CUET History Syllabus

Question Pattern and How to Prepare History for CUET

History syllabus for CUET: CUET (UG) is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) once a year. It has released the official CUET History syllabus on its official website. The same has been discussed, along with some essential preparation tips and strategies. According to the NTA, the History syllabus for CUET will be the complete NCERT class 12 syllabus for History. Candidates are advised to review the detailed CUET history syllabus and prepare for the exam to ensure they don’t fall behind their peers.

The History syllabus for CUET includes chapters like -

  • Harappan Archaeology
  • Political and Economic History
  • Social histories using the Mahabharata
  • A history of Buddhism
  • Religious histories
  • Medieval Society

Once students have checked the syllabus, they must effectively plan how to prepare History for CUET. To begin preparing for CUET History, two crucial things are exam pattern and syllabus. That will give students an overview of the exam and help them to plan better. Before proceeding further, let's look at the CUET (UG) History exam pattern.

The detailed History exam pattern is given below:

History Syllabus for CUET

Students need to get their acts together and put their best foot forward by starting to prepare for the exam as soon as possible. Before directly moving on with planning how to prepare History for CUET, students must go through the detailed CUET History syllabus.

The detailed History syllabus for CUET is given in the table below:

UNIT

TOPIC

SUB-TOPIC

1.

The Story of the First Cities Harappan Archaeology

  • Broad overview: Early urban centers.
  • Story of discovery: Harappan civilization.
  • Excerpt: Archaeological report on a significant site.
  • Discussion: How have archaeologists/historians utilized it?

2.

Political and Economic History: How Inscriptions tell a story

  • Broad overview: Political and economic history from the Mauryan to the Gupta period.
  • Story of discovery: Inscriptions and the decipherment of the script. Shifts in the understanding of political and economic history.
  • Excerpt: Asokan inscription and Gupta period land grant.
  • Discussion: Interpretation of inscriptions by historians.

3.

Social Histories using the Mahabharata

  • Broad overview: Issues in social history, including caste, class, kinship, and gender.
  • Story of discovery: Transmission and publications of the Mahabharata.
  • Excerpt: From the Mahabharata, illustrating how it has been used by historians.

4.

A History of Buddhism: Sanchi Stupa

  • Broad overview:

(a) A brief review of religious histories of Vedic, religion, Jainism, Vaishnavism, and Saivism.

(b) Focus on Buddhism.

  • Story of discovery: Sanchi stupa.
  • Excerpt: Reproduction of sculptures from Sanchi. Discussion: Ways in which sculpture has been interpreted by historians, and other sources for reconstructing the history of Buddhism.

5.

Medieval society through Travellers’ Accounts

  • Broad Overview: Outline of social and cultural life as they appear in travellers’ accounts.
  • Story of their writings: A discussion of where they travelled, why they travelled, what they wrote, and for whom they wrote.
  • Excerpts: from Alberuni, Ibn Batuta, Bernier.
  • Discussion: What can these travel accounts tell us, and how have they been interpreted by historians?

6.

Religious Histories: The Bhakti-Sufi Tradition

  • Broad Overview:

(a) Outline of religious developments during this period.

(b) Ideas and practices of the Bhakti-Sufi saints.

  • Story of Transmission: How Bhakti-Sufi compositions have been preserved.
  • Excerpt: Extracts from selected Bhakti Sufi works.
  • Discussion: Ways in which these have been interpreted by historians.

7.

New Architecture: Hampi

  • Broad Overview:

(a)Outline of new buildings during the Vijayanagar period — temples, forts, irrigation facilities.

(b)Relationship between architecture and the political system.

  • Story of Discovery: Account of how Hampi was found.
  • Excerpt: Visuals of buildings at Hampi.
  • Discussion: Ways in which historians have analysed and interpreted these structures.

8.

Agrarian Relations: The Ain-i-Akbari

  • Broad overview:

(a) Structure of agrarian relations in the 16th and 17th centuries.

(b) Patterns of change over the period.

  • Story of Discovery: Account of the compilation and translation of Ain-i-Akbari.
  • Excerpt: From the Ain-i-Akbari
  • Discussion: Ways in which historians have used the text to reconstruct history.

9.

The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles

  • Broad Overview:

(a) Outline of political history c. 15th-17th centuries.

(b) Discussion of the Mughal court and politics.

  • Story of Discovery: the production of court chronicles and their subsequent translation and transmission.
  • Excerpts: from the Akbarnama and Padshahnama.
  • Discussion: Ways in which historians have used the texts to reconstruct political histories.

10.

Colonialism and Rural Society: Evidence from Official Reports

  • Broad overview:

(a) Life of zamindars, peasants, and artisans in the late 18th century.

