Changes Announced for CUET-UG & CUET-PG 2025 Exam: What Students Need to Know

In an effort to level the university admissions playing field for students from various socioeconomic origins and educational boards, the NTA introduced the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in 2021. Thanks to this entrance exam, all applicants now have equal opportunities in admissions procedures for undergraduate (UG) and graduate (PG) programs across 283 Indian universities.

“Based on feedback from past years, it is also essential to continuously improve the examination process to provide a better, more efficient and conducive environment for students taking CUET,” the UGC announced in its draft proposal on the conduct of CUET-UG & CUET-PG 2025 dated 11 December, 2024.

Let's examine the proposed updates made to these entrance exams:

1. Previously, the exam was conducted in a hybrid manner. Now, UGC has announced that CUET 2025 will be administered in Computer Based Test (CBT) mode.
2. Candidates can appear for a maximum of 5 subjects. Formerly, they were allowed to appear for 6 subjects.
3. Regardless of the subjects opted in Class XII, candidates will be able to choose the subjects they appear for freely.
4. The duration of the exam in CUET 2024 was 45 minutes except in some subjects, in which the duration of the test was 60 minutes. In CUET-UG 2025, the exam duration for all subjects will be one hour per paper.
5. The standard of the questions asked will be based on the NCERT syllabus.
6. The General Test is to be redesigned as the General Aptitude Test.
7. Domain subjects like Entrepreneurship, Teaching Aptitude, Fashion Studies, Tourism, Legal Studies, and Engineering Graphics are discontinued in CUET 2025. For these papers, admissions are to be made on the basis of performance in the General Aptitude Test.
8. The medium of examination will be in 13 languages, namely English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. For the remaining languages as well as foreign languages (20 as per CUET-UG 2024), admission will be given on the basis of the General Aptitude Test scores.
9. The twenty-three subjects/papers in CUET 2025 will be as follows: 
   1. Accountancy/Book-keeping
   2. Business Studies 
   3. Agriculture 
   4. Physics 
   5. Chemistry 
   6. Mathematics/Applied Mathematics 
   7. Biology/Biological Science/Biochemistry/ Biotechnology 
   8. Performing Arts (Dance, Drama, Music) 
   9. Fine Arts/Visual Arts/Commercial Arts 
   10. Geography/Geology 
   11. History 
   12. Home Science 
   13. Mass Media/Mass Communication 
   14. Political Science 
   15. Psychology 
   16. Sociology 
   17. Sanskrit 
   18. Environmental Science 
   19. Knowledge Tradition- Practices in India 
   20. Physical Education (Yoga, Sports) 
   21. Anthropology 
   22. Economics/Business Economics 
   23. Computer Science/Information Practices.
10. The new marking scheme for the CUET-UG 2025 will be a negative marking scheme. Marks will be awarded as follows:

1. The CUET-PG 2025 will be conducted in CBT mode as well.
2. The time allotted for each paper will be 90 minutes.
3. All the questions will be compulsory to attempt and negative marking will also be applied.
4. The medium for the exam will be bilingual.
5. The standard of questions for the exam will be the same as CUET-PG 2024.

Since the CUET exam is getting modified for the better, make sure to use these changes to your advantage and plan your studying strategy accordingly. Practise solving model CUET papers here.

You can also refer to the official CUET Update Notice by UGC for more information.