Common University Entrance Test (Postgraduate) – CUET (PG)(CUET PG)

About the exam

About CUET PG

The CUET PG exam, written CUET (PG) in official documents, is a computer-based test run by the National Testing Agency, and central universities and other participating universities use its scores for postgraduate admission. The CUET (PG) 2026 Information Bulletin says the scores "will be used for admissions to the PG programmes of participating universities in the next academic session, i.e., 2026-27."

NTA's part is narrow. The same bulletin confines it to registration, conducting the test, answer keys, results and scorecards, and states that "A merit list will be prepared by participating Universities/Organizations." The bulletin dates the test's introduction for PG admission to 2022.

A candidate therefore deals with two parties in turn: NTA for the papers and the score, then each university, on its own terms, for the seat. NTA posts each cycle's public notices on the NTA CUET (PG) portal, which also links the bulletin.

At a glance

CUET PG highlights

Calendar

Important dates

For CUET (PG) 2026, the bulletin published this original schedule, with every date in it marked tentative:

NTA reopened that calendar twice in January 2026. A first extension notice and then a second one each moved the application deadline, and each carried the fee deadline and the correction window along with it.

The regular papers were scheduled on 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 27 March 2026, the dates NTA's admit card release notice lists. NTA added a rescheduled sitting on 29 and 30 March 2026 for candidates whose centres could not hold the exam on the scheduled dates, as its June 2026 clarification notice records.

Provisional answer keys opened for challenge on 11 April 2026, per NTA's Answer Key Challenge post. NTA declared the result on 24 April 2026, per its result declaration post. Admission dates after the result sit on each admitting university's calendar, not NTA's, because the bulletin leaves each university to declare its own counselling and admission schedule.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The 2026 bulletin admits two groups: candidates who have passed a Bachelor's degree or an equivalent examination, and candidates pursuing that degree who are appearing in its final year in 2026. The test sets no age limit, although the bulletin tells candidates to verify the age rules of each university before applying.

The university's own rulebook governs admission. The bulletin says "the existing policies regarding quota, category, relaxation, age, reservations, qualification, subject combinations, preferences, etc. of the respective University shall be applicable." On reservation it is blunter: the details "are to be provided by the admitting Universities/Institutions" and NTA "has no role in it."

Candidates with a benchmark disability can ask NTA to provide a scribe, subject to the certificate rules, and PwBD candidates receive compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour, per the bulletin. The same facility extends, with a medical certificate, to candidates with less than 40% disability who have difficulty in writing. Any reservation benefit is still subject to document verification at the university where admission is sought.

Step by step

Application process and fee

Applications for CUET (PG) 2026 went through the portal only, one form per candidate, and a mobile number or email address could be used on just one form, per the bulletin. The form ran in three steps: registration, which generates the application number; the application form, where you choose paper codes, exam cities and qualification details and capture a live photograph; and fee payment, after which the confirmation page is generated.

Uploads came with size limits: a JPG or JPEG photograph of 10 kb to 200 kb, a signature of 10 kb to 50 kb, and a disability or UDID certificate as a PDF of 50 kb to 300 kb, per the bulletin. The two images are the part to get right at the first attempt. The bulletin rejects an application outright when the photograph or signature cannot identify the candidate, with no correction or revision afterwards, and NTA's January 2026 correction window notice kept both images locked, along with the mobile number, email address and address.

Choosing paper codes is the decision that follows you into admission. The bulletin warns that "similar courses are being evaluated under various question paper codes by different universities", names Hindu Studies as an example, and states that applicants are "solely responsible for choosing the correct question paper code" for the universities where they seek admission.

The fee depends on your category and on how many papers you take, up to four:

A candidate choosing a test centre outside India pays the Outside Bharat fee whatever their category, and State-list OBC candidates who are not in the central OBC-NCL list must apply as General, per the bulletin. Bank or gateway processing charges and GST come on top, though the bulletin's payment table lists UPI with no charge at every bank it names.

The CUET (PG) 2026 FAQ states that the fee is non-refundable, and that a correction which changes the category or the number of papers can trigger an additional fee. Going the other way earns nothing back: the correction window notice refunded no fee when papers were reduced.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

Before the admit card, NTA released an exam city intimation slip, which its city intimation notice describes as "NOT the Admit Card". The admit card itself had to be downloaded: the bulletin rules out posting or emailing it and issues no duplicate at the centre.

The bulletin asks candidates to report about 90 minutes before the exam begins, carrying a printed e-admit card with the self-declaration filled in, one passport-size photograph for the attendance sheet, a simple transparent ball point pen, an original and valid photo ID, and the PwBD certificate where relaxation is claimed. The CUET (PG) 2026 FAQ adds that calculators are not permitted in any form.

