CUET PG English Syllabus 2027 (LAQP01): Unit-wise Topics, Weightage and PDF

By Nakul Grover, founder of Limitless Literature · Part of our CUET PG English guide

Quick answer: The CUET PG English paper (code LAQP01) follows a seven-unit syllabus set by the National Testing Agency: (1) History of English and Indian Literatures, (2) Indian Writing in English, (3) Literary Terms, (4) Literary Genres, (5) Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, (6) Literary Criticism and Theory, and (7) Current Literary Trends, Events and Awards. The paper has 75 multiple-choice questions for 300 marks in 90 minutes, with +4 for a right answer and −1 for a wrong one. NTA has not released a separate 2027 syllabus yet, so the latest official one below is the one to prepare from.

CUET PG English Exam Pattern

Conducted by	National Testing Agency (NTA)
Paper	English, code LAQP01
Mode	Computer-based test (CBT), questions in English
Questions	75 multiple-choice questions, all compulsory
Marks and time	300 marks in 90 minutes
Marking	+4 for a correct answer, −1 for a wrong answer, 0 if left blank
2027 exam window	Tentatively March 2027, as per NTA’s revised calendar of 26 October 2026. The date of the English paper comes with NTA’s subject-wise schedule.

Because of negative marking, a blind guess costs you. If you can rule out two options, a guess is usually worth taking; if you cannot rule out any, leave it.

CUET PG English Syllabus: The Seven Units

This is the official LAQP01 syllabus, unit by unit, exactly as NTA lists it.

Unit	Official title	Topics NTA lists
1	History of English and Indian Literatures	Major authors · Texts · Literary movements
2	Indian Writing in English	Major authors · Texts, including English translations · History
3	Literary Terms	Allegory · Ballad · Blank verse · Comedy · Dissociation of sensibility · Dramatic monologue · Elegy · Enlightenment · Epic · Fancy and imagination · Imitation · Intentional fallacy · Motif · Ode · Onomatopoeia · Paradox · Plot · Figures of speech · Satire · Soliloquy · Sonnet · Tragedy · Wit, etc.
4	Literary Genres	Fiction and non-fiction · Life writings · Diary · Drama · Essay · Novel · Poetry · Prose · Short story · Epic · Travelogue · Science fiction, etc.
5	Comparative Literature and Translation Studies	Concepts · Theories · Texts
6	Literary Criticism and Theory	Classical and modern criticism · Marxism · Structuralism and post-structuralism · Feminism · Eco-criticism · Postcolonialism
7	Awareness of Current Literary Trends, Events, Awards etc.	Recent trends, literary events and awards

Source: NTA’s syllabus for English (LAQP01). Check NTA’s CUET PG website when the 2027 information bulletin is out, in case anything changes.

Unit-wise Weightage: How the 2026 Paper Was Built

NTA does not publish weightage, so we counted it ourselves. We sorted all 75 questions of the CUET PG 2026 English paper (12 March 2026, Shift 3) into the seven units.

Unit	Questions in 2026	Share
1. History of English and Indian Literatures	19	25%
6. Literary Criticism and Theory	17	23%
2. Indian Writing in English	15	20%
3. Literary Terms	5	7%
5. Comparative Literature and Translation Studies	5	7%
7. Current Trends, Events and Awards	5	7%
4. Literary Genres	4	5%
Unseen prose passage (not in the syllabus)	5	7%

Three units (literary history, criticism and theory, and Indian writing) gave 51 of the 75 questions. That is where most of your hours should go. You can see every one of these questions on the CUET PG English question papers page or try them as a free mock test.

What Each Unit Really Asks (with 2026 Examples)

Unit 1: History of English and Indian Literatures

This is the biggest unit and the foundation for everything else. In 2026 it covered Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Dryden and the Restoration, Swift, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”, the four great pastoral elegies (Astrophel, Lycidas, Adonais, Thyrsis), the year Caxton brought printing to England, and two questions that asked you to put literary ages in chronological order. Study British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to postmodernism, in order.

