CUET Exam Pattern 2025 (Revised): Check Exam Structure, Marking Scheme

CUET Exam Pattern 2025 will be released by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for this year. NTA releases the CUET exam pattern on its official website. The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is conducted in online mode also known as the Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode. Aspiring students who are preparing for the exam must know the latest exam pattern of the CUET exam. Understanding the exam pattern in detail helps students enhance their CUET preparation. 

Latest Update - The University Grants Commission has announced various changes to the CUET UG exam 2025. As per the official announcement, students can appear in a maximum of five subjects. Previously, the maximum number of subjects students could take was six. The total number of subjects has been reduced from 63 to 37. The admissions for these 37 subjects will be conducted on the basis of the General Aptitude Test. The commission has also granted students the flexibility to choose subjects. They can now choose the subject even when they have not studied it their Class 12. There is now a standard exam duration for all subjects which is 60 minutes. Last year, the exam duration varied for all subjects ranging from 45 minutes to 60 minutes. The concept of optional questions in the exam has also been done away with and all questions will be compulsory now.

Once the official notification is out, the revised exam pattern and marking scheme will be updated on this page.

The exam pattern is released by NTA along with the official notification. Besides releasing exam pattern, NTA also releases the CUET syllabus along with the notification. Aspiring candidates must know both the exam pattern and CUET syllabus thoroughly in order to ace the exam. The CUET exam pattern consists of 3 sections namely: Section 1A, Section 1B, General Test and Domain-specific subject. Section 1A & 1B consists of language papers. Both sections include 13 and 20 languages, respectively. 

The CUET question paper consists of objective-type questions. The paper can be attempted in 13 languages: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, English, and Urdu. According to the CUET marking scheme, there is also negative marking in the paper. 

CUET Exam Pattern 2025: Highlights

Particulars	Details
Conducting Body	National Testing Agency (NTA)
Exam Mode	Computer Based Test (CBT)
Exam Medium	13 languages
Number of Sections	3 (Section 1A, Section 1B, Section II, Section III)
Total Questions	Section 1A- 50 Section 1B- 50 Section 2- 50 Section 3- 60
Marking Scheme	+5 for each correct answer -1 for each incorrect answer
Question Type	Multiple Choice Questions
Negative Marking	Yes

CUET Revised Exam Pattern

The National Testing Agency (NTA) brought few changes in the CUET exam pattern last year. Below are the details of the latest exam pattern:

Parameters	CUET (UG) - 2025
Total subjects	37 (13 languages, 23 domain-specific, and 01 General Test)
Choice    of    Test Paper	Candidates may choose upto a maximum of five (05) subjects including languages and General Aptitude Test irrespective of the subjects opted in class XII.*
Medium   of   the Test	13  languages  (Assamese,  Bengali,  English,  Gujarati,  Hindi, Kannada,  Malayalam,  Marathi,  Punjabi,  Odia,  Tamil,  Telugu, and Urdu)
Mode      of      the Examination	CBT Mode Note: It will depend on the candidate count after the registration is complete.
Total Questions	50 questions for each test papers. All Questions are compulsory.
Shift               and Duration	60 Minutes

CUET Exam Structure & Duration

Aspirants who are appearing for the CUET 2025 exam must know the exam structure and time assigned for each section. The table below describes the structure of the exam along with the duration given to candidates to attempt the paper.

Sections	Questions to be Attempted	Marks Per Question	Duration
Section IA - Languages	50 (All Compulsory)	5 Marks	60 Minutes
Section IB - Languages
Section II - Domain	50 ( All Compulsory)	5 Marks	60 Minutes
Section III- General Test	50 ( All Compulsory)	5 Marks	60 Minutes

Note: Duration for all test papers would be 60 minutes.

CUET Exam Structure: Slot 1 (Morning Session)

Subjects	Total Questions	No. of questions to be attempted	Duration
Language (any one of the 13 languages opted in Section IA)	50	50	60 Minutes duration for each Test Paper
Domain-Specific Subjects (Max 2 Subjects)	50	50
General Test	50	50

CUET Exam Structure: Slot 2 (Afternoon Session)

Subjects	Total Questions	No. of questions to be attempted	Duration
Language (any one of the 13 languages opted in Section IA)	50	50	60 Minutes duration for each test paper
Domain-Specific Subjects	50	50

CUET Marking Scheme

Candidates preparing for the CUET exam can check the marking scheme in the table below:

Subjects	Marks per question
Language	5
Domain Specific Subjects	5
General Test	5

Note: For each incorrect answer, 1 mark will be deducted.

CUET Syllabus 2025

The CUET syllabus is highly comprehensive and must be followed thoroughly by aspirants. Here is a brief overview of the CUET syllabus:

Section 1A & Section 1B

Section 1A & Section 1B assess the language efficiency of aspirants. Aspirants can choose a maximum of 3 languages from Section 1A & Section 1B. There are a total of 13 and 20 languages in Section 1A & Section 1B, respectively. Language efficiency is tested through reading comprehension, vocabulary, and Literary aptitude.

Section II (Domain-Specific Subjects)

There are 27 domain-specific subjects, and candidates can choose a maximum of six. The question paper will include questions based on the 10+2 syllabus.

Section III (General Tests)

The general test is included for every undergraduate programme offered by universities that uses a general test for entrance. General knowledge, current events, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning, and logical and analytical reasoning are the subjects covered in these sections.

CUET Pattern 2025 - Why knowing exam structure is important?

Aspirants must be aware of the CUET paper pattern if they are preparing for the Common University Entrance Test - CUET UG Exam. It allows them to understand the marking scheme, paper structure, and types of questions that could be asked in the examination. Also, students must practise CUET question papers and previous years' sample papers to better understand the exam structure. 

It is recommended to solve CUET sample question papers in an exam-like environment and then assess the preparation level. By solving CUET mock tests, students get to know about the high-weightage and low-weightage topics that are usually asked in the examination. With the help of this knowledge, it becomes easy for candidates to strategize the preparation for CUET exam 2025 comprehensively.