Trends
MHT-CET Maths, 42 shifts from 2021 to 2025: what the 2025 syllabus change moved
MHT-CET moved its syllabus for 2025 and the move is invisible unless you date your practice papers. One chapter left the paper entirely and another arrived. Everything below is measured across 42 shifts and 2090 questions from 2021 to 2025.
- years analysed
- 5
- shifts (papers)
- 42
- questions tagged
- 2090
- chapters tracked
- 26
Read this before you read a number on this page
MHT-CET is a multi-shift exam and the shift count per year is wildly uneven — 2021 = 1 shift, 2022 = 1 shift, 2023 = 16 shifts, 2024 = 11 shifts, 2025 = 13 shifts. A raw question count therefore means nothing across years: a chapter can carry more questions in a 17-shift year than in a 14-shift year while sitting at exactly the same weight per paper. Every comparable figure below is a questions-per-paper rate, and where only a raw count was verified we say so and print a dash rather than dividing one out.
The headline: one chapter left, one arrived
This is the whole reason to read this page. Prep off 2023-2024 papers alone and you spend revision time on a chapter that no longer appears, then walk into a chapter you have never seen.
1.00 q/paper across 2023-2024 (27 shifts), then 0.00 q/paper across all 13 papers of 2025. At 10% HARD over 30 lifetime questions it looks like the best deal on the paper, which is exactly what makes it expensive. Give it no revision time.
2 questions across the 29 shifts before 2025, then 15 in the 13 shifts of 2025. It is 35% HARD, so it is not a chapter you can pick up in the hall — drill it from 2025 papers specifically.
Verified chapter drift
The 3 chapters with a story worth spelling out in words. The full grid for every chapter is two sections below, derived from the bank rather than estimated; this list is the narrative, and the grid is its receipt. Each window names its own shift count, because that is what makes the two rates comparable.
Measures of Dispersion
Dropped off the paper- Earlier window — 2023-2024
- 1.00 q/paperquestions per paper
- over 27 papers
- Later window — 2025
- 0.00 q/paperquestions per paper
- 0 q over 13 papers
Lifetime: 30 questions · 10% HARD
Off the paper. One question every paper for two years, then nothing across all 13 shifts of 2025. At 10% HARD it is the most attractive-looking dead chapter in the bank.
Conic Sections
Entered the paper- Earlier window — before 2025
- —per-paper rate not stated
- 2 q over 29 papers
- Later window — 2025
- —per-paper rate not stated
- 15 q over 13 papers
Lifetime: 17 questions · 35% HARD
Onto the paper. Two questions in the first 29 shifts of the bank, then 15 in the 13 shifts of 2025. 35% HARD, so it is not a free chapter either.
Trigonometric Functions
Rising- Earlier window — lifetime (2021-2025)
- 4.93 q/paperquestions per paper
- over 42 papers
- Later window — recent (2024-2025)
- 5.08 q/paperquestions per paper
- over 24 papers
Lifetime: 207 questions · 38% HARD
A modest rise overall that hides two opposite moves inside the chapter: solution of triangle climbing, trigonometric equations falling. See the callout below.
Where a window shows a dash, only a raw count was verified for it and no rate is claimed. Note also that a lifetime window contains the recent window it is compared against, so those two rows understate the move — the direction is real, the size is a floor.
What every chapter is worth, per paper
All 26 chapters across all 42 shifts, as questions per paper. Every column is divided by its own year’s paper count, so the cells compare directly even though the years do not have the same number of shifts. Read a row left-to-right to see a chapter gain or lose weight; read the bottom row to confirm each year still adds up to a whole paper.
| Chapter | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n=1 · | n=1 · | n=16 | n=11 | n=13 | |
| Vectors | 2.00 | 4.00 | 5.75 | 5.55 | 4.23 |
| Trigonometric Functions | 2.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 4.82 | 5.31 |
| Line and Plane | 1.00 | 5.00 | 4.13 | 4.45 | 5.38 |
| Applications of Derivative | 2.00 | 4.00 | 4.69 | 4.18 | 3.62 |
| Indefinite Integration | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 3.91 | 3.00 |
| Differential Equations | 3.00 | 2.00 | 3.06 | 2.73 | 3.92 |
| Differentiation | 2.00 | 4.00 | 3.25 | 3.55 | 2.92 |
| Probability Distribution | 3.00 | 1.00 | 2.44 | 2.36 | 2.92 |
| Limits | 4.00 | 2.00 | 1.94 | 2.09 | 2.00 |
| Mathematical Logic | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.06 | 1.91 | 2.00 |
| Definite Integration | 2.00 | 3.00 | 1.25 | 1.36 | 2.08 |
| Binomial Distribution | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.38 | 1.55 | 1.08 |
| Determinants and Matrices | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.18 | 1.08 |
| Applications of Definite Integral | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.09 | 1.00 |
| Circle | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Complex Numbers | 2.00 | 2.00 | 0.94 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Linear Programming | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Straight Line | 3.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.92 |
| Pair of Straight Lines | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.06 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Permutations and Combinations | 2.00 | 1.00 | 0.81 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Sets, Relations and Functions | 3.00 | 1.00 | 1.06 | 1.00 | 0.46 |
| Trigonometry - II | 3.00 | 1.00 | 0.75 | 0.82 | 1.00 |
| Measures of Dispersion | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| Conic Sections | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.06 | 0.09 | 1.15 |
| Sequences and Series | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.13 | 0.18 | 0.46 |
| Quadratic Equations | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.06 | 0.09 | 0.15 |
| Whole paper | 50.0 | 48.0 | 49.8 | 49.9 | 49.7 |
The greyed columns are 2021 and 2022 — one paper each. Their numbers are real, but one paper’s chapter mix is that paper, not the exam’s shape, so do not read a line through them. A 0.00 is a measured zero: the chapter was on no paper that year.
