An analysis of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) results shows that more students are opting for Humanities than Science subjects. The results, announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday, show that the score, after normalisation, required to find a place in the top 95-100 percentile bracket is as high as 92.5 per cent in the case of English while the corresponding percentage for Mathematics is 51.5.

A candidate needs to have scored at least 185.9 out of 200 (maximum score in each subject is 200) in English and 103.7 in Maths to be in the top percentile bracket. A clear picture will emerge only when institutions like the Delhi University start admitting students.

In the debut edition of the CUET UG exam, about 14.9 lakh candidates (14,90,293) registered for the examination this year but only 9.6 lakh candidates (9,68,201) appeared in the entrance exam.

The students who appeared in the CUET examinations have selected 54,555 unique combinations of subjects across 90 universities.

The NTA has shared the result of candidates with participating universities where the candidates had applied. The candidates are advised to keep in touch with the respective universities and institutions for further details.

Results for other Humanities subjects – the score equivalent to 95 percentile – are as follows: History 165.4 or 82.7 per cent; Psychology 190.9 or 95.45 per cent; Economics 175.8 or 87.9; Hindi 171.09 or 85.5 per cent while Sociology is an exception with a requirement of 157.4 or 78.7 per cent.

The 95-100 percentile requirements for Science subjects are lower. In Chemistry, the requisite score for the 95 percentile is 129.2 or 64.5 per cent; in Physics 105.05 or 71.3 per cent. For Commerce subjects Accountancy and Business Studies, the corresponding scores required are 170.7 or 85.4 per cent and 182.3 or 91.15 per cent respectively.

As per the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) data for 2016-17, a large number of students have been consistently choosing and enrolling in the Arts stream over the past three years.

A Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry official confirmed the same, stating that in the last three years, the number of students taking up courses related to Arts, Social Sciences, etc., has been constantly on the rise and the number has only multiplied.

Studying Arts becomes a must for the students planning to have a career in politics, social activism or those thinking to try their luck for administrative services.

Looking back at the three years of UGC data, at least 1.26 crore students opted for Humanities in the year 2016-17, 1.25 crore students took admission in Arts stream in 2015-16 and nearly 1.22 crore students opted for Arts stream in 2014-15.

It is becoming quite clear from the data that there is a slight inclination towards Arts rather than Science and Commerce streams among the students in these three years.