As CAT draws closer, it is extremely important for aspirants to prepare for other tests that they have already registered for or plan to register. In past years, there have been a lot of students who couldn’t put up a great performance in CAT but bounced back with a wonderful performance in IIFT, NMAT, TISSNET and XAT etc. Preparing well for OMETs (Other Management Entrance Tests) will take the pressure off your shoulders on the D-Day of CAT and will provide you a chance to gain admission into reputed colleges like NMIMS, SIBM, XLRI etc.
This will be a 3 part series with short tips on how to do well in these exams and I will start here with NMAT.
NMAT = Speed
NMAT doesn't levy penalty for incorrect questions and because of this most people think that they will be able to easily crack it.
Well they are wrong!
This rule will be the same for everyone and although there is no negative marking, there is a time crunch which makes this exam tough.
Test Pattern:
The exam has three sections: Language Skills, Quantitative Skills and Logical Reasoning. However you are free to select the order in which you want to attempt these 3 sections.
Section Number of Questions Allotted Time
Language Skills 32 22 minutes
Quantitative Skills 48 60 minutes
Logical Reasoning 40 38 minutes
Solving 120 question in 120 minutes is no easy task, hence cracking this exam will be about the following aspects.
- Choose wisely: The first section in your sequence of attempt should be either a section which is your strength, or a section which requires relatively less concentration as compared to other sections. Starting with a section in which you are comfortable gives you the much required confidence and momentum for the test.
- Rapid Decision Making: Do not get emotionally attached to the questions and don't let the questions hurt your ego. If you cannot solve it, move on.
- It’s tough only on the surface: You will get 32 questions in the Language Skills section to be attempted in 22 minutes. But there are 10-12 questions based on vocabulary, which can be easily solved in 10-20 seconds.
- Question Selection: Solve one liners, questions with which you are comfortable with and learn how to quickly leave a question after you realised that it will take more than 4-5 minutes.
- Mental Calculations: Given the time constraints, your mental calculation abilities will be tested. Before the exam revise the squares, cubes, common fractions and their percentage equivalents.
- The LR in NMAT will be very different from that in CAT, hence you will have to do rigorous practice of solving similar questions in a very short time frame.
- The Timer: If the timer runs out for a particular section then you will be taken to the next section immediately. So 5 mins before the time limit if you have a lot of questions left then mark them all first. Just make sure you don't leave any questions because there is no negative marking
- Logical Reasoning has 40 questions to be solved in 38 minutes. In this section Verbal Reasoning, family tree, Decision Making, Arrangements, Series, Numerical Grid are the topics to focus on.
- Language skills usually has 2 reading comprehensions and other questions like jumbled paragraphs, mark the error, fill in the blanks, analogies, synonyms etc.
- Quantitative skills will have questions from all the sections of Quant, Data Sufficiency and Data Interpretation. Solve only the easy DI and DS questions. Selecting the right sets will be the difference between a 200 and 220 in your overall score.
Finally, I would like to recommend the IMS mock test series for NMAT-IIFT-XAT, they are simply the best in the business right now.
Midnight Ruminations
Life is essentially an endless series of problems. The solution to one problem is merely the creation of another. The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
To Read the second part on tips regarding IIFT, click
here.
To Read the third part on tips regarding XAT, click
here.
To Read the story of how I cracked CAT, click
here.