CUET Topper Tips: Know How Self-Study Helped Ishita Gambhir To Get Admission To SRCC
Common University Entrance Test 2026 ( CUET )
Registration - 3 Jan '26 - 30 Jan '26
CUET Topper Tips: Coaching is very subjective. I usually followed a combination of both, with major dependence on self-study. According to me, coaching can be joined for concept clarity, however, self-study is important for practice and regularity, Ishita Gambhir said.
CUET UG Topper 2023 Ishita Gambhir believes that the choice is always between self-study and coaching. "Coaching is very subjective. I usually followed a combination of both, with major dependence on self-study. According to me, coaching can be joined for concept clarity, however, self-study is important for practice and regularity," she said. Ishita started her CUET preparations after her board exams. She used to dedicate 8-9 hours regularly in preparation for CUET 2022.
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Q. When did you start preparing for CUET Exam? What all books did you refer to?
A. I started my CUET preparations right after the CBSE board exams ended. Since the syllabus for CUET 2023 was more or less similar to the CBSE curriculum, I prepared the term 2 syllabi simultaneously for both, boards and CUET and decided to focus on the rest of the CUET syllabus only after the boards. I followed NCERT books along with CBSE recommended books i.e., TS Grewal for Accounts and Sandeep Garg for Economics. I preferred Arihant and Oswaal's books for MCQs.
From the year 2021 onwards, CUET is conducted in computer-based mode. Till 2020, the exam was conducted in paper-pencil based (PBT) mode. The exam will continue to be conducted in the computer-based mode or online mode. As per the CUET exam pattern, the exam was conducted in two to three slots, depending on the number of applications received in a subject. There were three sections on Language, Domain Subject and General Test (optional). The number of questions and marks will vary from paper to paper.
More than 200 CUET participating universities, including central, state, government, private, and deemed institutes offer admission to various undergraduate and integrated courses through Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG). Each CUET college offers the courses across Science, Humanities, Commerce, Management, Law, Engineering, and other streams. Students planning to get admission through CUET exam have to check the courses offered by their target university on their official website, NTA official website, or at Shiksha page.
Q. Tell us about your family and educational background?
A. I am Ishita Gambhir and I completed my schooling at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, New Delhi.
Q. How much time did you devote to self-study? What do you feel is better, coaching or self-study?
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A. Most of my time, around 8-9 hours a day was invested in self-study. The choice between self-study and coaching is very subjective. I usually followed a combination of both, with major dependence on self-study. According to me, coaching can be joined for concept clarity, however, self-study is important for practice and regularity.
Q. How did you prepare for CUET UG, just a month before the exam?
A. As the syllabus for CUET was more or less similar to the CBSE boards and I had just appeared for term 2 boards, my major focus was on revising the term 1 concepts and the additional topics, which weren't a part of the CBSE syllabus. After revising all the concepts, I practiced mocks and kept on revising the difficult topics again and again.
On analysing the CUET UG cut off for the academic year 2025-26, scoring above 700 marks can be considered a good score in CUET UG. Candidates scoring above 700 may fall in the category of 95+ percentile. Candidates can get admission to top central universities like University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and other universities in the desired course. Given below is the range that is considered good for admission:
- Very Good Score: 700 and above
- Good Score: 650 and above
Score range between 400-649 is considered an average score. Admission on the basis of the average score can et into any decent college in India accepting CUET scores.
Q. Which subject is your strong one and which is the weakest? Are NCERT books sufficient for preparations?
A. I considered Accounts to be my strongest subject and Maths to be my weakest. NCERT books are sufficient for conceptual learning, however, I will prefer going through one or two more books for practice.
Q. Which all universities did you apply for? What was your dream college?
A. I applied to Delhi University and IPU. My dream college was SRCC.
Q. When it came to exam day, what was your strategy? According to you, what was the toughest and easiest section?
A. I had all of my exams on the same day, 3 in the morning slot and 2 in the evening slot. So, my strategy was to first attempt those subjects about which I was more confident so that I'm able to retain my confidence and calm for the other subjects. Though all of the exams were of moderate level, with an equivalent combination of easy and hard level questions in all the exams, according to me, Maths was the toughest, especially the first section and English was the easiest.