NTA's exam-day advisory for 2026 does not match the bulletin on everything. It asked for at least two passport photographs where the bulletin asks for one, and its list of accepted photo IDs leaves out the university or college identity card and the bank passbook that the bulletin's list includes, while adding an Aadhaar enrolment number with photo. It also asked candidates who had not registered through Aadhaar to report early for identity verification, told candidates not to lock their Aadhaar biometrics, allowed diabetic candidates sugar tablets, fruit and transparent water bottles, and required fresh frisking and biometrics after a toilet break. Candidates sitting more than one subject had to carry the admit card for each day.

Inside the hall, the bulletin's computer-based test guidelines say a question that is answered and marked for review is evaluated, while one marked for review without an answer is not. The countdown timer ends the exam on its own. A candidate who misses the scheduled date "will not be provided a re-test by NTA under any circumstances."

Structure

Exam pattern

Each paper is marked out of 300: NTA's June 2026 clarification notice reports candidates' marks subject by subject against a Total Marks figure of 300.

The bulletin settles the awkward cases. Where more than one option proves correct, the four marks go only to candidates who marked one of the correct options. Where no option is correct, or the question is wrong or dropped, everyone who appeared is credited with the four marks, answered or not. Outside language and Acharya papers, the English version of a question is final wherever the translations differ.

The medium varies by domain, per the bulletin. Humanities, Sciences and Common papers are in English and Hindi; M.Tech and Higher Sciences papers are in English only; language papers are in their own language, with Linguistics in English; and Acharya papers are in Sanskrit, except Hindu Studies in English and Hindi, and Indian Knowledge System and Baudha Darshan in English, Hindi and Sanskrit.

What to study

Syllabus

NTA posts a separate syllabus PDF for every paper code on the CUET (PG) syllabus page, grouped by domain. The NTA CUET (PG) portal's own ticker told candidates for 2026 to "refer to the syllabus currently available" on that page.

The syllabus for General Paper (COQP11) carries a note that the paper "will have 75 questions", all "based on Subject-Specific Knowledge", all compulsory and bilingual, per the COQP11 syllabus. The COQP12 syllabus, for General Paper (MBA etc.), repeats that note word for word.

Subject-specific does not always mean a single academic discipline. The COQP11 syllabus spans English and Hindi comprehension, general knowledge, computer basics, general aptitude and logical reasoning; COQP12 covers English and Hindi comprehension, quantitative ability, logical reasoning and data interpretation. Both sit in the Common domain list as codes you select like any other, mapped to programmes, not a section every candidate takes.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

For preparation, the 2026 bulletin offers a single instruction, to "go through the syllabus and prepare accordingly", and no reading list or mock test sits beside it. The portal's home page carries a link labelled "National Testing Abhyas" under its Important Links.

Where it is held

Exam centres

The bulletin's Appendix III lists the 2026 exam cities state by state and adds centres abroad, including Dubai, Kathmandu, Singapore, Washington D.C., Munich and Ottawa. Each city is used "provided there are sufficient numbers of candidates in the City", and NTA reserves the right to merge cities, to allot a centre outside a candidate's choices and to treat its allotment as final, per the bulletin.

NTA changed the city-choice rule after the bulletin came out. The bulletin allows a maximum of two cities within the state of the present or permanent address; the CUET (PG) 2026 FAQ allows up to four. The change came through a December 2025 city-choice notice, which also let candidates who had already applied add cities in the correction window.

Some centres could not run as scheduled in 2026. The June 2026 clarification notice names local disturbances at centres in Tura, Meghalaya, and the security situation and other unavoidable circumstances at certain overseas centres as the reasons for the rescheduled sitting.

After the exam

Answer key

NTA put the 2026 provisional keys up together with each candidate's question paper and recorded responses, the combination its 11 April 2026 challenge notice names in its subject line. A challenge cost a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 200 per question, paid online, per the bulletin, which disregards any challenge filed outside the key challenge link or the window, left unpaid, or sent without justification or evidence.

The verdict on a challenge is never sent to the candidate who filed it; it surfaces only in the final key, which subject experts settle and on which the result is then compiled, per the bulletin. The challenge notice spells out what a successful challenge changes: the key "will be revised and applied in the response of all the candidates accordingly."

Final keys are posted subject by subject on NTA's Final Answer Keys page. The final key for Plastic Arts (HUQP17), for example, lists question IDs against the number of the correct option, with no question text. The bulletin entertains no grievance about the keys after the result and allows no re-evaluation or re-checking.

Scores

Result and scorecard

The 2026 scorecard was a download: the bulletin dispatches none, and it names DigiLocker as an additional platform alongside the portal. A separate DigiLocker notice made the 2026 scorecard available there after the result. The bulletin limits a CUET (PG) 2026 score to admission in the academic year 2026-27.

The bulletin and a later NTA notice have to be read together on scoring. The bulletin says that for preplanned multi-shift papers, raw marks "will be converted to NTA Score", and its Appendix V sets out percentile scores calculated to 7 decimal places, with a separate Appendix VI describing an equipercentile method for subjects held across shifts.

