CUET UG is the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admission, conducted once a year by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on behalf of the University Grants Commission. It is the mandatory gateway into every Central University in India, University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, and dozens more, plus a fast-growing list of State, Deemed, and Private universities that have opted in. Roughly 200 to 275 institutions accept CUET UG scores in a given cycle. Unlike JEE Main or NEET UG, CUET UG has no fixed paper: candidates pick up to five subjects from a menu of 13 languages, 23 domain subjects, and one General Test. NTA's job ends at declaring a subject-wise score; each participating university then runs its own separate admission process. CUET UG 2026 was conducted between May 11 and May 31, 2026, and results were declared on June 23, 2026.
| Date | Update | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 23, 2026 | CUET UG 2026 result and topper list declared | NTA notification |
| June 9, 2026 | Provisional answer keys and response sheets released | NTA notification |
| June 1-7, 2026 | Admit cards released for rescheduled candidates; makeup sessions held June 6-7 | NTA |
| May 11-31, 2026 | CUET UG 2026 conducted across 306 domestic and 15 international cities | NTA |
| February 23-26, 2026 | Special reopened registration window (no correction facility) | NTA notification |
| January 3, 2026 | CUET UG 2026 registration opened; Information Bulletin released | NTA |
| Full name | Common University Entrance Test (Undergraduate) |
| Acronym | CUET UG |
| Conducting body | National Testing Agency (NTA), on behalf of the UGC and Ministry of Education |
| Mode | Computer-based test (CBT), fully CBT from 2026 onward |
| Level | National |
| Frequency | Annual, spread across multiple days and shifts |
| Subjects on offer | 37 total: 13 languages, 23 domain subjects, 1 General Test |
| Subjects a candidate may choose | Up to 5 |
| Marks per subject | 250 (50 questions, 5 marks each) |
| Duration per subject | 60 minutes |
| Marking scheme | +5 for a correct answer, -1 for an incorrect answer, 0 for unattempted |
| Application fee (General, 1 subject) | ₹1,000 |
| Official website | cuet.nta.nic.in |
| 2026 cycle registrations | 15,68,866 unique candidates |
| Exam cities, 2026 cycle | 306 in India, 15 outside India |
| Participating universities | Approximately 200 to 275, changes each cycle as universities opt in or out |
| Information Bulletin released, registration opened | January 3, 2026 |
| Registration closed (original deadline) | January 30, 2026 |
| Fee payment deadline (original) | January 31, 2026 |
| Registration extended | Until February 4, 2026, 9:00 PM |
| Extended fee payment deadline | February 7, 2026, 11:50 PM |
| Application correction window | February 9-11, 2026 |
| Special reopened registration window (no correction facility) | February 23-26, 2026 |
| Exam dates | May 11-31, 2026 |
| Rescheduled sessions for technically affected candidates | May 30, and June 6-7, 2026 |
| Provisional answer key and response sheet release | June 9, 2026 |
| Result and topper list declared | June 23, 2026 |
| University of Delhi, CSAS Phase 2 (preference filling, first merit list) | Early to mid July 2026 (2025 cycle's first merit list released July 19) tentative |
| Banaras Hindu University, CAP UG rounds | July to August 2026 tentative |
| Jawaharlal Nehru University, own application and first merit list | July to August 2026 (2025 cycle's first list released in August) tentative |
| Jamia Millia Islamia and other Central Universities | Individually published, typically July through September 2026 tentative |
CUET UG eligibility requires a candidate to have passed Class 12 (or an equivalent qualifying examination) from a recognised board, in any stream, or to be currently appearing in the Class 12 examination in 2026. NTA itself sets no minimum percentage to sit the exam and no upper age limit. Individual universities then apply their own minimum-percentage and category-wise requirements for admission, which is why the same CUET score can be sufficient at one university and short at another.
