NMAT 2015

The testing window of NMAT 2015 was from 7th October 2014 to 20th December 2014. A brief note on the pre-test formalities is given below-

Test-takers are expected to arrive 45 minutes prior to the scheduled appointment time.
- Reach the venue in time; keep the mind clutter-free.

Things to be furnished at the registration desk include two ID cards, a copy of confirmation email, admit card and a copy of primary ID.
- Everything else including watch, pen, wallet, mobile phone are to be left behind before entering the exam hall.

Test-takers will be asked to choose the preferred sequence of attempting the three sections.
- One may want to begin with the strongest area.
- Solve each section in iterations - pick up the easiest questions in the first iteration, then the moderate questions and then a last iteration to mark answers for the remaining questions.

Test Pattern -

Sr. No	Section	No. of Questions	Time in Minutes
1	Language Skills	32	22
2	Quantitative Skills	48	60
3	Logical Reasoning	40	38
	Total	120	120

The initial reactions from students suggest the test is continuing to remain true to its character. The agile test-takers have a marked advantage over the slow-starters, given the demanding time frames of the test. The difficulty level of the test seems to be of moderate level, as has been the case over the last two years.

Sectional Feedback:

Quantitative Skills (48 Qs in 60 min): Students felt the section had a mix of easy and difficult questions and the key was in solving the easy ones first. One of the students commented on the directness of few of the questions. "A few questions only needed me to apply the right formula to get the answer. These could be solved in under a minute." The number and nature of Data Interpretation questions came under focus, "There were four DI sets, each with a high volume of data. The data crunching took a lot of time." Overall, a strong conceptual understanding and a good grip on speed math should help one sail through this section.

Logical Reasoning (40 Qs in 38 min): Students shared one sentiment across slots. "To solve LR questions in under a minute can be daunting" said one, while another added "While verbal reasoning and deductions questions are not problematic, I cannot say the same about a few puzzling puzzles." This can be a tricky section – things can go either way depending on how awake one is to the situation at hand. An eye on the timer will always be handy.

Language Skills (32 Qs in 22 min): The ones with good reading habit tend to read passages faster. This skill is like gold in NMAT. Students said as much. "RC passages were not difficult to understand, but barely 40 seconds per question is an uphill task". A few others though were happy about the number of questions they could solve within seconds "I could solve the vocab questions and even a few grammar questions in under 15 seconds, thereby saving time for RCs" That seems to be the trick for this section - take the one minute per question for RC questions, and make up the lost time in the other parts.

RESULTS :

The organising body for NMAT has a policy of announcing the raw scores every 3-4 weeks on their website (www.nmims.edu) – giving the applicants an opportunity to write the test again if they wish to do so. However, empirical evidence suggests that the difference in the scores through successive attempts within the same test window is not substantial. So, it is suggested that one should write the test only if something really went wrong while writing the test and the score can be improved in the next iteration.

In the light of NMAT organisers explicitly disallowing the sharing of exam content, no student / coaching institute / on-line portal can use the content or share it with anybody. No such information can also be posted on any forum on the internet. So, T.I.M.E. has put a policy in place where

(i) T.I.M.E. will not share information about content of the test.

(ii) T.I.M.E. will not encourage/ask students to disclose details about the content of the test that they took.

(iii) T.I.M.E. will not allow anybody to post such information on its website www.time4education.com.