All India Management Association (AIMA) conducts the MAT four times each year, for MBA admissions to 600+ colleges across India. MAT is conducted in paper-based and internet-based format. It consists of five sections, namely, Mathematical skills, Critical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, Data Analysis and Sufficiency, and Indian & Global Environment.
The focus of this article is the last section, Indian & Global Environment, which comprises GK-related questions.
Why is GK Important?
MAT GK section has 40 questions, with 1 mark being awarded for every correct answer and 0.25 deducted for an incorrect response. Although the marks of the GK section are not counted in the overall percentile, yet a number of MAT institutions consider candidate’s GK score in the second round. A few B-Schools also state sectional cutoff for GK section. Thus, it is important to prepare well for the section. Further, this section also has the following plus points:
Better Accuracy: GK-based questions, due to their inherent nature, provide you better accuracy. This is because, if you know the answer to a GK question, there is no scope for confusion! However, this is only applicable if you do not indulge in blind guesswork.
Better Time Management: GK section is highly time efficient, as there is no calculation-work and analysis involved. You can use this to your advantage in tests like MAT, which do not have sectional time limits. Thus, you can allocate enough time to the more time-consuming sections of the MAT.
MAT GK – Past Year Paper Analysis
| Exam |
Dec 2018 |
Dec 2019 |
Feb 2020 |
| Static |
4 |
1 |
1 |
| Current |
36 |
39 |
39 |
| Total |
40 |
40 |
40 |
The above table gives you an analysis of past year MAT GK sections. As you can see, MAT concentrates almost exclusively on Current GK questions. Hence, it is imperative for you to read the newspaper on a regular basis. Further, you can prepare the current affairs for the last 12 months from any respected competition-specific magazine.
Sectional Analysis
| Sub-Area |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
| Economy |
4 |
3 |
6 |
| Sports |
6 |
4 |
6 |
| Polity |
3 |
13 |
4 |
| Govt. Policy and Schemes |
3 |
1 |
2 |
| Business and Corporate |
1 |
2 |
5 |
| International News |
10 |
4 |
7 |
| SCI & TECH |
5 |
3 |
3 |
| Miscellaneous |
8 |
10 |
8 |
| Total |
40 |
40 |
40 |
This table gives you a fair idea of the major areas from which GK questions were asked in the previous year MAT exams. As you can see from the table, some of these areas like Business and Corporate GK, Sports, and International news appear to be the favorites of MAT examiners, etc. Hence, it is advisable that you diligently follow news from these areas. However, you must adopt a balanced approach towards MAT GK preparation and prepare all areas thoroughly.
MAT GK Questions
Let us take a look at a few previous year questions from the MAT GK section. (The answers are given in bold):
Q1. Where did the 16th ASEAN-India summit take place in November 2019 which was represented by Indian prime minister?
- Bangkok
- Manila
- Hanoi
- Kuala lampur
Q2. Which of the following judges of supreme court of India was not the part of the five-judges bench, who gave the verdict on ayodhya matter in November 2019?
- Ashok bhushan
- S abdul nazeer
- D Y chandrachud
- S C agrawal
Q3. Where did the national tribal dance fest “Tribal fest 2019” take place from 27-29 december 2019?
- Leh,Ladakh
- Cuttack, Odisha
- Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
- Raipur, Chattisgarh
Q4. Which high resolution imaging satellite also called ‘Sharpest eye in the sky’ was launched in recent past by ISRO?
- Cartosat-3
- X-57, Maxwell
- AnuSat-I
- RISAT-2
Q5. Which country won the FIFA under-17 male football world cup beating Mexico by 2-1 in the finals in November 2019?
- England
- France
- Netherlands
- Brazil
Q6. Eight west African nations named Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-bissau, Ivory coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo renamed common currency from CFA franc to_____.
- Zloty
- Eco
- Krone
- Forint
What to prepare for Static GK?
As you know, Static GK consists of areas that do not change over time. You may expect questions from the following sub-topics in Static GK:
- History
- Geography Economy
- Companies and Brands
- Indian Political System & Constitution
- Organizations
- Science & Technology
- Sports
- Miscellaneous – This section includes questions on various awards and honors, important international dates, books and authors etc.
While the syllabus for the Static GK section seems to be very vast, it can be done effectively if we choose authentic and reliable sources to study from. You can take hitbullseye STATIC-GK PACK as we have covered the broad areas in a compact manner.
What to prepare for Current GK?
In Current GK, you may expect questions from these broad areas:
- Business & Corporate News
- Events
- Home Affairs and Enforcement
- New Developments in Science & Technology
- People in News
- Youth and Sports
- Finance and taxes
Questions from Current GK will focus on the important national and international events in the past 12 months in the areas mentioned above.
The best source to prepare for Current Gk is the
Hitbullseye GK Web Portal where you will find Videos and Pdfs on Current Affairs, updated timely. For Editorials, Read the newspapers like The Hindu. Also, go through our ‘Special Report’ and ‘Topic of the Week’ columns for better understanding of contemporary topics.
Tips for MAT GK section
Ideally, you should not spend more than 10-12 minutes on the MAT GK section. This will allow you to allocate more time for other time-consuming sections. Further, we advice you to follow a 2-cycle method of attempting this section:
Cycle 1
- Identify the easiest questions (and the ones you are completely confident of) and mark their answers.
- Identify the questions, which you think you can attempt i.e. you feel that if you spend more time on such questions, you may be able to recall the correct answer.
- Identify the questions, which you think you CANNOT attempt i.e. questions about which you have no idea. These questions are best left untouched.
Cycle 2
In the second cycle, mark the answers of maximum possible questions that you have identified in the second step of Cycle 1. Here, you can use some intelligent guessing and option elimination method. For instance, if you are confidently able to eliminate 2 options out of 4, we suggest you go ahead and attempt the question.
Lastly, keep practicing MAT mock tests to check your preparation for GK section.