| Age limit | None set by NTA. Candidates of any age who meet the educational qualification can appear. |
| Educational qualification | A pass in Class 12 (or equivalent) from a recognised board, in any stream. From the 2026 cycle onward, a candidate can choose any of the 23 domain subjects regardless of what they studied in Class 12. |
| Appearing candidates | Students currently in Class 12 for the 2026 academic year are eligible to register and appear, subject to producing proof of having passed by the specific university's admission deadline. |
| University-set minimum, General / EWS / OBC-NCL (indicative) | Around 50% aggregate in Class 12, set independently by each university, not by NTA. |
| University-set minimum, SC / ST / PwD (indicative) | Around 45% aggregate in Class 12, set independently by each university, not by NTA. |
| University of Delhi | No universal fixed floor published by NTA. DU's own admission guidance has referenced 60% as a practically competitive threshold for its more selective programmes, not a hard eligibility cutoff. |
| Nationality | Indian citizens, along with NRI, OCI, and foreign national candidates, can register, subject to each participating university's own foreign-national and NRI admission policy. |
| Domicile | CUET UG itself applies no domicile restriction. Individual State Universities may reserve seats for in-state domicile candidates as part of their own admission policy, separate from CUET UG eligibility. |
CUET UG registration is fully online at cuet.nta.nic.in. The 2026 cycle's window opened January 3 and was extended twice, first to February 4 and then reopened for a short special window from February 23 to 26 with no correction facility attached. A candidate registers once, then selects up to five subjects based on what their target programmes at their target universities actually require, so checking each shortlisted university's subject requirements before registering matters more for CUET UG than for a fixed-paper exam like JEE Main.
| Document | Format | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the bulletin | Recent, plain light background, clearly visible face |
| Signature | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the bulletin | Handwritten in black or blue ink, scanned on plain paper |
| Category certificate (if applicable) | As specified in the bulletin | OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS, or PwBD as relevant | |
| PwBD certificate (if applicable) | As specified in the bulletin | Required only for candidates claiming PwBD relaxation |
| Category | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| General / Unreserved, 1st subject | ₹1,000 | ₹1,000 |
| General / Unreserved, each additional subject | ₹400 | ₹400 |
| OBC-NCL / EWS, 1st subject | ₹900 | ₹900 |
| OBC-NCL / EWS, each additional subject | ₹375 | ₹375 |
| SC / ST / PwBD / Third Gender, 1st subject | ₹800 | ₹800 |
| SC / ST / PwBD / Third Gender, each additional subject | ₹350 | ₹350 |
| Outside India, up to 3 subjects | ₹4,500 | ₹4,500 |
| Outside India, each additional subject | ₹1,800 | ₹1,800 |
CUET UG's exam pattern is built around subject choice rather than one fixed paper. A candidate selects up to five subjects from 37 on offer, and each subject is tested as its own standalone 60-minute paper of 50 multiple-choice questions worth up to 250 marks. The 2026 cycle cut the total subject count from 63 to 37 (13 languages, 23 domain subjects, one General Test), dropping subjects including Entrepreneurship, Teaching Aptitude, and Legal Studies, and moved the exam fully to Computer-Based Test mode, ending the hybrid CBT-plus-pen-paper format used in 2025.
| Mode | Computer-based test (CBT), fully CBT from 2026 |
| Subjects on offer | 37: 13 languages, 23 domain subjects, 1 General Test |
| Subjects a candidate may attempt | Up to 5 |
| Duration per subject | 60 minutes |
| Questions per subject | 50 |
| Marks per subject | 250 (5 marks per question) |
| Marking scheme | +5 correct, -1 incorrect, 0 unattempted |
| Daily slots | Two: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Total exam window | 19 days across the May 11-31, 2026 schedule, plus rescheduled make-up sessions |
| Language of question paper | Candidate's choice of test language for domain and General Test papers, from among the 13 offered languages |
| Domain subject restriction | None from 2026 onward; any of the 23 domain subjects can be chosen regardless of Class 12 stream |
The 2025 cycle ran in a hybrid format that mixed Computer-Based Test delivery with pen-and-paper delivery for high-volume subjects, and offered a much larger menu, 63 total subjects. The 2026 cycle dropped the hybrid model entirely in favour of CBT-only delivery and reduced the subject list to 37, removing lower-demand subjects such as Entrepreneurship, Teaching Aptitude, and Legal Studies. The maximum number of subjects a candidate can choose also dropped to five, and the stream restriction on domain subjects was removed, letting any candidate attempt any domain paper.
