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MAT – 7th Dec 2008 Analysis
MAT SNAPSHOT
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No. of Questions
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200
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Marking Scheme
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1
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Negative marking
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1/4
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Number of Sections
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No Section
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Number of Choices
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4
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Duration
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150 Min
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MAT stuck to its time tested pattern
of 200 questions to be attempted in 150 minutes. Like each time, MAT did not
have any clear cut ‘SECTIONS’ but the 200 questions were from five distinct
test areas viz. Language Comprehension, Mathematical Skills, Data Analysis and
Sufficiency, Intelligence and Critical Reasoning and Indian and Global
Environment. Each such ‘section’ had 40 questions in it with four choices each.
Moreover, each of these ‘sections’ was divided into two or three parts and
these parts were positioned at different places in the paper. A student needs
to be cautious with such an arrangement as they might work partially on some
section/s and miss out on other parts of the same section. Hence, one should
plan in such a manner that the time is distributed over different sections for
efficient selection of easy questions from each of the sections. The suggested
time for each of the sections is as follows.
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Sl. No.
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Section
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Suggested time
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1
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Language Comprehension
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25 – 30 min
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2
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Mathematical Skills
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35 – 40 min
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3
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Data Analysis & Sufficiency
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35 – 40 min
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4
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Intelligence & Critical Reasoning
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30 – 35 min
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5
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India & Global Environment
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10 – 15 min
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Let us analyze the different types of
questions from each of the sections along with the overall difficulty level of
each of the sections.
Language Comprehension
No. of Questions: 40
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Area
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Description
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Marks
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Difficulty level
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Expected Attempts
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Good Attempts
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Vocabulary
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Analogies
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4
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Moderate
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2
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3
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English Usage & Grammar
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Grammer
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4
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Moderate
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5-6
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9-10
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Fill in the blanks
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4
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Moderate
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Para-Jumbles
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4
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2 Moderate & 2 Difficult
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Summary (CAT Type)
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4
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2 Moderate & 2 Difficult
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Reading Comprehension
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Passage based on Indian Economy
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6
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Difficult
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6-7
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10-11
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Passage based on Indian/Global Economy
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5
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Moderate
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Passage based on Senses, Memory,
Experience, Wisdom
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4
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Moderate
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Passage based on Alzheimer’s disease,
sleep disorder, clocks and brain signals
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5
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Difficult
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Overall
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40
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Moderate
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13-15
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22-24
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This area would have tested the
students the most on account of its very high difficulty level. The key to a
good score in this section was a good vocabulary (for the analogies), sound
knowledge of English usage (for solving the fill in the blank type of questions
and correct form of sentence) and good comprehension skills (for passages). The
RC passages were lengthy and students with a good reading speed would have done
well here. The best approach in RC would have been to read the questions first
and then quickly read through the passage to locate the answers. A good time
allocation strategy would be to spend around 25-30 min on this section and
attempt around 17-18 questions.
Mathematical Skills
No. of Questions: 40
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Area
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Marks
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Difficulty level
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Expected Attempts
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Good Attempts
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Arithmetic
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Ratio, Proportion & Variation
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2
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Easy to Moderate
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16-17
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22-23
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Percentages
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5
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Profit & Loss
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3
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Simple Interest & Compound Interest
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1
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Averages
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2
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Mixtures & Alligation
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3
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Time & Distance
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12
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Time & Work
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3
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Calendar
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1
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Geometry & Mensuration
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5
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Higher Maths
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Probability
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1
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Moderate
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1
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2
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Trigonometry (Heights & Distances)
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2
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Overall
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40
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Modetate
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17-18
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24-25
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The difficulty level of this
section was on par with other recent MAT papers. A student with a good grasp of
the concepts and good calculation speed would have been able to solve quite a
few questions. A welcome deviation in this paper was the lower emphasis on
higher mathematics, which had just 3 Qs. The paper predominantly had questions
from the Arithmetic areas like Time & Distance, Percentages, Profit &
Loss, Ratios, Averages, Mixtures & Alligations, Geometry and Mensuration.
The questions required only the basic concepts and most students would have
found the questions easy. Overall, this area can be classified as MODERATE. A
good time allocation strategy would be to spend around 35-40 min and attempt
around 21-22 questions.
Data Analysis and Sufficiency
No. of Questions: 40
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Area
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Topic
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Description
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Marks
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Difficulty level
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Expected Attempts
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Good Attempts
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Data Analysis
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Bar graph + Line Graph
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Revenue & Expenses
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4
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Moderate
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12-13
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18-19
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Single pie chart
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Percentage allocation
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4
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Easy
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Pie chart + Bar graph
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Production of Wheat using scientific
and conventional methods
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4
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Easy
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Routes & Networks
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Demand and Supply
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3
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Easy
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2 Pie charts & Table
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Demand for Gas
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4
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Difficult
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Bar graph
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Low, Middle and High income
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4
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Difficult
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Misc.
