CUET- Common Universities Entrance Test

About CUET

CUET stands for the Common Universities Entrance Test that is introduced by the University Grants Commission for admission in various central universities and colleges. National Testing Agency has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting efficient, transparent and standardized tests in order to assess the competency of candidates for admission to Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses. The exam is conducted once a year in over 500 cities in India and around 10 cities abroad. The exam is conducted in a computer-based mode for two hours. Following the CUET, each university will admit students based on a merit list prepared by NTA and there will be no common counseling. 

CUET-UG

CUET Participating Universities and Colleges

The CUET-UG is conducted for admission into UG Programs in all Central Universities including some state, private and deemed universities too.
In 2022, 44 Universities including Aligarh Muslim University, Muslim University, Assam University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Banaras Hindu University, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, and the Central University of Jammu, will participate and offer admissions for UG scores.
Here is the link of the List of Participating Universities-
https://cuet.samarth.ac.in/index.php/app/info/universities

CUET Eligibility Criteria

Candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria set by the Central Universities in order to apply and appear for CUET-

• Students must have passed class 12th from a recognized board to take admission to Bachelor’s degree programs in the Central Universities. 
• For the General category, the candidate needs to secure a minimum of 50 percent in class XII, for SC/ST, candidates need to have secured a minimum of 45 percent in class XII in order to be eligible for the CUET 2022.
• For BTech programmes, the minimum aggregate for the General category candidates is 45 percent and that of the reserved category candidates is 40 percent.

Students must be conscious of the fact that CUET qualifying requirements may change depending on the institutes and CUET programs. 

CUET Registration

Candidates had to fill CUET application form in an online mode on the official website (https://cuet.samarth.ac.in/) of the exam. The first step is to register by entering basic details such as name, address and contact details. This will generate login credentials. After logging in with the registration credentials, candidates’ have to fill up the CUET 2022 application form with their personal and academic details, program and exam city preference and upload documents. After the form is filled, candidates had to pay the CUET application fee online via Net Banking, UPI etc. The general category applicants have to pay a sum of Rs.650 to register them for the exam, whereas the Gen-EWS/ OBC-NCL and SC/ST/PwD category candidates have to pay a fee of Rs.600 and Rs.550, respectively.

CUET Syllabus

The syllabus of CUET-UG will be of the same level as that of the NCERT Class 12 syllabus. The common subjects across the different courses of the CUET syllabus are English, General Aptitude, Numerical Aptitude/Data Interpretation, Analytical Skills, Reasoning and General Knowledge.

Here is the link of subject-wise syllabus which students must refer to while preparing for the exam.https://cuet.samarth.ac.in/index.php/site/syllabus

CUET Exam pattern

The CUET Undergraduate Exam Pattern has been divided into 4 sections; it has 2 language sections, 1 domain paper and 1 general test. Each section is of 200 marks; for every correct answer 5 marks are awarded and 1 mark is deducted for every wrong answer. The questions will be objective type and they will be asked in 13 languages i.e. Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, English, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu except for the language section. 

1. Section IA– It has 13 Languages i.e. Odiya, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Gujarati)
2. Section IB– It has 20 Languages i.e. Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Sanskrit).

For Section IA & IB the candidate has to choose a maximum of 3 languages from Section IA and Section IB taken together (Domain-specific subjects must be replaced by one of the languages chosen.)
The question type in Section IA and IB will be MCQ based on Reading Comprehension (different sorts of passages–Factual, Literary, and Narrative). The candidate has to attempt 40 questions out of 50 questions in each language and for each language 45 minutes will be allotted. 

3. Section II– It has 27 Domain-Specific Subjects

The candidate has to choose a maximum of 6 subjects from those 27 subjects. Below is the complete list of 27 Domain-Specific subjects:

1. Legal Studies
2. Environmental Science
3. Mathematics
4. Physical Education/ NCC /Yoga
5. Physics
6. Political Science
7. Psychology
8. Sociology
9. Teaching Aptitude
10. Agriculture
11. Mass Media/ Mass Communication
12. Anthropology
13. Fine Arts/ Visual Arts (Sculpture/ Painting)/Commercial Arts,
14. Performing Arts – (i) Dance (Kathak/ Bharatnatyam/ Odissi/ Kathakali/Kuchipudi/ Manipuri (ii) Drama- Theater (iii) Music General (Hindustani/ Carnatic/ Rabindra Sangeet/ Percussion/ Non-Percussion)
15. Sanskrit
16. Accountancy/BookKeeping
17. Biology/ Biological Studies/ Biotechnology/Biochemistry
18. Business Studies
19. Chemistry
20. Computer Science/ Informatics Practices
21. Economics/ Business Economics
22. Engineering Graphics
23. Entrepreneurship
24. Geography/Geology
25. History
26. Home Science
27. Knowledge Tradition and Practices of India

Section II will have MCQ based on NCERT Class 12th syllabus only. The candidates have to attempt 40 questions out of 50 in each domain they select and for each Domain-Specific Subject 45 minutes are allotted. 

