Maha-CET for engineering, pharmacy and agriculture courses to held on May 10

Data from state’s Directorate of Technical Education revealed that 3.84 lakh candidates have registered for the test so far

The registration for Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) for undergraduate engineering, pharmacy and agriculture courses started on Thursday and will continue till March 31. As per the schedule declared by the state CET cell, the exams will be held on May 10. Interested candidates are required to register on www.dtemaharashtra.gov.in/mhtcet2018.

The last date for registrations is March 31. (Representational photo/Getty Images)

The state has about 1.38 lakh seats for engineering and 13,000 for pharmacy courses. This year, for the first time, seven non-technical agriculture courses have also been brought under the ambit of CET. There are more than 15,000 seats available for agriculture courses.

Of all the available seats, 15% have been reserved as ‘All India Seats’ for which admissions will be conducted through national-level tests.

Students aspiring for engineering courses are required to opt for physics-chemistry-mathematics (PCM) group, while those seeking admission to pharmacy or agriculture courses can opt either of PCM or physics-chemistry-biology (PCB) groups.

Until 2016, MHT-CET held the key for health science courses — in addition to pharmacy and engineering. But last year, the state decided to use National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) score for all health science courses, including Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). Owing to addition of agriculture courses, the number is likely to increase this year.

Data from state's Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) revealed that 3.84 lakh candidates have registered for the test so far. The PCM group saw 1.43 lakh registrations this year. While 94,000 candidates opted for the PCB group. More than 1.47 lakh candidates opted for both the options, known as the PCMB group.