College & Competitive Entrance

Entrance Exams 2026-27 after 12th and after Graduation: JEE Mains, NEET, CAT, CLAT, CUET, GATE

Every engineering, medical, MBA, law, university, research and international entrance exam in one index — upcoming dates, syllabus, exam pattern, previous papers and free mock tests.

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Exam updates · checked 19 September 2026

Application forms closing soon, from the official notices

Every deadline below was read on the conducting body’s own portal. Apply days before the close — the last day is when portals slow down and no commission grants an extension for it.

All open application formsLatest notificationsToday’s current affairs
21Sep 2026

Next deadline

Closing soonest

  1. 01
  2. 02

    SSC JE 2026 — 1,748 posts, applications close 22 September with no extension

    closes 22 SeptemberSSC JE 2026ssc.gov.in notices of 2 and 17 September 2026

  3. 03

    CAT 2026 registration extended to 22 September, 5 p.m. — no further extension

    closes 22 SeptemberCAT 2026iimcat.ac.in media release

  4. 04

By stream

Choose your entrance stream

Engineering, medical, management, law, university, research and international entrance exams — each with syllabus, pattern and practice.

EngineeringJEE Main, JEE Advanced, BITSAT, state CETsMedicalNEET UG, NEET PG and INI-CETMBA / ManagementCAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, CMAT and MATLawCLAT, AILET and other law entrancesUniversity EntranceCUET UG and CUET PGPG & ResearchGATE, IIT JAM, UGC NET and CSIR NETInternational ExamsIELTS, PTE, TOEFL, Duolingo, GRE, GMAT, SAT, ACT, LSAT, UCAT, LNAT, CELPIP, OET and the visa processAll Entrance ExamsThe complete A–Z index

Full index

All Entrance Exams A–Z

Every entrance exam covered on Brolly, grouped by stream.

Engineering

Medical

Law

MBA / Management

University Entrance

PG & Research

International Exams

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Upcoming entrance exams

Entrance exam dates 2026-27: what is open now and what comes next

Checked 19 September 2026 against the conducting bodies’ notices and NTA’s examination calendar of 16 September 2026. Dates marked proposed are from that calendar and are fixed by each information bulletin; the rest are notified.

Upcoming entrance exams, September 2026 to May 2027, in date order.
ExamExam dateRegistrationFor
GATE 20276–7, 13–14 and 20–21 February 2027Open — closes 27 September 2026 (5 October with late fee)M.Tech, M.E., Ph.D. and PSU recruitment
CAT 2026Sunday 29 November 2026Open — closes 22 September 2026, 5 p.m.IIMs and most top B-schools
NMAT 2026Window 2 November – 20 December 2026Open — closes 10 October 2026NMIMS and partner schools
IIT JAM 2027Sunday 14 February 2027Open — closes 12 October 2026M.Sc. at the IITs, IISc, NITs
CLAT 2027Sunday 6 December 2026Open — closes 31 October 2026Five-year LL.B. and LL.M. at the NLUs
INI-CET (January 2027 session)Sunday 1 November 2026As notified by AIIMSMD, MS at AIIMS, PGIMER, JIPMER, NIMHANS
AILET 2027Sunday 13 December 2026Open — closes 10 November 2026NLU Delhi
SNAP 202613, 19 and 26 December 2026Open — closes 25 November 2026Symbiosis institutes
UGC NET December 202614–19 December 2026 (proposed)Notification expected October 2026Assistant Professor, JRF and Ph.D. admission
CSIR NET December 202620–21 December 2026 (proposed)Application form expected October 2026JRF and lectureship in the sciences
XAT 2027Tuesday 5 January 2027Open — closes 10 December 2026XLRI and XAMI schools
JEE Main 2027 Session 122–24 and 28–30 January 2027 (proposed)Expected late October or November 2026NITs, IIITs, CFTIs; qualifies for JEE Advanced
CMAT 2027Sunday 7 February 2027 (proposed)Expected October or November 2026AICTE-approved institutions
CUET PG 20271–25 March 2027 (proposed)Expected December 2026Postgraduate admission at central universities
JEE Main 2027 Session 2April 2027 (expected)Expected February 2027Second attempt; better score counts
NEET 2027May 2027 (expected), first cycle in CBT modeExpected February 2027MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, veterinary, nursing
CUET UG 2027May 2027 (expected)Expected January 2027Undergraduate admission at central universities
JEE Advanced 2027Late May 2027 (expected); date due in DecemberExpected late April 2027The IITs

Exam guides for the dates above

GATE 2027 CAT 2026 CLAT 2027 UGC NET December 2026 JEE Main 2027 NEET 2027 CUET 2027

Choosing well

Start with the programme, then understand its entrance route

Exams with similar subjects can lead to very different courses, institutions and eligibility rules. A sensible shortlist begins with where you want the result to take you.

