The 2024-25 academic year entrance exam at Rajshahi University (RU) for the Faculty of Arts, Law, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts (Unit A) saw several questions in the admission test papers that contained errors or incorrect answers. These mistakes were discovered during the first shift of the exam on Saturday, April 19, between 11 AM and 12 PM.

The university administration has assured that all candidates will receive full marks for the questions that contained errors, as they were deemed to be printing issues.

The issues were found in question set 3 of the first shift of the ‘A’ Unit exam. One of the general knowledge questions asked, “What is the news agency of MNNA?” The four options provided were ‘Nepal,’ ‘Myanmar,’ ‘Bhutan,’ and ‘Maldives.’ However, MNNA refers to the Midland News Association, a news agency based in England, and not a news agency from any of the listed countries. If the question had referred to an airline, the correct answer would have been ‘Myanmar National Airlines’ (MNA), which was also included in the list of options.

Another error was found in the Bengali language section, where a question asked for the identification of a certain consonant cluster. The question posed, “Which consonant cluster is represented by ‘অমোঘ’ in Bengali?” The correct response would be "অঘোষ," as ‘অমোঘ’ is not a valid consonant cluster in the Bengali alphabet. Additionally, another question in the same section asked, “What is the samas (compound word) for ‘দিলদরিয়া’?” The correct answer should have been ‘রূপক কর্মধারয় সমাস,’ but this option was not listed among the choices provided.

Another mistake was in a question regarding the word ‘আন্না,’ where the correct answer for its compound word breakdown should have been ‘আর+না,’ but this option was also absent from the choices.

Professor Mohammad Belal Hossain, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and the chief coordinator for the ‘A’ Unit admission test, acknowledged the errors. He commented, “I have heard about the mistakes in the question paper, but I have not reviewed them personally yet. However, I assure that these errors will not harm the students. All candidates will receive full marks for these questions with errors. The issues are likely due to printing problems.”

In addition to the errors in the question paper, the general knowledge section also included questions related to significant figures and events in Bangladesh's history. One of the questions asked, "Who is the artist behind the artwork ‘উন্নত মম শির’, which commemorates the martyr Abu Saeed?" The options provided included ‘Biren Som,’ ‘Koushik Sarkar,’ ‘Shahid Kabir,’ and ‘Chunilal Dewan.’

Another question asked, “Which time period is considered the span of Generation-G (Gen-G)?” The answer choices were ‘1960-1980,’ ‘1997-2012,’ ‘2001-2020,’ and ‘2010-2024.’

Additionally, two questions in the general knowledge section focused on the current interim government. One question asked, “On what date was the current interim government formed?” Another question asked, “How many reform commissions has the current interim government established?”

The university has taken responsibility for the errors and emphasized that the integrity of the admission process remains intact, assuring fairness for all applicants despite the mistakes in the exam papers.