An analysis of the past five years’ question papers of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHT CET) for admission to Engineering and Pharmacy shows which chapters and topics in NCERT Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics textbooks hold the most weight for the exam. Knowing which topics in the MHT CET syllabus are most important from the exam point-of-view can help a candidate strategise for their exam preparation more efficiently.
An analysis of the past five years’ question papers of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHT CET) for admission to Engineering and Pharmacy shows which chapters and topics in NCERT Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics textbooks hold the most weight for the exam. Knowing which topics in the MHT CET syllabus are most important from the exam point-of-view can help a candidate strategise for their exam preparation more efficiently.
The Maharashtra Common Entrance Test, or MHT CET, is an entrance test used to select students for admission to undergraduate Engineering and Pharmacy programmes in Maharashtra's colleges. The Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test Cell conducts the test every year and around 400 colleges accept MHT CET results for admission to BTech, BPharma. Candidates from Maharashtra as well as other Indian states are eligible to take the exam which is also known as “MAH CET” or “MahaCET” colloquially.
Practising on previous year’s question papers of exams gives the student a head start. It helps the students understand the structure and minor details of the exam which, in turn, helps students score more. Plus, questions are often repeated and familiarity with questions asked before helps as well.
Knowing the weightage assigned to different sections of the exam or different topics in a subject of different sectors of the exam helps students focus on topics that are important from the exam point-of-view.
A total of 750 questions were analysed from the past five years which included 50 questions each from Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry . For Physics and Chemistry, 1 mark is awarded for every correct answer and for Mathematics 2 marks will be awarded for every correct answer. There is no negative marking in any section, meaning no marks will be deducted from the total for getting an answer wrong.
Also Read,
From the table below we can conclude that Mechanics has greater weightage than any of the other sections of Physics. While this implies that a large number of chapters need to be covered, the initial chapters of Mechanics in NCERT Physics textbooks are easier and there are many questions from those.
The table below shows the number of questions asked from each of the topics in MAH CET over the last five years, indicating each chapter's relevance. Among the many chapters covered, the most questions came from Wave Optics and Mechanical Properties of Solids and Fluids – 36 questions – in the last five years. In the Class 12 Physics syllabus, Electricity and Magnetism are most important. These are formula-based, easy to cover and score good marks in.
Chapter Name | Class | No. Of Questions |
Alternating Current | 12 | 7 |
Atoms | 12 | 8 |
Communication Systems | 12 | 3 |
Current Electricity | 12 | 15 |
Dual Nature Of Radiation And Matter | 12 | 12 |
Electric Charges And Fields | 12 | 1 |
Electromagnetic Induction | 12 | 6 |
Electromagnetic Waves | 12 | 2 |
Electrostatic Potential And Capacitance | 12 | 8 |
Gravitation | 11 | 10 |
Kinetic Theory | 11 | 4 |
Laws Of Motion | 11 | 3 |
Magnetism And Matter | 12 | 5 |
Mechanical Properties Of Fluids | 11 | 16 |
Mechanical Properties Of Solids | 11 | 8 |
Motion In A Plane | 11 | 8 |
Motion In A Straight Line | 11 | 3 |
Moving Charges And Magnetism | 12 | 14 |
Nuclei | 12 | 2 |
Oscillations | 11 | 18 |
Ray Optics And Optical Instruments | 12 | 9 |
Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices And Simple Circuits | 12 | 9 |
System Of Particles And Rotational Motion | 11 | 15 |
Thermal Properties Of Matter | 11 | 6 |
Thermodynamics | 11 | 5 |
Units And Measurement | 11 | 6 |
Wave Optics | 12 | 18 |
Waves | 11 | 19 |
Work, Energy And Power | 11 | 10 |
The weighting of each branch of Chemistry – Physical, Organic, and Inorganic – Chemistry is shown in the table below. Although all three are vital, study of the MHT CET question paper pattern shows that Organic and Physical Chemistry hold more weight. Nevertheless, students who do well with Mathematics and struggle to remember details, should focus on Physical Chemistry. While Inorganic Chemistry may require more memorisation, questions from it take far less time to answer.
