced the setting up of the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for all government exams. 
• The Common Eligibility Test is set to begin in the month of December 2020. This will be the preliminary screening test for aspirants willing to apply for SSC, RRB, and Banking Exams.

Proposal for Setting up a New Exam Conducting Agency

• The Finance Minister approved the proposal of setting up an Agency for conducting the CET Exam across the country. 
• Union cabinet needs to approve the same for further proceedings. The recruitment agency will be responsible for conducting the preliminary exam in a transparent way for Graduates, the Higher Secondary, and Matriculate for non-technical posts.

Plan for Conducting a Common Entrance Test for all Government Exams

• The government has decided to conduct a common entrance exam for all government exams i.e, SSC, RRB, and Banking. 
• The proposal is made to conduct a common entrance exam i.e., one single preliminary exam for all government exams. Once the proposal is accepted, a further steps will be taken to conduct the examination.

Exams Included under NRA CET 

All the preliminary examinations of Group B and C will be combined into a single common eligibility test (CET). The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct the preliminary exams of the Group B and C posts conducted by the three government agencies:

• Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
• Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), and
• Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).

All the examinations conducted by these three agencies will now have to appear for the NRA CET Exam 2020 for the preliminary exam. 

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NRA CET for SSC Exams

• For SSC aspirants, NRA Common Eligibility Test will be a great advantage. There are many students who wish to apply for more than one SSC Exam.
• But, due to the clashing of dates, students tend to apply only for one. Now, students can apply for how many exams they wish to. 
• Based on their CET scores, candidates can further apply for their dream SSC exam. 

NRA CET for RRB Exams

• Candidates preparing for Group B and C in Railways need not worry about the exam dates, as NRA will be conducting the first stage of the exam.
• Based on the CET score candidates can appear for a higher level of the selection process; which is Mains or Tier 2 & 3. 

NRA CET for IBPS/Banking Exams

• The Common Eligibility Test will conduct a single exam for Group B and C Non-Gazetted mainly for IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, IBPS SO.
• The first stage of the selection process will be done through NRA for all the three levels of recruitment i.e., 10th, 12th & Graduates. 
• Through this NRA, candidates can easily move on to the next stage after clearing this exam.

NRA CET for 10th Pass

• There are many government exams conducted for candidates who have educational qualification of 10th Standard. 
• This NRA CET could be a great chance for all aspirants to apply easily, 
• Some of the most common posts for the 10th standard are drivers, guardsmen, cleaners, and many more.
• Students can attempt as many times as they wish to unless they fulfill the eligibility criteria completely. The CET Score will be valid for 3 years. 
• As the exam will be conducted twice a year, students have two chances in a year to take up the exam. 

NRA CET for 12th Pass

• Candidates who have passed 12th and willing to apply for any government job can utilize this chance.
• Apply for numerous posts available under NRA for the 12th pass and reach your desired goals.
• The NRA Common Eligibility Test will be an online mode of the exam with multiple-choice questions. 
• The test will be conducted in 12 different languages and the scores will be valid for 3 years. 
• This score will be accepted by various government and private sectors.

NRA CET for Graduates

• A graduate is one of the highest levels of educational qualification for which there are numerous openings across the country.
• In RRB, Banking, and SSC, there are a majority of posts which are for graduate passed out.
• This will be an online mode of the exam with 0.25 negative marking. Students can appear for exams from various test centers located in districts as well. 
• This can help students staying in remote locations. 

Benefits of introducing NRA CET

There are different advantages of NRA Common Eligibility Test as explained below:

• The main reason for launching NRA CET is to reduce the burden of SSC, RRB, and IBPS from conducting a separate preliminary exam which is a tough task.
• It will work as a single-window for conducting prelims exam and shortlisting candidates from the bulk.
• The list of shortlisted candidates will then be passed on to the SSC, IBPS, or RRB for conducting Mains Exam.
• As per the records, more than 2.5 crore candidates appear for the Prelims exam out of which most of them are for SSC.
• Hence, to shortlist the qualifying candidates through a Common Eligibility Test before sending them for the mains exam is the ideal reason behind NRA.
• The National Recruitment Agency will conduct the tier-1 examination for these three agencies online i.e., SSC, Railways, and Banking. 
• Separate CETs will be conducted for non-technical posts based on the educational qualification- the Graduate, the Higher Secondary (12t11 pass), and the Matriculate (10th pass) 
• The agency will conduct exams in 12 languages, and it will be expanded to include more regional languages. 
• This score will be valid for three years from the date of declaration of the result
• Apart from SSC, RRB, or Banking, this score can be used for various private exams and PSU recruitment. 

NRA CET Highlights 2020

NRA CET Exam Date 2021

Here is the brief exam schedule for the National Recruitment Agency CET Exam 2020. 

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NRA CET Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria will be the same as per the exam post requirements. The NRA CET will be codnucted for graduate, 12th standard, and 10th standard students. There will be three levels of the exam i.e., 

• Undergraduate Exam
• 12th Level Exam
• 10th Level Exam

The NRA CET 2020 is just the preliminary exam. Hence, there is no need for candidates to be worried and get confused. It will just be the same as the preliminary exam conducted by the respective exam boards.

