About CTET Exam 2021
Table of Contents
CTET 2021 Exam details: CTET is a national-level exam conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) is conducted twice a year to determine the eligibility of candidates for appointment as teachers for Classes 1 to 8. The CTET exam is held in two sessions for Paper-I and Paper-II. The CTET Paper-I is for candidates who want to teach Classes 1-5 and Paper-II is for candidates who want to teach Classes 6-8. Candidates who wish to teach Classes 1-8 need to take both papers.
CBSE has released a press release regarding some changes to the format of the CTET 2021 Exam. CBSE has also notified in the press release that CTET 2021 will be held in December 2021/January 2022. Every year CBSE conducts CTET Exam in an offline mode for accessing the eligibility of teachers in government schools. However, this year, the CTET Exam 2021 will be conducted in Online Mode with strict COVID-19 protocols to facilitate a faster exam process.
CTET 2021 Exam Basic Info
An overview of CTET has been provided in the below table. The candidates interested and looking for an opportunity to begin their career as a teacher in government & government-aided schools must know every detail about CTET December 2021.
| Exam Name | CTET December 2021 (Central Teacher Eligibility Test) |
| Exam Conducting Body | Central Board of Secondary Education |
| Exam Level | National |
| Exam Frequency | Twice a year |
| Exam Mode | Online |
| Exam Duration | 150 minutes |
| Language | English and Hindi |
| Exam Purpose | For accessing the eligibility of candidates for appointment as teachers in Classes 1-8 |
| No. of Test Cities | 135 cities across India |
| Exam Helpdesk No. | 011-22235774 |
| Official Website | https://ctet.nic.in |
CTET 2021 Exam Key Points
In the press release, it is also notified that “within the existing syllabus of CTET and structure of the question paper, the question papers will be developed to assess less of factual knowledge and more of conceptual understanding, application, problem-solving, reasoning, and critical thinking focusing on the following aspects:
- To assess the teacher’s understanding on teaching their respective subject.
- To assess the futuristic teacher’s pedagogic content knowledge.
- To understand their knowledge for relevance of the subject in the school curriculum.
- Some questions will be added for assessing planning of teaching-learning experiences.
- The question paper will be focused on the assessment methodologies specific to the concept.
A sample blueprint or sample question papers will be released by CBSE for making it easy for the candidates to understand the revised format.
CTET 2021 Notification
A press release for CTET 2021 Exam has been released on 30th July 2021, depicting that the CTET Exam 2021 will be held in December 2021/ January 2022 and there has been some revisions made to the syllabus and format. The detailed CTET 2021 Notification including the application process, eligibility criteria, dates, exam structure, syllabus, results, and more will be released in due course of time.
CTET 2021 Exam Important Dates
The online registration for CTET 2021 is expected to begin in the month of September 2021 and as per the press release, the exam will be conducted in December 2021/January 2022. Check all the tentative dates for CTET December 2021 from the below table
| Events | Dates |
| CTET Notification | September 2021 |
| CTET 2021 Online Registration Starts From | September 2021 |
| Last Date to fill Online Application | September 2021 |
| Last Date for submission of fee through E-Challan or Debit/Credit Card | September 2021 |
| Online Correction Schedule | September 2021 |
| Admit Card Download | December 2021 |
| CTET Exam Date | December 2021/January 2022 |
| Release of CTET Answer Key | January/February 2022 |
| CTET Result Declaration | To be notified |
| CTET Certificates’ Dispatch | To be notified |
CTET 2021 Eligibility Criteria
The Eligibility Criteria is different for selecting candidates to the post of teacher for Classes I-V and for Classes VI-VIII. Let’s have a look at the Educational Qualification required by the candidates for both these sections:
Educational Qualification for Classes I-V
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent exam with minimum 50% marks and cleared or appearing in final year exam of Diploma in Elementary Education (2 years duration) OR
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent exam securing minimum 45% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Diploma in Elementary Education (2 years duration), according to the NCTE Regulations 2002. OR
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent test with minimum 50% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Bachelor of Elementary Education (4 years duration).OR
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent test with minimum 50% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Diploma in Education (2 years duration). OR
- A candidate who has Bachelor’s degree and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Diploma in Elementary Education (2 years duration).
