The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is a national level entrance exam conducted by AICTE for admission into management programs of AICTE affiliated Institutes/Universities across the country. The AICTE conducts this exam once every year as per the directions of MHRD. CMAT 2016 is an online test conducted in one session of 3 hours. This test consists of 4 sections: Quantitative Ability, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness. When compared to the other national level management examinations such as CAT and XAT, the level of CMAT is easy to moderate .
This online test allows you to sift through sections. To score well in the CMAT, it is essential that you understand the exam pattern well to shape your preparation strategy. The following table gives a brief analysis of the CMAT exam pattern:
| Number of Sections |
4 |
| Sections | Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension & General Awareness |
| Mode | Computer based online test |
| Duration of the Test | CMAT 2016: 180 minutes (3 hrs.) |
| Number of Questions |
100(Every section has 25 questions) |
| Marking Scheme | Every question carries 4 marks. For every wrong answer, 1 mark will be deducted |
In 2015, CMAT was conducted from 19th to 22nd February 2015. The pattern was almost the same as that of last year's exam. However, the paper was difficult in comparison to the previous year's paper. The test had 100 questions to be solved in 180 minutes. CMAT 2016 on the other hand would be conducted only on one day i.e. 17th January, 2016 in a single session. The pattern, number of questions and marking scheme will be consistent with the last year.
Following is a comprehensive Analysis of the question types the CMAT has seen in the previous years:
This section in CMAT usually contains moderate to difficult level questions. It has seen a mix of questions based on Algebra, Permutation and Combination, Mensuration, Geometry, Profit& loss, Number system, Linear equations, Averages, Alligations & Mixtures, Mensuration, Probability, and Logarithms. Questions on Data Interpretation and Modern Mathematics have also appeared in the paper.
Data interpretation questions are a little time consuming and require better understanding to answer the questions based on data. This section is not very tough but the questions maybe a little lengthy; hence, speed needs to be maintained. An attempt of 17-19 questions with high accuracy is good to score well in this section.
The section can be considered as well balanced as it had questions covering all the conventional areas of Verbal Ability. This section generally has questions from Reading Comprehension, Idioms, Vocabulary, Critical Reasoning, Para jumbles, Fill in the blanks, Sentence Correction, Analogy, Sentence Rearrangement, Verbal Reasoning, Fact, Inference, Judgment (FIJ). Previous years' CMAT had 3 to 4 Reading Comprehension passages. Each passage was a little tricky, but were doable. A few questions on RC passages were based on verbal reasoning i.e. inference, and facts. An attempt of about 18-20 questions would be considered good.
The reasoning section of CMAT has been of easy to moderate level. The majority of the questions have been based on Analytical Reasoning, Blood Relations, Input/output, Alpha-Numeric Series, Visual Reasoning, True/False Statements, Deductive Logic, Data arrangement, Family relations, Linear arrangement, Coding-Decoding, Direction based questions, Syllogisms and Data Sufficiency. This section could be considered as the most scoring section of this paper. The section, though easy, is touted to be slightly time-consuming. However, one good strategy to do well in this section is by solving questions through the elimination of options.
This section has always been considered a little tough by the students. In this section there have been plenty of questions on the Constitution of India, Fiscal Policy, World affairs, Sports, Taxation and General Science etc. The overall break-up of the questions has been quite alike over the past years. Though the majority of the questions have been on static general knowledge, there were 8-10 current GK questions as well. Besides the above mentioned areas, static GK questions were from Awards, Politics and Art and Culture. An attempt of 16-19 questions with 80% accuracy would be considered good.
