23, Dec 2011

Common Management Admissions Test (CMAT), the new MBA entrance exam launched by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), will be conducted as a computer-based test from February 20 to 28, 2012 in two shifts across 61 cities. With less than two months to go for the exam, candidates need to pull up their socks and gear up towards the exam.

Between December 9, 2011 and January 9, 2012 you can register for the CMAT, AICTE’s first national-level online test for candidates seeking MBA seats. The test will cost Rs. 1,200 for General/OBC candidates and Rs. 600 for SC/ST/PD candidates. There will be additional bank charges, whether you are buying the form from a State Bank of India branch or making an online payment.

The CMAT scores will help applicants seek admissions across all management programs at any of the AICTE-approved institutions. The scores thus make almost 4 lakh seats accessible to all MBA aspirants.
The three-hour test is divided into four sections of 25 questions each. Each question carries 4 marks. A wrong answer will entail a penalty of one negative mark. The four sections are:

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

Through a tender process Aptech got the contract to execute the computer-based test on behalf of AICTE.

It is for the first time that AICTE is undertaking an entrance test of this scale. Almost 2.5 lakh candidates are expected to register for the test. A coordinating team has been constituted to ensure that the required technical infrastructure is in place in all the CMAT test centers across the 61 cities. The entrance exam came out of an interim Supreme Court decision in which it asked AICTE in July 2011 to not meddle in affiliated b-schools’ admission process for the current admission year, and start its own test if it did not believe in the existing ones.

A CMAT helpline number has been effective from December 9 and candidates have been taking test trials since December 12. For more information on the CMAT, visit the official website: www.aicte-cmat.in