Educational Qualification for Classes VI-VIII
- A candidate who holds a Graduation degree and has passed or is appearing in final year examination of Diploma in Elementary Education (2 years duration). OR
- A candidate who has completed his/her Graduation degree with 50% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Bachelor in Education. OR
- A candidate who has completed his/her Graduation degree with 40% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of Bachelor in Education, according to NCTE regulations. OR
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent test with minimum 50% marks and has cleared or appearing in final year exam of 4 years duration Bachelor of Elementary Education. OR
- A candidate who has completed Senior Secondary or its equivalent exam with 50% marks and cleared or appearing in final year exam of B.A.Ed/B.Sc.Ed or B.A/B.Sc.Ed. OR
- A candidate who has Graduation degree with 50% marks and has cleared or appearing in B.Ed program of 1 year duration.
CTET 2021 Exam Pattern
CTET 2021 Exam will be conducted in two phases:
- Paper I
- Paper II
Paper I is conducted for candidates who have been looking forward to become teacher for Class I to V and Paper II is conducted for candidates who aspire to become teacher for Class VI to VIII. Candidates also have the option to apply for both Paper I and Paper II. Questions asked in both Paper I and Paper II are Objective Multiple-Choice Questions. A candidate is required to score minimum 60% to qualify CTET 2021 Exam. One major thing to note is that the CTET score is now valid for lifetime as announced by CBSE.
Let’s have a look at detailed Exam Pattern for CTET 2021 October Exam:
CTET 2021 Paper I Exam Pattern
| Subject | Number of Questions | Total Marks |
| Language I (compulsory) | 30 | 30 |
| Language II (compulsory) | 30 | 30 |
| Child Development and Pedagogy | 30 | 30 |
| Environmental Studies | 30 | 30 |
| Mathematics | 30 | 30 |
| Total | 150 | 150 |
Nature and standard of questions:
• The test items on Child Development and Pedagogy will focus on educational psychology of teaching and learning relevant to the age group of 6-11 years. They will focus on understanding the characteristics and needs of diverse learners, interaction with learners and the attributes and qualities of a good facilitator of learning.
• The Test items in Language I will focus on the proficiencies related to the medium of instruction.
• The Test items in Language II will focus on the elements of language, communication and comprehension abilities.
• Language II will be a language other than Language I. A candidate may choose any one language as Language I and other as Language II from the available language options and will be required to specify the same in the Confirmation Page.
Choose two languages in which you wish to appear for CTET: List of languages and code are as follows:
| Code No | Language | Code No | Language | Code No | Language | Code No | Language |
| 01 | English | 06 | Gujarati | 11 | Marathi | 16 | Sanskrit |
| 02 | Hindi | 07 | Kannada | 12 | Mizo | 17 | Tamil |
| 03 | Assamese | 08 | Khasi | 13 | Nepali | 18 | Telugu |
| 04 | Bengali | 09 | Malayalam | 14 | Oriya | 19 | Tibetan |
| 05 | Garo | 10 | Manipuri | 15 | Punjabi | 20 | Urdu |
• The Test items in Mathematics and Environmental Studies will focus on the concepts, problem solving abilities and pedagogical understanding and applications of the subjects. In all these subject areas, the test items will be evenly distributed over different divisions of the syllabus of that subject prescribed for classes I-V by the NCERT.
• The questions in the test for Paper I will be based on the topics prescribed in syllabus of the NCERT for classes I – V but their difficulty standard as well as linkages, could be up to the Secondary stage.
CTET 2021 Paper II Exam Pattern
Item II (for Classes VI to VIII) Elementary Stage: (2.5-hour examination) Paper-II is for candidates who wish to teach in grades VI through VIII.
Nature and Standard of Questions (Paper-II)
Child Development and Pedagogy exam items will focus on the educational psychology of teaching and learning, mainly related to the age group of 11-14 years. They will concentrate on comprehending the features, requirements, and psychology of various learners, interacting with them, and the characteristics and characteristics of an effective facilitator of learning.
The language I test items will emphasize proficiencies associated with the medium of teaching.
Language II test items will emphasize language, communication, and understanding ability.
Language II will be a different language than Language I. An applicant may choose one language as Language I and another as Language II from the available language options on the Confirmation Page. English, Hindi, and Sanskrit would be the only available languages.
