Top 10 MBA Entrance Exams in India 2020

Looking for all current updates on MBA Entrance Exams 2020, congrats, you are on the right page.

Lets start with the current update : Almost 50 MBA entrance exams from May to July 2020 will offer admission opportunity for 2020-22 batch.

Many of the exams have been postponed due to Corona virus outbreak. The All India Management Association has postponed May MAT 2020 schedule to the month of June 2020 due to corona virus outbreak and country wide lock down. 

The new dates for MAT 2020 exam paper for based test is June 14 and for computer based test is June 21.

Let’s look at application and exam dates of the top 10 MBA entrance exams in India which paves the path to prestigious MBA colleges.

The most sought after MBA entrance exam in India is the Common Admission Test or popularly known as CAT. Over 1500 MBA colleges (including all the IIMs) prefer candidates for admission on the basis of marks obtained by them in CAT.

Just after CAT we have CMAT as the second most popular exam on the basis of meritocracy. Accepted by 1200 MBA colleges across India a good CMAT score can really help to get admission in some of the best institutes of the country.

Other than these, there are more than 50 entrance tests for admission to MBA colleges.

MBA entrance exams are conducted at 3different levels.

·    National level: Most popular among them are CAT, CMAT and MAT

·    State level: Most popular among them are MAH-CET, TSICET, KMAT and TANCET 

·    University/College level: Some prominent entrance tests include XAT, SNAP, IIFT Exam and IRMASAT.

Given below a list of MBA Exams one can take in the coming months, the registration process, eligibility criteria, fees, syllabus, pattern and preparation. This will help you in deciding which exams you can take and which colleges you can apply to. 

CAT Overview

CAT, conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). It’s score is used by 20 IIMs and more than 1000 other management institutes across the country for admission. Over two lakh students appear for CAT each year.

It started in 1950 and graduated to being an online-entrance test in 2009. The CAT question paper consists of 100 questions (MCQs) to be solved in 180 minutes. Registration begins in August and the exam is conducted in November. It consists of three sections: Verbal Abiliy, Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning. These segments are grouped into three sections:

·    Quantitative Aptitude (QA)

·    Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)

·    Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VRC)

CMAT Overview

CMAT exam is held in the month of January every year.

It is a computer-based exam (held for 180 minutes) and tests the candidate’s ability in four main sections:

·    Quantitative technique

·    Logical reasoning

·    Language comprehension

·    General Awareness

XAT Overview

 Xavier Aptitude Test or XAT is conducted by Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur. It is held on the first Sunday of January. XAT scores are accepted by XLRI Jamshedpur, XIMB, XISS and more than 1000 management institutes. The exam tests the candidate on four fronts:

·    Quantitative Ability

·    English Language & Logical Reasoning

·    Decision Making

·    General Knowledge

SNAP Overview

SNAP or Symbiosis National Aptitude Test conducted by Symbiosis International University is also one of the most popular entrance exam. Its score is primarily used for admission to 15 institutes under Symbiosis International University. However, many other MBA colleges also consider SNAP scores for admission. Registrations take place from August to November and the exam is held in December.

It is also a computer-based exam and the duration is two hours. It tests candidates on:

·    General English

·    Quantitative, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency

·    Analytical & Logical Reasoning

NMAT Overview

NMIMS Management Aptitude Test (NMAT) is also one of the popular MBA entrance exams. It was acquired and rebranded as NMAT by GMAC in 2015. It is a computer-based exam, held over a 75-day testing window, between October and December. Exam pattern : 120 MCQs in 120 minutes.

It has various candidate-friendly options. Candidates can allowed to appear for the exam a total of 3 times and the best of 3 scores will be used for admission. It has three main sections:

·    Language Skills

·    Quantitative Skills

·    Logical Reasoning

MAT Overview

Management Aptitude Test or MAT, more than 600 institutes accept MAT exam scores for admission to management programmes. It is conducted by the All India Management Association (AIMA), it is held four times a year – February, May, September and December. Exam is held in both offline (written) and online (computer-based) mode. Held for 150 minutes, MAT question paper has 200 questions. The candidate is tested on the following five areas:

1. Indian and Global Environment
2. Language Comprehension
3. Data Analysis and Sufficiency
4. Mathematical Skills
5. Intelligence and Critical Reasoning

So we can note that if one appears in all the above MBA entrance exams, the cost of MBA entrance tests is around Rs.18,000/-. To avoid such a high MBA entrance exam fee, one can choose their preferred MBA entrance exams the scores of which are accepted by more MBA colleges. CAT, XAT, CMAT, NMAT, MAT are the national level MBA entrance exams and cover most of the colleges accepting their exam score. This way one could reduce the burden of the MBA entrance exam cost