Maharashtra Common Entrance Test(MHT-CET)

About the exam

About MHT-CET

MHT-CET is the State Common Entrance Test Cell's computer-based entrance test for first-year engineering, pharmacy, planning and agriculture degrees in Maharashtra. In the 2026 cycle a candidate could take the PCM group, the PCB group or both, sit each group twice, and carry the better total percentile of the two attempts into admission. What happens after the result is decided course by course: an engineering applicant and a B.Sc. Agriculture applicant with the same percentile are ranked under different rules, on different portals and to different calendars.

The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure (Technical Education Courses) names the Commissioner of the State CET Cell as the Competent Authority both for conducting the test and for selecting candidates for the first year of engineering and technology, planning and pharmacy degrees, and of the integrated Master of Engineering and Technology, Pharm.D and integrated M.Planning courses, for academic year 2026-27. It describes an online computer-based test held in centres in Maharashtra only, with the PCM and PCB groups examined separately.

A second document, the MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure (Agriculture Education Courses), uses the same test for B.Sc. (Honours) Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Community Science and Agri Business Management, B.F.Sc. Fisheries Science, and B.Tech. Agriculture Engineering, Food Technology and Bio-Technology in the state's agriculture universities. The two brochures are not interchangeable: they define candidature types differently and print different last-entry times for the exam hall.

The Cell's legal footing is Section 10 of the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015, and its remit is wider than this one test: the State CET Cell home page describes it conducting entrance exams and handling admission for professional courses such as engineering, management, pharmacy, agriculture, law, medical, AYUSH and fine arts.

Sitting MHT-CET does not allot a seat. Admission runs through the Centralised Admission Process (CAP), which needs a fresh registration and document check on a separate portal for each course group; the Cell's Admission Process A.Y. 2026-27 page links those portals by course.

At a glance

MHT-CET highlights

Calendar

Important dates

Under the registration notice of January 2026, MHT-CET 2026 registration would have closed on 12 February 2026. Later notices stretched it, reopened it for latecomers with a surcharge, and then opened short windows for the second attempt alone:

The examination and result dates below are the ones the CET Cell's result notifications record for each group and attempt.

The PCM first attempt skipped 12 April 2026 after candidates asked for a change because the UPSC NDA and NA (I), UPSC CDS (I) and NATA 2026 Phase 1 examinations were scheduled that day, according to the City Intimation Slip notice for the PCM examination.

The second-attempt PCM dates do not agree across the Cell's own documents. The public notice on second-attempt exam dates of 26 April 2026 set the window at 12 to 21 May 2026, excluding 16 and 17 May, while the PCM second attempt result notification records the attempt as held from 12 to 20 May 2026 in 11 sessions.

No MHT-CET 2027 schedule had been posted on the notice board of the State CET Cell home page by mid-September 2026.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

To register for MHT-CET 2026 a candidate had to be an Indian national who had passed, or was appearing for, the HSC (Class 12) or an equivalent examination, and the MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure sets no age limit either for the test or for admission. Who needs the test depends on candidature type.

Candidature Types in the Technical Brochure

A candidate can hold only one of the five Maharashtra State candidature types the technical brochure defines, and Types B, C and D each apply only where the types before them do not:

Beyond those five, the same technical brochure lists All India candidature for any Indian national and Minority candidature for a Maharashtra candidate from a notified linguistic or religious minority, and exempts children of NRIs, children of Indian workers in the Gulf, OCI and PIO candidates and foreign nationals from the test. The test is mandatory for Maharashtra State and Minority candidates seeking B.E./B.Tech., B.Pharm or Pharm.D seats. An All India candidate may skip it, because a JEE (Main) 2026 score is preferred for B.E./B.Tech. and a NEET 2026 score for B.Pharm and Pharm.D.

The Agriculture Brochure Uses a Different List

The agriculture brochure has no Types A to E. Its Maharashtra State candidature rests on a Maharashtra domicile certificate, a school leaving certificate showing a Maharashtra birthplace or a Maharashtra birth certificate; Other State candidature covers holders of another state's domicile or residence certificate, with Jammu and Kashmir migrants counted there. It also recognises Minority candidature, exempts NRI children, children of Gulf workers and foreign nationals, and accepts JEE and NEET as equivalent to MHT-CET for agriculture admission.

