How to prepare for NMAT exam 2022?

NMAT is one of the most sought after MBA entrance exams in India. NMAT is conducted by GMAC (The Graduate Management Admission Council) as an attempt to shortlist candidates for getting an admit in NMIMS and other good MBA institutes and is one of the most candidate friendly entrance exams. Why do we say that? That is because NMAT allows every candidate to take the exam three times within its testing window. The testing window is 75 days long. On top of it, NMAT gives another opportunity for candidates to select the test day, time, and center according to their convenience & subject to availability. If the candidate is not satisfied with his or her performance in the first attempt, then he or she can retake the exam in the test window. 

One more interesting thing about the NMAT exam is that it does not have any negative marking. Therefore, candidates should leverage this opportunity by making intelligent guesses. The challenging part of this exam is that the time given to answer the questions is quite less. You need to be quite quick and fast to answer the questions. Maintaining accuracy in such a time limit is also difficult. So, proper preparation with the right strategy will help you get the desired score in the NMAT exam. 

NMAT Exam Pattern

There are three parts of the NMAT test- Language Skills, Quantitative Skills, and Logical Reasoning. In the year 2020, GMAC amended the NMAT Exam Pattern. Previously, the overall number of questions used to be 120, and candidates had 120 minutes to answer them. GMAC has reduced the total number of questions to 108 and still has the same time limit. The section-wise changes are-

1. Language Skills- Time Limit increased from 22minutes to 26 minutes.

Number of Questions also increased from 32 to 36.

1. Quantitative Skills- Time Limit decreased from 60 to 52 minutes. 

Number of Questions decreased from 48 to 36.

Logical Reasoning- Time Limit increased from 38 minutes to 40 minutes.

Number of Questions decreased from 40 to 36.

Now, each section has an equal number of questions. Each correct answer fetches three marks. Also, there is no negative marking for a wrong question in NMAT. Candidates are not allowed to shuffle between the sections. However, they can choose the order or sequence of sections to attempt.

How to prepare for NMAT?

Now that you have known about the NMAT’s exam pattern let us discuss the NMAT Preparation Tips which will be definitely useful in your NMAT Preparation journey- 

1. Improve Your Speed & Maintain Accuracy

As mentioned earlier, candidates will get only 120 minutes to solve around 108 questions. Moreover, there are individual sectional time limits wherein you need to solve RC questions, DI questions, Quant questions, and many more. Due to this reason, it is advisable that you practice regularly to improve your calculation speed and reading speed. For Quants and Data Interpretation, remember the major fraction to percentages equivalents, cubes & squares of numbers, multiplication tables, etc. Your mental calculation skills will come handy in this exam as the calculators are not allowed. At the same time, your focus should be on maintaining accuracy as well. You should not compromise on your accuracy while improving your speed of solving questions. 

2. Improve your vocabulary

In the NMAT exam, there are close to five to six questions that are exclusively based on vocabulary. They will give the word and ask its synonyms or antonyms. These vocabulary questions are the best to improve your score in NMAT. Make a habit of learning five to ten words thoroughly. Not just learned their meanings learn their synonyms and antonyms as well. Also, learn how they are used in sentences. This will help you with fill in the blank questions appearing in the exam. 

3. Choose the order of sections wisely

NMAT gives you a choice about the order of sections to attempt. You need to first attempt the section, which is your strongest one. This is because you need to maximize your score as much as possible. Moreover, attempting your strongest section first will make you feel confident, as well. For example, if you think that your verbal section is strong, then you should attempt it first. And if you think your quants are not that strong, you may attempt it at last. This way, you can maximize your score by attempting more questions in verbal and logical reasoning sections. 

4. Take Mocks

For exams like NMAT, in which your test-taking strategies are quite important, taking a lot of mocks is the best approach. Mocks help you to realize the real-time exam experience. You can also experiment with your test-taking strategies in the NMAT mocks. And always analyze your mocks after taking them. Observe what all questions you got right and what all areas need improvement. 

5. Attempt all questions 

The NMAT exam does not have any negative marking. So there is no harm in attempting all the questions. Moreover, you can make intelligent guesses whenever you can. Also, you can strategically attempt the questions. Make sure to select and attempt the questions which you are confident about. It is advisable to leave the last minutes of every section to mark the answers to questions which you left.