CUET UG Negative Marking 2026: Correct & Wrong Answer Marks Explained

Is there Negative Marking in the CUET UG?

Yes, there is negative marking for the CUET exam. Marks will be deducted for every wrongly marked answer. Students' total scores are affected due to the negative marking. Even students’ percentile is also affected if a larger number of incorrect/negative questions are present. Every incorrect answer takes back 1 mark from the total marks.

CUET UG 2026 Marking Scheme

NTA has started conducting the CUET UG 2026 exam in online mode. It is important for all the students who are appearing in the exam to understand the marking scheme of the paper along with the negative marking. The CUET is being conducted for 37 papers. Every paper has the same CUET marking scheme.

CUET 2026 Marking Scheme and Negative Marking

CUET Section-Wise Negative Marking

NTA has distributed the 37 subjects among the three sections- Language, Domain and General test. All these sections have negative marking for the wrong answers. The CUET negative marking for all the domains is static. Questions that are officially cancelled by the NTA will not be considered under the negative marking scheme. Except for those questions, each domain has a negative marking of -1 for each incorrect answer.

CUET UG Negative Marking 2026: Correct & Wrong Marks

Know from this section how to calculate marks and how the negative marking scheme is implemented in the marking system.

For instance: Total attempted questions/Total number of questions- 40/50

Total correct answers out of 40- 35

Total incorrect answers out of 40- 5

Marks of correct answers- 35*5 = 175

Marks for incorrect answers- 5*1 = 5

Total obtained marks/Total marks- 170/250

OR,

Simply, we can calculate it as-

35*(+5) + 5*(-1)= 170

How does CUET Negative Marking Impact the Maximum Marks?

Negative marking reduces the CUET final score from the maximum possible marks. This also affects the percentile of the students. One negative score can push the candidates into a lower position. In turn, this will remove the chances of taking admission in the desired colleges.

In case of a tie, some colleges also check the number of wrong attempts. In case the wrong questions are more, their rank will automatically be affected.