Nationality

• In order to apply for the NRA Common Eligibility Test, the candidate can be a citizen of India,
• the candidate can be a citizen of Nepal/Bhutan,
• If a candidate is a Tibetan refugee settled in India before January 01, 1962, will also be counted as eligible to appear in the exam.
• Any candidate who has migrated from any country but permanently residing in India is also eligible.

Age Limit

• The age limit varies for each exam the candidate wishes to take up.
• As said above, the eligibility criteria are the same as the respective exam boards. 
• There is no change in the age limit of the exam. The age relaxation for different categories will remain the same. 

Educational Qualification

As the NRA conducts the examination for all three levels, the qualification for each level is as explained below:

• 10th Pass Category: The candidates who will apply for the CET administered by NRA for 10th Pass level exams will have different criteria for educational qualification. The basic educational requirement is the 10th pass from a recognized school.
• 12th Pass Category: Candidates to apply for 10+12 level of exams must fulfill the qualification based on the level for which they will appear in CET. The basic educational requirement is 12th pass from a recognized & affiliated school
• Graduates Category: The educational qualification for the Graduate level CET exam will have completely different criteria and must have a graduation degree from a recognized college or university.

Reservation for EWS and PwD

• As the official notification is not yet released by the authorities, but it is expected that there would be a 10% reservation for PwD and EWS candidates 

NRA CET Recruitment Process 2020

There are six stages involved in the National Recruitment Agency CET Exam that are explained below:

Step 1: Fill the NRA CET Application Form

• Candidates will have to fill the NRA Common Eligibility Test application form in online mode on the official website of the agency.
• The NRA CET application fee is expected to be nominal and in line with the fee of other SSC/RRB/IBPS recruitment exams.
• Candidates will be given an option to choose the scheduling the test and selecting the test center of their choice at this stage of the recruitment process.

Step 2: Download Admit Card for Common eligibility test 2021

• On the official website of the exam,  the National Recruitment Agency will release the NRA CET admit cards.
• Candidates must mandatorily to carry the admit card to the exam center without fail.

Step 3: Appear for Common Eligibility Test 2020

• Candidates must appear for the CET 2020 Exam in online mode in the respective exam centers.
• The NRA CET paper will contain MCQs containing four answer choices with one correct option.

Step 4: Declaring of NRA Common Eligibility Test Result 2020

• As per the schedule, the results for NRA CET Exam will be released by the exam conducting authority.
• The result is likely to be declared in the form of the merit list. The NRA  CET score of a candidate will be valid for three years.

Step 5: Shortlisting for Next Stage of Recruitment Exams

• Based on the scores, candidates will be shortlisted for the respective tiers in SSC, RRB, or Banking.
• Further stages will be conducted by the recruitment boards.

NRA CET Exam Centers 2020

Exam Center is very important for conducting any examination. Hence, for CET also, the NRA has decided to have many exam centers. Candidates belonging to remote locations can appear in this exam very smoothly without hassle. There will be at least one or more than one center in a district depending on the students appearing for the exam. Candidates need not travel long distances for attempting the exam. This will reduce the expenses of poor candidates in terms of examination fees, traveling charges, lodging, and other expenses.

NRA CET Exam Pattern 2020

• There would be sectional timing in the preliminary exam conducted by the NRA. The exam will include four sections namely: Quantitative Aptitude, English Language, General Awareness, and Reasoning. 
• The CET exam for hiring candidates will be based on an online exam for 200 marks. 
• There is a negative marking of 0.25 for each wrong answer.
• The duration of the exam will be 60 minutes, and for a person with deformity, it will be 80 minutes.

NRA CET Syllabus 2020

The syllabus is similar to SSC, Banking, and RRB exams but the CET will conduct examination with various subjects. Currently, the authority has segregated the exam into three sections namely: Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, and English Language. 

NRA CET 2021 Scores will be Used By

The NRA Common Eligibility Test scores play an important role in the candidate's careers. Aspirants willing to get a job in the government sector need to have these scores. According to Jitendra Singh's statement in the press conference, the CET score will be used by not only the state and central government but also the public sector undertaking (PSUs) and private organizations to weeding out the non-serious candidates. Apart from SSC, RRB, and IBPS, the CET score will be accepted by

• State Recruiting Agencies,
• Various Union Territories Agencies,
• Public Sector Undertakings, and
• Private Companies (with some agreements)

CET Scores to be Used by PSUs and Private Companies

• The NRA Common Eligibility Test Score will be accepted by many organizations to offer career opportunities. This score has great value in the market.
• Based on certain cut off marks, the companies will accept these scores. 
• Thus, the NRA CET Exam is designed in such a way that it will have a great impact on any student's life. 

CET Scores to be Accepted for State Jobs

• The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri. Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced in recent reports about accepting the CET score for State jobs.
• Madhya Pradesh is the first state who came forward to accept the scores by MP State Recruiting Agencies to offer MP Government Jobs.
• The C.M also said that the decision of CET would not only save time and money but also help agencies to select the desired candidates from the same standard.

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