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A message lands in the family WhatsApp group: the exam has moved, a paper has leaked, a form closes tonight. Within minutes the house is tense. Three habits prevent most of this: a short list of official websites, a family calendar built only from those sites, and a rule for forwards.
Which official websites should parents follow for exam notices?
Bookmark these and type them in yourself.
National Testing Agency (NTA): nta.ac.in, plus each exam's portal: jeemain.nta.nic.in for JEE Main, neet.nta.nic.in for NEET-UG and cuet.nta.nic.in for CUET-UG.
JEE Advanced: its own site, jeeadv.ac.in.
CBSE: cbse.gov.in, for dated circulars, date sheets and press releases.
State boards: your board's own website; ask the school for the exact address.
Your child's school: much board-exam paperwork runs through it. CBSE's reminder that 21 October 2026 was the last date to submit the List of Candidates (LOC) with the normal fee was addressed to principals, not families (CBSE reminder, 21 October 2026).
Also check the contact details on every form. NTA's JEE Main notice says all communication goes by email to the registered address or SMS to the registered mobile number, which must be the candidate's own or a parent's or guardian's (NTA public notice, 24 October 2026).
What are the key exam dates to put on the calendar?
Here is a worked example, copied from NTA's notice for JEE Main 2027 Session 1 (NTA public notice, 24 October 2026):
24 October to 22 November 2026 (until 11:50 pm): apply online and pay the fee.
23 to 26 November 2026: late applications, with a late fee of Rs 500.
27 to 29 November 2026: corrections to the form.
30 December 2026: city of examination announced.
13 January 2027: admit cards released.
20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28 January 2027: the exam.
NTA's tentative examination calendar, published on 16 September 2026, had listed JEE Main Session 1 for 22 to 24 and 28 to 30 January 2027 (NTA calendar notice, 16 September 2026). The calendar itself says its dates are tentative and that it "does not constitute a notification for any particular examination". The exam notice set different days, so a family working from a screenshot of the calendar would have the wrong dates.
For boards, CBSE has started the LOC process for the 2027 Class 10 and 12 exams, covering students in nearly 32,000 affiliated schools in India and 26 countries (CBSE press release, 29 September 2026). Until a date sheet appears on cbse.gov.in, any "final timetable" in a group chat is a guess. NEET-UG 2027 is not on NTA's calendar, which runs only to March 2027, so watch neet.nta.nic.in, not rumours. While you wait, here is how to use NTA's official mock tests.
How can you tell if a forwarded exam notice is fake?
In July 2026, NTA issued a public notice about fabricated, digitally altered or AI-generated NEET (UG) 2026 OMR sheets and score cards, noting that genuine documents carry identifiers such as a barcode (and, on score cards, a QR code) that are verified against its records (NTA notice, 20 July 2026). The same notice says creating or circulating forged exam documents is a cognisable offence under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
Use this three-step check before anyone reacts:
Find it at the source. Type the official address and check the latest notices. If it is not there, treat it as unconfirmed.
Match the details. Official notices carry a date and a subject line. Check that the date, exam and year match, and that no newer notice replaces it.
Ask the checkers. For claims about a Government of India body, send the message to PIB Fact Check on WhatsApp at +91-8799711259 (PIB Fact Check).
Whatever a message says, do not pay money, share an OTP or log in through its link.
What should you say at home when a scary message arrives?
Agree on a plan while nobody is anxious:
One checker. Pick one person, often the student, to check the official sites at a fixed time each week. Everyone else sends worries to that person, not the family group.
One calendar. Paper or a shared phone calendar, with each date's source written next to it.
One script. When a forward arrives, the parent says: "Thanks for showing me. Let's open the official site together before we decide anything." If it is real, plan together; if not, delete it calmly.
For keeping the household steady, see our guide to routines for exam season at home. If worry stays high after the facts are clear, read when exam stress needs extra help. Tele MANAS offers 24x7 tele-mental health counselling on the toll-free number 14416 (Ministry of Health, via PIB).
Once the dates are settled, the next worry is usually what to study first. Fermi's AI tutor works out what your child already knows and builds a plan for the session, so a date on the wall becomes a clear next step.
Bookmark the sites tonight, and the next forward becomes a two-minute check instead of an evening of panic.
