The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is a National Level Entrance Examination for admission to management programmes in the country. This Test facilitates AICTE affiliated/ Participating Institutions to select suitable graduate candidates for admission to the Management Courses in such Institutions. Till 2018, the Test was conducted by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). NTA is conducting this Test from 2019.

Last year the CMAT exam was conducted on 22 Feb and 27 Feb, 2021. CMAT 2022 date has not been revealed.

No, there is no age restriction for this examination.

The candidate must hold a Bachelor's Degree in any discipline. Candidates appearing for the final year of Bachelor's Degree, whose result will be declared before commencement of admission for academic year 2022-23, can also apply for CMAT-2022. The candidate must be a citizen of India.

The fee charged is Rs. 2000 for Male General category applicants and Rs. 1000 for others.

CMAT 2022 Exam Pattern

There is negative marking for wrong answers, For each correct answer,4 marks are awarded. For each wrong answer 1 mark would be deducted.

• Duration - 180 minutes

A National Merit Ranking (All India Rank) will be arrived based on the Score secured against Total Score. In case scores are the same for more than one candidate, the ranking will be done on sectional scores considered in the order of: - Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, General Awareness. • Students having the same Score shall be listed in a chronological (ascending) order as per their date of birth. • Candidates having the same score would be given the same Merit, and the Merit number would be increased by the same number i.e. if there are two candidates at Merit 2, Merit 3 would not be awarded to the next candidate but Merit 4 would be given.

Contact No. : 0120 6895200

Email id- cmat@nta.ac.in

The section on language comprehension comprises 25 questions, most of which have a bend towards Critical Reasoning, at varying levels of difficulty. So, it is best advised to revise concepts pertaining to Critical Reasoning(especially on identifying argument structure and argument elements, and inference based questions).

The Critical Reasoning questions have been part of the course for the CAT students. They can revise these concepts by working out questions from CRHO 1002201 to 1002205; these handouts will sharpen the skills of students in areas like analysing and evaluating arguments, Conclusion and Inference, Assumptions and Strengthening and Weakening of arguments. CRPE 1001901 and 1902 will help the students revise the concepts. CRPT 1001901 and 1902 will help the students test themselves in a timed environment.

The various elements of Reasoning like Strengthening ( or Weakening ) the Argument , Inferences , Conclusions, Flaws in an argument, Paradox, etc will need to be understood thoroughly to help the student tackle Logical reasoning questions (especially for identifying argument structure and argument elements, and for cracking inference-based questions).For the rest of the English Language part, it would be advisable for students to revise concepts pertaining to RC, Sentence correction, and Vocab based questions. Questions in these areas have been very doable, and effective revision would help students cash in on these questions. The RC passages in CMAT have been short (a paragraph usually)and quite easy to read. Students have time to read carefully and analyze the content, and must do so, since the choices are, sometimes, close.

There are approximately 9-10 passages, drawn from varied subjects such as social sciences, business, arts and humanities and current issues.

The student should focus on the following with respect to RC:

1. Central idea and the supporting ideas in the given paragraph
2. Tone of the author
3. Recognising phrases, idioms, and figures of speech in reading practice.
4. Summarising/ restating the paragraph/drawing conclusions
5. Identifying missing data/ interpreting indirect information
6. Seeing from the author's perspective

What is primarily required is an active participation in the reading of the text, which does not stop with just reading and understanding, but goes beyond the peripherals, and asks /answers questions that are related to the text . The student should be wary of underestimating the passage due to its short length or simple language, as the options, as mentioned earlier, are quite close.

For the section on Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation, a good preparation for CAT should be more than sufficient, though it would be advisable for a student to focus more on areas like Co-ordinate Geometry, Trigonometry (Basically Heights & Distances), Statistics, Quadratic Equations, Progresions, Permutations & Combinations, Probability and Number System apart from topics mentioned in the basic study material.

For the section on logical reasoning one has to prepare on all the reasoning topics like linear arrangement, circular arrangement, selections , distribution puzzles, comparisons, binary logic, cubes, Venn diagrams, deductions, and connectives. The question pattern is slightly different from the CAT pattern. Unlike CAT here one would find individual questions on all the above topics. Sometimes data may not be sufficient to figure out the complete solution, but would be sufficient to answer the given question.

The other areas of reasoning including number series, coding and decoding, symbols and notations, blood relations, direction sense, input-output, calendars and clocks should also be prepared.

You can study these topics from reasoning Study Material - SM 1002205 and SM 1002207. SM 1002207 covers the topics - Series, Analogies, Odd man out, Coding & Decoding, Symbols & Notations, missing numbers in the figures, Input/Output, Blood Relations and Direction sense. These topics were introduced to the CAT students in Logic Basics - 7, 8 and 10 (LRHO 1002207, 08 and 13). One can quickly be thorough with these topics by solving the exercises from SM 1002207. Particularly the questions based on Coding & Decoding and Symbols & Notations test the speed of the students. SM 1002205 has two exercises for each of the topics in analytical puzzles. There was a thorough discussion of each of these kinds of puzzles in Logic Basics - 1, 2 and 3 (LRHO 1002201, 02 and 03) and in LRPEs and LATs. Venn Diagrams are discussed in Logic Basics 5 and 6 (LRHO 1001905 and 1906).

SM 1002205 has four exercises (Ex 8 (a), (b), (c) and (d)) on Venn Diagrams. Students may solve the exercises 8 (a) and (b) first and then from 8 (c) and (d). As far as the CMAT pattern is concerned, exercises 8 (a) and (b) are more relevant.

For the section on "Innovation & Entrepreneurship" students should prepare with the handouts GAHO1032231 to GAHO 1032235.

Also, in the various issues of MBA Education & Careers magazine, focus on features like Business GK, Current Issues & Events, and Current Event Chronicle (this feature captures important tid-bits).

In addition to the above, please run through the GK Model Papers feature titled, Improve your GK.

Go through the GA Note (Study Material) booklet for stock GK (like history and geography). Also use the GAT papers, each with 50 questions.

Manorama & CSR Year Book - it helps in preparation for stock type questions

In Manorama Year Book and CSR, please focus on the following chapters.

1. Who is who
2. What is what
3. Science scan
4. Human body
5. Computers
6. Landmarks of history
7. The Universe

Finally, OMETs for CMAT are perhaps the best source for preparation. It comes very close to the actual CMAT entrance exam paper and one should give maximum importance to these question papers.