NMAT is one of the most popular management entrance exams that serves as a gateway to one of the most sought-after private b-schools in India - the School of Business Management at NMIMS Mumbai. When compared with exams like CAT or XAT, NMAT is generally considered to be an easier exam. Now, after many years, GMAC has announced several significant changes to the NMAT paper pattern! These are the important details of the revised NMAT 2020 paper pattern.
NMAT Paper Pattern Changes - NMAT 2020 Will Now Be A Computerized Adaptive Test
Very recently, GMAC has announced some significant changes to the NMAT paper pattern. To begin with, NMAT 2020 will be a computerized adaptive test, much like the GMAT exam which is also conducted by GMAC. So what does a computerized adaptive test mean?
This means that now, the difficulty of the NMAT exam will depend on how many questions you attempt correctly. As per GMAC,
"The questions a candidate receives are targeted at his or her ability level; therefore, a high-scoring candidate generally receives a more difficult sample of questions than a low-scoring candidate." In other words, if you attempt questions correctly, future questions you will see in the test will progressively increase in difficulty. If you attempt questions incorrectly, you'll start to see easier questions.
Additionally, a test-taker can now see her/his score only 48 hours after she/he has taken the NMAT exam! Earlier, a candidate could see their results 2-3 weeks after taking the exam. This means that candidates will now be in a better position to plan all their NMAT attempts.
Apart from this, there has also been a major change in the NMAT 2020 paper pattern:
|
NMAT 2020 |
NMAT 2019 |
NMAT 2020 |
NMAT 2019 |
| Section |
No. of Questions |
Time Per Section (In Mins) |
| Language Skills |
36 |
32 |
28 |
22 |
| Quantitative Skills |
36 |
48 |
52 |
60 |
| Logical Reasoning |
36 |
40 |
42 |
38 |
| Total |
108 |
120 |
122 |
120 |
- Comparing NMAT 2020 with NMAT 2019, there has been a decrease of 12 questions and an increase of 2 minutes in the time allotted to attempt the exam.
- The number of questions has decreased by 12 in the Quant section of NMAT 2020, while the time allotted has reduced by 8 minutes. This means that now, an NMAT test-taker will have a few seconds more per question in NMAT 2020. Prima facie, this may not seem to make too big a difference but during the exam, each second matters and it all adds up.
- The number of questions has increased in the Language Skills section by 4 questions, and the time allotted for this section has also increased by 6 minutes.
- The LR section sees a decrease in the number of questions and 4 minute increase in the time allotted to attempt this section. This means that test-takers now have over 1 minute available per question, as compared to last year when you had only 57 seconds to attempt each LR question.
- All sections have an equal number of questions, but have unequal amount of allotted time. The Quantitative Skills section has been allotted the maximum amount of time (52 minutes), while the Language Skills section has been allotted the minimum amount of time (28 minutes).
10 Important Things To Know About The NMAT Exam:
NMAT by GMAC is a national-level MBA entrance test the scores of which are accepted by SBM-NMIMS Mumbai, and other b-schools under the NMIMS umbrella. Here are 10 important pointers you need to keep in mind about this exam:
- NMAT is conducted over 5 windows, usually starting from October and ending in mid-December. Each window is made up of 15 days.
- Questions may be repeated within a particular testing window, but no questions are repeated across separate testing windows.
- NMAT can be taken thrice in all 75 days of testing. So, if you're unhappy with your scores in the first and the second attempt, the third time could be the charm.
- Each NMAT attempt costs ₹2000, and including registration cost for NMAT + separate registration cost for NMIMS Mumbai, the total payable amount comes out to approx. ₹4000.
- Till now, NMAT has had no negative marking, so you can attempt as many questions as you possibly can. In NMAT, if you're unsure of a question, it is often recommended to mark at least one radio button to have a chance of getting 3 marks without the threat of negative marking.
- You can select the order of sections you'd like to attempt from amongst 6 combinations. You cannot move across sections, unlike exams like IIFT.
- The NMAT cut-off so far has hovered in the 207-211 range for a call from NMIMS Mumbai. B-schools like SDA Bocconi Asia Center have lower cut-offs for NMAT.
- There is an official NMAT Official Guide provided by GMAC every year which comprises questions similar in difficulty to the actual exam.
- Vocabulary and basic English grammar is a part of the NMAT Language Skills syllabus and can be tough. Data Interpretation questions are included in the Quantitative Skills section.
- The time available per question in NMAT is significantly lower than what is seen in exams like CAT, XAT, IIFT, which is why speed is of the essence in this exam. You cannot get stuck on a question; you have to mark an answer and move on.
NMAT 2020 dates have now been released! Click here to know more.
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