SET Exam Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

• OMR based, pen and paper only.
• Two marks a question, no negative marking.
• Miss Paper I and you can't sit Paper II.
• 50 questions in 60 minutes, then 100 in 120: 72 seconds a question either way.
• Qualifying is on the aggregate of both papers out of 300. There's no separate Paper I cut-off and no sectional minimum.

Paper I is general: teaching and research aptitude, reasoning, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness. Paper II is your own subject.

In Mathematical Science, answer from Sections I and II, or Sections I and III. An OMR sheet with answers in both II and III is rejected.

Each paper comes in four booklet codes, A to D. Check that your booklet's code matches the one pre-shaded on your OMR sheet. Papers are in English and Marathi, except language papers; if the translation is unclear, the English version stands.

OMR rules that cost marks

• Shade the seat number and subject code fully and correctly. A wrong shade gets the answer book rejected without evaluation; leaving them blank means zero in that paper.
• Blue or black ball point pen only. A pencil-marked sheet is rejected.
• You can't change an answer once darkened. No eraser or correction fluid.
• The scanner ignores wrongly marked answers even if they're correct.
• No rough work on the sheet, no folding, no stray marks. To skip a question, leave its circles blank.

You hand back the original OMR sheet but keep both test booklets and the carbonless copies, so you can check yourself against the answer key.

The SET uses the UGC-NET and UGC-CSIR-NET syllabi. Download them from the agency's Updated Syllabus page, ugcnetonline.in or csirhrdg.res.in; the SET office won't send you a copy. If you're preparing for UGC-NET in the same subject, you're preparing for this.

Paper I is the same for everyone: teaching and research aptitude, reasoning, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness. Paper II follows the updated syllabus for your subject.

M-SET's 32 subjects

Several subjects take more degrees than the name suggests:

• Life Science: M.Sc. in Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, Life Science, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Virology, Bioinformatics or Genetics.
• Mathematical Science: Mathematics, Mathematical Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics or Industrial Mathematics.
• Computer Science and Application: M.Sc., MCA, MCS, M.E. or M.Tech. in Computer Science and Application, Computer Science and Engineering, Information Technology, Software Systems or Industrial Mathematics with Computer Application.
• Management: MBA, MIM, MHRDM, MFM, MMM, MLS, MMS, MCM or MPM.
• Commerce: M.Com., or CA, CS or ICWA.

Degree and marks

• A UGC-recognised Master's degree in a SET subject.
• 55 per cent, or 50 per cent for SC, ST, OBC, DT(A)(VJ), NT(B), NT(C), NT(D) and SEBC Non-Creamy Layer candidates, Transgender candidates, Persons with Disability and Orphans. No rounding off: 54.9 per cent is not 55.
• Foreign degrees need equivalence from the Association of Indian Universities before you apply.
• No upper age limit.

Not eligible

• Students in the first year of a two-year Master's, the first two semesters of a four-semester course, or the fourth year of a five-year integrated Master's.
• Anyone with an M.Sc. by PPPR or by research.
• Anyone already SET qualified in that subject. Sitting it again can bring legal action, and no certificate is issued.

Result awaited

If you're in your final year or waiting for results, you can apply provisionally. You become eligible only after passing with 55 or 50 per cent, and you must finish the Master's within two years of the SET result and tell the agency. Miss that and you're disqualified.

Which subject

Only your post-graduation subject, and one subject per exam. If yours isn't listed, take a related or equivalent one; if nothing fits, the route is UGC-NET or the Joint CSIR-UGC NET. CA, CS and ICWA count as post-graduate degrees for Commerce under UGC Circular No. 9-35/2016(CPP-II) of 15 March 2021, and a Master's in Public Services qualifies for Political Science.

Reservation needs domicile

Only candidates domiciled in Maharashtra or Goa, with a certificate from that state, can claim reservation. Everyone else must write General Category. A wrong claim is treated as an offence, and a candidate who qualifies on it is disqualified.

You don't send any certificates, and the agency checks nothing in advance. Every candidature is provisional, and ineligibility found at any stage means cancellation and possible legal action.

There's no selection. The SET only decides eligibility, and the agency owes no one a job. Posts are filled by universities, colleges or the state government under their own recruitment rules. Exemptions from the SET requirement are decided by the UGC and the state government.

How qualifiers are decided

The agency follows UGC notification No. F.4-2/90(NET) of February 2018:

Your subject and category on the form decide which cut-off applies to you, and neither can change after the correction window.

A SET qualification carries no pay. It makes you eligible for Assistant Professor posts in the state whose agency ran the exam; the pay is set by whoever appoints you.

• It's valid for life, with no revalidation, and you don't submit documents after the result.
• It's issued as an e-certificate that employers can verify online.
• It's subject-specific and state-specific.

Apply online only at setexam.unipune.ac.in. Paper applications are refused, and incomplete forms are rejected.

The fee includes form processing. Pay by debit card, credit card, net banking or UPI, and keep the receipt: the agency posts a list of candidates whose fee arrived, and if you're missing, email the evidence to its support address straight away.

• A three-day correction window follows the close. After it, no change of category, subject or centre is allowed.
• Keep the printout of your form. The agency won't provide it later, even after the result.
• Don't send it, or any certificate, to the agency or a coordinating centre.
• If you tick "SET qualified" by mistake, the form won't submit.

There's no travelling allowance for sitting the exam.

A SET qualification counts in the universities and colleges of the state that ran it. For M-SET that's Maharashtra and Goa.