Q. To whom do you attribute your successful CUET topper journey? What would you suggest to future CUET aspirants in terms of preparation, attitude, etc?
A. I attribute my successful CUET journey to my Parents and Teachers, who were always there to support and guide me. I would suggest that CUET aspirants follow NCERT as the prime resource of preparation, especially for theory subjects. I'd suggest choosing the subjects wisely, maintaining their calm during the entire process and being receptive to whatever changes are taking place. Also, the right and timely decision of choosing which questions have to be attempted is important. I'll suggest keeping aside the thought of results on the day of examination and being relaxed so as to have a cent per cent presence of mind!
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She has over 10 years of experience in the education and publishing sectors. She specialises in exam coverage and content creation. At Shiksha, she writes, analyses, and presents information for students preparing f
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 2 days ago
To prepare for CUET Mathematics exam effectively, students must ideally give two to three hours practice. Students must focus on previous year qiuestion papers and mock tests to prepare well for exam. Daily practice and consistency will help candidate score 250 marks in exam.
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, NCERT is sufficient for conceptual clarity while preparing for CUET exam, but MCQ practice and CUET mock tests are important for scoring high. Students must not only focus on preparation books, they must solve CUET previous year question papers for Mathematics to know important topics or repeat
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
No, a valid CUET score is accepted for admissions to both BA (Hons) in Liberal Arts & Humanities and the BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics & Economics at JSLAH.
In the previous year admissions, CUET was only listed as an accepted exam for the BA (Hons) in Liberal Arts & Humanities admission.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
No, candidates who wish receive the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities BA (Hons) scholarships must provide a valid score in the JSAT. Those candidates who appeared for the CUET during BA (Hons) admissions can still appear for the JSAT after getting admitted into the Jindal School of Libera
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
For admission to Delhi University, candidate must have passed or appeared for class 12 examination. There are no minimum marks requirement in class 12 for DU admission through CUET UG. DU may use the class 12 marks or percentage for tie breaking criteria.
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
Class 12 marks are important for fulfilling the admission criteria and tie breaking criteria (if any) during admissions. Admission to Central Universities are conducted through CUET scores, however, candidates must fulfil the minimum marks requirement for admissions.
D
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
The minimum marks for CUET class 12th is prescribed differently for accepting universities. CUET universities like DU and Allahabad University does not prescribe the minimum marks in class 12 for CUET UG. However, universities like Banaras Hindu University, BBAU has prescribed the minimum percentage
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
There are a total of 157 subjects in the CUET PG exam. The subjects are segregated into six streams. The table below shows the number of papers in each stream.
| Stream | Number of Subjects or Papers |
|---|---|
| Science | 30 |
| MTech | 12 |
| Language | 41 |
| Humanities | 26 |
| Common | 22 |
| Acharya | 26 |
The CUET PG exam pattern is the same for each paper. The language of the CUET PG question papers is English and Hindi. For the Language paper
P
Beginner-Level 5
Answered 6 days ago
Yes, there is a scholarship for BSc students at IILM University Greater Noida based on the CUET percentile.
If you score 95 percentile or more, you get a 40% scholarship.
In case your percentile is between 90 to 94.99, you get a 30% scholarship.
For the 80 to 89.99 percentile, a 20% scholarship is of
J
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Bro domain subject ke sath laungage bhi compulsory ho skti hai vese kuch university me
v
Beginner-Level 2
The difficulty level of the CUET exam varies between moderate and tough. Since the CUET UG exam is held for multiple subjects and slots, the difficulty level of the exam varies from subject to subject. Sometimes, the difficulty level may also vary for different slots. While for the well-prepared candidates, the difficulty level will be low, for the underprepared students, the level of difficulty will be on the higher side.