NTA's June 2026 clarification notice, answering queries about the rescheduled sitting, states: "CUET (PG) 2026 results have been prepared on the basis of actual marks obtained by candidates in their respective subjects." It adds that "Normalization is ordinarily considered where statistically comparable candidate groups are available across different shifts of an examination", and that the rescheduled group was too small for a meaningful comparison.

The CUET (PG) 2026 result notice reports marks as well: its toppers tables, for subjects with more than 1,000 registered candidates, list scorers against a column headed Marks.

Save whatever NTA posts. The bulletin warns that website material stays up for a specific period only and is not supplied under the RTI Act, and NTA preserves its own record of the test for up to 90 days from the result. The window for a grievance over the result closes 30 days after its declaration, and the bulletin names Delhi or New Delhi as the sole jurisdiction for disputes about the exam and its results.

Scores you need

Cutoff

Any cutoff you meet in CUET (PG) admission is a university's, not NTA's. The 2026 bulletin sets no qualifying mark for the test, and the only cut-off wording in it appears inside a generic worked example of normalisation in Appendix V.

Selection turns on "rank in the merit list", per the bulletin, together with the university's admission criteria, eligibility, medical fitness and verification of original documents. The bulletin sends candidates to the university's website for all admission-related procedures, so the figures that decide a seat are each university's merit lists, programme by programme.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

Seat allocation after CUET (PG) happens university by university. The bulletin states that "NTA has no role in the selection process", and that after the result the universities "will declare the counselling/ admission schedule and merit list" based on the score and their own criteria. For "all admission-related procedures/queries" it points candidates to the website of the university concerned.

That makes the route from score to seat a chain of separate steps. At NTA's application stage, per the bulletin, you commit to paper codes mapped to the programmes you want. After the result, each university runs its own admission process, merit list and counselling.

Assam Women's University, a state university on NTA's State Universities list, shows what that university-side step can look like. The Assam Women's University PG admission guidelines asked CUET-PG 2026 applicants to apply on a Samarth portal on or before 30 July 2026 and enter their CUET-PG roll number, and they also provide for admission through the university's own AWUET-2026 or, for certain programmes, on graduation merit.

Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, which appears on NTA's Central Universities list, opened its vacant PG seats to candidates without a CUET (PG) score as well. Its IGNTU open counselling notification dated 11 August 2026 set department-level open counselling for those seats, with registration from 13 to 18 August 2026 and counselling on 18 and 19 August 2026. It kept CUET (PG) scores as "the primary criteria", gave first preference to candidates who took the paper code for that programme, second to CUET candidates with the highest marks in any domain subject, and third to non-CUET candidates on their undergraduate marks.

The August round was not IGNTU's last. A further IGNTU notification, dated 7 September 2026, scheduled another department-level round for vacant UG and PG seats with the same order of preference, counselling on 15 and 16 September 2026 and a first merit list due on 21 September 2026.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

NTA's participating universities page splits the CUET (PG) 2026 institutions into four lists: Central Universities, State Universities, Government Institutions / Fully Funded, and Deemed Universities / Private Universities.

The central list includes the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia Islamia and the University of Hyderabad, per NTA's Central Universities list. The state list includes Cochin University of Science and Technology, Delhi Technological University and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, per NTA's State Universities list. The government list includes the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, NIT Tiruchirappalli and the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, per NTA's Government Institutions list. The private and deemed list includes Ahmedabad University, FLAME University and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, per NTA's Deemed and Private Universities list.

For the 2026 cycle, NTA's CUET (PG) 2026 result notice also gives a count of participating universities by category. The bulletin cautions that "the list of participating universities is dynamic", and NTA's list pages tell applicants to check each university's website because eligibility criteria "may be unique for every University".

Get help

Contact

Queries about the test itself go to NTA's CUET (PG) helpdesk at helpdesk-cuetpg@nta.ac.in, 011-40759000 or 011-69227700, the channels the NTA Helpdesk page for CUET (PG) lists.

The bulletin gives 10.00 am to 5.00 pm as the helpline hours for admit card problems, sends payment failures first to the bank or payment gateway's own helpline, and accepts legal notices only at legal@nta.ac.in. Letters, grievances and queries about admission go to the university concerned, not to NTA.

For anything that does have to reach NTA by post, the agency's contact page gives the address as 5th Floor, Government of India Press Building, Minto Road, New Delhi 110002. That is not the address on the CUET (PG) 2026 notices: the Okhla Industrial Estate address in the footer of the result notice is the office NTA has since left, per its public notice Relocation of NTA Office.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Exact dates, participating-university list, paper codes/subjects, cutoffs, fees, answer keys and results are per-cycle. Per-paper max is 300 marks; no exam-wide official total. Anything per-cycle here is stated for the cycle it names and is taken from the conducting body's own notification; confirm it on the official website before acting on it. Expertie does not conduct any exam, process applications or charge fees.

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