Maharashtra will conduct both attempts of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET) 2027 after the Class 12 board examinations, revising its earlier plan to hold the first session in December 2026 and the second in April 2027.
The decision follows feedback from parents, admission counsellors and educationists across the state, with concerns raised over the overlap between entrance examination preparation and board examinations, particularly among students in rural areas.
“Some parents, including counsellors from Dharashiv, Nandurbar, and Chandrapur,” had sought to have both attempts scheduled after the Class 12 examinations, a senior official in the state's higher and technical education department told Hindustan Times. The official said the department reconsidered the December session after gathering feedback from across Maharashtra.
The revised plan places the two examinations between March and May 2027. The department will maintain a gap of four weeks between the attempts. As in the previous admission cycle, the higher of a candidate's two scores will be considered for admission, the official said.
The provisional schedule for the state's Common Entrance Tests is expected to be announced within a week of the October 9 report. Candidates will have to wait for the official notification for the exact examination dates.
Two attempts introduced to give students another chance
The decision to hold MHT-CET twice a year was announced in November 2025, bringing the state entrance examination closer to the format followed by the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main. The additional attempt is intended to give candidates another opportunity to improve their performance without depending entirely on a single examination.
The two-attempt arrangement was introduced for the 2026 admission cycle, with examinations conducted in April and May. The state had planned to move the first attempt forward to December for the 2027 cycle, but the revised decision restores both sessions to the period after the board examinations.
MHT-CET is a state-level entrance examination used for admission to undergraduate professional courses, including engineering and pharmacy programmes. The examination has Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) and Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) groups.
The revised schedule is particularly relevant to Class 12 students preparing for both their board examinations and competitive entrance tests. The change addresses student concerns about preparing for board examinations and competitive tests simultaneously, as they must divide their time between different syllabuses, examination formats and preparation strategies. Holding both CET attempts after the boards gives candidates more time to concentrate on their school examinations before turning to the entrance test.
However, the revised schedule does not remove the pressure of preparing for two entrance examination sessions. Candidates will still need to plan their preparation around the board examination timetable and the eventual CET dates.
The Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test Cell is expected to publish the detailed timetable through its official website. Students should check the official notifications for confirmed dates, registration details and examination instructions rather than rely on tentative scheduling information.