University · National Testing Agency (NTA)
CUET UG — Common University Entrance Test (UG) — General Test for admission to central, state, deemed and private universities
The complete CUET UG blueprint: tier-wise pattern, topic weightage from previous-year analyses, and free chapter-by-chapter study material.
50 questions in the General Test250 total marks, +5/−160 minutes, one paper, no sectional lock Free · tutor-verified
CUET UG at a glance
Conducted byNational Testing Agency (NTA)
CycleOnce a year (registration typically opens January–February; exam runs across multiple shifts and days in May; results by late June)
ModeComputer-based test (CBT), MCQ only, 50 questions in 60 minutes, no sectional lock — questions may be attempted in any order within the paper. No physical or on-screen calculator is provided.
EligibilityClass 12 pass (any stream) from a recognised board; NTA itself sets no minimum percentage, though individual universities may apply their own course-level eligibility criteria
Languages13 languages including English and Hindi (chosen once at registration)
Admission toUndergraduate admission (BA / BSc / BCom / integrated and multidisciplinary programmes) at all 47 Central Universities, where CUET UG is mandatory, plus 200+ State, Deemed, Private and Government-institution options that additionally accept the score
Universities you can enter with a CUET UG score
University of DelhiBanaras Hindu UniversityJawaharlal Nehru UniversityJamia Millia IslamiaUniversity of AllahabadCentral University of Rajasthan41 more of the 47 Central Universities35 Deemed + 42 State Universities (participating)171+ Private Universities and 10 Government institutions
⚡ What changed recently
- No sectional time lock inside the 60-minute General Test — unlike CAT's per-section clock, a candidate can move freely between any of the 50 questions in any order for the full duration.
- Marking is a flat +5 for correct and −1 for wrong, with 0 for unattempted — there is no fractional penalty like RRB NTPC's −1/3, and every attempted wrong answer costs a full mark.
- No calculator is provided, on-screen or physical — every percentage, ratio, average and mensuration calculation in the Quantitative & Numerical Ability cluster has to be done by hand on the rough sheet provided at the centre.
- CUET UG runs across roughly 15-20 days in multiple shifts, so raw scores are normalised to a percentile across shifts (the same equipercentile approach used by other large multi-shift NTA exams) before any university counselling begins.
- The General Test does not carry the same weight everywhere — most Central Universities use it mainly for multidisciplinary or general-stream programmes and rely on the separate Domain Subject papers for subject-specific admission, so check your target university's own weightage formula rather than assuming the General Test alone decides your seat.
How CUET UG selection works
Know what each stage is for before you spend a single hour preparing.
NORMALISED PERCENTILE SCORE(S)
CUET UG exam
60 minutes, 50 questions, 250 marks for the General Test paper (candidates may additionally sit up to 2 language and 2 domain-subject papers, each scored the same way). +5 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for unattempted. Raw scores are normalised across shifts into a percentile for each paper attempted.
PROGRAMME-WISE SEAT OFFERS
University-wise merit list / counselling
Each participating university runs its own admission portal and counselling process (for example, Delhi University's CSAS) that combines the relevant CUET scores using that university's own programme-wise weightage formula. The same CUET percentile can clear one university's cutoff for a programme and miss another's.
FINAL SEAT CONFIRMATION
Document verification & admission
Candidates who receive and accept a seat offer complete document verification and fee payment within the university's deadline to confirm the admission.
The exam pattern, tier by tier
Marks, timing and negative marking exactly as per the official notification.
CUET UG — General Test
Merit — one of up to 5 papers a candidate can sit, feeds each university's own counselling formula250 marks · 50 Q
60 min, no sectional lock · −1 per wrong answer; 0 for unattempted
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| General TestGeneral Knowledge, Logical & Mental-Ability Reasoning, and Quantitative & Numerical Ability, mixed within one paper | 50 | 250 | 60 min |
💡 One combined MCQ paper — NTA does not publish an official per-topic question split. The rows below are this site's own estimated grouping, from released sample papers and pattern analysis, not an NTA-declared section structure.
Where the General Test's 250 marks come from
The CUET UG General Test is a single 60-minute, computer-based paper of 50 compulsory MCQs — NTA does not publish a fixed question count per topic, and there is no sectional time lock within the paper. Every correct answer scores +5 and every wrong answer costs −1; an unattempted question scores 0. Based on released sample papers and past-year pattern analysis, the 50 questions cluster into three broad areas — quantitative & numerical ability, logical & mental-ability reasoning, and general knowledge & current affairs. Here is roughly how the 250 marks split across those three areas — click any block to open its chapters:
Quantitative & Numerical Ability120 marks · 48%
~24 of the paper's 50 questions across five topic areas — Class 8-level arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration and basic data interpretation. No calculator is provided, so mental-math speed matters as much as knowing the method.
