CMAT – 2021 (Slot-1)

The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is a National Level Entrance Examination for admission to Management Programme(s) in the country. This Test facilitates AICTE affiliated participating Institutions to select suitable graduate candidates for admission to the Management Courses in such institutions.

CMAT 2021 was conducted on March 31, 2021 in two slots from 9 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 6 pm. An extra half an hour was given to those candidates who opted for the newly introduced optional section – Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

CMAT scores are accepted by many top MBA colleges like Goa Institute of Management, SIMSREE, K J Somaiya, PUMBA, etc.

The exam was conducted in the Computer Based Test (CBT) format. The duration of the exam was three hours (180 minutes) with additional half an hour for the optional section.

The test had five sections with 25 questions each – fifth one being the optional one. Each question was of MCQ type with four options. Each correct answer carried four marks while there was a penalty of 1 mark for every wrong answer. There was no sectional time limit, and the candidates could move freely across the sections throughout the exam duration.

The distribution of the questions is as given in the table below:

Candidates were NOT allowed to move out of the exam hall with their hall tickets even if they ended their test ahead of the stipulated time.

Given below is a summary of the CMAT test based on students' observations and reactions post the exam:

Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation (QTDI):

As compared to the paper pattern two years back, there were fewer number of calculation-intensive questions. The questions were spread across a wide range of topics viz., Numbers, Ratio & Proportion, Time & Work, Time & Distance, Geometry, Mensuration, P&C, Probability, Sets & Venn Diagrams, etc.

There were four questions based on Data Interpretation (Table), which were pretty straight forward to solve.

A well-prepared student could have attempted 18-20 questions in the section.

Logical Reasoning (LR): There was one set (blood relationship) comprising four questions. Similar to last year, most questions in this section were on the easy to moderate side. Questions included coding-decoding, direction sense, Venn diagrams, visual diagrams, comparisons, series based, analogies, odd man out, etc. There were four questions on Verbal Reasoning (Analogy, Strong-Weak Arguments, etc.).

A good student could have answered 19-21 questions.

Language Comprehension (LC): There were four Reading Comprehension passages in the third section with a total of 14 questions. A good student could have attempted 11-12 questions easily.

The Verbal Ability segment had 11 questions. These included questions on Synonyms/Antonyms, Error spotting, Fill in the Blanks, Meanings of words and their usage in sentences, Grammatically correct sentence etc.

The section was easy to moderate, and a serious test taker should have been able to answer 18-20 questions.

General Awareness (GA): This section was tougher as compared to last year's in terms of difficulty level. Most of the questions were based on Static GK – about 17 in number. The section had questions on:

• Geography,
• Literature,
• Religion,
• Government Ministries,
• Booker prize, Awards and Honours,
• General Science,
• Politics,
• Banking,
• International organizations,
• Sports and Games,
• Current Affairs & General Knowledge.

A good student would be able to answer around 14 questions in this section.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation: The questions were based on recent innovations in business world.

The overall cut offs are expected to dip as CMAT 2021 was difficult as compared to last year's paper. A score of 320+ should fetch a 99+ percentile.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by T.I.M.E. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information