Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) Analysis: February 2012

Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) was conducted by AICTE between 20 February to 28 February 2012 for the first time. Second CMAT has been scheduled between 27 September 2012 to 1 October 2012.
To fare well in the examination, candidates need to know previous examination pattern.

CMAT February 2012- Overview

First CMAT had the following pattern:

No. of Questions : 100
Test Duration: 180 minutes
No. of Sections: 4
No. of questions in each section: 25

Name of the sections:

1. Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation,
2. Logical Reasoning,
3. Language Comprehension and
4. General Awareness

Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation: Section Analysis

There were 25 questions evenly distributed among Arithmetic, Geometry, Data Interpretation and Number System.Arithmetic had questions on Percentages, Profit and Loss, Simple and Compound Interest, Speed, Time and Distance, Time and Work, Averages and Complex Numbers.
There were a few questions based on Mensuration and Geometrical concepts and were of the kind which are regularly asked in entrance examinations.
There were 4 questions on the concept of Number System which were easy in terms of difficulty level.
Data Interpretation section had questions based on tables and graphs and required direct mathematical calculations.

Logical Reasoning: Section Analysis

Like every subject, Logical reasoning has its own vocabulary.
CMAT had typical Reasoning ability questions based on Assertion and reasons, Statements and assumptions, Strong and Weak arguments, Inference based questions and Cause and Effect. It also had a few questions on Visual Reasoning and Syllogism.

Language Comprehension: Section Analysis

English Language can be cracked and improved only with continuous learning.  CMAT had 25 questions on Language comprehension.
Unlike CAT, Reading Comprehension passages in CMAT were shorter which saved lot of time.Students were required to answer typical vocabulary and English Grammar based problems.There were questions on idioms, sentence correction and completion, fill in the blanks etc.

General Awareness: Section Analysis

General Awareness section had questions from nearly all the fields. It included arts, science, management, politics, national and international and was easy for candidates who were updated. Students constantly need to brush up Current Affairs to score well in this section.


The overall difficulty level of the first CMAT entrance exam was lower than CAT.
There were four sections with 100 questions with very little surprises in terms of the type of questions asked.
Each section had 25 questions in it. Test duration was 3 hours.
CMAT is expected to follow the same format in September 2012 also.