A large number of questions are asked from Class 12 Physical Chemistry from the chapter The P-Block Elements. P block and General Principles and Processes of Isolation of Elements which is commonly known as Metallurgy are an important part of the MHT CET’s Inorganic Chemistry section, together accounting for 31 questions over the past five years. Other important chapters to focus on are Thermodynamics , Equilibrium and Coordination Compounds
Chapter Name | Class | No. Of Questions |
Alcohols, Phenols And Ethers | 12 | 8 |
Aldehydes, Ketones And Carboxylic Acids | 12 | 16 |
Amines | 12 | 9 |
Biomolecules | 12 | 9 |
Chemical Bonding And Molecular Structure | 11 | 9 |
Chemical Kinetics | 12 | 10 |
Chemistry In Everyday Life | 12 | 12 |
Classification Of Elements And Periodicity In Properties | 11 | 2 |
Coordination Compounds | 12 | 10 |
Electrochemistry | 12 | 15 |
Environmental Chemistry | 11 | 1 |
General Principles And Processes Of Isolation Of Elements | 12 | 10 |
Haloalkanes And Haloarenes | 12 | 6 |
Hydrocarbons | 11 | 9 |
Hydrogen | 11 | 1 |
Organic Chemistry- Some Basic Principles And Techniques | 11 | 11 |
Polymers | 12 | 13 |
Redox Reaction | 11 | 7 |
Solutions | 12 | 18 |
Some Basic Concepts Of Chemistry | 11 | 5 |
States Of Matter | 11 | 4 |
Surface Chemistry | 12 | 3 |
The D And F Block Elements | 12 | 10 |
The P-Block Elements | 11 | 21 |
The S-Block Elements | 11 | 6 |
The Solid State | 12 | 7 |
Thermodynamics | 11 | 18 |
The relative weightage assigned to each part of Mathematics – Algebra, Calculus, Geometry, 3D and Vectors – is shown in the table below. Algebra and Calculus are the most significant sections of Mathematics, accounting for 64 percent of the total questions.
A large number of questions are asked from Calculus, from chapters such as Integrals and Their Application and Differential Equation. A total of 52 questions were asked from these two chapters over the past five years. Probability also has a large weightage, accounting for 22 questions. Some other important chapters are Three Dimensional Geometry, Trigonometric Functions, Application of Derivatives and Mathematical Reasoning but questions from these are usually easy.
Topic | Class | Number of Questions |
Application Of Derivatives | 12 | 15 |
Application Of Integrals | 12 | 6 |
Complex Numbers And Quadratic Equations | 11 | 2 |
Conic Section | 11 | 6 |
Continuity And Differentiability | 12 | 13 |
Determinants | 12 | 2 |
Differential Equations | 12 | 18 |
Integrals | 12 | 28 |
Inverse Trigonometric Functions | 12 | 7 |
Limits And Derivatives | 11 | 10 |
Linear Programming | 12 | 9 |
Mathematical Reasoning | 11 | 15 |
Matrices | 12 | 10 |
Permutations And Combinations | 11 | 1 |
Probability | 11 | 22 |
Relations And Functions | 11 | 3 |
Sequences And Series | 11 | 6 |
Sets | 11 | 2 |
Straight Lines | 11 | 17 |
Three Dimensional Geometry | 12 | 28 |
Trigonometric Functions | 11 | 19 |
Vector Algebra | 12 | 12 |
Instead of focusing on single chapters, students should focus on entire units like Calculus, Mechanics, Inorganic Chemistry . Focusing on a unit will help the student score more as each chapter in a unit is well connected to others. However, some of the stand-alone chapters are also important. Questions from them are usually direct because at this level, the topics are not connected to others in the syllabus. These include the Probability, Physical Chemistry chapters.
Preparation tips for MHT CET
Most Indian students prefer going to the US for education, than any other country. While the US offers some of the best and prestigious universities to its students. As for an Electrical and Electronics engineering course, 139 universities of the US were ranked by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking of 2024. Let’s look at these top 10 universities from the US for Electrical and Electronics engineering.
Students
Colleges
Exams
E-Books