Under CUET UG's +5/-1 marking, the break-even point for a blind guess on a four-option question sits at exactly 20 percent: a random guess carries a 1-in-4 chance of +5 and a 3-in-4 chance of -1, which nets out to +0.5, technically positive in isolation. Real CUET papers are rarely four clean options with zero partial information, so this math overstates how safe guessing actually is. Eliminating even one wrong option before answering pushes the expected value further positive, while blind guessing across an entire section with zero elimination is the single most common way candidates quietly erode a strong subject score.
There is no single unified CUET UG syllabus the way JEE Main has one. Each of the 23 domain subjects is tested against that subject's own NCERT Class 12 syllabus, the 13 language papers test reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar rather than literature analysis, and the General Test draws from general knowledge, current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning, logical and analytical reasoning, and general science and environmental literacy, going slightly beyond a strict NCERT boundary.
Each domain paper is 50 questions worth 250 marks, built from that subject's Class 12 NCERT textbook. The 2026 list includes Accountancy, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science and Informatics Practices, Economics, Geography and Geology, History, Home Science, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Agriculture, Mass Media and Mass Communication, Anthropology, Fine Arts and Visual Arts, Environmental Science, Sanskrit, and a small number of other subject-specific papers. Confirm the exact current-cycle list on the official Information Bulletin, since the menu has changed materially across the last three cycles.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce subjects (Accountancy, Business Studies, Economics) | NCERT Class 12 | Highest-demand domain papers for DU's commerce colleges (SRCC, Hindu College, Hansraj) |
| Science subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics) | NCERT Class 12 | Required for BSc programmes at BHU, DU science colleges, and JNU's science schools |
| Humanities and social science subjects (History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Geography) | NCERT Class 12 | Broadest-demand cluster given the number of BA (Hons) seats across 200-plus universities |
| Applied and vocational subjects (Home Science, Agriculture, Mass Media, Fine Arts, Physical Education) | NCERT / NTA subject-specific | Smaller candidate pools but direct routes into specialised programmes |
Language papers test reading comprehension, vocabulary in context, and grammar in the chosen language: English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. A candidate can select up to two language papers within their five-subject cap. Universities that require a foreign-language qualifier (French, German, Spanish at JNU, for example) generally test those directly at the university's own admission stage rather than through a CUET UG language paper.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| All 13 language papers | 50 questions, 250 marks | Reading comprehension, vocabulary in context, grammar; not a literature deep-dive |
The General Test is the one paper without a fixed NCERT anchor. Many universities, including several DU programmes, require it as a mandatory fifth paper alongside the two language and up to two domain subjects a specific programme needs.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| General Knowledge and Current Affairs | Part of 50 questions | Recent 12-month current affairs recur most |
| General Mental Ability, Numerical Ability, Quantitative Reasoning | Part of 50 questions | Percentages, ratios, data interpretation |
| Logical and Analytical Reasoning | Part of 50 questions | Pattern and sequence reasoning |
| General Science and Environmental Literacy | Part of 50 questions | Goes slightly beyond a strict NCERT boundary |
A defensible CUET UG preparation plan looks different from JEE Main or NEET UG's, because the content ceiling for most domain subjects is a single NCERT textbook rather than a multi-year competitive syllabus. The bottleneck for most candidates is not depth of content, it is subject selection discipline and speed under a strict 60-minute-per-paper structure. The plans below assume a May exam date and work backward from it.
