Recently the UGC Chairman Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar informed the students that NTA is going to conduct the CUET UG exam in a hybrid mode. The number of candidates applied for the exam are more than expected so the paper is conducted in both online or offline mode. Candidates who are preparing for the exam must acquaint themselves with the latest CUET exam pattern, marking scheme, total marks, and other important details.
The CUET UG exam pattern is designed to test the overall knowledge of languages, domain subjects they want to pursue in their career, and general knowledge that a 12th-class student must have. Check the detailed CUET marking scheme.
Revised CUET Exam Pattern 2024
As per the latest CUET exam pattern, the paper is divided into 3 sections. The language section has 2 sub-sections. The second section is 29 subjects from which candidates can select any CUET domain subjects for the exam. The third section is a general test that has questions from maths, science, general studies, general aptitude, etc.
The CUET exam will be taken in a hybrid mode. Except for the language section, the exam will be in 13 different languages. No time should be wasted reading additional subjects. Students might choose their interest domain out of multiple domains. Check the complete breakdown of the CUET Exam Pattern with the marking scheme below.
CUET Exam Pattern 2024
Check the highlights of the exam pattern of the CUET exam from the table to understand the snippet of the exam.
| Particulars | Details |
| Exam Mode | Hybrid (Online + Offline) |
| Types of questions | Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) |
| Number of Sections | 4 Sections (Section 1A, 1B, 2, and 3) |
| Marking Scheme | Correct Answer: 5 Wrong Answer: – 1 Unanswered questions: 0 |
| Level of Exam | Class 12th |
| Medium of Language | 13 Languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, English, Hindi, and Urdu) |
| Maximum Number of Tests | 10 Tests |
Detailed CUET Exam Pattern 2024
The CUET marking scheme for undergraduate programs such as B.BA courses is as follows:
| Sections | Subject/ Language | Questions | Question Types | Duration |
| Section 1A | Candidates need to choose one language from 13 languages | 40 out of 50 (each section) | Reading Comprehension, Vocab, Grammer, etc. | 45 minutes for each language |
| Section 1B | Candidates can select 1 language from 19 languages | |||
| Section 2 | Select up to 6 domains out of 27 domains | 40 out of 50 in each subject | MCQ | 45 minutes for each domain |
| Section 3 | Reasoning, General Knowledge, Mathematics, etc. | 60 out of 75 | MCQ | 60 minutes |
CUET Marking Scheme 2024
It should be noted that the CUET UG marking scheme is the same for both exam sessions. Candidates need to become familiar with the CUET marking system to understand the exam pattern more clearly.
CUET Marking Scheme
Understanding the CUET marking scheme in detail helps you ace the exam. Aspirants must study appropriately for the exam and exercise caution while making the answer if they are aware that there is a negative marking in order to prevent inviting it.
| Status | Marks |
| Correct Answer | 5 marks |
| Incorrect Answer | One mark (Negative) |
| No Answer | 0 marks |
Language for CUET Question Paper
The CUET exam is conducted in 13 languages by the National Testing Agency. English is common for all candidates. Based on the location/ state the agency has given the option to choose any one language as mentioned below:
- Assamese
- Bengali
- English
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Kannada
- Malayalam
- Marathi
- Odia
- Punjabi
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Urdu
CUET Exam Pattern – Paper Language
The candidates have the option to select any one language with the English language. The languages option for the question paper must be selected during the CUET Application Form submission.
Sections 2 & 3 will be bilingual in nature. In case of any incorrectness in the paper, the English version prevails over the other languages. The agency has shared that the options which can be selected by the candidates are as follows.
| Language | Exam centers |
| English | All Examination Centres |
| English and Hindi | All Examination Centres in India |
| English and Assamese | Examination Centres in Assam |
| English and Bengali | Examination Centres in West Bengal, Tripura, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| English and Gujarati | Examination Centres in Gujarat, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli |
| English and Kannada | Examination Centres in Karnataka |
| English and Malayalam | Examination Centres in Kerala and Lakshadweep |
| English and Marathi | Examination Centres in Maharashtra |
| English and Odia | Examination centers in Odisha |
| English and Punjabi | Examination Centres in Punjab, Chandigarh, and Delhi/New Delhi (including Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Meerut, Noida/Greater Noida) |
| English and Tamil | Examination Centres in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| English and Telugu | Examination Centres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana |
| English and Urdu | All Examination Centres in India |
CUET Exam Pattern: Section 1B Languages
Aspirants have to select any one language from the given 20 languages for Sections 1B of the exam. Aspirants need to take any one language in 1A and 1B subsections to qualify the exam. The languages are:
- French
- Spanish
- German
- Nepali
- Persian
- Italian
- Arabic
- Sindhi
- Sanskrit
- Kashmiri
- Konkani
- Bodo
- Dogri
- Maithili
- Manipuri
- Santhali
- Tibetan
- Japanese
- Russian
- Chinese.
