NMAT 2008 is over now. And time is now right to see how you could have done better, if the score you are expecting in NMAT 2008 will be just fine or you need to concentrate more on upcoming XAT 2009 or FMS 2009 or the GBO SRCC or MIB, DU Exam.
Read complete article at Road to MBA
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Showing posts with label MBA 2009-2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MBA 2009-2011. Show all posts
NMAT is entrance exam of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). The institute till last year had only one campus but starting this year i.e. 2008 they now have two campuses. NMIMS, mumbai the flagship campus, has had some major successes in recent years as far as placements are concerned but despite of the fact that the college boasts of a good faculty and good enough infrastructure, the college is largely seen as a commercialized B school. NMIMS is one of the older b schools in India and it has managed to carve out a niche for itself.
Narsee Monjee conducts two entrance exams every year one is for the Core MBA programme and the other is for specialist MBA programme called the Sectrol MBA. Core MBA is your standard run of the mill MBA while sectrol is more focussed with specialisations as diverse as Banking, Insurance and global buisness to name a few. This WTE post covers the main NMAT 2008 exam which will be conducted for the NMIMS admissions 2009 for class of 2009~2011.
Why NMAT as a test is important for NMIMS admission
Sounds stupid eh! Well, unlike other tests where the institutes give only 40 to 50% weighatge to the written score, NMIMS gave a whopping 90% weightage (approx) to NMAT score. That means, if you manage a good rank in NMAT (NMAT gives ranks to candidates who clear cutoff), you are almost certain of admission. The paper is generally on the easier side but is time consuming. Proper planning and focus can help you seal the NMIMS call.
Analysis of previous year NMAT's
NMAT 2004 had 200 questions to be solved in 150 minutes. The paper was divided into five sections. Reasoning section had questions from visual reasoning, logical reasoning, critical reasoning etc. Verbal section relied heavily on synonyms and antonyms questions. Two passages and some sentence correction questions completed this section. Quant was fairly basic. Arithmetic was flavour of the day and there were some algebra questions too. DI and GK were on the expected lines. A score in excess of 90 was expected to get you a call, However, in the end a score of 82+ was enough to make the cut.
NMAT 2005 was on same lines as NMAT 2004. 200 questions, 150 minutes and 0.33 negative marking. Paper was again divided into five sub sections. Verbal was high on RC this time around and the difficulty level was on the higher side. The antonyms and synonyms were replaced by analogies. Sentence correction and para jumbles completed the section. Reasoning was more or less on the same lines as NMAT 2004. NMAT's romance with arithmetic continued as there were 23 questions on this subject. GK and DI were as expected. The pundits expected a cut-off of 86+ vis-a-vis 84+, which was the actual cut-off
NMAT 2006 had a good change in store for the contestants. I call exam-takers contestants, because thats what they are. Darkening circles in a hope that this darkness will take them to the light. Anyways, the change was that NMAT decided to be kind. Negative was reduced to 0.25 and rest of the things remained unchanged.Verbal followed NMAT 2005's pattern, albeit with easier RC. Data Sufficiency was new occupant of reasoning section and Quant was Arithmetic's slave. GK was easy and DI was time killer.Overall the level of paper was a bit tougher than traditional NMAT's and Hence, pundit's said 75+ was enough.
NMAT 2007 saw a shift in the format of a typical NMAT paper. The sections and weightages of various sections in NMAT was changed as follows
The paper was of moderate difficulty level. Questions were on the easier side but the way this paper was conducted was awful. NMAT authorities decided to conduct this paper in various schools across the country. The school teachers who took the role of invigilators that day were pathetically clueless and hence there were serious anomalies in the time that was given to candidates across various centers.
Paper had 5 options for every question with 0.25 negative marking.In Language skills grammar was tested extensively but the questions were on the easier side. Then there were Fill in the blanks questions and the usual culprit reading comprehension was also present. Quant and DI had questions which involved lot of multiplication and division. Level of paper can be gauged from the fact that VBODMAS featured regularly on the paper. DI had some simpler table based questions in store. Section III, Intelligence and LR was probably the most difficult section of the paper with questions based on Cause and Effect, Analogies, Facts and Infrence, Coding and Syloggisms. one could have easily attempted 115~120 questions with decent accuracy. Final cutoffs for the GD PI call stood at 85+.
NMAT cutoffs over the years
Following graph gives a quick overview of cutoffs and number of questions in NMAT for last four years.
Who should take this exam, number of candidates taking this exam, Prep resources, institutes taking this exam in NMAT 2008 Part II.
Narsee Monjee conducts two entrance exams every year one is for the Core MBA programme and the other is for specialist MBA programme called the Sectrol MBA. Core MBA is your standard run of the mill MBA while sectrol is more focussed with specialisations as diverse as Banking, Insurance and global buisness to name a few. This WTE post covers the main NMAT 2008 exam which will be conducted for the NMIMS admissions 2009 for class of 2009~2011.
Why NMAT as a test is important for NMIMS admission
Sounds stupid eh! Well, unlike other tests where the institutes give only 40 to 50% weighatge to the written score, NMIMS gave a whopping 90% weightage (approx) to NMAT score. That means, if you manage a good rank in NMAT (NMAT gives ranks to candidates who clear cutoff), you are almost certain of admission. The paper is generally on the easier side but is time consuming. Proper planning and focus can help you seal the NMIMS call.
