MAT is a two and a half hours objective type choice test with the following format:-
The test is structured into five sections as under:-
The paper can be split into three parts: concept-driven, practice intensive and environment sensitive. Mathematical Skills & select areas of Language Comprehension are concept driven where the questions are critically dependent on the test taker's conceptual clarity with respect to core fundamentals; Intelligence & Critical Reasoning, Data Analysis & Sufficiency and select areas of English Language Proficiency are practice intensive; Indian & Global Environment is environment sensitive where an awareness with respect to current affairs is the winning stroke. Given below is the preparation strategy for each of the MAT sections along with essential topics.
In this section, you are required to stay abreast of the latest happenings across the world. Apart from the current GK, learn about the basics of banking sector and business terminologies. For a good score, it is important to brush up your general knowledge on a daily basis. Majority of the questions in this section are from the following areas:-
This section evaluates your mathematical abilities in some of the basic topics. Before you start practicing this part of exam, make sure that you gain enough conceptual clarity of the fundamental topics. The important areas in this section are:-
In this section, you will be tested on your reasoning and deduction skills. In order to ace this section, you need to practice different types of questions from all the crucial topics. Most of the question types do not have any standard way, so all you can do is practice as many questions as possible. This area has questions related to:-
This area intends to assess your vocabulary and verbal abilities. A great way to expand your vocabulary is to invest a sufficient amount of time in diverse reading. Additionally, keep practicing from previous year papers and mock tests to check your proficiency in various kinds of questions. The vital areas, from which maximum questions have been asked, are:-
In this section, questions are accompanied with some data represented in points or in form of graphs. Based on the given data, you are expected to find the logical links and arrive at a conclusion. In other words, you can get hold of this section only if you practice a good number of data sets. The thrust areas here are:-
While preparing, follow a sequential and systematic approach. Given below is a suggested route for your MAT preparation:-
Overall, the test taker has to understand that MAT is designed to assess you on certain core management skills like time management, prioritization, stress management, knowledge and balancing accuracy & speed.