CMAT syllabus and exam pattern

CMAT exam pattern

The test lasts 180 minutes in a single sitting, and reports do not mention separate time limits for each section, which leaves you free to jump across sections. Questions are multiple choice.

CMAT marking scheme

• Correct answer: plus 4
• Wrong answer: minus 1
• Question left blank: 0

With four marks to gain and one to lose, a guess makes sense on average once one or two choices are clearly wrong. Blind guessing across many questions usually drags the score down.

Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation

• Arithmetic: percentages, ratios, averages, gains and losses on sale, mixtures and alligation
• Interest of both kinds, speed and distance problems, work and time
• Numbers, equations and inequalities, plus shapes, areas and volumes
• Counting methods (arrangements and selections) and simple probability
• Caselets and DI sets built on tables and on bar, line or pie graphs

CMAT quant is usually rated easier than CAT quant. Arithmetic and DI sets are where most marks come from, so make speed with percentages and ratios your first goal.

Logical Reasoning

• Linear and circular seating arrangements
• Blood relations and direction sense
• Syllogisms, series, analogies and coding decoding
• Calendars and clocks
• Statements with assumptions, conclusions or cause and effect
• Ordering and grouping puzzles
• Critical reasoning and some non verbal items such as figure series

Reasoning sets can be long. Read the first condition of a puzzle carefully and skip any set that does not crack in two minutes, then come back if time remains.

Language Comprehension

• Passages followed by fact based and inference based questions
• Word knowledge: similar and opposite meanings, one word substitution, idioms and phrases
• Para jumbles
• Fill in the blanks, error spotting and sentence correction
• Basic grammar

Half an hour a day with a newspaper opinion page builds the speed and word sense this section checks.

General Awareness

• Current affairs, roughly from the last six to ten months
• Indian economy, polity and the Constitution
• History and geography basics
• Science and technology
• Business and corporate news
• Books and authors, sports and awards
• Major national and international organisations

This section is fast to attempt. A question you know takes ten seconds, which frees time for reasoning sets. Keep a running monthly note of economy, business and government scheme news.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Basics of entrepreneurship and start ups, and business models
• Types of innovation and the innovation process
• Funding: bootstrapping, angel investors and venture capital
• Marketing basics such as the 4Ps and positioning
• Leadership, decision making, ethics and social entrepreneurship
• Intellectual property basics such as patents and trademarks
• The start up ecosystem in India and scenario based caselets

This section was once optional and now counts in your score like the others. It has no direct parallel in other MBA entrances, so set aside dedicated weeks for it instead of hoping general reading will cover it.

Eligibility and a CMAT syllabus study plan

Graduates of every stream qualify, as do final year students whose results come out before admission, and age is no bar. The newest NTA bulletin holds the current rules and test date.

• Months 1 and 2: quant basics, reasoning types and daily reading; start your current affairs notes
• Month 3: Innovation and Entrepreneurship concepts, plus DI sets
• Final 4 to 6 weeks: full length timed mocks, then go through each error, since every one cost you a mark

Sitting more than one MBA entrance? Compare this paper with the XAT syllabus, the NMAT syllabus and the MBA CET syllabus, or browse the entrance exams hub.