The Agriculture UG Prospectus 2026-27 adds a residence rule from the Maharashtra Agricultural Universities (Krishi Vidyapeeths) Act, 1983: parents residing in Maharashtra for at least 3 years of the past 10 make a candidate eligible, and those below that are treated as Out of State candidates, for whom 2% of intake is reserved; the prospectus says the criterion does not apply to non-aided affiliated colleges.

Admission Eligibility by Course, 2026-27

The Information Brochure for UG and PG Technical Courses, 2026-27, posted on the Cell's B.E./B.Tech. admission portal, sets these routes for Maharashtra State candidates:

• B.E./B.Tech. and integrated M.E./M.Tech., PCM route: Physics and Mathematics compulsory at 10+2, with a third subject from the brochure's list, which runs from Chemistry and Biology to Computer Science, a technical vocational subject and Entrepreneurship; at least 45 per cent in those subjects together, or 40 per cent for reserved-category, EWS and PwD candidates of Maharashtra; and a non-zero PCM MHT-CET 2026 score after appearing in every subject, under the 2026-27 technical admission brochure. This route opens all 29 major AICTE disciplines.
• B.E./B.Tech., PCB route: Physics and Chemistry compulsory with Mathematics or another subject from the same list, the same marks bar and a non-zero PCB score, which opens only Agriculture Engineering, Biotechnology, Food Engineering, Leather Technology, Packaging Technology, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Printing Engineering, Fashion Technology and Textile Chemistry.
• B.E./B.Tech., diploma routes: a three-year Diploma in Engineering and Technology with the same 45 and 40 per cent bars, or a three-year D.Voc. in the same or an allied sector, as the 2026-27 technical admission brochure provides.
• B.Pharm: English at 10+2 alongside Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics or Biology, or a qualification the Pharmacy Council of India treats as equivalent, and a non-zero MHT-CET 2026 score. The B.Pharm row prints no minimum percentage.
• Pharm.D: 10+2 with Physics and Chemistry plus Mathematics or Biology, or a D.Pharm, plus a non-zero MHT-CET 2026 score.
• B.Planning: 10+2 with Mathematics and two listed subjects, 45 per cent in aggregate (40 for reserved, EWS and PwD candidates of Maharashtra) and a non-zero MHT-CET 2026 score, in the 2026-27 technical admission brochure. Without the CET the same pass admits only at institute level, and a D.Voc. in the same or an allied sector is a further route.

All India candidates meet the same subject and marks conditions but may qualify with a non-zero JEE (Main) score, which is preferred over MHT-CET; for B.Pharm and Pharm.D the preferred score is NEET. When the 2026-27 technical admission brochure checks the qualifying percentage it rounds to the nearest integer, so 44.50 to 44.99 per cent counts as 45.

For agriculture, the agriculture brochure asks for XII Science with English, not less than 45% for the Open category and 40% for reserved categories and PwD candidates, and a CET score in the group each course names. B.Tech. Agriculture Engineering takes PCM only, B.Sc. (Honours) Forestry and B.F.Sc. take PCB only, and the other courses accept either group.

Step by step

Application process and fee

The whole application is online, and the registration notice of January 2026 made both an APAAR ID and an Aadhaar ID mandatory. The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure routes both identity checks through DigiLocker, authenticating the Aadhaar number and verifying the APAAR ID there, and warns that details which do not match can hold up the form or get it rejected. It allows one application only, yet a candidate who makes a mistake on it forfeits the fee and is advised to file a new form with another mobile number and email ID.

What a candidate paid turned on the group and on whether the second attempt was bought at the same time:

The reserved list in that brochure is SC, ST, VJ/DT-NT(A), NT(B), NT(C), NT(D), OBC, SBC, SEBC and EWS, with SEBC reservation subject to pending High Court writ petitions. No refund or transfer is possible, and the payment service charges are billed over and above the fee.

Late registrants paid more: the March extension notice charged an additional late fee of Rs 500 for all categories and allowed no edits for forms filed in that window.

