CUET PG English Previous Year Question Papers (2018–2026) with Answers
By Nakul Grover, founder of Limitless Literature · Part of our CUET PG English guide
Quick answer: Below are all the CUET PG English (LAQP01) previous year question papers we have, free to download: 2026, 2025, 2024, 2022 and the older CUCET papers of 2021 and 2018. The 2026 paper (12 March 2026, Shift 3) comes with NTA’s final answer key, and the 2025 paper has answers too. Every paper since 2023 has 75 questions for 300 marks in 90 minutes, with +4 for a right answer and −1 for a wrong one.
Download CUET PG English Question Papers (PDF)
| Year | Paper | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | CUET PG English, 12 March 2026, Shift 3 · 75 questions with NTA’s final answer key | Paper + Answers |
| 2025 | CUET PG English 2025 · 75 questions with answers | Question Paper |
| 2024 | CUET PG English 2024 · 75 questions | Question Paper |
| 2023 | Not available. The 75-question pattern started after 2022. | Not Available |
| 2022 | CUET PG English 2022 (PGQP05) · the last paper in the old format | Question Paper |
| 2021 | CUCET 2021 English (the entrance test before CUET PG) | Question Paper |
| 2018 | CUCET 2018 English | Question Paper |
Want to solve 2026 online first? Take it as a free CUET PG English mock test, with the answer shown as soon as you click.
CUET PG English 2026 Question Paper
| Paper | English, code LAQP01 |
| Date and shift | 12 March 2026, Shift 3 |
| Questions and marks | 75 questions, 300 marks, 90 minutes |
| Question types | Single-answer MCQs, match the lists, arrange in chronological order, “which statements are correct”, assertion and reason, and a five-question unseen passage |
| Answers | As per NTA’s final answer key for this shift |
NTA held the English paper in more than one shift in 2026. This is the Shift 3 paper. We will add the other shifts here when we have the complete papers.
By unit, literary history gave 19 questions, criticism and theory 17, Indian writing in English 15, and the four smaller units plus the passage gave the rest. The full unit-wise count is on the CUET PG English syllabus page.
CUET PG English 2026 Answer Key (12 March, Shift 3)
Question number, then the correct option (1 to 4), as per NTA’s final answer key.
| Q | Ans | Q | Ans | Q | Ans | Q | Ans | Q | Ans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 31 | 3 | 46 | 3 | 61 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | 17 | 4 | 32 | 3 | 47 | 2 | 62 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 | 18 | 2 | 33 | 1 | 48 | 3 | 63 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 19 | 3 | 34 | 2 | 49 | 2 | 64 | 2 |
| 5 | 2 | 20 | 4 | 35 | 3 | 50 | 1 | 65 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | 21 | 4 | 36 | 3 | 51 | 2 | 66 | 2 |
| 7 | 1 | 22 | 3 | 37 | 4 | 52 | 2 | 67 | 1 |
| 8 | 4 | 23 | 1 | 38 | 3 | 53 | 1 | 68 | 3 |
| 9 | 3 | 24 | 2 | 39 | 1 | 54 | 3 | 69 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 | 25 | 4 | 40 | 2 | 55 | 4 | 70 | 3 |
| 11 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 41 | 2 | 56 | 3 | 71 | 2 |
| 12 | 1 | 27 | 2 | 42 | 2 | 57 | 3 | 72 | 4 |
| 13 | 2 | 28 | 3 | 43 | 1 | 58 | 2 | 73 | 3 |
| 14 | 2 | 29 | 1 | 44 | 3 | 59 | 4 | 74 | 2 |
| 15 | 1 | 30 | 2 | 45 | 1 | 60 | 3 | 75 | 4 |
Topics Asked in CUET PG English 2026
Use this list to check your preparation. Every writer and topic here came up in the 12 March 2026 paper.