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4
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Easy
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Comparison Data
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Data Comparison
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Comparison of data in Column A and
Column B
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7
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Easy
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3
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4
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Data Sufficiency
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Data Sufficiency
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All the questions were based on Quant
concepts
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6
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Easy
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3
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4
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Overall
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40
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Easy-Moderate
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18-19
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26-27
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This area comprises of DI, DS and Data
Comparison questions, with DI accounting for a lion’s share of the questions.
There were seven DI sets of which there were three easy sets which should have
helped students get a decent score here. The questions on Data Comparison and
Data Sufficiency were of the easy type and students could have maximized their
score by attempting more of these questions. Overall, this section can be
considered to be EASY-MODERATE. A good time allocation strategy would be to
spend around 35-40 min and attempt around 21-22 questions.
Intelligence and Critical
Reasoning
No. of Questions: 40
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Area
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Detail
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Marks
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Difficulty level
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Expected Attempts
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Good Attempts
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Analytical Reasoning
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Number & Letter Series
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5
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Easy
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12-13
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16-17
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Sequencing
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2
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Moderate
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Direction Sense
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4
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Easy
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Blood Relations
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2
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Difficult
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Venn Diagrams
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4
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Easy
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Calendars
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1
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Easy
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Distribution
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4
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Easy
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Coding & Decoding
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2
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Easy
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Critical Reasoning
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Courses of Action
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3
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Difficult
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4-5
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7-8
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Statements & Conclusions
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4
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2 Moderate & 2 Difficult
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Statements & Assumptions
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4
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Moderate
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Inferences (Probably True/False)
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5
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Difficult
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Overall
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40
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Moderate
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16-18
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23-25
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MAT stuck to its usual mix of
questions in the Intelligence and Critical Reasoning area. The paper had a good
mix of Analytical and Critical Reasoning questions. The sets on Analytical
Reasoning were of Easy to Moderate difficulty level. This area required quite a
bit of practice and effort on the part of students. Students would have found
the Critical Reasoning area to be a bit too difficult to crack. A wise strategy
would be to pick the Analytical Reasoning questions and attempt as many of them
as possible. Overall, this section can be classified as MODERATE. A good time
allocation strategy would be to spend around 30-35 min and attempt around 20-21
questions.
India and Global Environment
No. of Questions: 40
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Area
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Marks
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Expected Attempts
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Good Attempts
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General Awareness
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40
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10-12
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18-22
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Business And Economy
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Sports
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Overall
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40
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10-12
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18-22
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A total of 40 questions were asked in
this subject area. There was an even distribution of the number of questions
across sub-topics like Indian economy, Global economy and Current affairs. Some
of the questions were related to
1. President of US
2. G – 8 nations
3. Economy
4. Sports
Overall the section can be classified as Moderately Difficult. A good time
allocation strategy would be to spend around 10-15 min and attempt around 16-18
questions.
EXAM SUMMARY
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Attempts
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Expected Accuracy
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Marks
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Expected Percentile in Composite Score
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90 +
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70% +
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56 +
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90 +
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120 +
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70% +
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84 +
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99 +
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Info on MAT institutes
The following information regarding
some of the better B-Schools under MAT is collated below. All Data is as per
the information disclosed by the respective colleges. We advise you to verify
this information through other sources as well.
The data lists out the program offered, the number of seats in it, the cutoff
percentile/score used last year and the average salary at the institute. Please
note that the colleges are not in the order of merit.
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Institute
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Program Offered*
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Seats*
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Cut-off Percentile/Score*
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Average*
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Alliance
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MBA
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120
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80
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8.25
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Christ
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PGDBM
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120
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50 (600+)
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4.2
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Amity
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PGDM
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150
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650
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4
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Apeejay
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PGDM
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120
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NA
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3.15
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Asia Pacific
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PGDM
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120 (80% through MAT)
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MAT -600; CAT-50%ile;
XAT-75%ile
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4
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Badruka
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MPIB
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60
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NA
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1.5
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IILM
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PGP
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600
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NA
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NA
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VJIM
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PGDM
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60
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349
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3
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Siva Sivani
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PGDM
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120
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40%
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2.1
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St. Joseph's - Bangalore
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PGDM
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120
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50%
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3.3
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EMPI - New Delhi
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PGDBM
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NA
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50%
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2.85
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