CMAT 2019 Exam Analysis

Common Management Admission Test, usually known as CMAT, is a national level entrance examination conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) every year. It is a three-hour computer based online test to check the candidate’s ability across various segments like Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness. This test helps institutions to select suitable graduate candidates for admission in all management programs. All AICTE-Approved Institutions/University Departments/Constituent Colleges/Affiliated Colleges accept CMAT score.

Following is the exam pattern of CMAT 2019 slot I and slot II:

Negative marks for each wrong answer : -1

CMAT 2019 was conducted on January 28, 2019, in two slots from 9:30 am-12:30 pm & 2:30 pm-5:30 pm respectively. There were no surprises in the exam this year. The exam featured easy to moderate level questions, and a candidate who is quick in selecting and rejecting answer options can score fairly well in it.

This section had questions based on conventional areas. There were 3 to 4 questions from Geometry and Mensuration, and the rest Quantitative Technique questions were from Arithmetic. There was two Data Interpretation question. Three questions were from Time, Speed and distance and two from algebra. This year there were 4 questions from Permutation and Combination and Probability. The level of difficulty of this section was easy to moderate. A candidate who attempted around 21-23 questions in this section can expect a good score.

The level of difficulty of this section was easy to moderate. There were three questions from Verbal Reasoning and two from Analogy. There was only one question from Analytical Reasoning. Also the questions were from topics like coding/decoding, sequence, blood relation etc. This year 2 questions were also from visual reasoning but they were easy. A candidate who attempted around 20-22 questions in this section would expect to score well.

This section had four passages. Three were short passages with 3 questions each which talked about Endangered Languages (Eg: Greek and Latin); World Trade Organization and who decides the status of developing countries; Parenting and culture related value system. They consisted of factual questions except for one inference question and were of easy difficulty level. The fourth passage was of moderate length and consisted of 6 questions and talked about Steve Jobs and some little known facts about him and his views on life. It consisted of a question on main idea and one on narrative style but again was dominated by factual questions and was of easy to moderate difficulty level. Verbal ability questions were again of easy to moderate level and were from areas such as Vocabulary 4 questions (antonym, synonym and contextual), Sentence Correction 1 question (Although/but concept), Grammar Part error 1 question, Idioms 2 questions, Para Jumble 1 question and Sentence Completion 1 question. A candidate who attempted around 22 questions would be expected to score well.

Around 8 questions were from current affairs and if one reads the newspaper or has a good knowledge of what’s going on in the world could have attempted around 6 questions quite easily. Static GK questions dominated the paper and questions were from Awards, Science, Politics, etc. A candidate who attempted around 18-20 questions could expect to score well.

Basically, a candidate who attempted around 86-88 questions with decent accuracy can expect to fetch a good score.

CMAT is a popular MBA entrance test for admission into many reputed AICTE approved institutes in the country. Every year, top MBA colleges use CMAT Cut Off scores to shortlist the candidates for Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds and for the final selection. Following is a list of CMAT cut-offs for various institutes.

*Data is indicative as some cut-offs are not officially declared

CMAT Cut offs are the first criteria based on which the colleges screen the students for the subsequent rounds. Clearing the CMAT cut-off is very important because unless a certain minimum score is achieved, the candidate will not get a call for interview. Post the written exam, the applicants are screened based on their CMAT test score and other criteria. After this they are called for the GD/ PI round by the affiliated institutes.

Different colleges have different criteria for selecting candidates. Generally, it includes the CMAT score, candidate's academic record, work experience in months (if any), quality of work experience, etc. The next step after clearing the test cut offs in the Group Discussion and Personal Interview round. This process also varies from institute to institute. Some institutes have GDs based on current or abstract topics while others have an essay-writing round as well. Also, you need to be well prepared for the Personal Interview as many of your qualities, mainly: confidence, self awareness, communication skills and leadership skills are being evaluated in an interview.