Time Duration for Paper I & II
| PAPER | TIMING | DURATION |
| PAPER-I | 09.30 AM TO 12.00 PM | 2.30 Hours |
| PAPER -II | 02.00 PM TO 04.30 PM | 2.30 Hours |
CTET 2021 Syllabus
When preparing to attempt for upcoming CTET, the detailed Syllabus is the first and foremost step for a candidate to begin with. CTET Syllabus 2021 is lengthy and revolves around Child Development and Pedagogy which is one of the most important part of the CTET exam. Other sections asked in CTET 2021 includes Mathematics, Science/Environmental Science, and Languages. Beside these, the candidates have to be prepared with any 2 languages (from the list mentioned in notification)
CTET 2021 Syllabus Paper I
The CTET Syllabus 2021 for Paper I (for classes I to V – Primary Stage) is:
- Child Development and Pedagogy – 30 Questions
- Child Development (Primary School Child) – 15 Questions
- Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs – 5 Questions
- Learning and Pedagogy – 5 Questions
- Language I – 30 Questions
- Language Comprehension – 15 Questions
- Pedagogy of Language Development – 15 Questions
III. Language – II – 30 Questions
- Comprehension – 15 Questions
- Pedagogy of Language Development -15 Questions
- Mathematics – 30 Questions
- Content – 15 Questions
- Geometry
- Shapes & Spatial Understanding
- Solids around Us
- Numbers
- Addition and Subtraction
- Multiplication
- Division
- Measurement
- Weight
- Time
- Volume
- Data Handling
- Patterns
- Money
Pedagogical issues – 15 Questions
- Environmental Studies – 30 Questions
- Content – 15 Questions
- Family and Friends: Relationships, Work and Play, Animals, Plants
- Food
- Shelter
- Water
- Travel
- Things We Make and Do
- Pedagogical Issues – 15 Questions
CTET 2021 Syllabus Paper-II
The CTET Syllabus 2021 for Paper II (for classes VI to VIII – Elementary Stage) is:
- Child Development and Pedagogy 30 Questions
- Child Development (Elementary School Child) – 15 Questions
- Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs – 5 Questions
- Learning and Pedagogy 10 Questions
- Language I – 30 Questions
- Language Comprehension – 15 Questions
- Pedagogy of Language Development – 15 Questions
III. Language II – 30 Questions
- Comprehension – 15 Questions
- Pedagogy of Language Development – 15 Questions
- Mathematics and Science – 60 Questions
(i) Mathematics – 30 Questions
- Content 20 Questions
- Pedagogical issues – 10 Questions
(ii) Science – 30 Questions
- Content – 20 Questions
- Pedagogical issues – 10 Questions
- Social Studies/Social Sciences – 60 Questions
- Content 40 Questions History
- Geography
- Social and Political Life
- Pedagogical issues – 20 Questions
You can download the complete Syllabus as PDF file in Hindi from the links given below. If you have questions related to the CTET Syllabus 2021, Please discuss them in the comments below.
CTET Validity
The validity of CTET certificate for appointment has been revised and now the certificate will remain valid throughout life. The revised validity has been made effective from 2011 as announced by the Education Minister and the candidates whose certificates are expired can get their new certificate with no expiry. It has been declared that the States and UTs will be responsible for revalidating or re-issue TET certificates to the candidates whose period of 7 years has already expired (after 2011). Earlier, the validity of CTET certificate was for 7 years (from the date of issue).
CTET 2021 Exam Application Process
All candidates can follow the steps below to successfully apply for CTET 2021.
Step 1: Firstly, Go on Official Site of CTET 2021 e. ctet.nic.in.
Step 2: Then click on to latest recruitment.
Step 3: Submit the details as per given format without any mistake.
Step 4: Complete the CTET 2021 Application Form.
Step 5: Upload the required documents.
Step 6: Pay fee and click on the Submit Button.
Step 7: Finally take a printout of the Application form for the further Uses.
CTET 2021 Application Fee
Candidates can apply for CTET 2021 Exam by logging in to the official website of CTET after the notification for the same has been released. A candidate belonging to either General or OBC category is required to pay Rs. 1000/- (if applying for either Paper I or Paper II) and Rs. 1200/- (if applying for both the papers). The same amount is reduced to Rs. 600/- (if applying for either Paper I or Paper II) and Rs. 600/- (if applying for both the papers) for candidates belonging to SC/ST category.
Fee Details for CTET Exam are as follows:
| CATEGORY | Only Paper I or II | Both Paper I & II |
| General/OBC | Rs.1000/- | Rs.1200/- |
| SC/ST/Diff. Abled Person | Rs.500/- | Rs.600/- |
GST as applicable will be charged extra by the Bank.
CTET Cut-Off
The candidates appearing in CTET will be issued with a mark sheet. The Candidates securing 60% (General) and above marks will be issued an Eligibility Certificate for which the validity has been extended from 7 years to a lifetime period.
School Managements (Government, Local bodies, Government aided and unaided) may consider giving concessions to the person belonging to SC/ST, OBC, differently-abled persons, etc., in accordance with their extant reservation policy.
Conclusion
This article discusses CTET 2021 Exam in detail. Every candidate is suggested to go through the aforementioned information very carefully. It is hoped that the contents of this article result to be helpful to all the candidates.
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