(b) East India Company, revenue settlements, and surveys.

(c) Changes over the nineteenth century.

  • Story of official records: An account of why official investigations into rural societies were undertaken and the types of records and reports produced.
  • Excerpts: From Firminger’s Fifth Report, Accounts of Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, and Deccan Riots Report.
  • Discussion: What do the official records tell and do not tell, and how they have been used by historians.

11.

Representations of 1857

  • Broad Overview:

(a) The events of 1857-58.

(b) How were these events recorded and narrated?

  • Focus: Lucknow.
  • Excerpts: Pictures of 1857. Extracts from contemporary accounts.
  • Discussion: How did the pictures of 1857 shape British opinion of what had happened?

12.

Colonialism and Indian Towns: Town Plans and Municipal Reports

  • Broad Overview: The growth of Mumbai, Chennai, hill stations, and cantonments in the 18th and 19th centuries.
  • Excerpts: Photographs and paintings. Plans of cities. Extract from town plan reports. Focus on Kolkata town planning.
  • Discussion: How can the above sources be used to reconstruct the history of towns? What these sources do not reveal?

13.

Mahatma Gandhi Through Contemporary Eyes

  • Broad Overview:

(a) The nationalist movement 1918-48,

(b) The nature of Gandhian politics and leadership.

  • Focus: Mahatma Gandhi in 1931.
  • Excerpts: Reports from English and Indian language newspapers and other contemporary writings.
  • Discussion: How newspapers can be a source of history.

14.

Partition through Oral Sources

  • Broad Overview:

(a) The history of the 1940s;

(b) Nationalism, Communalism, and Partition.

  • Focus: Punjab and Bengal.
  • Excerpts: Oral testimonies of those who experienced partition.
  • Discussion: Ways these have been analyzed to reconstruct the event's history.

15.

The Making of the Constitution

  • Broad Overview:

(a) Independence and the new nation-state.

(b) The making of the Constitution.

  • Focus: The Constitutional Assembly debates.
  • Excerpts: From the debates.
  • Discussion: What do such debates reveal, and how can they be analyzed? 

How to Prepare History for CUET?

Once students are thoroughly acquainted with the CUET History syllabus and have calculated the time they have at hand, they can easily plan their strategies to ensure success in CUET History. It is easier said than done to go through the syllabus in detail and devise a suitable approach for preparing History for CUET.

This article will help students by giving essential preparation tips and a detailed strategy to help them cope with the study load.

Preparation Tips for History

History fundamentally differ from other important subjects, so the approach must be adaptive. Here, the facts, figures, and data are more critical than conceptual clarity and understanding. Therefore, as a subject, history demands a strong memory ability. For some students, this retention ability comes naturally; for others, it can be developed by being methodical and regular in their practice. A few tips and tricks that will help students to memorise and retain the subject knowledge effectively are listed below:

CUET History Preparation Strategy

CUET will be the sole gateway to 250+ Universities for UG admissions. The competition will be huge, and candidates must be prepared in every way to crack the exam with a good score. The best thing to do is start preparing early with guidance and experienced mentorship. Below are a few strategies to help students effectively prepare for CUET History.

Choose sources wisely

A brief syllabus idea will enable students to understand all the essential things they must go through. But, choosing the source is always a difficult task. The NCERT class 12 textbook might be handy, but the problem is with the other secondary sources students must use. Using unreliable sources often might be misleading and confusing. Therefore, students must check on this aspect and choose study materials wisely.

Sticking to the timetable

This is high time, and students can not afford to be distracted. Thorough concentration and dedication are the price students should be ready to pay if they want to score well in CUET. Making the strategy is secondary, but being able to follow it with regularity is the primary requirement. This is where having a timetable is very important. Timetable makes the approach disciplined and sincere.

Practice and revise

Most of the history syllabus discusses facts, figures, and dates. Therefore, it becomes a necessary condition that you practice and revise as many times as possible. With practice only comes perfection. Making bullet list pointers and maintaining a list of short notes always helps save time while revising. For practice, there is nothing better than appearing for mock tests. Solving practice sample papers is also an alternative, though.

Keep calm and take care

In a preparation rush, students often forget or do not care about themselves. Students must eat, sleep well, and care for their mind and body during this phase. Don't take unnecessary pressure and create anxiety for yourself. Remember to rest and relax on time and maintain healthy sleeping hours. Without a healthy mind and body, one can't give in 100% and will always fall short. So, do what is necessary and don't overburden. Maintain a healthy study-rest balance.

CUET (Common University Entrance Test) will be the biggest UG entrance exam carnival, and the competition will be unparalleled. Students must follow the above-described tips and strategies to make their plan and start their preparation journey.

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