MHT-CET 2027 Exam Dates: Attempt 1 & Attempt 2 (Tentative Schedule)

By the MasterMan editorial team • MHT-CET • Updated 28 September 2026 • 10 min read • Editorial policy

The biggest MHT-CET news for the 2027 cycle is not a new syllabus or a new pattern — it is the calendar. For years the exam sat in the comfortable April–May slot, a few weeks after the HSC board exams. For MHT-CET 2027, the first attempt is expected between 15 December 2026 and 15 January 2027, with the second attempt in April 2027. If that holds, Std XII students have roughly three months less than the batch before them.

MHT-CET 2027 tentative dates at a glance

PCM and PCB are examined on different days inside the same window, and each group is spread over many sessions. Your personal exam date and shift come from your admit card, not from the window.

Why the exam moved to December–January

The shift lines MHT-CET up with the national-level calendar, where JEE Main runs its first session in January. Under the old April–May schedule, a Maharashtra student sitting JEE, MHT-CET and the HSC boards faced all three inside about eight weeks. Moving the first CET attempt to December spreads that load out and gives a student who underperforms a genuine second run in April.

The trade-off is blunt: the syllabus does not move with the date. The exam still draws roughly 80% from Std XII and 20% from Std XI. A December attempt means your Std XII portion has to be complete and practised while your school is still teaching the last chapters. That is the single most important planning consequence of this change.

What the two-attempt format actually means

MHT-CET 2026 was the first bi-annual cycle, and 2027 is expected to keep the format. The rules that matter:

• Only your better percentile counts. A poor first attempt does not drag down a strong second one.
• You can register for one attempt or both. Registration for both sessions is expected to open together, and each attempt carries its own fee.
• There is one CAP process. Both attempts feed a single merit list, so counselling still happens once, in mid-2027.
• The paper is not easier or harder by attempt. Percentiles are normalised across sessions, so there is no clever slot to game.

If your budget allows it, register for both. You are buying a second chance for one extra form fee, with no downside to your merit position.

How big is the competition?

The 2026 numbers give you an honest sense of scale. In the first attempt of MHT-CET 2026, the PCM group had 4,79,332 registered candidates and 4,54,069 who appeared (a 94.7% turnout), while the PCB group had 2,84,063 registered and 2,63,213 appeared. Eleven candidates scored a perfect 100 percentile in PCB alone. Roughly seven lakh students sit this exam each cycle, which is why a single percentile point can move your college list by several names.

Exam pattern (unchanged so far)

It is a computer-based test with no negative marking, so a blank answer is a wasted lottery ticket. For PCM students, Mathematics quietly decides the paper: it carries double marks, which means half your total sits in one subject.

Your preparation plan for a December attempt

Now to end of October — close the Std XII syllabus

Work ahead of your school. Finish the Balbharati Std XII text chapter by chapter, and for each one write a single-page formula or reaction sheet as you go. Do not open a reference book yet; the board text is the syllabus. Front-load the heavy chapters — Current Electricity, Electrostatics, Rotational Dynamics, Chemical Kinetics, Electrochemistry, Integration, Vectors and 3D Geometry — because they reward practice and they repeat every year.

November — convert theory into speed

This is the month where percentile is actually built. Move from reading to timed MCQs: take chapter-wise tests immediately after each revision block, and log every wrong answer with the reason (concept gap, calculation slip, or misread question). Revise the important Std XI chapters in parallel — they are only about a fifth of the paper, but they are cheap marks for anyone who bothers.

Late November to mid-December — full papers only

Switch almost entirely to full-length papers under exam timing, on a screen, in the slot closest to your admit-card shift. Attempt our eight full MHT-CET papers with answer keys and worked solutions, then the 150-question PCM format test for the real subject-wise mark pattern. Analyse each paper the same day; a mock without analysis is just a tiring afternoon.

January to March — boards first, then Attempt 2

After Attempt 1, put CET down and give the HSC boards your full attention. The overlap works in your favour here: the CET syllabus is the board syllabus, so board revision keeps your CET base warm. Come back to CET-specific speed work in the last three weeks before the April attempt, using your error log rather than fresh material.

Free MasterMan test series and past papers

Everything below is free, needs no sign-up, and runs in the browser on a phone or laptop:

• MHT-CET full papers with solutions — eight complete PCM papers, 150 questions and 180 minutes each, with a question palette, instant scoring and every worked solution.
• 150-question PCM format test — 50 Physics, 50 Chemistry and 50 Maths on the exact subject-wise 1/2-mark pattern.
• PCM full mock test and PCB full mock test — 90 questions each, timed, with explanations.
• PCM practice test — a freshly randomised paper on every retake, built for repeated measurement over weeks.
• Chapter-wise test builder — pick a subject, chapter, question count and difficulty.
• Previous-year question papers (2020–2025) — year-wise PCM and PCB papers in an on-screen viewer, including the complete 2025 papers. Our guide on how to actually use PYQs explains the weightage trends behind them.

Know your percentile before the result

The gap between the exam and the result is where most students spiral. Use our free MHT-CET percentile predictor instead: enter your expected marks out of 200 for your group and it returns an estimated percentile band, based on the 2026 marks-versus-percentile trend. Two honest caveats — it is a guidance tool, not the official normalised percentile, and below about 70 marks the relationship becomes too noisy to predict usefully.

A predicted band is most useful straight after Attempt 1, because it tells you something actionable: whether April should be about pushing a good score higher, or about fixing a specific subject that collapsed.

Mistakes that will cost you in this cycle specifically

• Planning for April. The old timetable is gone. If you pace yourself for an April exam, you will meet the December paper with two chapters unread.
• Skipping Attempt 1 to “prepare better”. You lose a free second chance and put everything on one April paper.
• Missing the registration window. It is expected to open in October 2026 and close within weeks. Keep your photo, signature, Aadhaar and Std X details scanned and ready now.
• Practising untimed. You will feel prepared and still run out of time in the real slot.
• Neglecting Maths as a PCM student. Half the marks, and the subject where speed is trainable.
• Trusting a date from a coaching post. Including ours — verify against the brochure.

Frequently asked questions

All 2027 dates on this page are tentative and are reported ahead of the official notification. Exam dates, registration windows, fees and the pattern are decided solely by the State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra, and can change without notice. Always verify against the official information brochure at cetcell.mahacet.org before acting on any date. MasterMan is not affiliated with the CET Cell.