CMAT Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Mock test, Papers & Books

Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) 2013 is going to be held online from from 27th September to 1st October, 2012  This is the secon...

Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) 2013 is going to be held online from from 27th September to 1st October, 2012  This is the second time CMAT is being held and obviously every one is questioning how will this exam be – will it be easy or tough? What is the exam pattern? Syllabus for CMAT? Where can we find the sample papers and books to prepare for CMAT?

It is for these reasons this blog post is being made – to provide you whatever prep material is available for CMAT – the syllabus, sample papers and prep books along with a discussion on the CMAT test pattern/format. This blog post also follows an earlier blog article titled: AICTE CMAT 2013 Notification, Eligibility & Forms which introduces you to CMAT and tells you how to apply for the same.

CMAT 2013: will it be easy or tough?

I believe CMAT 2013 would not be that tough, because CMAT is expected to replace all management exams (institute level, state level as well as national level baring exams such as CAT) – hence the level of difficulty, even for forthcoming CMAT exam should be of average level – may be of the same standard as MAT (Management Aptitude Test).

CMAT 2013 Exam Pattern/Format/Structure/Syllabus:

Your next question naturally would be what are the CMAT test sections, how many questions and the mark distribution. You can find the format/pattern of CMAT 2013 exam in the table below:

CMAT Exam Pattern

So there are 25 questions in each of the four sections, 4 marks per question – thus totaling 400 marks in CMAT, which has to be answered in 3 hours. There is negative marking in CMAT: -1 mark for each wrong answer.  You can move back and forth in between questions - thus it is better to attempt easy questions first and than come back to try the tough ones.

So how does CMAT test pattern compares with MAT & CAT? You can find an analysis of the pattern of these two tests below:

MAT Exam Pattern

CAT Exam Pattern

So as you can see, the test sections in all these three management entrance exams are similar. However, time per question is highest for CAT (2.3 minutes) and the least for MAT (0.75 minutes) and CMAT (1.8 minutes). So CMAT should be more an accuracy based test than a speed based test like CAT, unlike MAT which is a speed based test.

CMAT 2013 Syllabus:

AICTE has not prescribed any syllabus for CMAT 2013 in the notification. This can be well understood as the test sections are generic in nature.

CMAT 2013 Mock Test:

So after going through the CMAT exam pattern above, you must be wanting to have a look and feel of CMAT test environment, since CMAT is a Computer-Based-Test (CBT) – there is no paper-n-pencil version of CMAT. Yes, you have to appear in it in the designated computers only in your CMAT test centre/venue!

AICTE is launching a CMAT trial/mock test from 10th August,2012 – you can click here to find the official CMAT mock test. This should give you a good beginning to know what is a CBT test environment is.

You can have some more management entrance mock test in this page of testfunda.com.

CMAT Exam Sample Papers:

Since it is being organised only for the second time, CMAT as an exam is still very new. As a result not much prep materials are available on the net or in the market for CMAT. However, since the test pattern (i.e. test sections) are so similar, you can use the prep materials of MAT & CAT test-section wise for CMAT exam preparation.

My advice would be to first discover your strong and weak areas using MAT exam papers and than use the books to strengthen your weak areas.

View Online MAT sample papers:

Aima-ind.org: This is the official MAT site. And it gives you 28 sample MAT questions in downloadable PDF file.

StudyPlaces.com: Best online MAT sample papers I came across – 5 full length papers of 200 MAT questions each and 25 section-wise papers of 40 MAT questions each. Each MAT paper is timed and at the end of the test, you get the answers with your scores and explanations. Needs registration which is free.

Downloadable MAT sample papers:

MingleBox.com has following five MAT papers:

Full length solved paper of MAT February-2008 exam

Full length solved paper of MAT December-2007 exam

Full length solved paper of MAT-2007 exam

MAT Mock Test-3

MAT Mock Test-2

MAT Mock Test-1

GJTutorial.com: A very good quality solved MAT sample paper of 150 questions.

OnestopMba.com: It has two MAT sample papers, although the format is old.

MAT sample paper.

Prep Books for CMAT Exam:

I found following books on the net for CMAT Exam preparation. These books are available in most of the bookstores, but you can also order them online by clicking the links below, from Flipkart.com which offers huge discounts upto 25%, apart from free postage in India if the order exceeds Rs. 200/=. You can choose to pay through Credit Card/Debit Card/Internet Banking. You can also choose to pay through “Cash-on-Delivery” i.e. you pay in cash only when the same is delivered at your doorstep:

CMAT 500 by IMS
List Price: Rs. 500 Offer Price: Rs. 425 Discount: Rs. 75 (15%)
CMAT: Common Management Aptitude Test by Sahrawat, Khurana; Publisher:Cengage
List Price: Rs. 525 Offer Price: Rs. 368 Discount: Rs. 157 (30%)
The Complete Reference Manual for CMAT: Common Management Admission Test 2012
by SK Sinha, S Satyanarayan, Col JS Rana; Publisher: Arihant
List Price: Rs. 525 Offer Price: Rs. 394 Discount: Rs. 131 (25%)

Apart from above CMAT guide books, following test section-wise books should help you:

General Aptitude: (Quantitative Aptitude & Reasoning) For Competitive Examinations by G.K. Publisher
List Price: Rs. 295;  Offer Price:Rs. 272; Discount: Rs. 23 (8%)
Quantitative Aptitude For Competitive Examinations by R. S. Aggarwal Publisher: S.Chand
List Price: Rs. 440;  Offer Price:Rs. 308; Discount: Rs. 132 (30%)
A Modern Approach To Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by R. S. Aggarwal Publisher: S.Chand
List Price: Rs. 695;  Offer Price:Rs. 507;  Discount: Rs. 188 (27%)
Objective English For Competitive Examinations by Hari Prasad, Uma Sinha; Publisher:TMH
List Price: Rs. 365;  Offer Price:Rs. 274; Discount: Rs. 91 (25%)


Mission MBA MAT Guide by BS Sijwali, Tarun Goyal Publisher: Arihant Publications
List Price: Rs. 550;  Offer Price:Rs. 385; Discount: Rs. 165 (30%)

Hope with above you can crack the CMAT with ease. Best wishes!

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