Common University Entrance Test

If you are in Class 12 right now, there is a good chance your college admission next year will depend on a single computer-based test rather than your board marks alone. That test is CUET. More than 15 lakh candidates registered for CUET UG 2026, and its scores were used for admission by more than 240 universities, including Delhi University, BHU and JNU.

This guide explains what the CUET exam is, who conducts it, how the paper is structured, what the syllabus covers, how scores are calculated, and how a Class 12 student can prepare for it alongside board exams. It is written for the CUET 2027 cycle, but the structure of the test has stayed stable since the 2025 reforms, so the core information applies year after year.

What is the CUET exam?

CUET stands for Common University Entrance Test. It is a national-level entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body set up by the Ministry of Education. There are two versions: CUET (UG) for undergraduate admissions after Class 12, and CUET (PG) for postgraduate admissions. This article covers CUET (UG), which is what most people mean when they say "CUET".

Before 2022, most central universities admitted students on Class 12 marks, and the older CUCET covered only a handful of them. Since boards mark differently, comparisons were unfair. CUET replaced that with one standardised test for all central universities, and a growing number of state, deemed and private universities have joined since.

One point that confuses many first-time aspirants: NTA only conducts the exam and publishes scores. It does not prepare merit lists or allot seats. Each university runs its own admission process using your CUET scorecard.

CUET UG

How CUET 2026 went, and what to expect in CUET 2027

The 2026 cycle is the best reference point for anyone preparing for 2027. The notification and Information Bulletin came out on 3 January 2026, applications ran from 3 to 30 January (with a short reopening in late February), the exam was held from 11 to 31 May with a few extra sessions on 6 and 7 June, and the result was declared on 23 June 2026.

NTA has not yet announced CUET UG 2027 dates. Its exam calendar released on 16 September 2026 covers only December 2026 to March 2027. Going by the last two cycles, this is the likely timeline:

Treat these as planning estimates and confirm every date on cuet.nta.nic.in once the official bulletin is out.

The exam format was overhauled from 2025 onward and stayed unchanged in 2026: CBT only, 37 subjects instead of 63, a flat 60-minute paper with 50 compulsory questions, a maximum of five subjects, and freedom to pick any subject regardless of what you studied in Class 12. Unless NTA announces otherwise, prepare on the assumption that 2027 follows the same structure.

CUET eligibility criteria

CUET exam pattern

Every subject you choose is a separate one-hour paper. There is no combined "CUET paper"; if you pick four subjects, you sit four independent tests, often across different shifts or days. Each paper carries 250 marks, and the exam runs in multiple shifts depending on candidate numbers and subject choices.

You choose the question paper medium at the time of application and cannot change it later. The paper appears in both English and your chosen language, and the English version is treated as final in case of any discrepancy.

Since every paper has 50 questions in 60 minutes, you get an average of 72 seconds per question. That number matters more than it looks, and it is why timed practice sits at the centre of CUET preparation.

CUET syllabus

NTA publishes the subject-wise syllabus as PDFs on the official website, usually a few weeks before the notification. The broad coverage is:

The 23 domain subjects offered in CUET UG 2026, grouped by stream:

• Science: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics/Applied Mathematics, Biology (including Biotechnology and Biochemistry), Computer Science/Informatics Practices, Environmental Science, Agriculture

• Commerce: Accountancy/Book Keeping, Business Studies, Economics/Business Economics

• Humanities and social sciences: History, Geography/Geology, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Home Science, Knowledge Tradition and Practices of India

• Arts, media and others: Fine Arts/Visual Arts/Commercial Arts, Performing Arts (Dance, Drama, Music), Mass Media/Mass Communication, Physical Education (Yoga, Sports), Sanskrit

Subjects such as Entrepreneurship, Legal Studies and Teaching Aptitude were dropped in the 2025 reforms; admission to courses linked to them is now based on the General Aptitude Test score.

Because domain papers follow NCERT, board preparation and CUET preparation overlap heavily. The difference is format. Boards test long written answers; CUET tests whether you can recall and apply the same content quickly as MCQs.

How to choose your CUET subjects

This is the decision most aspirants get wrong, and it cannot be fixed after the form is submitted.

1. Start from the course, not the subject. List the programmes and universities you want, then note the CUET subject combination each one asks for. The same course can demand different combinations at different universities.

2. Count what those combinations need. Most programmes ask for one language plus two or three domain subjects, or a language plus the General Aptitude Test.

3. Fill the remaining slots wisely. Five is the maximum, not a target. Every extra paper costs money, preparation time and possibly a separate exam shift. Add a fifth subject only if it opens a real admission route.

4. Include the General Aptitude Test if any target course uses it. Since several dropped subjects now route through GAT, it acts as a safety net for many courses.

You may choose subjects you did not study in Class 12, but be realistic about the preparation load.

CUET application fee

Fees are paid online only, and payment gateway charges are extra. These are the 2026 figures from the official bulletin; check the 2027 bulletin for any revision.

How CUET scores are calculated

Your raw score in a CUET exam paper is 5 marks for every correct answer minus 1 for every wrong one. But because the same subject is often held across several shifts with different question papers, NTA converts raw marks into a normalised NTA Score using an equi-percentile method. In simple terms, your raw marks are first turned into a percentile within your shift, and that percentile is then mapped to an equivalent mark across all shifts. This is what makes a score from an easier shift and a harder shift comparable.

Other points worth knowing:

• Provisional answer keys are published before the result, and you can challenge a question by paying Rs 200 per challenge. The final key decides the result.

• There is no re-evaluation or re-checking after the result.

• The scorecard is downloaded from cuet.nta.nic.in, and it is valid only for admission in that academic year.

What happens after the result

Once NTA publishes the scorecard, the process moves to the universities. Each participating university releases its own counselling schedule, merit list and cut-offs based on CUET scores and its own criteria. Delhi University, for example, runs its own centralised seat allocation system. Cut-offs vary by university, college, course and category, so keep an eye on the admission pages of your target universities from the day the result is out.