A paid registrant who wanted the second attempt, or the other group, could add it during the edit window, which the edit facility notice also opened to corrections of name, date of birth, photograph, signature and gender.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

The notice on downloading the CET 2026 hall ticket describes a release in two steps: a provisional hall ticket in the form of an Exam City Intimation Slip, which the notice calls a preliminary document meant only to tell the candidate the city of the examination centre, and a Final Admit Card in the candidate login. On when that card arrives, the notice says two things in consecutive sentences: "approximately three to four days prior to the respective CET examination dates", and then that it "will be made available at least four (04) days prior to the CET examination".

At the hall, the MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure requires a printout of the admit card and an original photo ID bearing exactly the admit card's name: a PAN card, passport, driving licence, voter card, bank passbook with photograph, an ID on letterhead from a gazetted officer or people's representative, a recent school or college ID, or an Aadhaar or e-Aadhaar card. Ration cards and learner's licences do not count as ID, and neither does a photocopy or a soft copy of a valid one.

On hall timings the two MHT-CET brochures do not match. The technical brochure's schedule reads:

The agriculture brochure prints the last entry for the same PCM and PCB shifts as 8:45 AM and 1:45 PM.

Inside, phones, calculators, smart watches and other electronic gadgets are barred, nobody may leave before the end or re-enter, and malpractice makes a candidate liable to punishment under the Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at Universities, Board and Other Specified Examinations Act, 1982, as well as disqualifying them. A candidate using a scribe gets compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour of examination, and must give details of two scribes so the second can stand in, according to the technical brochure.

Structure

Exam pattern

Each group is sat in a single 180-minute session split into two locked halves. The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure enables Physics and Chemistry for the first 90 minutes, auto-submits them, and only then opens Mathematics (PCM) or Biology (PCB) for the second 90 minutes. The PCM candidate answers 150 questions and the PCB candidate 200, with no negative marking; every question has four options and one correct answer, shown one at a time. Physics and Chemistry questions carry one mark each in both groups, Mathematics questions carry two, and Biology questions one.

A candidate may take one group or both, the choice cannot be altered once made, and marks in one group are not transferred to the other. Questions for both groups are available in English, Marathi and Urdu, but the Marathi or Urdu version appears only to a candidate who chose that medium on the form, and the English version decides any dispute. The general clause on medium in the same brochure names only Physics, Chemistry and Biology, leaving Mathematics unmentioned.

What to study

Syllabus

The CET syllabus and marking scheme for MHT-CET 2026, posted on the CET Cell's syllabus and marking scheme page, bases the questions on the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Maharashtra: the whole Std XII syllabus of 2025-26 and a named set of Std XI chapters from the 2024-25 syllabus. It says the difficulty level will be at par with JEE (Main) for Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and with NEET for Biology, and that questions will be mainly application based.

The Std XI chapters it lists are:

• Physics: Vectors, Error Analysis, Motion in a Plane, Laws of Motion, Gravitation, Thermal Properties of Matter, Sound, Optics, Electrostatics, Semiconductors.
• Chemistry: Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry, Structure of Atom, Chemical Bonding, Redox Reactions, Elements of Groups 1 and 2, States of Matter (Gaseous and Liquids), Adsorption and Colloids (Surface Chemistry), Hydrocarbons, Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, Chemistry in Everyday Life.
• Mathematics: Trigonometry II, Straight Line, Circle, Probability, Complex Numbers, Permutations and Combinations, Functions, Limits, Continuity, Conic Section.
• Biology: Biomolecules, Respiration and Energy Transfer, Human Nutrition, Excretion and Osmoregulation.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

Neither the CET Cell's MHT-CET 2026 technical brochure nor its syllabus document names a book. The Cell runs a separate portal, CET-ATAL (Assessment Tests and Learning), for mock tests and psychometric tests, and the technical brochure said a mock link for the MHT-CET 2026 computer-based test would be put on mahacet.org in due course.

Where it is held

Exam centres

The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure places the test at almost all district headquarters in Maharashtra, depending on how many computer nodes each district has. Candidates rank preferred exam cities on the form, the Cell tries to allot a centre in the candidate's own district or a nearby one, and an allotted centre cannot be changed. A candidate who takes both groups, or both attempts, may be sent to a different centre for each.

The PCB first attempt result notification and the PCM first attempt result notification both say the examination was held at centres across all districts of Maharashtra.

