Various MBA Enterance Exams

Group discussion, essay writing and personal interview form the selection criteria for second stage of admission process of most B schools. 

COMMON ADMISSION TEST (CAT) 

CAT is the entrance exam for more than 160 management institutes across India, including the 19 IIMs. The online exam is conducted every year - in the year 2014, CAT was conducted in the month of November on two specific dates - November 16th and 22nd.The GDPI round typically takes place from Jan to April. The academic sessions begin in the months of July-Aug. 

CAT focuses intensively on general aptitude (English, Math, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) which are key areas tested in most competitive exams such as Bank PO, SSB, Campus placements etc. Even Civil services, GATE etc give some weightage to GA. What makes CAT special is the quality of opportunities it opens for you and therefore the nature of competition. The exam is quite rightly seen by many as the mother of all management entrance exams. However, this also means that your preparation for CAT will prepare you for a good part of a lot of other exams as well. 

The concepts tested in Other Management Entrance Tests (OMETs) would essentially remain the same as CAT, except for questions based on GK/Current affairs asked in a few tests. Your preparation for CAT will adequately prepare you for any of these exams as well. We at T.I.M.E. believe in thoroughness of preparation and provide adequate study material and support for each of these exams over and above the guidance given for CAT preparation to each student. 

OPPORTUNITIES BEYOND CAT - OTHER MANAGEMENT ENTRANCE TESTS 

CAT is undoubtedly the most sought after entrance exam. However, there are several other exams besides CAT that a student can and must write. We collectively call them as OMETs (Other Management Entrance Tests). These would include XAT, SNAP, CMAT, MAT and Institute specific exams viz NMAT, TISSNET, IRMA, and IIFT. 

The key reasons why a candidate should write other exams besides CAT are as follows:

Awareness and adequate preparation for these exams is exssential, as these tests have patterns which are different from CAT. Let us look at the major Other management Entrance Tests (OMETs) which would be conducted this year. 

XAT

XAT is the second most popular management entrance examination after CAT. XAT is conducted by XLRI,Jamshedpur on behalf of Xavier Association of Management Institutes.Apart from XLRI, which is one of the top-5 B-schools in India according to latest rankings by various independent agencies, XAT scores are used by more than 100 institutes across India. XAT is usually conducted in the first week of January.

SYMBIOSIS NATIONAL APTITUDE TEST (SNAP)

SNAP is an aptitude test conducted by the Symbiosis society as a first entry requirement for all the B schools under Symbiosis International University which has 12 B schools under its umbrella, 3 General management and the others- sectoral or specialized MBA's. The list of institutes includes SIBM Pune, SCMHRD Pune, SIBM Bangalore, SIIB Pune etc. The exam is considered a must for MBA aspirants thanks to this eclectic mix of colleges using its scorecard as a part of their selection processes.

COMMON MANAGEMENT ADMISSIONS TEST - CMAT

CMAT is a one-stop test for admission into all the AICTE approved B-schools in the country. The exam is conducted twice a year – September and February.

MANAGEMENT APTITUDE TEST (MAT)

MAT is conducted by All India Management Association four times a year – February, May, September, and December in both the formats - Paper pencil as well as Computer based. Even though the paper has a section on General Awareness, the score in this section is rarely used by any B-school for shortlisting candidates for the GDPI process.

EXAMS CONDUCTED BY INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTES

The following stand-alone tests are conducted by various B-schools for admission of candidates into their MBA programmes.

• IIFT entrance test for IIFT New Delhi and Kolkata.

• TISSNET for Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai offering specialisation in a range of areas from HRM & IR to Social Entreprenuership to Women empowerment etc. Like MAT, TISSNET is conducted in both paper-pencil and online format. The exam is usually conducted in the month of January.

• NMAT for Narsee Monjee Institute of Managent Studies, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore offering General MBA, Banking, Capital Markets and HRM. It is conducted in online format and that students can take max of three attempts and the best of three is taken as their final performance while being shortlisted for GDPI.

• IRMA for Institute of Rural Management, Anand