CUET PG 2027 Syllabus & Exam Pattern: Complete Guide

Quick Answer 

CUET PG 2027 is the national entrance test for the PG admission cycle 2027-28, and the CUET PG syllabus is issued paper by paper, with domain-specific papers for each discipline and general papers for aptitude-based programmes. The exam is a CBT-mode, MCQ-based test of 75 questions in 90 minutes. Each correct answer earns 4 marks and each wrong answer costs 1 mark, so the maximum is 300. NTA's calendar proposes March 2027, but the dates are tentative and the 2027 information bulletin is awaited. The official syllabus sits on the NTA CUET PG portal under its syllabus section, and the 2026 papers are the latest published.

What Is CUET PG?

CUET PG stands for Common University Entrance Test (Postgraduate). It gives candidates one national route into master's and other postgraduate programmes, so a single result and scorecard can serve several applications.

• A candidate may select up to four question paper codes, each mapped to the programmes of the university concerned.

• Each university prepares its own merit list and runs its own counselling from the scorecard.

• In 2025, 191 universities and institutions took part, and 523,032 of the 654,019 registered candidates appeared.

• The test is bilingual in most papers and is a computer-based, MCQ-based test.

Who Conducts CUET PG 2027 (NTA)

The National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, conducts the test. NTA ran the 2025 and 2026 cycles, and its calendar for 2027 lists the same exam under the same agency, so the conducting body has stayed the same across these cycles. Its portal handles the application form, the exam city slip, the admit card, the answer key and the result.

CUET PG vs University-Specific PG Entrance Tests

• CUET PG: one NTA-conducted test whose scorecard many participating universities use for admission.

• University-specific tests: set and held by a single institution, with its own syllabus and schedule.

• Participation: each university decides whether to accept the scorecard, and the participating universities fall into four groups: Central, State, Government (fully funded) and Deemed or Private.

• Fees: Deemed and Private universities pay an approved fee for registration, while Central and State universities and Government institutions are exempt.

Key Dates & Notification Timeline

Expected Information Bulletin Release

NTA's examination calendar proposes CUET PG for 2 to 5, 8, 9, 12, 15 to 19, 24, 25 and 29 to 31 March 2027, spread over 17 days, and states that the dates are tentative. The notification 2027 had not appeared when this guide was written. The notices for the last two cycles came on 2 January 2025 and 14 December 2025, so an information bulletin between December 2026 and January 2027 is plausible, although NTA has not confirmed it.

Application Window & Correction Period

• 2026 cycle: the application form was open from 14 December 2025 to 14 January 2026, with a correction window from 18 to 20 January 2026 as first notified. NTA later extended the last date, so the first deadline was not final.

• 2025 cycle: the application form was open from 2 January to 1 February 2025, followed by corrections from 3 to 5 February 2025.

• What happens next: an advance exam city slip comes first, then the admit card, which NTA released in batches by exam date in 2026.

Academic Session Mapping (2027 Exam to 2027-28 Admissions)

A March 2027 exam feeds admissions for the 2027-28 session. The result and scorecard follow within weeks (the 2026 result was declared on 24 April, and scorecards were made available on DigiLocker), after which each university announces its own counselling and cutoff.

Syllabus: Complete Breakdown

The NTA CUET PG syllabus is not one combined document. Each question paper code has its own syllabus, and every paper has 75 compulsory, bilingual questions based on subject-specific knowledge. Codes are grouped by prefix, and the subject code list for 2026 runs as follows:

• COQP (common papers): 22 papers, including Agribusiness Management (COQP01), Commerce (COQP08), Economics (COQP10), General Paper (COQP11), General Paper (MBA etc.) (COQP12), Law (LLM) (COQP14) and Hospital Management (COQP22).

• HUQP (humanities): 26 papers, from Ancient Indian History (HUQP01) to Rabindra Sangit (HUQP26).