After the exam

Answer key

Each sitting got its own objection window. For the PCM first attempt, the PCM first attempt objection notice of 19 May 2026 put question papers, candidate responses and answer keys on display from 20 to 22 May 2026, with objections raised through "Objection Tracking" in the candidate login at Rs 1,000 per objection, paid online. The fee for an objection found valid is refunded, as the PCM first attempt objection redressal notice states.

The 2026 redressal notices show how differently the four sittings fared:

Where full marks were given, a Physics or Chemistry question added one mark and a Mathematics question two marks for every candidate in that session, as the PCM first attempt objection redressal notice lists question by question.

Scores

Result and scorecard

MHT-CET reports percentiles rather than raw marks. Under the Document on Normalization that the State CET Cell home page announces for MHT-CET 2026, every session is scaled on its own: a candidate's percentile is the share of that session's candidates who scored the same raw marks or fewer, put on a scale of 100, so the top raw score in each session becomes 100. Percentiles run to 7 decimal places to reduce ties, are worked out for each subject and for the total, and the total percentile is not an average of the subject percentiles.

Candidates who sat more than once are covered by two further rules. The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure says a candidate who sat both attempts is admitted on the better of the two total percentiles, never a mix of subject percentiles, and Physics or Chemistry percentiles are not swapped between groups or attempts.

Scorecards sat in the candidate login: the State CET Cell home page announcement of the PCB second-attempt result says the score card is available there. The result notifications report every sitting on its own:

Each notification, such as the PCB second attempt result notification, also names the candidates at the 100 percentile and lists the top scorers category by category.

Scores you need

Cutoff

MHT-CET cut-offs are a product of the admission rounds, since the MHT-CET 2026 brochures print no qualifying mark and the 2026-27 technical admission rules ask only for a non-zero CET score. The B.E./B.Tech admission portal 2026-27 posts Maharashtra State and All India cut-off lists for each of CAP Rounds I to IV of 2026-27, plus a Diploma list for Round IV, and keeps the round lists for 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26; each list gives a merit number with a percentile beside it for every course and seat category at each institute. The home page of the B.Pharmacy and Pharm.D admission portal 2026-27 carries round cut-off lists for the earlier years and, in mid-September 2026, none for 2026-27. The State CET Cell home page also offers a Cutoff Explorer.

For agriculture, the Agriculture UG CAP schedule 2026-27 sets a date after each online allotment round for displaying the college-wise and category-wise last merit.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

Engineering, Pharmacy and Planning

The technical courses share one rulebook, the Information Brochure for UG and PG Technical Courses, 2026-27. A candidate who applies on the strength of the state CET pays no CAP application fee. One applying only on a JEE or NEET score pays Rs 1,300 as a general-category candidate from Maharashtra or outside it, a Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh migrant or a child of an Indian worker in the Gulf; Rs 1,000 as a reserved-category or PwD candidate of Maharashtra; and USD 50 as a child of an NRI, an OCI or PIO candidate or a foreign national.

The 2026-27 technical admission brochure sets the stages in order: an online application with scanned documents, verification at a facilitation centre or by the online method the Competent Authority prescribes, a provisional merit list with a grievance window, the final merit list, a seat matrix before each round, and an option form holding up to 300 institute and course choices. A merit list position ranks a candidate and promises no seat.

For B.E./B.Tech., the same brochure breaks a tie in the CET score by Mathematics, then Physics, then Chemistry at the CET, and only then by board marks in PCM, Mathematics, Physics and the HSC aggregate. For pharmacy the tie-break starts with Mathematics or Biology at the CET.

Allotment runs in four rounds, each needing a confirmed option form:

• Round I: a seat at the first preference is auto-frozen and ends the candidate's CAP; any other allotment can be frozen, or accepted with betterment into the next round.
• Round II: the auto-freeze widens to the first three preferences.
• Round III: the auto-freeze widens to the first six preferences.
• Round IV: the last round, in which an allotment made or kept stands as the final one.

Accepting a seat means self-verifying the uploaded documents or reporting to an Admission Reporting Centre, and paying a non-refundable seat acceptance fee. A candidate who cancels by the Competent Authority's last date for full refund gets back the whole fee minus Rs 1,000 in processing charges, under the 2026-27 technical admission brochure.

