Cracking NMAT: Preparation tips for the MBA entrance exam

NMAT is a national-level MBA entrance exam clearing which you can get admission to leading B-schools like NMIMS Mumbai, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, XIM University, ISBR Business School, SRM University, Indian School of Business (Advanced Management Programme in Business Analytics) and S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (PGMPW).

This exam is conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which is an international non-profit organisation of B-schools.

What do you need to appear for NMAT 2022:

• You need a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university with at least 50% aggregate to appear for the MBA entrance exam.
• You can also apply if you’re writing your final graduation exams in 2022.
• There is no age restriction for NMAT.
• If you haven’t used up all three NMAT exam attempts available between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, you are eligible to register and apply for the additional NMAT exam window.

Some tips to help you crack NMAT:

Understand the exam

Every MBA exam tests if you possess certain skills and that’s why the format of each differs from the other. Your preparation for NMAT should start with jotting down the syllabus for each section, gradually raising the difficulty level of the questions and taking a mental note of the time available as you attempt several questions. Doing this analysis will lay out the foundation for your further preparation.

Clear your concept

Before jumping into mocks and going for higher-level questions, it’s necessary to get a clear idea of the basic concepts involved. Since NMAT tests a candidate’s efficiency, you must not mess up the basics. It’s important to know the fundamentals of Maths like LCM, HCF, prime numbers and complex numbers. Once this is done, you can move on to the advanced level.

Since you won’t be allowed to have a calculator during the exam, you must be fast with your calculation. Learn some tricks for quickly performing multiplication, division and other basic mathematical techniques.

- Sumit Singh Gandhi

Stay consistent

NMAT or any other competitive exam for that matter requires consistency. Getting a decent score will be hard if you study for one week and then leave your preparation for a fortnight. Stay consistent in your approach and don’t let distractions deviate you from what you aim to do.

Focus equally on all sections

Just because you are weak in a section, you can’t afford to ignore it — NMAT has a sectional cut-off. However, there may be a few out there who might be good with a certain section and hence sideline it to prepare for the other sections. But this practice is also not advisable. Your preparation should be balanced.

Speed up

Other than testing your basic knowledge, NMAT also tests how fast you are with your answers. Since you won’t be allowed to have a calculator during the exam, you must be fast with your calculation. Learn some tricks for quickly performing multiplication, division and other basic mathematical techniques. Though there is no negative marking in the new adaptive pattern, you would lose marks if you leave some questions unanswered.

Give mocks

Mocks are important to analyse your preparation level. Writing one mock every week and then gradually increasing the frequency of mocks will provide you with more information about how you should proceed during the exam. You can draft and redraft your strategies after every mock — it’ll give you a fair idea about whether time is an issue for you or if you are having some trouble with a particular section.

Make use of multiple attempts

NMAT gives you a maximum of three chances and the best score out of those attempts is considered. Make use of this opportunity and go for at least two attempts within three to four weeks of each other. This will give you sufficient time for improving your score and enable you to target better colleges.

Sumit Singh Gandhi is the CEO and founder of CATKing Educare, a coaching centre for MBA aspirants.