• SCQP (science): 30 papers, from Agricultural Science (SCQP01) to Animal Science (Poultry) (SCQP30).

• LAQP and MTQP: language papers and M.Tech/Higher Sciences papers.

• ACQP: Acharya papers.

Common papers are offered across streams, whereas a domain-specific paper tests one discipline in depth. The General Paper (COQP11) has five units:

• English Comprehension: grammar, usage errors, sentence correction and improvement, jumbled paragraphs, reading comprehension, paragraph completion, one-word substitution, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, plus Hindi comprehension and grammar.

• General Knowledge/Awareness: literature, history, the Indian Constitution, personalities, sports, national and international economics, science, politics, legal and trade awareness, geography and culture.

• Computer Basics: computer fundamentals, abbreviations, shortcut keys, Windows and Office, types of computers, storage devices, hardware and software, input and output devices, the internet, networks, browsers and viruses.

• General Aptitude & Logical Reasoning: clocks, calendars, averages, simplification, percentages, profit and loss, partnerships, simple and compound interest, ratio and proportion, time and work, pipes and cisterns, time and distance, stocks and shares, discounts, LCM and HCF, geometry and mensuration, sets, permutations and combinations, mixtures and alligation.

• Logical Reasoning: ranking, linear and matrix arrangements, sequencing, statement-based reasoning, number series, blood relations, coding-decoding, inferences, non-verbal reasoning, analogies, symbol-based problems, direction and distance, and analytical reasoning.

Subject-Wise Syllabus

This CUET PG subject wise syllabus follows the CUET PG 2026 syllabus, the latest version published. The CUET PG syllabus 2027 is not released yet and NTA's own notice directs candidates to the syllabus currently on its portal, so the 2026 papers are the working reference.

Humanities & Social Sciences (Political Science, History, Economics, Sociology)

The CUET PG syllabus for humanities stream papers is unit-based and theory-heavy. The CUET PG political science syllabus subject code is HUQP18, and the paper has eight units:

• Western Political Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, J.S. Mill, Karl Marx and John Rawls.

• Indian Political Thought: Ram Mohan Roy, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Savarkar and Kautilya.

• Political Theory: liberty, equality, justice, sovereignty, citizenship and gender, democracy, human rights, the state, contemporary issues and feminist ideology.

• International Relations: realism and liberalism, Cold War politics, NAM, SAARC, UNO, ASEAN and the EU, plus India's foreign policy, especially towards China, Pakistan and the USA.

• Indian Government and Politics: the Preamble, the Constituent Assembly, Parliament, the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, the President, fundamental rights and duties, Directive Principles, amendments, the Governor, federalism, political parties, elections, local government, the judiciary and governance.

• Comparative Government and Politics: political culture, political parties, electoral systems, approaches and models, and types of regimes.

• Public Policies in India: policy models and the policy process, plus policy types.

• General Issues of Contemporary Relevance: global justice and nationalism, alongside climate change.

History (HUQP09) is organised by period:

• Ancient History of India (10000 BC to 1206 AD): the Stone, Chalcolithic and Indus Valley ages, the Vedic period, early states and the Mauryas, Buddhism and Jainism, post-Mauryan dynasties, South Indian kingdoms, and the Guptas and regional states.

• Early Medieval India (750 AD to 1206 AD): northern political developments, the rise of the Rajputs, the Cholas, feudalism, the agrarian economy, towns and trade.

• Medieval History of India (1206 to 1707 AD): the Delhi Sultanate and its administration, the Vijayanagara and Bahmani kingdoms, Bhakti and Sufi movements, the Mughal Empire, the Sur dynasty and Mughal decline.

• Modern History of India (1707 to 1947): colonial rule and British administration, economic impact and industrialisation, social and religious reform, the national movement, the Gandhian era and constitutional development. European history sits in this section, covering the French, English, American and Russian revolutions and the two World Wars.