CUET Exam Pattern – Domain-Specific Subjects
There is a list of 27 subjects from which aspirants can select their choice of CUET domain subjects for the second section of the updated CUET exam pattern. The list of domain subjects is:
- Accountancy/Bookkeeping
- Biology/ Biological Studies/ Biotechnology/Biochemistry
- Business Studies
- Chemistry
- Computer Science/ Informatics Practices
- Economics/ Business Economics
- Engineering Graphics
- Entrepreneurship
- Geography/Geology
- History
- Home Science
- Knowledge Tradition and Practices of India
- Legal Studies
- Environmental Science
- Mathematics
- Physical Education/ NCC /Yoga
- Physics
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Teaching Aptitude
- Agriculture
- Mass Media/ Mass Communication
- Anthropology
- Fine Arts/ Visual Arts (Sculpture/ Painting)/Commercial Arts,
- Performing Arts – (i) Dance (Kathak/ Bharatnatyam/ Oddisi/ Kathakali/Kuchipudi/ Manipuri (ii) Drama- Theatre (iii) Music General (Hindustani/ Carnatic/ Rabindra Sangeet/ Percussion/ Non-Percussion)
- Sanskrit
CUET Pattern Syllabus
After checking the detailed exam pattern of the CUET exam aspirants must check the CUET Syllabus of each section to prepare well for the exam. Here we have provided the subject-wise syllabus for each section to help aspirants in their preparation:
CUET Exam Pattern – Key Points
Before jumping to the preparation strategy aspirants must check the important points regarding the CUET UG Exam Pattern to formulate a better strategy for the exam. The key points to keep in mind for the exam are:
- The exam will be held in 3 shifts on different days depending on the domain subject of candidates.
- Candidates can take a fixed number of tests in one slot. For more tests, they need to select other slots.
- Aspirants can select a maximum of 3 languages in the language sections.
- In Section 2, a maximum of 6 subjects can be selected out of 27 options available.
- Section 3 is common for all candidates and general aptitude, knowledge, and other important subjects understanding of subjects is checked.
- The language section will test candidates’ understanding of languages, literary, factual knowledge, narration, reading comprehension, etc.
- The level of the subjects is the same as the 12th standard.
CUET Preparation Tips
It is important to go through the preparation tips for the exam to understand how to prepare the syllabus and outrank competitors in the exam.
- Since the NTA updated the CUET UG exam pattern. Understanding the new exam pattern should be the first thing students concentrate on.
- By practicing CUET Question Papers, you can get a better idea of the questions to expect, the subjects that will carry more weight, and how the CUET exam feel.
- For candidates planning to take the CUET exam, time is of the utmost importance because increasing your speed will enable you to answer most questions with ease.
- Candidates should constantly make an effort to consult multiple sources when preparing. The fundamentals and key concepts of Class 12th should be well-versed since the CUET syllabus is based on the Class 12th Syllabus.
- One of the most crucial parts of preparation is revision because candidates frequently struggle to retain the topics they have learned.
CUET Exam Exam Pattern FAQs
The National Testing Agency has recently changed the exam pattern for the CUET exam. The exam now has 3 sections. The first section is the language section with 2 sub-sections. The second is the domain subject section where aspirants can select up to 7 subjects from the list of 27. The third section is a general test that is compulsory for all students. It will contain questions from g.k, maths, reasoning, etc.
The total marks of the CUET exam depend on the number of subjects selected by the students. The total marks of the exam will be multiple of 5 as each question carries 5 marks.
The duration of the CUET exam depends on the number of domain subjects selected by the candidates. For the language section, each language paper will be 45 minutes, and the section 3 general test will have 60 minutes for the exam. For the domain subject section candidates will get 45 minutes to complete each subject paper.
The CUET exam is conducted in 13 languages viz., Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, and English.
There are 3 sections in the exam as per the latest CUET UG Exam Pattern. The first section is divided into 2 sections 1A and 1B. Section 2 has 27 CUET domain subjects and section 3 is a general test that is compulsory for all the aspirants.
There will be a total of 175 questions in the CUET entrance test. Section 1 has 50 questions for both languages. Section 2 has 50 questions for each domain subject. The general test has 75 questions in the exam.
As per the marking scheme of CUET, for every correct answer candidates will be awarded 5 marks. For every incorrect answer, candidates will lose 1 mark. No marks will be deducted for not attempting any questions.
The paper will be conducted in hybrid mode only. The NTA will conduct exam in online as well as offline exams depending on the number of students for that subject.
Yes, there is a negative marking in the CUET exam. Aspirants must ensure that they are attempting the questions which they are sure this is the correct answer.