ISI CMI 2027 Exam Dates and Application Timeline

CMI has published its date: the entrance examination for 2027-28 admission is Saturday 15 May 2027 at 14:00, with applications opening around 1 March 2027. ISI has not yet announced its 2027 date, but its recent pattern is unambiguous. If you are planning the ISI CMI 2027 cycle, this page gives you the confirmed dates, the dates you can safely predict, the application windows, and the one admission route most candidates never hear about.

ISI CMI 2027: what is confirmed and what is predicted

Treat these two categories differently, because one is published and one is inference from a stable pattern.

The ISI prediction is not a guess in the loose sense. In the 2026 cycle, applications ran from 12 February to 13 March 2026 and the test was held on 10 May 2026, with B.Stat results declared on 11 June. The institute has held to a February application window and a second-Sunday-of-May examination for several consecutive cycles. Plan against mid-May 2027 and verify on the official admission portal once the notification appears.

The practical consequence of the two dates landing within a week of each other is that you cannot prepare for one and then the other. You prepare once, for both, and spend the final fortnight rehearsing two different paper formats.

The route most candidates never hear about

CMI admits some students without the entrance examination at all. If you qualify for the International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp or the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp in Class 11 or 12, or reach the Orientation Cum Selection Camp in Physics, or win a gold or silver medal at the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics, you are eligible for direct admission.

This is published on the CMI admissions page and almost never appears in coaching material, because it serves nobody selling an entrance course. It is worth knowing for two reasons. If you are already on an olympiad track, the arithmetic of where to spend your remaining months changes completely. And if you are in Class 10 or early Class 11 with genuine olympiad ability, a medal is a more certain route into CMI than a single three-hour paper in May. Our IOQM, RMO and INMO pathway guide sets out that ladder, and the Indian Computing Olympiad guide covers the INOI route.

What each paper actually looks like

ISI runs two papers on the same day. UGA is objective, typically 30 questions over two hours, with marks for a correct answer, a smaller mark for leaving a question untouched, and zero for a wrong one. That scoring rule is unusual and it matters: a blind guess is worth less than an honest blank, which is the reverse of almost every other examination you have sat. UGB is subjective, around eight problems, and is marked on the argument. Reports from recent cycles indicate the merit calculation weights the subjective paper far more heavily than the objective one, and that UGA functions partly as a screen deciding whose UGB script is read at all.

CMI splits into Part A, objective and short-answer, and Part B, entirely subjective. CMI states explicitly that partial credit is available for genuine progress, so writing down a clear partial argument on a problem you cannot finish is worth real marks. Programmes are B.S. Honours in Mathematics and Computer Science and in Mathematics and Physics, each four years, with a Data Science minor available rather than a separate degree, and a three-year exit option to a B.Sc.

Because the details above are drawn partly from candidate reports rather than an official brochure, confirm the current pattern in the information brochure when it is published. The shape is stable year to year; the precise mark allocation is not.

A timeline that works backwards from May

From today in mid-October, you have roughly thirty weeks to the examination. That divides cleanly. Use October to February for the four pillars: algebra and polynomials, number theory, combinatorics, and classical geometry, with real analysis layered in for ISI. Use March for full past papers untimed, learning the archetypes rather than racing. Use April and the first half of May for timed papers only, alternating ISI and CMI formats so neither feels unfamiliar on the day.

Two administrative dates sit inside that study plan and students routinely miss them. The CMI application opens around 1 March and the ISI window is expected in February. Both require documents, photographs and fee payment, and both close while you are in the middle of past-paper season. Put them in a calendar now.

Where the marks are actually lost

Most candidates who miss ISI and CMI can solve more problems than their score suggests. The marks go in transcription: asserting the step that needed justification, solving one case and ignoring three, writing the order of discovery instead of the logic of the proof. A marker reading two hundred scripts reconstructs nothing on your behalf.

The second loss is the UGA scoring rule. Candidates trained on JEE-style negative marking guess aggressively, when ISI rewards an honest blank above a wrong answer. Our comparison of ISI-CMI and JEE Advanced explains why the two examinations reward nearly opposite instincts, which is the single most useful thing for a candidate preparing for both.

Starting now versus starting in January

The difference between beginning in October and beginning in January is not three months of theory. It is the number of complete papers you write under timing before the real one, and the number of times a competent reader tells you why your proof is not yet a proof. Thirty weeks allows roughly twelve full papers with proper review. Fourteen weeks allows four.

Our ISI and CMI entrance course for 2027 runs thirty-two weeks in small groups capped at eight, with a full paper every fortnight marked by hand on the argument, and interview preparation included for shortlisted B.Math and B.Stat candidates. Whether you prepare with us or alone, the calendar is the same: the ISI CMI 2027 papers are in May, the applications are in February and March, and the work that decides the outcome happens between now and then.