NMIMS had announced that it will conduct its annual entrance NMAT for the session starting 2020-21 from 4th October to 17th December 2019. The registrations were opened from 2nd July & will be open till 17th December 2019. The results will be announced somewhere around March 2020.

NMAT is an entrance or qualifier exam which is your entry ticket to get the management aspirants’ seats of NMIMS (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies). NMAT stands for Narsee Monjee Aptitude Test. Any student who wants to pursue a degree in a management study course in NMIMS has to undertake the test and clear the required aggregate to bad a seat.

NMIMS is one of the most renowned institutes of the country and has multiple campuses across India. However, the most renowned one is in Mumbai followed by Hyderabad Campus. Eligibility for appearing in NMAT is that you should have pursued a minimum 3 years bachelor’s degree (10+2+3 pattern) and have cleared your final graduation exams with at least 50% aggregate marks. You can apply to get registered for the exam even in the last year of your graduation programme. If you clear the exam, you can get admission on a provisional basis. On submitting your results, you can become a registered student.

NMAT exam pattern is a little different than other Management exams like CAT, MCAT etc. After getting registered in the exams, a student gets a 75 days window and students are allowed to attempt exams 3 times during these 75 days. The best of the three scores are considered for admissions. 

The exam paper comprises of 120 questions to be solved in 120 minutes. The students get 3 marks for every correct answer with no negative marking for incorrect ones. Thus, it is a total of 360 mark exams. However, it does not mean that you get 1 minute time per question. Of these 120 questions, 32 questions belong to Verbal & Language skills, 48 questions are of Quantitative Skills & 40 questions relate to logical reasoning. You get 22 minutes to solve Verbal & Language, 38 minutes for Logical Reasoning & 60 minutes for Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation. 

This is one of the most crucial points for the students as to how to manage the time & clear the exams with best marks possible. Don’t worry, here are some of the most basic and easy tips that you can adopt right away and will help you bag the qualifier marks in a single attempt.

  • Mock Tests: Before going to appear for the final exams, appear in some of the mock tests. There are several websites which give you free and in some cases paid mock tests online. You can take the tests right away from your computer screens with a minimal fees payment. These mock tests will help you get an understanding of the time and pattern of exam and questions. Your performance in the mock tests will help you understand where you stand with your current preparations. However, do not panic if the results are not as favourable as you expected. You still have time before you appear for the exams. Learn from your mistakes and rectify them.
  • Similar Exams: These days, almost every competitive exam has the same syllabus & pattern of questions. What may be different is just the number of question in every section and allotment of time. Hence, you can not only solve the online mock tests but can also go for other exams study material if any available with you to get perfected with topics and syllabus. You can also consult with your friends who are appearing for similar exams as to how they manage their time and schedule their studies.
  • Topic Wise Schedule: Not only one subject or one topic is going to bag you the success seat. You need to concentrate on every subject and every topic. Manage your day and organize a proper schedule for your subjects and topics. Get an understanding of which topic is problematic for you and which one is easy. Allot the time to the subjects as per your need. 
  • Daily Time Management: Everyone has a different way of studying. Some like to sit continuously for hours while some need short breaks between the topics and subjects. Get an understanding of which way suits you the best and develop a schedule accordingly. Further, in the initial preparation days, it is okay to take out some time for family and friends, chill in front of the TV, run your fingers on your social media feeds. These habits will not go away in a day. But as the exams dates are approaching, you need to cut off your comforts and entertainments and invest more time in studies. 
  • Study Material: Don’t convert your study room into a mini-library. People ought to get tens of reference books and material and end up getting confused as to which one to study. Instead, choose one or two authors or publishers, you are familiar with in previous studies or get advice from a friend or a senior. The narrower the perspective of studies, the lesser the confusion will be.
  • Short Tricks: These kinds of exams come with a crucial time management factor. You need to manage a bunch of questions in a handful of minutes. That’s where short tricks come into the role. Create short tricks which help you answer the questions speedily. There are many videos available online which can help you do this. Also, many coaching institutes provide a lecture on short tricks. 
  • Self-Made Notes: No matter how strong your study material is, you need to develop some personal notes in your language. These notes will help you retain the main points of the topics in your own words. These notes play the most important role at the Last Minute Revision Time.
  • Revision Time: Yes, revision is necessary and not only one but at least two to three revisions of the syllabus, short tricks & highlighted points shall be completed before your first appearance in exams.

List of Important Books: Everyone has his choice. But there are some books which are considered best for the preparation of NMAT 2019. Some of the books are as follows-

–  For Language Skills- Sanjay Kumar and Pushp Lata‘s “Business Communication, English Language Comprehension Skills and Communication Skills”.

–  For Quantitative Aptitude- “How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT” by Arun Sharma, “Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Exams” by S. Chand and “Quantitative Aptitude For Competitive Exams” by Pearson.

–  For Logical Reasoning- “A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning” by S. Chand, “Analytical & Logical Reasoning for CAT & other Management Entrance Tests, Logical Reasoning & Preparation Study Guide (National Learning Corporation) and A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal & Non- verbal.

All the Best.