The role of the General Test in CUET
Section III is the General Test. It is optional in the exam, but some courses and universities require it, so check your targets first. In recent notices it has 60 questions of which 50 are to be attempted, marked +5 and −1 (confirm in the bulletin). It covers general knowledge and current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning and logical and analytical reasoning. Because it does not follow the class 12 syllabus, it rewards habits more than study: steady reading of news and regular practice of reasoning and numerical questions.
What it covers
| Area | Typical topics | How to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| General knowledge and current affairs | Recent events, awards, institutions, static GK | Daily news; weekly quizzes |
| General mental ability and reasoning | Series, coding, relations, directions, syllogisms, puzzles | Family drills; timed sets |
| Numerical and quantitative ability | Percentage, ratio, averages, simple interest, mensuration, data | Daily calculation practice |
| Logical and analytical reasoning | Statements, arguments, data sufficiency in simple form | Reasoned practice |
The weights change by year; use recent papers and mocks as a guide.
Worked examples
Series. 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ? The differences are 4, 6, 8, 10, so the next difference is 12 and the term is 42.
Percentage. A price of 800 is reduced by 15%. What is the new price? 800 × 0.85 = 680.
Ratio. Divide 360 in the ratio 2 : 3 : 4. 360 ÷ 9 = 40, so 80, 120 and 160.
Direction. A person walks 6 km north, then 8 km east. How far is the person from the start? The right triangle has sides 6 and 8, so the distance is 10 km.
Current affairs. A question on a recent appointment or award. Answerable only if you have followed the news.
Reasoning and numerical questions take 30 to 60 seconds; GK items 15 to 25 seconds if you know them.
A daily routine
- Ten minutes of news from a reliable summary.
- Ten minutes of numerical or reasoning practice, alternating.
- A weekly quiz of 25 to 30 questions mixing the areas.
- A miss list revisited weekly.
See general awareness without burnout and mental maths techniques. Topic practice that overlaps: number series, blood relations and percentage.
Choosing 50 of 60
With ten questions optional, the strategy is to leave the ones you cannot reason through. In GK, either you know a fact or you do not, so mark and move on in seconds. Prefer reasoning and numerical items where a method gives a reliable answer. Confirm in the bulletin how attempts beyond the limit are treated.
Time management
If the paper is about 60 minutes as reported in recent summaries (confirm for your year), 50 attempts leave about 70 seconds each.
| Stage | Time (about 55 minutes) | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| GK and current affairs | About 12 minutes | 20 to 30 seconds each; mark unknowns |
| Reasoning | About 20 minutes | Quick families first; skip long puzzles |
| Numerical and quantitative | About 18 minutes | Methods, not long calculation |
| Return and check | About 5 minutes | Decide on marked questions; stay within the limit |
Negative marking
At +5 and −1, an educated guess after eliminating two options has an expected value of +2. For GK, a blind guess among four options is worth +0.5 on paper but has high variance. Keep your attempt policy data-based. See our negative marking guide.
How to practise
- Daily: news, one reasoning set, one numerical set.
- Weekly: one mixed sectional of 30 questions.
- Final weeks: a full 60-question paper weekly.
Analysing your result
| Pattern | Probable cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Errors on current affairs | Gap in recent months | Weekly summary and quiz |
| Errors in reasoning families | Method not learned | Family drill with a method card |
| Arithmetic slips | Pressure and no estimation | Tables, squares and estimation |
| Time overrun | Long puzzles | Skip; return only if time remains |
| Wrong guesses | No elimination | Guess only after narrowing |
Common mistakes
- Ignoring the paper because it looks easy, then finding it needs steady practice.
- Cramming current affairs in the last week.
- Treating all 60 questions as compulsory.
- Skipping numerical practice.
- Not checking whether a target course needs the paper.
Related pages
See the CUET hub, the exam pattern and the mock test strategy. Other sections: Language and Domain Subjects. For a worked review read how to use mock tests for CUET. General Test papers published by institutes appear below.
Note: the pattern figures are from published summaries of recent NTA information; confirm them in the bulletin for your year.