Economics (COQP10) is a common paper with seven units:

• Micro Economics: consumer behaviour, production and cost theory, market price and output under different competition structures, general equilibrium, efficiency, welfare and externalities.

• Macro Economics: national income accounting, and income and output determination through aggregate demand and supply, including classical and Keynesian views.

• Money and Inflation: money supply and demand, the money multiplier, central and commercial banks, quantity theories, the Phillips curve, and India's monetary and fiscal policy.

• Consumption and Investment Function: consumption hypotheses, determinants of investment, the multiplier and accelerator, open-economy models, balance of payments, exchange rates, purchasing power parity and growth models.

• Statistical Methods in Economics: averages, dispersion, skewness, correlation, simple regression, probability distributions and sampling.

• Mathematical Methods in Economics: sets and vectors, functions and optimisation, integration, difference and differential equations, matrices and determinants, linear programming and probability.

• Indian Economy: the colonial economy, the New Economic Policy, public goods, deficits, debt, fiscal federalism, taxation and international trade theories.

Sociology (HUQP22) has six blocks of four units each:

• Basic Concepts in Sociology: the definition and scope of the subject; social structure, society, community, association, norms and values; status and role; socialisation.

• Social Processes and Problems: cooperation, accommodation, assimilation, competition and conflict; social groups; social institutions such as marriage, family, kinship, education, religion and economy; social control and deviance.

• Society, Culture and Social Change: tribal, rural, urban, industrial and post-industrial societies; material and non-material culture; industrialisation, modernisation, globalisation and secularisation; stratification and social mobility.

• Indian Society: traditional bases and unity in diversity; caste and dominant caste; Sanskritisation and Westernisation as processes of change; issues of gender, Dalits, OBCs, minorities and affirmative action.

• Social Research: definition and steps of research, and objectivity; designs, surveys, hypotheses and sampling; observation, interview, questionnaire, schedule and case study; tabulation and central tendency.

• Social Problems in India: Durkheim's anomie and suicide, Becker's labelling theory; inequality by caste, class, gender and ethnicity; female feticide, dowry, domestic violence, divorce and problems of the aged; crime, corruption, communalism and drug addiction.

Management (MBA)

The CUET PG MBA syllabus 2027 is expected to follow the 2026 General Paper (MBA etc.), COQP12, which has 75 compulsory, bilingual questions across four units:

• English/Comprehension: English grammar, usage errors, jumbled paragraphs, sentence correction and improvement, reading comprehension, paragraph completion, one-word substitution, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, with a parallel Hindi set.

• Maths/Quantitative Ability: partnership, simple and compound interest, profit and loss, percentages, pipes and cisterns, time-speed-distance, problems on trains, work and wages, and time and work.

• Logical Reasoning: ranking tests, linear and matrix arrangements, sequencing, statement-based reasoning, number series, blood relationships, coding and decoding, inferences, non-verbal reasoning, analogies, symbol-based problems, and direction and distance.

• Data Interpretation: pie charts, line charts, bar graphs, tabular charts, mixed graphs, data sufficiency, tabulation, and sets and Venn diagrams.

Unit-wise question counts are not published for this paper. Other management papers on the list include Agribusiness Management (COQP01) and Hospital Management (COQP22).

Computer Applications (MCA)

The computer paper on the list is Computer Science and Information Technology (SCQP09), and each university decides which paper its MCA programme accepts. It has three units:

• Thinking and Decision Making: reasoning and pattern recognition, including figure and diagram analysis, number and figure series, odd-one-out items and logic-based deductions.

• Mathematics: set operations and counting, probability and statistics, algebra (equations, progressions, matrices), coordinate geometry of lines and conic sections, and calculus (limits, differentiation, integration and areas).

• Computer: operating systems (processes, scheduling, deadlock, memory, file systems) and data structures (trees, graphs, sorting, hashing), plus digital fundamentals (number systems, arithmetic, logic gates, combinational and sequential circuits).

