Alerts and Updates for Allahabad University PGAT-I (PG Admission Test)

PGAT-I 2026-27 at a glance

The weighting is the thing to notice: the subject half of the paper carries four marks a question against two for the compulsory half, so the hundred subject questions dominate the score even though they are only two-thirds of the paper. With no negative marking, every question is worth attempting.

Dates and windows

Admit cards were stated in the brochure as available one week before the test. No notice dated in September 2026 was found on the PG admission page during this check, so the 2026-27 cycle appears to have closed with the late-August notices; the next milestone is the 2027-28 notification.

What this means for your preparation

Two things trip candidates up. The first is the conducting body: PGAT has in recent memory been run through the National Testing Agency, and candidates still look for NTA portals, NTA admit cards and NTA grievance windows. For 2026-27 the brochure and the registration portal are the university's own, so NTA channels are simply irrelevant. The second is the mark weighting, which is not uniform across the paper and quietly decides who gets in.

Confirm the conducting body before every cycle

The 2026-27 brochure is hosted on the university's examination portal and describes the university conducting the test, with registration at aupravesh2026.cbtexam.in and counselling at ecounselling.in. That is a different arrangement from cycles conducted on the university's behalf by a central agency, and it changes practical things: where the admit card comes from, who answers a correction request, and which helpdesk has your record. The PG admission page lists a university helpdesk address and two phone numbers for exactly this reason. Before acting on any procedural advice for PGAT, check the year on the brochure you are reading, because guidance written for an agency-conducted cycle will send you to the wrong portal.

The subject half carries the double weight

Fifty compulsory questions at two marks each sit alongside a hundred subject questions at four marks each, so a mark earned in the subject section is worth two in the general section. A candidate who spends preparation time evenly across general awareness, English, Hindi and reasoning on one side and their two subjects on the other is misallocating effort by a factor of two. The general section still matters because it is compulsory and cannot be skipped, but it should be handled by revision of standard material rather than by deep study, with the bulk of preparation aimed at the two subject papers that decide the outcome.

No negative marking changes the endgame

The brochure states plainly that there is no negative marking for wrong answers. That makes leaving any question blank strictly irrational, and it changes how the last ten minutes should be used. With 150 questions in two hours you have roughly forty-eight seconds a question, which is tight, so the sensible pattern is a first pass answering everything you know, a second pass on the four-mark subject items you can reason through, and a final sweep filling every remaining response rather than refining answers you have already given. Reserve time for that sweep explicitly; it is worth more than a careful re-read of two difficult items.

Verification is departmental, not central

Between 19 July and 6 August 2026 individual departments issued their own physical document verification notices, and some issued last-chance and category-specific notices after that, including notices for SC and OBC candidates in early August. This means the counselling press release of 9 July did not put you on a single centrally managed track; your department's notice governed your verification date. Candidates who watched only the central page and not their department's notices risked missing a slot. If you enter this cycle in a future year, monitor both levels from the day counselling opens.

What late September means for you now

The last date notice for PG, IPS (PG), LL.B. (Hons.) three-year and LL.M. admissions was issued on 24 August 2026, and the newest item found after it was a second M.Tech counselling notice on 29 August. Nothing dated September appeared. Practically, that means there is no open PGAT-I entry route to act on today and no published spot round. If you are unplaced, the realistic options are the next cycle or a different university, and the useful action now is to watch the PG admission page for the 2027-28 brochure rather than to keep refreshing counselling links.

Common questions

Is PGAT conducted by NTA or by Allahabad University?

For the 2026-27 cycle the University of Allahabad conducts it. The PGAT brochure for 2026-27 is published on the university's own examination portal and contains no reference to the National Testing Agency, and the registration and counselling links on the university's PG admission page point to aupravesh2026.cbtexam.in and ecounselling.in. PGAT has in some earlier cycles been conducted by NTA on the university's behalf, so always check the brochure for the year you are applying in rather than relying on older guidance.

How many questions are there in PGAT-I and how are they marked?

There are 150 multiple-choice questions. The first fifty are compulsory for every applicant and cover general awareness, general English, general Hindi, logical reasoning and mental ability, carrying two marks each. The remaining hundred are subject questions, fifty for each of two subjects, carrying four marks each. The paper runs for two hours, with a further fifteen minutes allowed for distribution and form filling. The brochure states there is no negative marking for wrong answers.

What was the PGAT 2026 application fee?

The brochure sets the fee at rupees 1,000 for unreserved, EWS and OBC applicants and rupees 500 for SC, ST and PwD applicants. Registration for the 2026-27 cycle opened on 5 May 2026 and closed on 25 May 2026. Fees for a future cycle are set afresh in that cycle's brochure and should not be assumed to carry over; check the current brochure on the university's PG admission page before paying anything.

When were PGAT 2026 results declared?

They came out in stages. The press release for the PGAT-2 and IPS results was issued on 26 June 2026, LL.B. results on 29 June, M.Com on 30 June, and MBA together with PGAT-1 on 2 July. Counselling was then opened by a press release dated 9 July 2026. If your programme's result did not appear on the day another programme's did, that was the design of the cycle rather than a delay affecting you specifically.

Is there still a spot round or vacant seat round open?

None was found in this check. The university notified the last date for admission to PG courses, IPS (PG), LL.B. (Hons.) three-year and LL.M. on 24 August 2026, and the most recent item after that was a second counselling notice for M.Tech in CSE and ECE dated 29 August. No notices dated September 2026 appeared on the PG admission page. If a residual round is announced later it will be posted there, so that page is where to watch.

What eligibility does PGAT-I require?

The brochure requires a pass in the three-year bachelor's degree examination, B.A., B.Sc. or B.Com., from a university recognised by the UGC. Individual programmes layer their own subject requirements and cut-offs on top of that general rule, and some departments issued category-specific and last-chance notices during the 2026 cycle. Check the course-specific conditions in the brochure lists rather than relying on the general eligibility clause alone, because a general pass does not guarantee entry to a given subject.