CUET 2026 Exam Pattern 

Welcome to our one-stop guide to the CUET(UG) Exam pattern! The CUET (UG), or the Common University Entrance Test (Undergraduate), is a crucial exam held every year by the National Testing Agency for students striving to get admission to different undergraduate courses in India’s top selected universities. CUET (UG) is a gateway to admission in various courses such as B.A., B.Sc., B.Com, B.Voc, etc. 

Whether you are a science student or preparing for a general course, understanding the CUET exam pattern is essential for success in the CUET UG exam.

1.0CUET Exam Pattern

CUET Exam Pattern consists of three sections: Section I with two subsections (IA and IB), Section II, and Section III, in the following configuration of questions and duration: 

Key Points

• The questions are asked in MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) format with 4 choices with a positive marking of +5 and a negative marking of –1. 
• No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.  
• The exam will be held in three time slots or shifts in a day. That is: 

Please note: These time slots are based on previous year.

• The exam will be held in 13 different languages, which include Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, English, Hindi, and Urdu. 
• The exam is conducted on a national level, with over 200 government and private central universities participating, including some prestigious universities in India. 
• The total number of questions asked in each section is 50, of which only 40 need to be attempted. 
• The maximum mark that can be obtained is 800 (2004). 
• To ensure fairness across all shifts of the exam, NTA uses the process of normalisation of marks. The cutoff or merit list will be based on the normalized marks of the students.  

CUET 2026 Section-Wise Exam Pattern 

The below table contains the details based on last year. Will notify you after the official notification on the latest details.

2.0Major Changes in Exam Pattern

The National Testing Agency, along with UGC, made some changes in the CUET Exam pattern for the year 2025. The changes are as follows: 

1. Decrease in Total Subjects: The total number of subjects from which the subjects for Sections I and II need to be chosen has decreased to 37 from 63, which includes 13 languages and 23 domain-specific subjects. The admission for these dropped subjects will now be based on section III of the CUET UG exam, the GAT (General aptitude test). 
2. Selection of Domain Subjects: A candidate can choose only 5 subjects, which was 6 in the previous year, from the pool of 37 total subjects. 
3. Subject selection: In CUET 2025, students can select any subject irrespective of their background in class 12th. 
4. CBT-only Scheme: In 2025, the exam will be conducted solely in a computer-based format, unlike in 2024, when it was held in hybrid mode. 
5. Exam Duration: Each section will be given 60 minutes to complete. 

*Students will be informed of any further updates as soon as they are announced by the officials.

3.0CUET UG Section-Wise Subjects

Key Points to Remember

1. Candidates can choose up to three languages in Section I.
2. Candidates can select only 5 domain-specific subjects from the list of subjects in Section II. 
3. The General Test is Compulsory for all the candidates regardless of their stream or selection of course. 
4. Every University/institution/Organisation may have its own set of eligible domain courses for a particular degree program; hence, it is advised to always visit the site of the specific university you are aiming for to select the languages and subjects according to their criteria.  

4.0Checklist To Prepare For CUET UG

So, are you aiming to crack the CUET UG Exam 2026 but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry; here is a checklist to help you Prepare for the CUET UG examination effectively; you need to: 

• Understand the pattern of the CUET Undergraduate exam. 
• Go through the syllabus specific to your subject of interest. 
• Make NCERT books your best friend. The Questions asked in domain-specific exams are asked directly from NCERT books. Hence much importance should be given to the syllabus of NCERT class 12th. 
• Give online mock tests by allocating time like in the actual exam. 
• Solve previous year's exam papers to get an idea of what type of questions are asked in the CUET exam. 
• Revise the whole syllabus and Practice your weak areas of subjects. 
• Last but not least, stay calm and confident.