Law (LLB/LLM)

The list carries Law (LLM) as COQP14. The paper covers 32 subjects, each with five units:

Contract (general principles); Constitution; Law of Torts; Family Law (Hindu Law); Criminal Law (Indian Penal Code); Contract II (indemnity, guarantee, bailment, agency, partnership and sale of goods); Company Law; Property Law; Administrative Law; Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and the Indian Succession Act); Environmental Law; Labour Law; Criminal Law II (Criminal Procedure Code, juvenile justice, probation and appeals); Jurisprudence; Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System; Public International Law; Human Rights Law and Practice; Right to Information; Banking Law; Insurance Law; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act; Intellectual Property Rights I (patents, trade marks, geographical indications and related treaties); Penology and Victimology; Interpretation of Statutes and Principles of Legislation; Competition Law; Law of Evidence; Taxation; Intellectual Property Rights II (copyright, designs, plant varieties and related treaties); White Collar Crimes; Women and Criminal Law and Law Relating to Child; and Law Relating to International Trade.

Science (Life Science, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany)

Life Sciences (SCQP17) has eight units:

• Techniques: laboratory methods for separating, imaging, amplifying and tracing biological material.

• Chromatin Structure and Function: chromosome organisation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and chromatin types with key chromosomal regions.

• Biochemistry: biomolecules and energy metabolism, plus membrane biology.

• Biotechnology: gene cloning and its uses in medicine, industry, agriculture and the environment, plus cell culture.

• Microbiology: microbial diversity and growth, antimicrobials, microbes in industry and agriculture, immunity, vaccines and viruses.

• Molecular Genetics: inheritance patterns, chromosomal changes, non-nuclear inheritance, core genetic processes, DNA repair and population genetics.

• Plant Sciences: plant groups and tissues, economic uses, photosynthesis, flowering responses and biogeochemical cycles.

• Animal Sciences: invertebrate and vertebrate traits, human body systems, nerve signalling, hormones, human diseases and animal cell culture.

Chemistry (SCQP08) is organised into three branches with 44 units in all:

• Physical Chemistry (15 units): gaseous state; liquid state; ionic equilibria; solid state; thermodynamics; partial molar quantities; dilute solutions and colligative properties; molecular spectroscopy and photochemistry; chemical kinetics; catalysis; surface chemistry; phase equilibria; introduction to quantum chemistry; conductance; electrochemistry.

• Inorganic Chemistry (13 units): atomic structure; periodicity of elements; chemical bonding; metallic bonding and weak chemical forces; oxidation-reduction and general principles of metallurgy; chemistry of s and p block elements; noble gases; inorganic polymers; coordination chemistry; transition elements; lanthanoids and actinides; bioinorganic chemistry; organometallic compounds.

• Organic Chemistry (16 units): basics of organic chemistry; stereochemistry; aliphatic hydrocarbons; cycloalkanes and conformational analysis; aromatic hydrocarbons; halogenated hydrocarbons; alcohols, phenols, ethers and epoxides; carbonyl compounds; carboxylic acids and their derivatives; sulphur-containing compounds; nitrogen-containing functional groups; polynuclear hydrocarbons; heterocyclic compounds; alkaloids; terpenes; organic spectroscopy.

Zoology (SCQP28) lists 14 areas: cell biology; biochemistry; molecular biology; ecology; evolution; biodiversity and environment conservation; immunology; genetics; biotechniques; vertebrates and invertebrates; developmental biology; biostatistics; animal physiology; and recombinant DNA technology.

Botany (SCQP07) lists 14 units: phycology and microbiology; biomolecules and cell biology; mycology and phytopathology; archegoniate; anatomy and angiosperms; economic botany; genetics; molecular biology; plant ecology and phytogeography; plant semantics; reproductive biology of angiosperms; plant physiology; plant metabolism; and plant biotechnology.