Other states' agencies follow the same UGC notification, so the two papers, the syllabus and the 6 per cent rule are common. Dates, fees and subject lists are each agency's own.

M-SET is held in 18 cities: Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Ahilyanagar, Nasik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Ratnagiri, Parbhani, Nandurbar and Panjim (Goa). You choose the centre on the form and can't change it after the correction window.

In the hall

• Report 60 minutes early. No entry once the exam starts, and no leaving before 1:30 p.m.
• No calculators, log tables, phones, pagers or other electronic devices.
• The prospectus lists fourteen forms of unfair means, from carrying a banned item to any malpractice the SET declares unfair. Anyone caught becomes an Unfair Means Case.

Candidates with a benchmark disability (40 per cent or more)

• Enter the type and percentage correctly in the form.
• Compensatory time: 20 minutes in Paper I and 40 in Paper II, with or without a scribe.
• Visually impaired candidates can ask for a scribe or reader when applying. The Centre Superintendent picks one, and you can meet them the day before.
• To bring your own scribe, write to the Centre Superintendent at least a week ahead and produce the scribe with their educational certificates a day before.
• Bring a Civil Surgeon's certificate of the disability on the day. A candidate with a physical limitation to write submits the prescribed certificate at the exam.

M-SET 2026, the 41st exam

The prospectus and the first advertisement still print the original July dates. The agency's Important Dates page carries the current schedule.

Provisional answer keys go up for two to three days after the exam, on a date announced then. Other states' agencies set their own dates in their own advertisements.

You download the admit card yourself with your login ID and password, from 10 days before the exam. Nothing comes by post. It's built from what you entered, so any false details carry over.

Bring the printout and one more photo ID (Aadhaar, PAN or voter ID) with a matching name, plus the Civil Surgeon's certificate if you're claiming a scribe or extra time. You can sit only the subject printed on the card, and only with a card the SET agency issued.

The top part of an OMR sheet comes with the admit card. Use it to practise shading your seat number and subject code for both papers.

Results go up on the agency's Result page with every candidate's marks. Nobody is told individually and no mark sheet is issued. Qualified candidates get an e-certificate, which employers can verify online.

• No re-evaluation or re-checking, by UGC directive.
• Answer key challenges are only possible before the result, and the agency's decision is final. No grievance about the key is heard afterwards.
• Disputes fall under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra and Goa only, and a legal question must be raised within 30 days of the result. The Member Secretary of the SET sues and is sued for the agency.

There's no fixed pass mark. The cut-off is worked out after each exam for every subject and category separately, from that session's results, so a figure without its year, subject and category tells you nothing. To count at all you need a minimum aggregate across both papers:

Reaching it only gets you into the pool. The real cut-off is where your subject and category's share of the 6 per cent slots runs out, and it can be far higher. Past results are on the agency's Result page.

Study the UGC-NET syllabus

It's the SET syllabus. Use the current version, since the prospectus says the updated syllabi apply.

Don't leave blanks

No negative marking, so keep the last few minutes of each paper to fill every empty question.

Aim well above the minimum

The 40 or 35 per cent aggregate only gets you counted. Qualifying depends on where the 6 per cent slots run out in your subject and category.

Take Paper I seriously

It's 100 of the 300 marks, the same for every subject, and a fixed, limited syllabus. A mark there counts exactly as much as one in your subject.

Practise on past papers and the OMR sheet

The agency archives past question papers (see sample papers). Time yourself at 72 seconds a question, mark answers on an OMR sheet with a ball point pen, and use the practice strip from your admit card to rehearse the seat number and subject code.

Fill the form carefully

Category and subject set your cut-off and can't be changed after the correction window. Claim reservation only with Maharashtra or Goa domicile. Check your Non-Creamy Layer certificate is valid for the financial year of the advertisement.

After the paper

Take your booklets and carbonless copies home, score yourself against the provisional key, and challenge anything wrong (₹200 a question) before the result. Plan for a sitting of about four hours.

The M-SET agency keeps an archive of past papers on its Question Papers page, going back to 2017. The provisional and final keys for each exam are on its Answer Keys page. The provisional key stays up for two to three days after each exam.

• setexam.unipune.ac.in: the M-SET site, run by Savitribai Phule Pune University for Maharashtra and Goa
• M-SET July 2026 prospectus (eligibility, subjects, scheme, result procedure, PwD rules, OMR instructions)
• M-SET 2026 advertisement (date, centres, application windows, fee)
• Question Papers and Answer Keys archive
• Updated Syllabus, with links to ugcnetonline.in and csirhrdg.res.in
• Result and Result Verification
• Important Dates for the current cycle

Does qualifying the SET get me a job?

No. It makes you eligible for Assistant Professor posts in that state. Hiring follows each university's or the state's own rules.

Is a SET qualification valid across India?

No, only in the state whose agency ran it. UGC-NET is the national one.

Is the SET online or offline?

Offline, on OMR sheets, with a blue or black ball point pen.

Is there negative marking?

No.

What marks do I need in my Master's?

55 per cent, or 50 per cent for reserved categories, Transgender candidates, Persons with Disability and Orphans, with no rounding off.

Can I apply while my Master's result is awaited?

Yes, provisionally, but you must complete it within two years of the SET result.

Is there an age limit?

No upper age limit.

Can I claim reservation if I'm from another state?

No. Apply as General Category, or a qualified result will be cancelled.

I'm already SET qualified. Can I appear again?

Not in the same subject. The form won't submit if you tick SET qualified.

Can I get my paper re-evaluated?

No. You can only challenge the provisional answer key, at ₹200 a question, before the result.