CUET UG is the common entrance test for undergraduate admission to over 250 universities — all the central universities, plus a long list of state, deemed and private ones. One exam, one application, and your score is accepted everywhere on the list.
The National Testing Agency conducts it. For the 2027 admission cycle the notification and application window are expected in the first quarter of 2027, with the exam in the May–June window, following the pattern of recent years. Exact dates come with the official NTA information bulletin — do not plan travel around any date you have seen that is not in that bulletin.
What you can plan around now is the structure, which has been stable since the 2025 reform, and the subject-choice decision, which is where students actually go wrong.
Who is eligible
- You must have passed class 12 or an equivalent examination, or be appearing for it in 2027
- There is no age limit. NTA sets none for CUET UG
- There is no minimum percentage to sit the exam itself
- There is no restriction on how many times you can attempt it
Two things that follow from this and that students get wrong:
NTA eligibility is not university eligibility. You can sit the exam with no minimum marks, but each university sets its own minimum for each course — a percentage in class 12, specific subjects passed, sometimes a subject-wise minimum. Clearing CUET does not make you eligible for a course whose own criteria you do not meet. Check the course requirement on the university's website, not only the NTA bulletin.
Your score is valid for one admission cycle only. A CUET UG 2027 score cannot be carried to 2028. If you take a year out, you sit the exam again.
Exam pattern
| Section | Contents | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section I — Languages | 13 languages | 50, all compulsory | 60 minutes |
| Section II — Domain | 23 domain subjects | 50, all compulsory | 60 minutes |
| Section III — General Test | General aptitude | 50, all compulsory | 60 minutes |
Key rules:
- You may choose up to five subjects in total, across the three sections in any combination
- All 50 questions in each paper are compulsory — the old "attempt 40 of 50" choice is gone
- Computer-based test only. The hybrid pen-and-paper mode has been discontinued
- Marking: +5 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong answer, nothing for unattempted
That marking scheme deserves a moment. A wrong answer costs you 1 mark; leaving it blank costs 0. With five marks on offer, a genuine 50-50 between two options is worth attempting. A blind guess across four options is not — it loses marks on average. Decide this rule for yourself before the exam, not during it.
Because all questions are compulsory and the paper is 60 minutes for 50 questions, pacing is roughly 70 seconds per question. That is the single most useful number to practise against.
Choosing your five subjects — the decision that matters
Since the 2025 reform, you are no longer restricted to subjects you studied in class 12. A commerce student can take a science domain paper; an arts student can take Business Studies. NTA does not block the combination.
But the universities still do. Delhi University, BHU, JNU and the rest publish, for every single course, which CUET subjects they will accept for admission to it. A BCom (Hons) seat may require Mathematics or Accountancy in your CUET subject set. A BA Economics seat may require Mathematics. If that subject is not among your five, your score is irrelevant to that course no matter how high it is.
So the order of work is the reverse of what most students do:
- Decide the courses and universities you actually want — a shortlist of six or eight is enough.
- Look up the accepted CUET subject combination for each of those courses on each university's own admission page.
- Pick the five subjects that cover the most of that shortlist. Then prepare them.
Students who choose subjects first and look at course requirements afterwards are the ones who score well in May and discover in July that they cannot apply where they wanted. This is the most common and most avoidable failure in the whole CUET process.
Two practical notes. Take the General Test unless nothing on your shortlist uses it — a large number of courses accept or require it, and it is the cheapest of the five slots to prepare. And take a language you are genuinely strong in, not the one you think looks better; it is 250 marks either way.
Syllabus
The domain subject syllabi follow the NCERT class 12 syllabus for each subject. That is the whole answer, and it is why CUET preparation runs alongside board preparation rather than competing with it.
The language papers test reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and literary aptitude. The General Test covers general knowledge and current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning at the basic level, and logical and analytical reasoning.
Work from the NCERT books themselves for the domain papers. Guide books built on them add volume without adding anything that gets tested.
How to apply
- Go to the NTA CUET UG portal when the window opens and register with a mobile number and email you control. Both receive OTPs and every later communication.
- Fill the application: personal details, class 12 details, your subject choices and your exam city preferences.
- Choose the universities you are applying to from the participating list.
- Upload your photograph and signature in the exact dimensions and file size the bulletin specifies.
- Pay the fee online. It varies with how many subjects you select and with your category.
- Download the confirmation page and save it. It is the only proof that you submitted.
NTA normally opens a correction window after the deadline, for a limited set of fields. Do not rely on it — some fields are never correctable, and the window is short.
Problems students hit — and what to do
"I do not know which subjects to pick." Work backwards from your course shortlist, as above. If you genuinely have no shortlist yet, a safe default is one language, the General Test, and three domain subjects from your class 12 stream — that combination keeps the widest set of courses open.
"The university wants a subject I did not take in CUET." There is no remedy within the cycle. This is why step 2 above has to happen before the application closes, not after the result.
"My photograph upload keeps failing." The bulletin specifies exact pixel dimensions and a file-size range. Resize to those figures precisely rather than approximately — this is the single most common reason an application stalls on the last day.
"My class 12 result is not out yet." You can apply as an appearing candidate. Universities require the result at admission, not at application.
"My exam city is far from home." City allocation depends on capacity and on how many candidates chose the same centre. Fill all the preference slots with genuinely different options rather than three variations of one city, and travel the previous day for an early shift.
"My name or date of birth is wrong on the admit card." Raise it with NTA immediately through the portal's grievance route and carry your original documents to the centre. Do not leave it to exam day.
What to do between now and the notification
The useful work is available already, and it is not exam practice.
Build the course shortlist and look up its subject requirements. That research takes an evening and it determines everything else. Doing it now, rather than in the week the application closes, is the difference between a considered subject set and a panicked one.
Then work the NCERT class 12 books for the domain subjects you have landed on. It is the same reading your board exams need, so none of it is wasted even if your plans change.
Start the General Test's current affairs now. It is the one component that cannot be covered in a final month, and it is also the component most candidates leave until there is no time left.