Other Domains (Agriculture, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics)

Agricultural Science (SCQP01) has ten units: agronomy; genetics and plant breeding; soil science and agricultural chemistry; plant physiology; horticulture; entomology; agricultural economics; mycology and plant pathology; agricultural engineering and statistics; and agricultural extension education.

Plant Biotechnology (SCQP25) has four units:

• Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation: culture of seed, embryo, callus, organ, cell and protoplast; axillary bud proliferation, meristem and shoot tip culture, organogenesis, and embryogenesis.

• In Vitro Haploid Production: anther and microspore culture, androgenesis and gynogenesis, ploidy levels, chromosome doubling and chromosome elimination in cereals.

• Protoplast Isolation and Fusion: isolation methods, somatic hybridisation, cybrids and somaclonal variation.

• Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria: nitrogen fixation, nodulation, biocontrol of plant pathogens and growth promotion by free-living bacteria.

Bio-Informatics (SCQP06) has eight units:

• Mathematics and Statistical Foundation: calculus, algebra, analysis, probability distributions and geometry.

• Role of Chemistry in Bioinformatics: atomic structure, bonding, kinetics, stereochemistry, thermodynamics, coordination and organic compounds, and electrochemistry.

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, enzymes and metabolic pathways.

• Microbiology and Immunology: viruses, microbial applications, laboratory methods and immunology.

• Genetic Engineering, Gene Sequencing and RDT: DNA and RNA biology, vectors, recombinant DNA enzymes, PCR and sequencing.

• Bio-Physics: bioenergetics, spectroscopy, biological imaging, protein structure and macromolecule analysis.

• Fundamentals of Information Technology and Computer Programming: computer and software basics, C++, graphics, computational methods (neural networks, genetic algorithms, Markov models) and Perl.

• Basics of Bioinformatics: biological databases, data storage and retrieval, sequence alignment, data visualisation and gene expression.

Where to Download the Official Syllabus PDF

The CUET PG syllabus PDF download is paper-wise, and the pattern sits in the information bulletin, so a CUET PG syllabus and exam pattern PDF download means two documents: one per question paper code and one bulletin. How to download CUET PG syllabus from NTA website:

• Open the NTA CUET PG portal at exams.nta.nic.in/cuet-pg.

• Open the Syllabus section, which is split into four stream pages: Common, Humanities, Science and Language.

• Find the subject name and code, and open the PDF listed against it.

• Save the PDF for each question paper code you plan to take, up to four.

Exam Pattern

The CUET PG exam pattern in the 2026 information bulletin is the latest published, and the sections below describe it.

Exam Mode (CBT)

The examination is held in CBT mode only. At the 2025 scale, NTA ran 240 question papers with 23,624 questions across 16 days and 43 shifts. Candidates first receive an exam city slip, and the admit card follows a few days before their paper.

Number of Questions, Duration & Sections

On the CUET PG exam pattern number of questions and duration, every paper is uniform:

• Each paper has 75 multiple-choice questions, and all are compulsory.

• Each paper lasts 90 minutes, with 20 minutes of compensatory time per hour for candidates with benchmark disabilities.

• A candidate can choose up to four question paper codes.

• A paper is divided into syllabus units rather than timed sections, so one 90-minute clock covers the whole paper.

• Unattempted questions and questions marked for review without an answer carry no marks.

Marking Scheme (+4/-1 Explained)

The CUET PG marking scheme is simple, and the CUET PG negative marking scheme explained in full is:

• Correct answer: +4 marks.

• Incorrect answer: -1 mark, deducted from the total score.

• Unanswered or marked for review without an answer: no marks.

• Maximum: 300 marks, since 75 questions carry 4 marks each.

For example, 48 correct and 12 wrong answers score 192 minus 12, which is 180. Leaving the remaining 15 questions blank costs nothing.

Medium (English/Hindi & Exceptions)

• Humanities and science papers use a bilingual medium (English and Hindi), as do the common papers, and the English version is final if the two differ.

