MHT CET Exam Pattern and Syllabus: 90+90 Minutes, 20:80, Class 11 Chapters

MHT CET is a two-block, 180-minute computer-based test with no negative marking, set on the Maharashtra state-board syllabus. The question, marks and timing structure did not change between 2025 and 2026 — what changed was the number of attempts, the centres and the Mathematics-medium clause (all covered below) — so the structure is the safest thing to plan 2027 preparation around. This guide sets out the pattern, the exact Class 11 chapters that are in scope, how the clock works, and the medium rules, from the CET Cell’s own documents.

MHT-CET 2026 Information Brochure; syllabus document 2026-27.

Three things follow from the table. Mathematics carries half of a PCM candidate’s marks from one-third of the questions, because each is worth two. Biology is half of a PCB paper by questions and marks. And because there is no negative marking, an unanswered question is simply a lost mark — there is no reason to leave anything blank when the clock runs out. The official description of the level is that Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry questions are “at par with” JEE (Main), Biology “at par with” NEET, and the questions are “mainly application based”.

The two blocks are sealed from each other. Time left over in Physics and Chemistry does not carry into Mathematics, and you cannot go back to Chemistry once the second block has opened. The brochure describes the first 90 minutes as one Physics-and-Chemistry block with no subject-wise time limit inside it, so the split within those 90 minutes is yours to plan (check how navigation works in the official mock test) — the tool below turns a result into a raw score. Compensatory time is 20 minutes per hour — 30 minutes on a 90-minute block — for candidates granted a scribe or extra time, and only for the disability categories the brochure’s table marks as eligible; not every category gets it.

The syllabus document is explicit: questions are based on the “Syllabus of State Council Of Educational Research And Training, Maharashtra” — the whole Class 12 syllabus plus a listed set of Class 11 chapters. NCERT is not mentioned in any MHT CET document. For students from the state board this is their own textbook; for CBSE students it means checking the few places where the Maharashtra syllabus orders or covers topics differently. The CET Cell does not reproduce the Class 12 syllabus (“since XII standard whole syllabus is to be covered”), publishes no chapter-wise weightage beyond the 20:80 split, and lists no deleted Class 12 chapters.

The Class 11 list is short on purpose: ten chapters each for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, and four for Biology, supply the 10 (or 20) Class 11 questions per subject. Everything else in Class 11 is out of scope, so a Class 11 revision plan should start from this table rather than from the full textbook. The Class 12 book, by contrast, is in scope whole and supplies 80% of the paper — which is where most preparation time should go.

If you plan to take Mathematics in Marathi or Urdu, do not assume either way: the 2025 brochure said English only, and the 2026 brochure neither repeats that sentence nor says Mathematics is available in other media, while a separate clause lists all three languages for “PCM” questions. The 2027 brochure will be the document to read. For out-of-state candidates, note that 2026 moved every centre inside Maharashtra, where 2025 also had centres in the capitals of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Three plain choices fall out of the official pattern (our reading, not CET Cell advice). Spend most hours on the Class 12 book, which is 80% of every subject. For PCM, treat Mathematics as half the exam, since its 50 questions carry 100 marks and it is also the first tie-breaker in the CAP merit list (CAP Information Brochure 2026-27, not the exam brochure). And practise the first 90-minute block as one unit — 100 Physics and Chemistry questions at about 54 seconds each — because the split between those two subjects is the only timing decision you control.

Your raw score out of 200 is converted to a percentile within your session: the share of candidates in your session who scored at or below you. There is no official marks-to-percentile table, so no raw score can be promised a percentile in advance — it depends on who sat in your session and how hard its paper was. The percentile guide in this series has the CET Cell’s formula; the merit-number guide shows why 2026 percentiles are not comparable with 2025’s.