Every paper, every chapter
The rates above come from this: one column per real sitting, 42 of them, holding 2,090 questions. Raw counts do not compare across YEARS here, because the shift counts differ — but they compare perfectly across COLUMNS, because every column is a single paper of about 50 questions. The footer row proves it: each column sums to its paper’s own length. Hover a column number for its date and shift.
| Chapter | '21 | '22 | '23 | '24 | '25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
| Vectors | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Trigonometric Functions | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Line and Plane | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Applications of Derivative | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Indefinite Integration | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Differential Equations | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Differentiation | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Probability Distribution | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Limits | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Mathematical Logic | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Definite Integration | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Binomial Distribution | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Determinants and Matrices | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Applications of Definite Integral | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Circle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Complex Numbers | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Linear Programming | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Straight Line | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Pair of Straight Lines | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Permutations and Combinations | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sets, Relations and Functions | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Trigonometry - II | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Measures of Dispersion | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Conic Sections | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Sequences and Series | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Quadratic Equations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paper total | 50 | 48 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 48 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Columns are numbered within each year and ordered by exam date. 2 papers carry no date in our records and sit last in their year rather than at a guessed position; their tooltips say so.
%HARD by year — and why two of these years are not data points
Read the papers column first. 2021 and 2022 are one paper each (50 questions and 48 questions). A single paper’s difficulty split is noise, and those two years must not be read as the start of a trend line. The only readable run is 2023 → 2024 → 2025.
| Year | Papers (shifts) | Questions | HARD count | % HARD | Reads as trend? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | 50 | 10 | 20% | No — single paper |
| 2022 | 1 | 48 | 15 | 31% | No — single paper |
| 2023 | 16 | 797 | 316 | 40% | Yes |
| 2024 | 11 | 549 | 251 | 46% | Yes |
| 2025 | 13 | 646 | 188 | 29% | Yes |
The paper is not steadily hardening. Across the years with real shift counts it ran 2023 at 40%, then 2024 at 46%, then 2025 at 29% — it hardened into the middle of the run and then eased. That matters for planning: the hardest year is the wrong year to calibrate against on its own, because it over-prepares you for difficulty and under-prepares you for the current syllabus.
The 4 shifts worth acting on
Each of these changes what you should be drilling this week, not just what you should know about the paper.
- Measures of Dispersion is dead — 1.0 q/paper for two years, then zero across all 13 papers of 2025
This is the most expensive mistake available in MHT-CET Maths prep, because the chapter is designed to look like the best deal on the paper: 30 questions lifetime at only 10% HARD, and one turns up in every 2023 and 2024 paper you practise. It ran 1.0 question per paper across the 27 shifts of 2023-24. Then it scored ZERO across all 13 shifts of 2025. Nothing about the chapter tells you this — you can only see it by dating your practice papers. Give it no revision time.
- Conic Sections entered — 2 questions before 2025, 15 in 2025 alone
The other half of the same 2025 syllabus move. Conic Sections carried 2 questions across the first 29 shifts of the bank, which is why it does not ship as a playbook on lifetime weight. In the 13 shifts of 2025 it carried 15. A student prepping from 2023-24 papers has, in practical terms, never seen this chapter, and it is 35% HARD — this is not a chapter you can pick up in the hall. Drill it from 2025 papers specifically.
- The paper is not getting steadily harder — 40% HARD (2023), 46% (2024), 29% (2025)
Ignore 2021 and 2022 entirely: they are one paper each (50 and 48 questions), so their 20% and 31% are single-paper noise. Across the three years with real shift counts the paper hardened into 2024 and then eased in 2025. The planning consequence is that 2024 is the wrong year to calibrate against in either direction — it is the hardest year in the bank, so a student who only drills 2024 over-prepares for difficulty and under-prepares for the 2025 syllabus. Drill 2025 for scope and 2024 for depth.
- Inside Trigonometric Functions, solution of triangle is rising and equations are falling
Std XII trigonometry is the second-largest chapter in the bank at 207 questions, and its weightage edged up from 4.93 questions per paper across the lifetime window to 5.08 across the 24 shifts of 2024-2025, the heaviest rate on the paper. The chapter total hides the real story. Solution of Triangle moved from 1.64 to 2.13 a paper, inverse trigonometry held (2.17 to 2.13), and trigonometric equations and general solutions fell from 1.12 to 0.83. Until 2026-09-26 the equations sat in a separate Std XI chapter, Trigonometry - I, which is why that chapter looked like it was softening. If your trigonometry hours are limited, solution of triangle is where they go first.
Recommendation: drill 2025 for scope, the hardest year for depth
The newest papers carry the syllabus you will actually sit — Conic Sections in, Measures of Dispersion out — so they set your scope. The hardest year in the bank sets your depth. Do both, in that order, and remember there is no negative marking in this paper: every question is worth attempting, so the only thing these trends change is what you practise and in what order, never whether you answer.