4. Section III- It consists of a General test. It is an optional test for vocational/cross-stream/open eligibility test. The questions will be MCQ based on the topics- Current Affairs, General Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Numerical Ability (Till Grade 8) and General Mental Ability Logical and Analytical Reasoning. The candidate has to attempt 60 questions out of 75 and the allotted time is 60 minutes. 

Students have to remember that their choice of Languages/Subjects/General tests will depend on the requirements of the desired Universities for the desired course.
The CUET-UG exam is conducted in 2 slots. The time duration of slot 1 is 3 Hours 15 Minutes and of  slot 2 is 3 Hours 45 Minutes. However, it may vary as per the choice of sections.Each candidate can give a maximum of 9 tests- 2 Languages, 6 Domain Specific Subjects, 1 General Test OR 3 Languages, 5 Domain Specific Subjects, 1 General Test.

Candidate are advised to select the Tests in Slot 1 and Slot 2 as follows:

1. Slot 1: Up to 4 Tests

Section IA and IB: 1 Language

Section II: 2 Domain-Specific Subjects

Section III: General test

1. Slot 2: Up to 5 Tests

Section IA and IB: 1 Language

Section II: Maximum 4 Domain-Specific Subjects

                               OR

Section IA and IB: 2 Languages

+Section II: Maximum 3 Domain-Specific Subjects.

CUET Counseling and Admission Process

Based on the colleges that the candidates have selected while filling the application form and the marks obtained, the CUET participating colleges will shortlist candidates for the counselling process. Each college will conduct separate counselling rounds for the qualifying candidates as every participating institute will release its individual rank list of candidates who are eligible to participate in the counselling process of CUET.
Candidates will have to register online and then appear in online counselling followed by offline counselling. Upon seat allotment, candidates will have to pay the admission fee and report to institutes to accept the admission offer. Some of the colleges may conduct interview rounds for certain programmes. 

CUET-PG

The entrance examination of CUET PG 2022 is conducted for admission in various PG programmes offered by the 24 central universities and 18 other state universities.

CUET-PG Eligibility

PG Courses

The candidates must have done graduation in the relevant discipline with a minimum of 55% marks.
The SC, SR, PwD or OBC category must have passed with 50% marks in graduation.

PhD Courses

For admission in a PhD program, the candidates must have done a Master’s Degree in any stream with a minimum of 55% marks for the general category, 50% for the OBC category, 45% for SC/ST/PWD.
The candidates who cleared Gate, NBHM, UGC-CSIR JRF, or other national level exams will be exempted from CUCET 2022 entrance test but need to register for CUET exam 2022.

CUET-PG SyllabusHere is the link of subject-wise syllabus which students must refer to while preparing for the exam.https://cuet.nta.nic.in/syllabus/

CUET-PG Exam Pattern

The question paper consists of 100 MCQ. For each right answer 4 marks are awarded and 1 will be deducted for every wrong answer. The exam will be of 2 hours duration, is conducted online and the medium of instruction would be English and Hindi except for the sahitya papers.

CUET-PG exam pattern is different for different courses; following are the details of exam pattern of different codes-

CUET-PG counselingThe CUET counselling or admission process will be conducted by the participating institutes individually in the online mode. Each participating university in the CUET consortium separately releases the list of all the eligible students who qualify for the CUET counselling. Only those candidates whose names are mentioned in the rank list will be called upon for the counselling.

How to prepare for the CUET-UG entrance exam?

Students who are willing to appear for CUET; coaching will provide them a higher rate of success. As a result, opting for offline or online coaching for CUET, enhances your chances of performing better. It, ultimately, makes you ready for the exam in a specific way. Solving previous years question papers and appearing for mock tests are also an effective way of preparation.

Recommended resources for CUET:

• Verbal and non-verbal reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal
• Data interpretation by Arun Sharma.
• Analytical Reasoning by M K Pandey
• R.S. Aggarwal Books for Science subjects
• T.S. Grewal Books for Commerce subjects
• NCERT Exemplar for each domain subject 
• Online YouTube content is freely available for specific subjects
• NCERT 10th standard Math book

• General Knowledge by Arihant Publication.
• Manorama Yearbook.
• The Hindu.
• The Indian Express.
• The Economist.