Karnataka Common Entrance Test

The Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) is a state-level entrance examination conducted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), an autonomous body under the Government of Karnataka. KEA began in 1994 as the state's Common Entrance Test Cell and was later registered as a society under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act. It runs the centralised counselling that allots government-share seats in professional colleges across Karnataka.

For you, KCET is the route to first-year admission in several undergraduate professional streams in the state. These cover engineering and technology, architecture, pharmacy, farm science courses such as agriculture and horticulture, veterinary science, nursing, and allied health programmes. Seats are filled at government, aided, and participating private institutions through KEA's counselling. Admission to medical and dental seats in Karnataka runs on NEET, which KEA counsels separately, and is not decided by KCET marks.

The test sits at undergraduate level and is held once a year in an offline, OMR-based pen-and-paper format. Its papers follow the Karnataka 1st and 2nd PUC (Class 11 and 12) syllabus for Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology. For engineering admission the final merit rank uses a 50:50 weightage of the candidate's KCET marks and normalised 2nd PUC marks, so board performance counts as much as the entrance score.

Sources: Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) - official portal · KCET - exam overview, Careers360 · KCET - Karnataka CET details, AglaSem Admission