Unit 2: Indian Writing in English

CUET PG gives Indian literature more weight than UGC NET does. In 2026 there were questions on Mulk Raj Anand (Untouchable and its hero Bakha), R. K. Narayan’s Malgudi and his novels in order, Anita Desai, Kamala Das, Nissim Ezekiel, Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, Manohar Malgonkar, Tagore’s Chandalika, Gandhi, and life writing such as Sharan Kumar Limbale’s The Outcaste. Translations count too, so read the major regional writers as well.

Unit 3: Literary Terms

Expect straight definition questions: the Shakespearean sonnet’s rhyme scheme, what an epic is, the dramatic monologue, blank verse, the octosyllabic couplet. The list in the syllabus ends with “etc.”, so learn the common terms beyond it too.

Unit 4: Literary Genres

Questions test the difference between forms: biography and memoir, prose romance, comedy of manners, graphic narratives. Know one or two classic examples of each genre.

Unit 5: Comparative Literature and Translation Studies

A small unit that students skip, which is exactly why it scores. In 2026: transcreation, Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, Walter Benjamin’s “The Task of the Translator”, Spivak’s “The Politics of Translation”, and James S. Holmes, who named the field.

Unit 6: Literary Criticism and Theory

The second-biggest unit. Classical critics (Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus), Dryden and Eliot, then the theory schools: Marxism and Raymond Williams, structuralism (Saussure), post-structuralism and intertextuality (Kristeva), feminism and gender (Foucault, Butler), postcolonialism (Said, Bhabha, Spivak), psychoanalysis (Freud, Jung, Adler, Lacan) and ecocriticism. Chronology questions on essays and books are common.

Unit 7: Current Literary Trends, Events and Awards

Free marks if you prepare. In 2026: Nobel laureates and their nationalities, a Nobel “who has not won” question, Sahitya Akademi award years, the translator of the Booker-winning Tomb of Sand, and new fields like blue, digital, medical and environmental humanities. Keep a running list of Nobel, Booker, International Booker and Sahitya Akademi winners.

What the Syllabus Does Not Tell You

The official list is short. The paper is not. Four things the syllabus leaves out:

• An unseen prose passage with five questions closed the 2026 paper. It is not in the syllabus, but it is the easiest 20 marks on the paper if you read carefully.
• Regional and world literature. Questions on Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Kannada writers keep appearing, and 2026 had Ibsen. Learn each major writer with two or three works: Premchand, Krishna Sobti, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Kalidasa, Ghalib.
• Chronology. Several questions every year ask you to arrange ages, plays, novels or essays in order. Learn dates as you read.
• Depth. To score 240+, the level JNU needs, you have to study at the depth of UGC NET, not just the CUET list.

“Look at the syllabus CUET PG gives you, and cover it. But it is very small. Go through the complete British literature, Indian literature and criticism. Only then will your score reach around 245.” — Nakul Grover

CUET PG English vs UGC NET English Syllabus

Point	CUET PG English	UGC NET English
Purpose	MA admission in central and other universities	Assistant Professor, JRF and PhD eligibility
Units	7	10
Questions	75 in 90 minutes, +4/−1	100 in Paper 2 (plus 50 in Paper 1), +2, no negative marking
Bigger focus	Indian writing, translation, awards, an unseen passage	Literary theory, research methods, language and linguistics

The core is the same. If you prepare CUET PG properly, you are already halfway to UGC NET. See our UGC NET English syllabus for the comparison.

How to Cover the Syllabus in Three Months

1. Month 1: British literature only, in chronological order. Finish the summaries of the important novels and plays.
2. Month 2: Indian writing in English, then criticism and theory. Keep two or three subjects going at once, not seven.
3. Month 3: The small units: literary terms, genres, translation studies, awards and magazines. Then solve the previous year papers and full mock tests.

The full plan, with advice from CUET PG toppers, is in our CUET PG English preparation guide.