How NTA Determines CUET UG Difficulty Level?

Students thinking how their selected CUET subject question paper’s difficulty level will be decided can scroll down and read this page to know how NTA determines CUET UG difficulty level for each shift.

How NTA Determines CUET UG Difficulty Level?

National Testing Agency administers CUET UG exam every year in multiple shifts and days. Each CUET subject is conducted on more than one day across all exam centres in India and abroad. The CUET UG difficulty level of a question paper is not randomly decided. NTA follows a process to ensure each CUET question paper has same standard and is fair to all candidates.

However, it is not possible to set the same difficulty level for each question paper of a subject. Therefore, the exam conducting agency converts a candidate’s raw scores into percentile using normalization process to calculate the performance of applicants with the same score. Shiksha here explains how NTA decides the difficulty level of CUET UG exam. For current exam session – CUET UG 2026, NTA has closed the registration process and will conduct the exams in May 2026.

Factors Considered by NTA to Determine CUET Difficulty Level

Before making paper for CUET exam and deciding on the difficulty level of each paper, National Testing Agency considers a number of factors and take multiple steps to ensure fairness to all applicants. Check below to know the same:

1. Blueprint: Before making paper, NTA prepares a blueprint, determining the percentage of difficulty level in one paper. For instance, CUET English paper can be 30% easy, 40% moderate and 30% difficult.
2. Expert Panel: Expert question paper setters: experienced teachers, professors, etc., designs question papers based on official CUET UG syllabus. The paper is usually aligned with Class 12 NCERT content. Questions are categorized as easy, moderate and difficult.
3. Skills Evaluation: The paper is framed in a way that is tests a candidate’s concept clarity, concept-application skills, and analytical ability.
4. Fairness: NTA sets the paper while making sure that no single paper is too easy or too hard, to maintain balance.
5. Comparable Difficulty Level: As the Common University Entrance Test is conducted in more than one shift and day, different question sets are required. NTA makes sure that each set of a CUET subject do not have identical difficulty level.
6. Confidentiality: NTA also ensures that the question paper is kept confidential until D-day.
7. Multiple-Step Review Process: Before finalizing the paper, NTA reviews the questions, paper’s question-wise and overall CUET UG difficulty level, and accuracy to avoid any ambiguity.

Additionally, National Testing Agency keeps below guidelines in mind while creating paper:

• All questions are compulsory for candidates.
• There are 50 questions in each subject.
• The question paper has MCQs with four options each.
• The paper follows CUET syllabus and NCERT curriculum.
• The marking scheme for all questions is same, i..e, 5 marks for every correct answer and -1 for every incorrect one.

CUET Normalization Process

As the difficulty level of each shift of a CUET subject paper is not the same and slightly different, to maintain fairness among students of each shift, National Testing Agency uses a process called CUET normalization process, in which a student’s raw scores are converted into percentile, using a formula to determine the performance of every applicant with same score.

CUET UG Exam Pattern

National Testing Agency prescribes the exam pattern for Common University Entrance Test in its CUET UG information bulletin. Candidates can check below table for NTA CUET UG exam pattern:

CUET Marking Scheme

To calculate the raw scores of a candidate, NTA follows a marking scheme. The response sheet of a candidate is calculated after following below scheme:

• Candidates will be awarded 5 marks for each correct answer
• There is a negative marking. For every incorrect answer, 1 mark will be deducted.
• No marks will be awarded or deducted for unattempted questions.
• If more than one option is found correct, 5 marks will be awarded to those who have marked any of correct options.
• If all options are found correct, 5 marks will be awarded to all those who have attempted question.
• If none of the options is found correct/ Dropped, 5 marks will be awarded to students who have attempted question.

Check Out:

CUET UG Total Marks

Good CUET Score

CUET UG 2026 Exam

NTA conducts Common University Entrance Test (CUET) once a year for UG and PG course admission. CUET UG is usually conducted in May/June and CUET PG in March. NTA has been administering CUET UG exam since 2022. To appear for this entrance exam, candidates have to register on NTA’s CUET UG official website – cuet.nta.nic.in and download the CUET admit card. Only registered candidates who take the hard copy of their hall ticket, along with necessary documents are allowed to enter the examination hall. Over 13 lakh students register for this exam every year.

With CUET UG scores, students can get admission to more than 280 participating universities, including central, state, private, government and deemed universities. After NTA releases the result, candidates who meet the CUET cut off and eligibility criteria of target university are allowed to participate in the CUET counselling process after registering for the college admission. CUET UG 2026 will be conducted between May 11 and May 31, 2026. The mode of examination will be computer based test (CBT).

Check Out: 

CUET UG Login