12-month plan
Months 1-6 (May-October): Confirm targets, then read NCERT twice. Confirm target universities and programmes first, then work backward to the exact subject combination each one requires. Read the assigned NCERT Class 12 textbook for each domain subject cover to cover, twice, once for understanding and once purely for recall. For the General Test, build a daily 20-minute current-affairs habit and work through one numerical or logical reasoning set per day.
Months 7-10 (November-February): Layer in timed, per-subject practice. Since each paper is a standalone 60-minute, 50-question block, practise each subject in isolation under its exact time limit rather than mixing subjects into one long study block. Begin one full mock cycle (all five chosen subjects, each timed separately) every two weeks from December.
Months 11-12 (March-May): Mock-heavy phase. Two to three timed mock cycles per week, with dedicated review time for every wrong answer. In the final two weeks, shift from new content to error-log review and confirm the exact exam-city and reporting-time details on the admit card.
6-month plan
Months 1-2 (November-December): Lock targets, then read NCERT once. Lock the target university and programme list first, since this decides the exact subject combination and removes wasted study time on subjects that were never required. Read each domain subject's NCERT textbook once, chapter by chapter, with 15 to 20 practice questions per chapter.
Months 3-4 (January-February): Begin timed single-subject mocks. One subject per session under its real 60-minute limit. Build the current-affairs and reasoning habit for the General Test in parallel, since it cannot be crammed in the final month the way a single NCERT chapter can.
Months 5-6 (March-May): Mock-heavy. Full five-subject mock cycles twice a week, tapering to alternate-day review only in the final ten days. Read every wrong answer's explanation rather than only checking the correct option.
90-day plan
Days 1-30: Confirm subjects are locked, then triage. Confirm the subject list cannot change, since correction windows close well before this stage in most cycles. Identify which one or two of the five chosen subjects are weakest and spend disproportionate time there.
Days 31-60: One timed single-subject mock daily. Rotate through all five subjects across the week. Build a short error log per subject rather than one combined log, since the failure patterns in a Commerce domain paper and the General Test's reasoning section are unrelated.
Days 61-90: Full mock cycles, then review only. Three full mock cycles a week, tapering to review only in the final week. Confirm the exact exam city, reporting time, and permitted-items list from the admit card well before exam day.
CUET UG's content ceiling, a single NCERT textbook per subject, means coaching adds far less value here than it does for JEE Main or NEET UG's multi-year competitive syllabus. A full-year CUET-specific coaching programme with providers like Aakash, Career Launcher, or PW typically runs ₹15,000 to ₹40,000, and mostly sells structure and a mock-test schedule rather than content a serious self-study candidate cannot get from NCERT plus a subject-specific reference book. Self-study built on the NCERT textbooks for each chosen domain subject, plus a current-affairs habit for the General Test, costs under ₹3,000 total and is genuinely sufficient for most CUET UG subject combinations.
Where coaching earns its cost is subject-selection guidance for candidates unsure which combination their target programmes actually require, and for General Test preparation, which has no single textbook anchor and benefits from a structured reasoning-practice routine. A candidate with a clear target university list and the discipline to read NCERT twice per subject does not need a classroom programme to score competitively.
Topper insight (pending)
Verified CUET UG topper contributor from the 2026 cycle, scorecard-verified, willing to be quoted by name and give a specific strategy tip. NTA's own June 23, 2026 result announcement named Devina Gahlot as CUET UG 2026 AIR 1 with a combined NTA score of 1232.19, a publicly disclosed fact cited elsewhere on this page, but no interview or direct quote from her exists, so no strategy insight can be attributed to her here without fabrication. Format to be used once a contributor is sourced: "[Name], [rank/score] in CUET UG 2026, recommends [specific tactic]. '[direct quote in their own words],' they say."
