MHT-CET Exam Pattern 2027

MHT CET 2026 has two separate papers, PCM and PCB. Each is worth 200 marks in 180 minutes. This page carries the full section-wise breakup, the marking scheme, and how the pattern has changed for 2026. For eligibility and the full exam profile, see the MHT CET 2026 overview. For topic-wise preparation, check the MHT CET syllabus page.

📋MHT CET OverviewEligibility, conducting body and the full exam snapshot.Read overview📚MHT CET Syllabus 2026Topic-wise PCM and PCB syllabus with weightage.View syllabus🗓️MHT CET Dates 2026Registration, exam and result dates for both attempts.Check dates📝MHT CET RegistrationApplication steps, fee and document checklist.How to apply

MHT CET 2026 has two groups, PCM and PCB. Both are online computer-based tests worth 200 marks. The State Common Entrance Test Cell (CET Cell), Government of Maharashtra, sets the pattern. Its Commissioner is the Competent Authority for the exam, appointed under Section 10 of the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015 (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, cetcell.mahacet.org).

The exam has no negative marking in either group (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, clauses 7.1.5 and 7.2.5). Every question is an MCQ with four options. Only one option is correct. For 2026, the CET Cell conducted MHT CET twice for the first time. Session 1 ran in April, Session 2 in May. This page refers to that completed 2026 cycle throughout.

MHT CET 2026 splits into two groups based on the course you want. Pick PCM for B.E./B.Tech admission. Pick PCB for B.Pharm or agriculture degree courses. You may also appear for both, if eligible and undecided (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, clause 3.2).

A PCM candidate who also studied Biology in Class 12 can appear for PCB too. The CET Cell allows one group or both (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, clause 3.2). Marks from one group are never carried into the other. Your Physics or Chemistry percentile from one group is never transferred to the other, even across attempts (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, Section 8, Normalization and Percentile Method).

Can I appear for both PCM and PCB in the same year?

Yes. A candidate may appear for PCM, PCB, or both. The choice once exercised cannot be changed later. The State CET Cell schedules PCM and PCB on separate dates, so both are possible in one cycle. This matters if you want to keep a pharmacy or agriculture option open, since Biology in Class 12 is what makes PCB attemptable.

MHT CET 2026 gives Mathematics double the marks of Physics or Chemistry in the PCM paper. Plan your time for Mathematics carefully because of this. Here is the subject-wise split for both groups.

PCM Group (150 questions, 200 marks)

PCB Group (200 questions, 200 marks)

How many questions come from Physics and how many from Chemistry?

This detail is not in the official brochure. The MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure states only that Physics and Chemistry together form one 100-mark, 90-minute block, without giving an exact question count for each subject. Several exam-prep websites quote a "50 Physics, 50 Chemistry" split, but that is an unofficial estimate based on past papers, not a figure the State CET Cell has confirmed in the 2026 brochure. Treat it as a working assumption for practice, not as fact, until the CET Cell publishes an exact split.

Why does Mathematics carry 2 marks per question?

Mathematics carries 2 marks per question so its 50 questions add up to 100 marks. That is the same weight as the whole Physics-Chemistry section. This keeps the PCM paper balanced at 200 marks overall. A student strong in Mathematics has more marks riding on fewer questions. Pace the second block with this in mind (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, clause 7.1.3).

MHT CET 2026 locks you out of the first section once 90 minutes are up. Time management inside that block matters more than the overall 180-minute limit suggests.

At the 90-minute mark, the Physics-Chemistry section auto-submits. The second section then opens. You cannot go back to Physics or Chemistry after that. No extra time is given under any circumstance (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, clause 7.3, and the general CBT instructions). Within the first 90 minutes, you can move freely between Physics and Chemistry questions, since both sit in one combined section. You must stay in your seat until the exam ends at the time shown on your MHT CET admit card. Re-entry is not allowed after the test closes (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, "Online CBT" instructions).

MHT CET 2026 has no negative marking, so an incorrect answer costs you nothing beyond the time spent on it.

Every question is a single-correct-answer MCQ with four options. Physics, Chemistry and Biology questions are worth 1 mark each in both groups. Mathematics questions in the PCM group are worth 2 marks each. An unattempted question earns zero marks, exactly like a wrong one, so there is no reason to leave a question blank.

Your raw score is not what gets published as your final result. The CET Cell converts raw marks into a percentile score for each group and attempt. A percentile is not the same as a percentage of marks obtained (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, Section 8). The exact normalisation formula is not detailed beyond this statement in the current brochure. Check the MHT CET result and percentile explainer for how this score becomes your rank. If you sit for both the April and May 2026 attempts, the CET Cell uses the better of your two total percentile scores. This comparison uses only the total score, never a subject-wise one (MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure, Section 10, Declaration of Result). You can check your raw score first using the MHT CET answer key once it is released.

MHT CET 2026 draws roughly 20% of its questions from the Class 11 (Std XI) syllabus. About 80% come from Class 12 (Std XII), across Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology. This weightage carried over from the 2024-25 cycle unchanged into 2026. Independent exam-news coverage confirmed it as "same as last year with no change" after the CET Cell released the 2026 syllabus (CET Cell Technical Education CET Syllabus document, cetcell.mahacet.org; cross-checked against Shiksha, 19 January 2026).

The CET Cell sets PCM difficulty at par with JEE Main. Biology difficulty is set at par with NEET. Questions are mainly application-based, not direct recall (CET Cell Technical Education CET Syllabus document, cetcell.mahacet.org).

For the full chapter list and a downloadable syllabus, see the MHT CET syllabus and important topics page. Once you know the weightage, pair it with the MHT CET previous year question papers to see which topics actually recur.

MHT CET's core structure has stayed the same across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 cycles. That means 150 questions and 200 marks for PCM, 200 questions and 200 marks for PCB, Mathematics at 2 marks per question, and no negative marking. Independent exam coverage confirms this. A June 2026 report states plainly that "no changes have been made to the exam pattern & syllabus" for the 2026 cycle (Indian Express Education, 5 June 2026). Archived coverage from the 2021 cycle describes the same structure: three MCQ papers of 100 marks each, no negative marking, JEE Main-level difficulty for PCM subjects, and NEET-level difficulty for Biology (Times of India, 7 April 2021). This pattern has clearly held for several years.

The one genuine structural change for 2026 is the number of attempts, not the paper itself.

Has the MHT CET question count ever changed?

The 150-question PCM and 200-question PCB structure has held through 2024, 2025 and 2026. This is based on the CET Cell's own brochures for those years and independent exam-news confirmation. The main change for 2026 is not the paper itself. It is the number of attempts, which moved from one exam a year to two.

MHT CET 2026 was conducted twice, and both sessions actually happened this year. A single-attempt year gives only one data point; 2026 gives two. Session 1 covered PCM from 11 to 20 April 2026, excluding 12 April, after a revision. Session 1 for PCB ran from 21 to 26 April 2026. Session 2 covered PCB on 10 and 11 May 2026. Session 2 for PCM ran from 12 to 21 May 2026, also revised from an earlier schedule (Shiksha News, 18 March 2026; Careers360, 12 May 2026).

This is the first year the CET Cell has data across two sessions of one exam cycle. Both April and May 2026 attempts used the identical pattern. A candidate who wrote both sessions faced the same 90+90 minute structure twice, not two different formats. For how this affects your final score, see the MHT CET result 2026 page. For how a percentile from either attempt maps to a college seat, see the MHT CET cutoff 2026 page.