The State Common Entrance Test Cell has released the official statistics for the Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted between March 24 and May 20, 2026, for admissions to professional courses in the academic year 2026–27.
According to the CET Cell, a total of 18,12,565 candidates registered for various entrance examinations this year, marking the highest-ever participation in the history of the state-level entrance tests. Of these, over 16.29 lakh candidates appeared for the examinations, while 1,83,081 candidates remained absent. The overall attendance percentage stood at 89.89 per cent.
The participation figures have shown a significant rise compared to last year, when around 12.46 lakh candidates had registered for the examinations.
The CET examinations were conducted in computer-based test (CBT) mode across 340 examination centres located in all 36 districts of Maharashtra. The exams were organised in a total of 77 sessions over nearly three months.
The entrance tests were held for admissions to a wide range of professional programmes across streams including technical education, higher education, agriculture, fine arts, medical education, and AYUSH courses. In total, the CET Cell conducted 20 entrance examinations during the 2026 admission cycle.
In a major reform introduced this year, the CET Cell allowed candidates to appear for two attempts in selected examinations, including:
The initiative was introduced following directions from Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra’s Higher and Technical Education Minister, with the aim of offering students opportunities similar to the national-level Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main).
Candidates were required to appear in at least one attempt, while the second attempt was optional. According to the data, PCM CET recorded 8,01,249 registrations across both attempts, with 7,39,117 students appearing. PCB CET saw 4,00,603 registrations and 3,59,840 appearances.
Officials stated that the introduction of multiple attempts and the expansion of examination centres helped improve accessibility and participation among students across Maharashtra.