The Karnataka State Eligibility Test (KSET) 2026 has brought renewed attention to previous years' cutoff marks, particularly after candidates reported that General Studies (Paper 1) was slightly tougher than last year. Questions have also emerged over whether the difficulty of subject papers such as Management, Life Science and English could influence this year's qualifying thresholds.
However, an EdexLive analysis of the official Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) cutoff records for 2023, 2024 and 2025 reveals that General Merit (GM) cutoffs have not followed a uniform pattern across subjects.
While Management witnessed a sustained increase of 40 marks over two years, Life Science recorded a rise followed by an equally sharp decline. English, meanwhile, remained unchanged for two consecutive years before registering a modest increase in 2025.
The figures underline why predicting the KSET 2026 cutoff solely on the basis of paper difficulty could be misleading.
Management recorded one of the most striking trends among the subjects examined.
The GM cutoff stood at 166 marks out of 300 in 2023, increased to 186 in 2024 and reached 206 in 2025.
This represents an increase of 20 marks in each successive year, taking the overall rise to 40 marks between 2023 and 2025.
The 2025 cutoff was equivalent to approximately 68.67% of the total marks.
With the Management paper reported to have been more challenging this year, candidates may be particularly interested in how the final score distribution compares with 2025.
However, the higher difficulty reported for the 2026 paper does not, by itself, establish that the cutoff will decline.
Life Science presents a contrasting picture.
The GM cutoff was 166 marks in 2023, rose to 182 in 2024 and returned to 166 in 2025.
The 16-mark increase in 2024 was followed by a 16-mark decline the next year.
This fluctuation illustrates how subject-wise cutoffs can change considerably between examination cycles.
Candidates who found the 2026 Life Science paper challenging should therefore consider the historical figures alongside the final answer key and overall performance in their subject, rather than relying exclusively on the previous year's cutoff.
English recorded a comparatively stable trend before 2025.
The GM cutoff remained at 164 marks in both 2023 and 2024, before increasing to 170 marks in 2025.
Unlike Management, which recorded successive substantial increases, English witnessed a six-mark rise after two years of stability.
An EdexLive review of the 2026 English question paper found a combination of factual, chronological, interpretative and theory-based questions. The paper was provisionally assessed as moderate to difficult, with some questions requiring more than straightforward recall.
The difficulty of the English paper, together with the reported increase in difficulty in Paper 1, makes candidates' actual performance an important factor to watch.
Other major subjects also showed considerable variation.
Commerce recorded a GM cutoff of 166 marks in 2023, which declined to 156 in 2024 before increasing to 172 in 2025.
Kannada followed a different pattern. Its cutoff fell from 172 in 2023 to 152 in 2024, before recovering slightly to 156 in 2025.
History recorded 160 marks in 2023, increased to 168 in 2024 and returned to 160 in 2025.
These figures suggest that a rise in one year does not necessarily establish an upward trend for the following examination.
Political Science remained at 154 marks in 2023 and 2024 before increasing to 168 in 2025, a rise of 14 marks in a single year.
Economics showed a more gradual increase, moving from 158 marks in 2023 to 160 in 2024 and 164 in 2025.
Computer Science and Applications recorded GM cutoffs of 158, 154 and 160 marks during the same period.
Physical Science showed relatively limited variation, with cutoffs of 150, 148 and 152 marks.
Taken together, these trends indicate that some subjects have experienced substantial changes, while others have remained within a narrower range.
The KSET examination comprises two papers, with Paper 1 carrying 100 marks and the subject-specific Paper 2 carrying 200 marks. The combined maximum is 300 marks.
As Paper 1 is common to candidates across subjects, any meaningful change in its difficulty could influence overall scores.
However, the extent of that influence depends on how candidates actually performed.
Similarly, a challenging Paper 2 may affect the distribution of marks within a particular subject, but the final cutoff also depends on the number of eligible candidates, qualification slots and applicable category-wise rules.
The reported difficulty of the 2026 papers is therefore relevant to the discussion, but it cannot independently establish the direction or magnitude of any cutoff change.
With KEA having released the provisional KSET 2026 answer keys on October 12, candidates can begin estimating their marks.
The authority has permitted objections to the provisional keys until 10.30 am on October 14.
Candidates assessing their chances of qualification should consider the following:
Final answer key: Any revisions to the provisional key could change estimated scores.
Combined performance: Both Paper 1 and Paper 2 contribute to the total marks used for qualification.
Subject-wise competition: Cutoffs differ between subjects, making comparisons with unrelated papers less useful.
Qualification slots: The number of candidates who can qualify in each subject and category is relevant to the final cutoff.
Historical variation: The 2023–2025 figures provide context, but do not constitute an expected cutoff for 2026.
The final subject-wise and category-wise cutoffs will be known only after KEA completes the evaluation and result process.
Source: The historical figures are taken from the official KEA 2023, 2024 and 2025 cutoff PDFs available on the KEA.