| Book | Subject | Price (₹) | One-line take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oswaal CUET Sample Papers, subject-specific | Any domain subject | 350 | Closest available to real paper difficulty and format; buy only for the specific subjects chosen. |
| Arihant CUET General Test | General Test | 400 | Solid reasoning and numerical-ability drilling; the current-affairs section needs a separate daily habit to stay current. |
| Oswaal NCERT-based Question Bank, subject-specific | Any domain subject | 300 | Genuinely NCERT-anchored, close to the actual question style, minimal beyond-syllabus padding. |
PW CUET Test Series and Oswaal 360 mock series are the two most commonly used paid mock options, priced roughly ₹1,500 to ₹4,000 depending on how many subjects and how many mocks are included. Given the NCERT-anchored ceiling on most domain subjects, a paid test series buys realistic time-pressure practice more than it buys new content.
The activity with the highest score-to-effort ratio in exam prep is mock-test analysis. Solving a mock takes hours; analysing it correctly takes longer. Most candidates skip the analysis. The candidates who score well do not.
| Year | Difficulty | Hardest section | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Moderate | General Test | Fully CBT, 37-subject format; reasoning section reported as slightly tougher than 2025's domain papers |
| 2025 | Moderate to hard | Domain subjects (hybrid-mode papers) | Hybrid CBT-plus-pen-paper delivery introduced timing and format inconsistency candidates flagged as a source of stress |
| 2024 | Moderate | Language papers | Reading comprehension passages ran longer than in 2023 |
| 2023 | Moderate | General Test | Broader current-affairs coverage than the previous cycle |
| 2022 | Hard | Logistics and scheduling | The exam's first cycle, delayed and rescheduled multiple times, difficulty as much operational as academic |
Commerce domain papers (Accountancy, Business Studies, Economics) recur as the highest-demand subject cluster given DU's commerce college seat volume. Within the General Test, current affairs from the preceding 12 months and quantitative reasoning (percentages, ratios, data interpretation) show up most consistently across recent cycles. Within language papers, reading comprehension passages carry the largest share of marks in every language offered. Note: NTA does not release a full public archive of past CUET UG question papers the way it does for JEE Main; reconstructed past papers on coaching sites are based on candidate recall and NTA's released sample questions, not an official downloadable archive.
| Year | General | OBC-NCL | EWS | SC | ST | PwD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRCC, BCom (Hons) | 917.43 (Round 1), settling near 913 (final round) | — | — | 792 (Round 1), 714 (final round) | — | — |
| SRCC, BA (Hons) Economics | 909 (Round 1) to 910 (final round) | — | — | 714 (final round) | 600 (final round) | — |
| Hindu College, BA (Hons) Economics | 888 to 912 range across the seat matrix | — | — | — | — | — |
| Banaras Hindu University, BA (general programmes) | 236 to 416 range across specialisations, Round 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Banaras Hindu University, BSc (general programmes) | 413 to 652 range across specialisations, Round 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jawaharlal Nehru University, BA (Hons) Spanish | 89.2 to 90 (JNU's own scaled score) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jawaharlal Nehru University, BA (Hons) French (most competitive, final round) | 71.93 (JNU's own scaled score) | — | — | — | — | — |
| College | General (HS) | General (OS) | OBC (OS) | SC (OS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRCC, BCom (Hons), Delhi University | — | 913 (2025 final round, general/unreserved) | — | 714 (2025 final round) |
| Hindu College, BA (Hons) Economics, Delhi University | — | 888 to 912 (2025 seat matrix range) | — | — |
| BHU, BA general programmes | — | 236 to 416 (2025 Round 1 range) | — | — |
| JNU, BA (Hons) French (most competitive language programme) | — | 71.93 (2025 final round, JNU scaled score) | — | — |
Our projection for the 2026-27 admission cycle uses each listed university's 2025 published or reported cutoffs as the anchor, applies a drift correction for CUET UG 2026's registration volume and subject-menu changes (the 63-to-37 subject reduction shifts candidate concentration toward fewer, higher-demand papers, which can push scores up in those subjects), and flags any newly announced seat-matrix changes where known. The model has not yet been calibrated against confirmed 2026-27 figures, since most universities have not yet published their first merit lists for this cycle; treat any 2026-27-specific number as provisional until each university's own portal confirms it.