| Area | What was asked |
|---|---|
| British literature | Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales · Lamb and Wordsworth · Dryden · Romantic poets · Swift · Golding’s Lord of the Flies · Bacon, Johnson, Orwell and Butler · Arnold, Milton, Shelley and More · “Daffodils” line order · pastoral elegies · plays from The Tempest to Pinter, Beckett, Osborne and Churchill · Caxton’s printing press · ages in chronological order |
| Indian literature | Mulk Raj Anand and Bakha · R. K. Narayan and Malgudi · Anita Desai · Kamala Das · Nissim Ezekiel · Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq · Manohar Malgonkar’s stories · Tagore’s Chandalika · Gandhi · Raja Rao · Indian autobiographies (Limbale, Revathi, Kamala Das, the Dalai Lama) · Patel, Prasad, Kripalani and Azad |
| Criticism and theory | Aristotle’s imitation · Horace’s Ars Poetica · Longinus · Dryden’s Essay of Dramatic Poesy · Eliot’s objective correlative and dissociation of sensibility · Raymond Williams · Foucault · Saussure and Lévi-Strauss · Kristeva and intertextuality · Said, Bhabha, Crenshaw, Gilbert and Gubar · Butler and Spivak · Freud, Jung, Adler and Lacan · anthropocentrism in ecocriticism · feminist classics |
| Translation studies | Transcreation · polysystem theory · Benjamin’s “The Task of the Translator” · Spivak’s “The Politics of Translation” · James S. Holmes and the name of the field |
| Terms and genres | Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme · epic · dramatic monologue · blank verse · octosyllabic couplet · biography vs memoir · prose romance · comedy of manners · graphic narratives · postmodernism |
| Awards and trends | Nobel laureates and nationalities (Han Kang, Doris Lessing, Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer) · who has not won the Nobel · Sahitya Akademi award years · translator of Tomb of Sand · blue, digital, medical and environmental humanities · Ibsen |
| Unseen passage | A prose passage on ghosts in fiction, with five comprehension and vocabulary questions |
How to Use CUET PG English Previous Year Papers
- Finish the foundation first. British literature, Indian literature and criticism. Solving papers before that only shows you what you don’t know yet.
- Solve each paper in 90 minutes, with +4/−1 marking, exactly like the real exam.
- Study all four options, not just the right one. One question on Dickens, Austen, Thackeray and Mary Shelley teaches you four writers. Five years of papers turn into hundreds of facts this way.
- Then go harder. Solve UGC NET and GATE English papers too. If you can handle those, CUET PG feels easy. Our 5,000+ topic-wise PYQs are free.
“Download the CUET PG question papers and answers and practise in your free time. But don’t stop there: solve GATE and UGC NET questions too. If you have a grasp on those, CUET is child’s play.” — Nakul Grover
Old JNU, DU, BHU and CUCET MA English Entrance Papers
Before 2022, each university ran its own MA English entrance: JNU had JNUEE, Delhi University had DUET, BHU had its own PET, and several central universities used CUCET. From 2022, these universities moved to a single test, CUET PG. So if you are searching for JNU, DU or BHU MA English entrance question papers, the CUET PG English papers above are the ones that matter now.
The older papers are still good practice for the literature core. We have the CUCET 2018 and 2021 English papers in the table above.
CUET PG English Course
Printed booklets for every unit, video lectures and one-to-one Google Meet guidance with Nakul Sir.
See the CUET PG course →CUET PG English Mock Test
The 2026 paper as an online test. Click an option and see the right answer at once.
Start the mock test →CUET PG English Syllabus
All seven units, the official PDF and unit-wise weightage from the 2026 paper.
Read the syllabus →CUET PG English Question Papers: FAQ
Where can I download the CUET PG English 2026 question paper?
From the table at the top of this page. The PDF has all 75 questions of the 12 March 2026 (Shift 3) paper with the correct answers.
Is the CUET PG English 2026 answer key official?
The answers are taken from NTA’s final answer key for this shift. The question-by-question key is also printed on this page.
Why is the 2023 CUET PG English paper not available?
We do not have a complete copy of it. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 papers follow the same 75-question pattern, so they are the best practice.
How many questions are in the CUET PG English paper?
75 multiple-choice questions for 300 marks in 90 minutes, with +4 for a correct answer and −1 for a wrong one.
Are JNU and DU MA English entrance papers still useful?
JNU, DU and BHU now admit through CUET PG, so the CUET PG papers matter most. The older entrance papers are still useful for practising the literature core.
Should I solve UGC NET papers for CUET PG English?
Yes. The core syllabus overlaps, and NET questions are harder. Students who practise NET and GATE questions find CUET PG much easier.
