NEW DELHI: Making a strong case for shifting NEET-UG from pen-and-paper test (PPT) to computer-based test (CBT), education ministry officials told a House panel that digital exams offer stronger safeguards, faster processing and a pathway to adaptive testing - future of competitive exams.In a presentation before the Parliament Standing Committee on Education, Women and Youth Affairs, the officials argued that CBT offers significant advantages over PPT in terms of security, speed, flexibility and exam design. It said major exams such as GRE, SAT and JEE have already successfully adopted digital testing.The officials said CBT can support multi-session exams and can eventually evolve into computer adaptive testing (CAT), allowing more dynamic and standardised assessment of candidates. The proposal is in line with recommendations of the high-level committee of experts, which favoured a transition from PPT to CBT along with multi-session and multi-stage testing.CBSE says vulnerabilities in OSM portal OnMark containedCBT lays groundwork for introducing GRE/GMAT-style adaptive testing, where question difficulty dynamically adjusts to a candidate's performance and item response theory (IRT)-based scoring. This measures ability by factoring in both the difficulty of questions attempted and the accuracy of responses, enabling a more precise and scientifically calibrated assessment system.To underline India's capacity for large-scale digital exams, the officials told the panel that it has conducted over 270 exams since 2018, including nearly 250 in CBT mode and only around 20 in PPT format. It has handled over 6.6 crore registrations and over 80 lakh unique candidates during the period. The presentation noted PPT and CBT formats carry different risks. While CBT faces cyber-security and infrastructure challenges, PPT depends on supply chains - printing presses, packers, transport fleets, banks, strong rooms and city coordinators.National Medical Commission proposes restoring 10-year limit for completing MBBS courseThis chain creates multiple points of vulnerability before question papers reach exam centres, the officials said. CBT, by contrast, eliminates physical paper handling and enables digital answer capture, leading to faster processing and declaration of results.The officials highlighted advantages such as richer question formats, greater flexibility in examination design and the possibility of adaptive testing in the future. "CBT wins on design and speed," the presentation said.They noted that examinations such as GRE, SAT and JEE have moved to digital platforms, while large single-day examinations such as China's Gaokao and South Korea's Suneung continue in PPT mode.