Use the College Predictor with full methodology disclosure →CUET UG results are declared as a subject-wise score and percentile, not a combined all-India rank. NTA declared the 2026 cycle's result and official topper list on June 23, 2026. Scorecards are downloadable from cuet.nta.nic.in using the application number and date of birth.
NTA has not published a multi-year carryforward policy for CUET UG the way it has for some other national exams. Treat a CUET UG score as valid for the admission cycle immediately following its declaration and confirm the current policy on the official bulletin before assuming any score can be reused for a later admission year.
Because CUET UG runs across 19 days and 35 shifts for the 2026 cycle, raw scores from different shifts of the same subject are not directly comparable. NTA applies equipercentile normalisation separately for each subject: a candidate's raw score is converted to a percentile within their own shift, and shift-wise percentile distributions are then equated onto a common scale, with the highest raw score in any session for a subject receiving 100 percentile for that subject. The published NTA score for each subject is derived from this normalised percentile, not directly from the raw mark. NTA's official June 23, 2026 result named Devina Gahlot as CUET UG 2026 AIR 1 with a combined NTA score of 1232.19 across her chosen subjects, followed by Saksham Goel at 1230.82 and Udit Chaturvedi at 1207.21; five subjects (Accountancy, History, Psychology, Sanskrit, and Odia) recorded a perfect subject-wise high score of 250 out of 250 in the 2026 cycle.
NTA does not offer rechecking or re-evaluation of CUET UG scores. Once the final answer key is published and results are declared, scores are not revisited.
No JoSAA-style central counselling body exists for CUET UG. NTA's involvement ends at declaring subject-wise scores, and every one of the roughly 200 to 275 participating universities then runs its own separate admission process, using the CUET UG score as one input, sometimes the only input, sometimes combined with additional factors that vary by university. Delhi University runs its Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) across roughly 70,000 seats at 91 colleges using CUET score alone against each programme's cutoff. Banaras Hindu University runs its own Combined Allotment Programme (CAP) through a separate Samarth-based portal. Jawaharlal Nehru University requires a separate application and blends the CUET score with its own deprivation-points system, meaningfully different from DU's pure-score approach.
Register on every target university's own portal, not just the one you consider your top choice. CUET UG's decentralised structure means a strong score at your first-choice university does not automatically carry over anywhere else; each portal requires its own registration, usually within a short post-result window.
Treat DU's CSAS Phase 2 preference order as genuinely binding, not aspirational. DU allocates strictly by CUET score against listed preference order; listing a reach college or programme costs nothing and cannot hurt your allotment at a safer choice further down your list.
If you are applying to JNU, do not assume your CUET percentile alone predicts your outcome. JNU's deprivation-points system can meaningfully shift a merit-list position relative to a pure-score university like DU, so a candidate borderline at JNU on score alone should still register and let the formula run rather than assuming a miss.
Confirm each university's own minimum-percentage floor before assuming eligibility.NTA sets no floor to appear for CUET UG itself; the 50% General / 45% SC-ST-PwD figures commonly cited are university-set defaults that some institutions raise or lower for specific programmes.
Do not skip lesser-known Central and State Universities because of brand perception.With 200-plus institutions accepting the same CUET UG score, many strong departments at less searched-for universities carry meaningfully lower cutoffs than the same programme at DU or JNU, without a real difference in NCERT-anchored subject content.
Each university that runs multiple admission rounds continues to release further merit lists and, at DU in particular, spot rounds for seats that remain vacant after the initial rounds, extending into August and sometimes September for less competitive programmes. A candidate who misses their first-choice programme at their first-choice college can often still secure the same programme at a different college within the same university, or the same programme at a different participating university altogether, since the underlying CUET score remains valid across every university that accepted it.
