All You Wanted to Know About MBA Entrance Exams in India

Now that the month of June has come, many of you would be awakening from your deep slumber and “thinking” of doing an MBA. The reasons can be many fold – some of you are tired of your mundane “IT job”, while few of you are struck at your current level in the organization for quite some time now and want to progress. There are also many of you who are just coming out of your degree colleges (be it Engg., Arts, Science or anything else for that matter). No matter what your reasons are to do an MBA or what your academic background is, the one thing common for all of you is the entrance exam(s). In this article, we will take a brief look at the top MBA entrance tests that any student should target if he/she is aiming to get a seat in the top B Schools in India. Although there are more than 20 well known MBA entrance tests conducted by colleges all over the country, we will look at the top ones only. While we will be discussing about the entrance exams, we will not get into the exam pattern etc. we will however, look at the colleges that participate in these exams or accept these exam scores for admissions.

1. CAT: Common Admission Test is the mother of all the MBA entrance tests for colleges in India. This exam is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management. There are currently 19 IIMs in India and every year one of the IIMs take up the mantle of conducting this test. This is an online exam that is conducted generally in the month of November. (CAT 14 was conducted on two days in November 16^th and 22^nd). The application process generally starts from the month of august and ends in September. Many of the top B-Schools in India accept CAT scores which includes all the IIMs and IITs for their MBA courses. Below is a list of the top colleges apart from the IIMs and IITs that accept CAT scores in their admission procedure –

• Faculty of Management Studies (FMS)
• SP Jain Institute of Management Studies (SPJIMS)
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI)
• Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS)
• National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)
• Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMT)
• International Management Institute, New Delhi (IMI)
• Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA)
• J Somaiya Institute of Management
• Welingkar Institute of Management
• Xaviers Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB)
• Birla Institute of Management (BIM)
• T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI)
• Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)

2. XAT: Xavier Aptitude Test is the second biggest entrance exam for MBA in India. It is conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur. The exam is generally conducted in the early days of January every year. the application process starts in the month of August and ends in December midThis is a written exam where the students have to mark answers on OMR sheets. Below are the list of top colleges that take XAT score –

• Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI)
• SP Jain Institute of Management Studies (SPJIMS)
• Xaviers Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB)
• A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI)
• Goa Institute of Management
• J Somaiya Institute of Management
• Welingkar Institute of Management

3. IIFT: Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is a deemed university and conducts its own entrance exam for admissions into its program. Although none of the other top colleges look into the scores of IIFT, the sheer number of students appearing for this exam compared to the seats available makes this one of the toughest exams. Around 50,000 students write this exam every year for a total of 220 seats. This exam is also generally held in the month of November. The application process starts in the month of July and ends in September.

4. SNAP: Symbosis National Aptitude Test is the entrance exam conducted by Symbiosis International University for the MBA programs of all its colleges. The application process starts in the month of August and ends in September. Below are a list of Symbiosis affiliated colleges that accept SNAP scores –

• Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM - Pune)
• Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research (SICSR)
• Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resources Development (SCMHRD)
• Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB)
• Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management (SITM)
• Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)
• Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune (SIMC, Pune)
• Symbiosis Institute of Operation Management (SIOM, Nashik)
• Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT)
• Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS)
• Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru (SIBM, Bengaluru)
• Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Bengaluru (SIMC, Bengaluru)
• Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance (SSBF) (Formerly Symbiosis School of Banking Management)

5. NMAT: NMIMS Management Aptitude Test is the entrance exam conducted by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies for admission to all the MBA courses of NMIMS Mumbai and the PGDM courses of NMIMS Hyderabad and Bengaluru. This is a computer based test conducted over a period of 10 weeks. The exam is generally held from the month of October to December. The applications start by the month of July and end by October first week. The unique feature of this exam is that a student can write the exam a total of 3 times in a year. The best of the 3 scores will be considered for the admission process. NMIMS Offers a range of MBA programs as given below –

• MBA two year full time program
• MBA Human Recourses
• MBA Pharmaceutical Management
• PGDM – Bengaluru Campus
• PGDBM – Hyderabad Campus

6. IRMA Entrance Test: Though IRMA accepts CAT scores, it also conducts its own entrance exam. The exam is generally conducted in the month of January. The application starts generally in the month of September and last date generally is in the month of December. The students can apply for the exam either online or offline.

7. TISS: Tata Institute of Social Sciences conducts its entrance exam called TISSNET (TISS National Entrance Test). This is a compute based exam which generally is conducted in the month of January. The applications will start from the month of November.

8. CMAT: Common Management Admission Test is an online computer based test conducted by AICTE. This is an entrance test for admission into the MBA programs offered by instituted approved by AICTE. The exam is conducted in the month of February. In terms of the number of students appearing, CMAT is the second biggest MBA entrance exam after CAT. About 1.2 lakh students wrote CMAT last year. Below are some of the institutes accepting CMAT scores –

• Goa Institute of Management
• J Somaiya Institute of Management
• Welingkar Institute of Management
• AIMS Bangalore
• PGS Institute of Management
• Asia Pacific Institute of Management
• IMT Nagpur
• XIME, Bangalore
• GITAM Institute of Management

9. MAT: Management Aptitude Test is conducted by All India Management Association. There are over 600 B-Schools accepting MAT scores in India. The exam is conducted both two formats – paper based and computer based. The students can choose the format they want. This test is conducted twice a year – in February and in September. The application for MAT in September will begin by July and the application for February will begin by November.

Below are some of the institutes that accept MAT scores –

• AIMS Bangalore
• PGS Institute of Management
• Asia – Pacific Institute of Management
• Amity Business School
• ITM Business School

10. ATMA: AIMS Test for Management Admissions (ATMA) is an entrance test for MBA programs conducted by The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS). The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) was formed in 1988 as a network of management schools in the country at the National Conference of the Heads of Management Education Institutions on “National Education Policy and its Implications for Management Education in the Country” held at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore in April 1988.

The exam is conducted in the month of June every year. Below are some of the institutes that accept ATMA scores –

• Welingkar Institute of Management
• AIMS Bangalore
• ITM Business School
• Jaipuria Institute of Management
• KIIT School of Management

  For all previous stories by Vistamind faculty on MBA and CAT, please click here Please join us for our Monday LIVE chat on InsideIIM.com on Preparation for CAT and other entrance exams here ------ The Author is EA to CEO at Vistamind. He is also an alumnus of IIM Indore (Class of 2010) and has worked with Quantum Phinance and HPCL in the past.