• Language papers appear in their own language, while Linguistics is in English only.

• M.Tech/Higher Sciences papers are in English only.

• Acharya papers are mostly in Sanskrit, with some exceptions.

Exam Pattern at a Glance

How the Syllabus and Exam Pattern Connect

• The information bulletin fixes the rules: CBT mode, 75 questions, 90 minutes, +4 and -1 marking, and the full subject code list.

• The syllabus supplies the content, one file per code, so a candidate's preparation maps to the code that the target programme requires.

• A domain-specific paper draws its 75 questions from the units listed for that subject, while a general paper such as COQP12 draws them from aptitude units.

• NTA does not publish unit-wise question counts in the papers above, so every unit has to be treated as testable.

How to Prepare Using the Syllabus

Step-by-Step Framework

• List every unit of the syllabus for each question paper code you plan to take.

• Rate each unit by familiarity and give the weakest ones the earliest slots.

• Work backwards from the proposed March 2027 window, which leaves roughly four months from now.

• Practise full papers of 75 questions in 90 minutes, which allows about 72 seconds per question.

• Review every wrong answer, and attempt a question only when you can rule out at least one option, given the -1 penalty.

Subject-Wise Approach

• Humanities: build notes by thinker and period, since these papers are organised that way.

• Management (COQP12): practise timed sets for data interpretation and reasoning, and read passages daily for comprehension.

• Science: revise unit concepts first and then solve numerical or application questions, as in Chemistry's 44 units.

• Law: with 32 subjects in the LLM paper, start with the largest gaps shown by your mock results.

Before You Start Preparing

• Confirm your target universities and the question paper code each programme requires.

• Note each programme's eligibility conditions.

• Download the syllabus PDF for every code.

• Keep the 2026 bulletin handy until the 2027 one is published.

• Watch the NTA portal for the notification from December 2026.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates who have passed a bachelor's degree or equivalent examination are eligible.

• Final-year bachelor's students may also apply.

• The 2026 bulletin stated that there is no age limit.

• Individual universities can set their own additional criteria for each programme.

What Might Change vs Previous Years

Historical Pattern Stability (2024 to 2026)

Mode and medium were consistent between the 2025 and 2026 notices: computer-based delivery with bilingual papers and the same exceptions. The pattern figures mentioned in this blog (questions, duration, marks and negative marking) come from the 2026 bulletin. 

What to Watch for in the Official 2027 Bulletin

• The CUET PG exam pattern 2027 marking scheme: whether +4 and -1 continues.

• Any revision to mode, question count, duration or marks.

• Additions or removals in the list of question paper codes.

• Syllabus revisions in the paper-wise files.

• The application window, fee, correction dates and participating universities.

• Rescheduling rules, since NTA issued a clarification on a rescheduled CUET PG 2026 examination in June 2026.

Good Score Benchmark & What It Means

• The maximum is 300, so 120 equals 40 per cent of the total. A candidate reaches it with 30 correct answers and no penalties.

• NTA does not publish a pass mark or a universal cutoff, because each university sets its own cutoff by programme and category.

• Competition is substantial: 523,032 candidates appeared in 2025, a turnout of 79.97 per cent of those registered.

• NTA publishes the top five scorers for each subject with more than 1,000 registered candidates, which shows how closely the leading scores cluster in popular subjects.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Key Takeaways

• NTA's calendar proposes CUET PG for 2 to 31 March 2027, but the dates are tentative.

• The 2027 bulletin and syllabus were not yet published, so the 2026 versions are the working reference.

• Each paper has 75 MCQs in 90 minutes, marked at +4 and -1 for a maximum of 300.

• Syllabus files are paper-wise, grouped under COQP, HUQP, SCQP, LAQP, MTQP and ACQP codes.

• Universities decide which paper code a programme needs, so match the code before preparing.

• Cutoffs are set by each university, so a score has to be read against the target programme.