Logical & Mental Ability Reasoning75 marks · 30%
~15 questions testing pattern recognition and structured deduction — analogies, series, coding-decoding, blood relations, seating and syllogisms — none of it requiring outside subject knowledge.
General Knowledge & Current Affairs55 marks · 22%
~11 questions — the single heaviest individual topic area in the whole paper. Pure recall: Indian polity, geography, general science, history and static current-affairs facts, no calculation involved.
Subjects in CUET UG
Chapter-by-chapter study material built to the exam's own blueprint.
Topic-wise weightage — what to study first
Question counts per topic, distilled from previous-year paper analyses. Click any topic with a link to open its full chapter.
| Topic | Qs in paper | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical Ability | 7-9 | Very high |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 5-7 | High |
| Arithmetic | 4-6 | High |
| Algebra, Geometry & Mensuration | 2-4 | Medium |
| Data Interpretation & Statistics | 1-3 | Low |
🎯 This cluster stays at a Class 8 level throughout — nothing here demands calculus, trigonometry beyond standard angles, or multi-step algebra, but every calculation has to be done without a calculator inside the 60-minute paper. Numerical Ability and Quantitative Reasoning are the two heaviest topics, covering BODMAS, fractions, percentages, ratios, unitary method, and simple direct/inverse proportion — the same core toolkit tested from slightly different angles. Arithmetic narrows that toolkit specifically to percentage, ratio and averages, while Algebra, Geometry & Mensuration adds basic linear equations and the standard perimeter/area/volume formulas for rectangles, triangles, circles, cubes and cylinders. Data Interpretation & Statistics is the smallest topic by question count but still worth securing, since reading a table and computing a mean, median or percentage share is fast, mechanical marks once the method is automatic.
| Topic | Qs in paper | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Logical & Analytical Reasoning | 7-9 | Very high |
| General Mental Ability | 6-8 | High |
🎯 Logical & Analytical Reasoning is the heavier of the two topics here, built around blood relations, syllogisms, ranking, seating arrangements and calendar problems — all of which reward a drawn diagram or table over mental tracking, especially under a 60-minute paper with no sectional lock to force pacing discipline of its own. General Mental Ability sits alongside it at a slightly simpler level — verbal and number analogies, classification, number and letter series, basic coding-decoding and direction sense — testing the same pattern-recognition instinct in shorter, single-step questions. Neither topic requires outside subject knowledge, which makes both reliably fast marks once the standard question formats are recognised on sight.
| Topic | Qs in paper | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| General Knowledge & Current Affairs | 10-12 | Very high |
🎯 General Knowledge & Current Affairs is the single heaviest individual topic area on the entire paper, spanning Indian polity & the constitution, geography, general science, history, institutions, and static awards and national-symbol facts. Because it is pure recall with no calculation or deduction step, it is also the fastest topic to attempt per question — the entire return on investment comes from breadth of prior reading, not from any technique applied during the exam itself. Static facts (constitutional articles, national symbols, historic dates) stay valid for years once learned correctly, while current-affairs-style questions reward a broad, recent-months reading habit rather than any single source.
CUET UG resources
Everything you need to prepare.
Need structured CUET UG guidance?
Combine our free study material with a live course or 1-on-1 tutoring.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
50 compulsory MCQs in one 60-minute paper, worth 250 total marks (+5 per correct answer). There is no NTA-declared topic-wise split within the paper — based on pattern analysis, this site groups the 50 questions into three estimated clusters: Quantitative & Numerical Ability (~24 Q), Logical & Mental Ability Reasoning (~15 Q) and General Knowledge & Current Affairs (~11 Q).
No. The General Test's full 60 minutes is one open block — a candidate can attempt any of the 50 questions in any order, and move between topic areas freely, unlike CAT's hard per-section lock.
+5 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong one, 0 for an unattempted question — the same flat scheme across every CUET UG paper, not just the General Test.
It is one optional paper among up to five a candidate can sit (up to 2 languages, 2 domain subjects, 1 General Test). All 47 Central Universities require CUET UG for admission and mostly use the General Test for multidisciplinary or general-stream programmes, relying on the Domain Subject papers for subject-specific programmes. 200+ further State, Deemed, Private and Government institutions also accept CUET UG scores, each with its own weightage formula.
No — unlike CAT and some other exams, no calculator, on-screen or physical, is provided. Every arithmetic step in the Quantitative & Numerical Ability cluster has to be worked out by hand on the rough sheet provided at the test centre.
Any Class 12 pass candidate, from any stream or board recognised by NTA. NTA itself does not set a minimum Class 12 percentage; individual universities may apply their own course-level eligibility criteria on top of the CUET score.
Take the next step
CUET UG — find a tutor
Pair self-study with a tutor, a live course or a coaching centre.