In an unaided private institute that is not a minority institution, the 2026-27 technical admission brochure allots 65% of seats at state level to Maharashtra candidates in an autonomous college (45.5% Home University and 19.5% Other Than Home University in a non-autonomous one), 15% to All India candidates and 20% to the institutional quota, which includes 5% for NRIs where applicable.

In mid-September 2026 the three technical portals stood at different points. The B.E./B.Tech admission portal 2026-27 states "Admission Process is closed for the Academic Year 2026-2027", and the B.Planning admission portal 2026-27 carries the same line. Pharmacy had not reached allotment: the B.Pharmacy and Pharm.D admission portal 2026-27 has published its final merit lists, its IMPORTANT banner reads "The seat matrix for B. Pharmacy has been put on hold. A revised schedule will be displayed shortly", and its home page links no 2026-27 seat matrix, allotment list or cut-off.

Agriculture and Allied Courses

Agriculture admission follows its own prospectus. Under the Agriculture UG Prospectus 2026-27, merit is the total percentile in the relevant group of MHT-CET, JEE or NEET plus weightages capped at 20 points, and a candidate with more than one exam or both groups is ranked on the highest percentile. The weightages are:

• 12 points for a candidate from an agriculturist or fisherman family, or a landless agricultural labourer's family, on the certificates the prospectus names;
• 10 points for specified HSC vocational subjects or diplomas, which differ by course;
• 3 points for a child of an employee of the state agricultural universities or MCAER;
• 2 points each for NCC or NSS, sports participation, and state-level debate, essay or elocution certificates.

Ties go to the higher CET percentile, then the higher HSC percentage, fewer HSC attempts, higher marks in the compulsory PCB or PCM subject, higher Class 10 percentage and, last, the older candidate. Seats left after the ICAR and out-of-state shares split into 30 percent for the state-level M Quota and 70 percent for the university-level U Quota, according to the same prospectus.

The Agriculture UG CAP schedule 2026-27 set three online allotment rounds in August 2026, the third allotment list falling on 31 August, then a centre-wise centralised round from 7 to 12 September that opened to candidates at 85 and above on the first day, 65 and above, 50 and above and 35 and above on the following days, and then all eligible candidates. It schedules a college-level round for 13 to 17 September 2026 and fixes 17 September 2026 as the cutoff date for admission.

In mid-September 2026 that college-level round was under way: the agriculture and allied courses admission portal 2026-27 had posted College Level Admission merit lists for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. The portal's ticker also states that online registration is currently open for institute quota admissions, and that applications submitted in this period will not be considered for the general CAP merit rounds or centralised allotments.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

Under the Information Brochure for UG and PG Technical Courses, 2026-27, unaided private professional institutes admit through CAP, and so do government, government-aided, university-department and university-managed institutions. The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure notes that the admission rules also bind government and aided institutions including ICT, Mumbai.

The B.E./B.Tech admission portal 2026-27 links a list of colleges with intake capacity, the institutes affiliated to Dr. BATU, Lonere, a list of off-campus institutes and the Fees Regulating Authority's approved fees for 2026-27. The agriculture brochure applies its rules to the state agricultural universities and their constituent and affiliated aided colleges.

Get help

Contact

The State Common Entrance Test Cell is on the 8th Floor, New Excelsior Building, A. K. Nayak Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. For the examination, the CET Cell contact page lists helplines 07969134401 and 07969134402 and the toll-free number 18002090191, and says admission helplines are given on each course's admission page.

The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure gives the helpline hours as 10.00 AM to 06.00 PM and the helpdesk email as cethelpdesk-2026@maharashtracet.org.

For CAP queries, the B.E./B.Tech admission portal 2026-27 lists the technical helpline numbers +91-9175108612 and 18002098851, from 10:00 AM to 06:00 PM. The Agriculture UG Prospectus 2026-27 gives 8447692612 as the agriculture admission helpline, and the CET-ATAL mock test portal lists 07969134411 for its own queries.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Exact exam dates, application windows, answer keys, results, cutoffs, and per-category qualifying marks vary by cycle and must be verified from the official State CET Cell website for the relevant year. 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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