  1. List the courses and institutions you would actually join. Do this before building an exam list; an impressive score has little value if none of its programmes fit your goal.
  2. Check eligibility and admission rules. Subject combinations, minimum marks, age conditions, domicile rules and counselling processes can differ even when the entrance paper is shared.
  3. Map overlapping examinations. JEE Main and state engineering entrances may share a foundation; CAT, XAT and other management tests overlap but differ in sections and decision rules.
  4. Choose one primary exam. Use secondary exams to widen opportunity without allowing several different patterns to fragment the core preparation.
  5. Read recent papers before choosing resources. The syllabus shows scope; papers show depth, recurring forms and the speed the test demands.

Counselling is part of the examination process

For many entrance routes, a score is followed by registration, preference filling, document verification and several allocation rounds. Record those steps and deadlines alongside the test date; missing a counselling action can make a valid score unusable.

Build your preparation

Study material by subject Free mock tests Previous year papers

What preparation actually looks like

The seven streams demand different kinds of work

Candidates frequently plan an entrance preparation on the assumption that all of these examinations reward the same thing. They do not, and the difference decides how a year should be spent.

What each stream mainly rewards, and where candidates most often lose marks in it.
StreamWhat the paper mainly rewardsWhere marks are usually lost
EngineeringFluency on standard problems from the senior-secondary syllabus, at speed.Time spent reconstructing formulas, and unit or sign errors rather than conceptual gaps.
MedicalComplete syllabus coverage and high accuracy — the papers are broad rather than deep.Gaps in chapters assumed to be minor, and accuracy loss under a long single sitting.
MBA and managementSet selection and time allocation, more than knowledge.Sinking minutes into a set that was never solvable in the time available.
LawApplying a stated principle to facts, exactly as stated.Answering from what the real law says, or from what seems fair, rather than from the principle given.
University entranceDomain papers at school syllabus level, plus a general section.Choosing the wrong subject combination for the programmes actually wanted.
PG and researchRebuilding a degree subject into something retrievable under a clock.Revising from chapter one instead of from the chapters the papers weight.
International testsFor aptitude tests, timed reasoning; for proficiency tests, a described skill standard.Booking before checking what the target programmes accept, and neglecting writing and speaking.

One primary examination, and the rest as overlap

Preparing seriously for two examinations with different section structures fragments both. Choose one as primary, let its pattern set your practice timing, and add secondary examinations only where the overlap is genuine — the same subjects at a similar depth. Widening opportunity is worth doing; splitting a preparation across two incompatible formats is not.

Sequencing

What to do first, and what cannot be left late

Some components of an entrance preparation accumulate slowly and cannot be compressed near the end. Starting those first is the single most consequential planning decision available.

Start these immediately

  • Reading speed and stamina — for any paper with long passages, this is built by months of dense reading and barely responds to a final month of technique work.
  • Calculation fluency — tables, fractions, approximation. Fifteen minutes daily, and it changes every quantitative section you will ever sit.
  • The chapter-weight table for your paper — built from past papers before opening a textbook, because it decides revision order and prevents the drift towards revising what is comfortable.
  • Eligibility and programme research — subject combinations, minimum marks, domicile rules and counselling processes. An evening now avoids discovering a disqualifying condition after a result.

These can wait, and should

  • Test-day technique — order of attempt, abandonment rules and section pacing. Useful once there is something to pace, and premature before that.
  • Full-length rehearsals at high frequency — weekly full papers are a late-stage habit. Early on, sectional work exposes problems that a full paper only reports.
  • Optional or low-weight chapters — the long tail of a syllabus is worth attention only once the weighted chapters are secure.

Counselling deadlines end more candidacies than papers do

For many entrance routes a score is followed by registration, preference filling, document verification and several allocation rounds, each with its own deadline. Record those dates alongside the examination date from the day the information bulletin appears. A valid score is unusable if a counselling action is missed, and no appeal recovers it.

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