Talk to a counsellor about your strategy →Top 17 CUET UG-accepting institutes by NIRF Engineering rank. Each links to the full college page with placements, fees, hostel, and student reviews.
| NIRF rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Jawaharlal Nehru University | New Delhi |
| #2 | Jamia Millia Islamia | New Delhi |
| #3 | Banaras Hindu University | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
| #4 | Hindu College | New Delhi |
| #5 | Miranda House | New Delhi |
| #6 | Hansraj College | New Delhi |
| #7 | Kirori Mal College | New Delhi |
| #8 | Deshbandhu College | New Delhi |
| #9 | Shri Ram College of Commerce | New Delhi |
| #10 | Daulat Ram College | New Delhi |
| #11 | Gargi College | New Delhi |
| #12 | Jesus and Mary College | New Delhi |
| #13 | St. Stephen's College | New Delhi |
| #14 | Lady Shri Ram College for Women | New Delhi |
| #15 | Ramjas College | New Delhi |
| #16 | Sri Venkateswara College | New Delhi |
| #17 | Maitreyi College | New Delhi |
| Comparison | Mode | Conducting body | Frequency | College scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CUET UG vs JEE Main | CBT, subject-choice menu vs CBT, fixed PCM paper | NTA vs NTA | Annual vs Biannual | 200-plus general universities across every discipline vs engineering-focused NITs, IIITs, GFTIs |
| CUET UG vs NEET UG | CBT, subject-choice menu vs pen-paper, fixed PCB paper | NTA vs NTA | Annual vs Annual | General undergraduate programmes vs medical and allied-health seats only, through a single national counselling body |
| CUET UG vs state university entrance tests | CBT, subject-choice, 200-plus institutions vs individual pen-paper or CBT tests, single institution | NTA vs each state university's own testing body | Annual vs varies | One national score usable across 200-plus institutions vs a score usable only at the one university that set the test |
| CUET UG vs direct-merit (non-CUET) private admission | CBT, standardised national score vs institution-specific Class 12 marks-based merit | NTA vs each private university's own admissions office | Annual vs rolling, varies by institution | Standardised, comparable score across institutions vs board-marks comparability issues across different state boards |
Pending verified contributors
6 to 8 verified test-taker reviews required. Curation mix: one recent topper or high scorer (scorecard-verified), one candidate admitted through DU's CSAS process, one candidate admitted through a non-DU university's separate process (BHU CAP or JNU's deprivation-points merit), one candidate who did not clear their first-choice programme's cutoff and describes what they did next, one repeat test-taker, one first-attempt test-taker, and one candidate who can speak to exam-day logistics across CUET UG's multi-day, multi-shift, multi-city structure. All must be scorecard-verified and year-stamped. Without these the page cannot meet the experiential E-E-A-T moat requirement.
CUET UG itself does not run counselling. NTA declared the 2026 cycle's subject-wise result and topper list on June 23, 2026. Each participating university then runs its own separate admission process on its own timeline; the University of Delhi's CSAS typically releases its first merit list in the third week of July, while Banaras Hindu University and Jawaharlal Nehru University's own cycles generally run from July through August.
Up to five, from a total menu of 37 subjects for the 2026 cycle: 13 languages, 23 domain subjects, and 1 General Test. The exact combination should be chosen based on what each target university's target programme requires, not chosen generically, since subject requirements differ across universities and even across programmes at the same university.
A pass in Class 12 (or equivalent) from a recognised board in any stream, or currently appearing in the 2026 Class 12 examination. NTA sets no minimum percentage to sit the exam and no age limit. Individual universities set their own minimum-percentage requirement for admission, commonly cited around 50% for General/EWS/OBC-NCL and 45% for SC/ST/PwD, though this figure is set by each university, not by NTA.
Yes. Delhi University has used CUET UG scores as the sole basis for undergraduate admission merit since the 2022 cycle, with no separate weightage given to Class 12 board marks in the merit formula. A candidate cannot gain undergraduate admission to DU without a valid CUET UG score in the subjects their target programme requires.
No. CUET UG produces a subject-wise score and percentile only; NTA does not declare a pass, fail, or combined rank. Each of the 200-plus participating universities sets its own cutoff, independently, per programme, per category, sometimes per college within the same university, using the CUET UG score as one input to its own formula.
Each subject is scored separately using equipercentile normalisation to account for the exam running across 19 days and 35 shifts in the 2026 cycle. A candidate's raw score in a subject is converted to a percentile within their own shift, and shift-wise distributions are then equated onto a common scale before the final NTA score for that subject is calculated.
There is no single benchmark, since cutoffs vary by university, programme, and category. Indicative 2025-cycle examples: SRCC's BCom (Hons) closed near 913 (General, final round) out of 1,250 possible across five subjects; several BHU BA programmes closed in the 236 to 416 range on a different scale; JNU's most competitive BA (Hons) language programmes closed in the high 60s to low 90s on JNU's own scaled score. Always check the specific target programme's own published cutoff.
CUET UG runs once a year, so a candidate cannot reattempt within the same admission cycle. A candidate can register again in the following year's cycle, but that means competing in the next admission year, not the current one.
No. Delhi University uses CUET UG score alone against each programme's cutoff. Jawaharlal Nehru University adds its own deprivation-points system on top of the CUET score, which can shift merit-list positions relative to a pure-score ranking. Other universities apply their own formulas, so the same CUET score can produce different outcomes at different universities.
The admit card (printed), one valid government-issued photo ID (Aadhaar, PAN, Passport, Driving Licence, or Voter ID) matching the application details, and a recent passport-size photograph matching the one uploaded during registration. PwBD candidates should carry their UDID card or PwBD certificate. Check the admit card's exact accepted-ID list before travelling to the centre.
No. NTA does not offer rechecking or re-evaluation of CUET UG scores once the final answer key is published and results are declared.
Roughly 200 to 275 institutions in a given cycle, including all major Central Universities (University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, and others), a growing number of State Universities, more than two dozen Deemed Universities, and well over a hundred Private universities. The exact list is published and updated by NTA each cycle, since institutions opt in or out year to year.
Generally no. Each domain subject's syllabus is capped at that subject's NCERT Class 12 textbook, a narrower and shallower ceiling than JEE Main or NEET UG's multi-year competitive syllabus. Self-study built on NCERT plus a subject-specific question bank covers most candidates' needs. Coaching earns its cost mainly for subject-selection guidance and for General Test preparation, which has no single textbook anchor.
Choosing subjects without first confirming exactly what each target university's target programme requires. Because CUET UG is a subject-choice exam rather than a fixed paper, a mismatched subject combination can rule a candidate out of an otherwise-eligible programme entirely, and subject choice generally cannot be corrected once the exam window closes.
At Delhi University, yes, since the 2022 cycle DU's undergraduate merit runs on CUET UG score alone with no board-marks weighting folded in. Other universities differ: some set a minimum board-marks floor for eligibility without factoring the exact percentage into the merit formula, while a smaller number still blend board marks into their own composite formula. Always check the specific target university's own admission policy.
CUET UG 2027 is expected to follow a similar annual calendar, with the Information Bulletin and registration typically opening in the first week of January and the exam itself in May, though exact 2027 dates have not been announced as of this review.
NTA's official June 23, 2026 result announcement named Devina Gahlot as CUET UG 2026 AIR 1 with a combined NTA score of 1232.19 across her chosen subjects, followed by Saksham Goel at 1230.82 and Udit Chaturvedi at 1207.21. Five subjects, Accountancy, History, Psychology, Sanskrit, and Odia, recorded a perfect subject-wise high score of 250 out of 250 in the 2026 cycle.
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