Analysis of previous year NMAT's
NMAT 2004 had 200 questions to be solved in 150 minutes. The paper was divided into five sections. Reasoning section had questions from visual reasoning, logical reasoning, critical reasoning etc. Verbal section relied heavily on synonyms and antonyms questions. Two passages and some sentence correction questions completed this section. Quant was fairly basic. Arithmetic was flavour of the day and there were some algebra questions too. DI and GK were on the expected lines. A score in excess of 90 was expected to get you a call, However, in the end a score of 82+ was enough to make the cut.
NMAT 2005 was on same lines as NMAT 2004. 200 questions, 150 minutes and 0.33 negative marking. Paper was again divided into five sub sections. Verbal was high on RC this time around and the difficulty level was on the higher side. The antonyms and synonyms were replaced by analogies. Sentence correction and para jumbles completed the section. Reasoning was more or less on the same lines as NMAT 2004. NMAT's romance with arithmetic continued as there were 23 questions on this subject. GK and DI were as expected. The pundits expected a cut-off of 86+ vis-a-vis 84+, which was the actual cut-off
NMAT 2006 had a good change in store for the contestants. I call exam-takers contestants, because thats what they are. Darkening circles in a hope that this darkness will take them to the light. Anyways, the change was that NMAT decided to be kind. Negative was reduced to 0.25 and rest of the things remained unchanged.Verbal followed NMAT 2005's pattern, albeit with easier RC. Data Sufficiency was new occupant of reasoning section and Quant was Arithmetic's slave. GK was easy and DI was time killer.Overall the level of paper was a bit tougher than traditional NMAT's and Hence, pundit's said 75+ was enough.
NMAT 2007 saw a shift in the format of a typical NMAT paper. The sections and weightages of various sections in NMAT was changed as follows
| Section No. | Section Name | No. of Questions | Suggested time (in minutes) |
| I | Language Skills | 40 | 30 |
| II | Quantitative Skills, Data Analysis & Sufficiency | 60 | 55 |
| III | Intelligence & Logical Reasoning | 50 | 35 |
The paper was of moderate difficulty level. Questions were on the easier side but the way this paper was conducted was awful. NMAT authorities decided to conduct this paper in various schools across the country. The school teachers who took the role of invigilators that day were pathetically clueless and hence there were serious anomalies in the time that was given to candidates across various centers.
Paper had 5 options for every question with 0.25 negative marking.In Language skills grammar was tested extensively but the questions were on the easier side. Then there were Fill in the blanks questions and the usual culprit reading comprehension was also present. Quant and DI had questions which involved lot of multiplication and division. Level of paper can be gauged from the fact that VBODMAS featured regularly on the paper. DI had some simpler table based questions in store. Section III, Intelligence and LR was probably the most difficult section of the paper with questions based on Cause and Effect, Analogies, Facts and Infrence, Coding and Syloggisms. one could have easily attempted 115~120 questions with decent accuracy. Final cutoffs for the GD PI call stood at 85+.
NMAT cutoffs over the years
Following graph gives a quick overview of cutoffs and number of questions in NMAT for last four years.
Who should take this exam, number of candidates taking this exam, Prep resources, institutes taking this exam in NMAT 2008 Part II.
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In first part of What to expect : IRMA, I highlighted the sectionwise breakup of a typical IRMA, Anand entrance exam. In this part, I will cover number of applicants for IRMA 2008 (based on trends), Who should take this exam, sectional cutoffs of IRMA 2007, IRMA 2006 etc and some prep resources for IRMA 2008.
Number of applicants
Who should take this exam
Unlike many other niche MBA options available these days, IRMA Anand's PRM stands apart. It is a niche programme within niche programmes. Simply because, the curriculum of IRMA, Anand's PRM has a 4~6 month rural stint (not sure about the duration, will check and update). Students are supposed to visit villages and live there for the prescribed period. This time spent in rural areas forms the most integral component of learning process at IRMA. Go for IRMA only if you have a penchant for this kind of life. This programme is surely not for those software professionals out there who want to go for MBA because they are sick and tired of writing or even bad, testing codes.
The kind of companies who visit IRMA are ITC's e-chaupal, some NGO's, co-operatives, Rural banking or lending arms of leading banks. Obviously, once selected they will give you a rural profile. In a nutshell, IRMA's PRM is for those who can embrace rural life.
If you plan to take this exam because you want some exam practice before the big daddy CAT 2008 then don't take this exam. Because this exam is diametrically opposite to a typical exam.
Placements at IRMA
Go here for IRMA placement figures for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Prep downloads for IRMA 2008
Mock paper : will update soon
GK Prep : The competition master website. Register here and keep reading archives and latest issues.
Planning commision of India : For economic survey 2008. Very important as most of "issues of social concern" is relevant to this survey.
Keep an eye on all the awards, events etc.
Ministry of rural development : for the latest on rural development scheme.
Number of applicants
Who should take this exam
Unlike many other niche MBA options available these days, IRMA Anand's PRM stands apart. It is a niche programme within niche programmes. Simply because, the curriculum of IRMA, Anand's PRM has a 4~6 month rural stint (not sure about the duration, will check and update). Students are supposed to visit villages and live there for the prescribed period. This time spent in rural areas forms the most integral component of learning process at IRMA. Go for IRMA only if you have a penchant for this kind of life. This programme is surely not for those software professionals out there who want to go for MBA because they are sick and tired of writing or even bad, testing codes.
The kind of companies who visit IRMA are ITC's e-chaupal, some NGO's, co-operatives, Rural banking or lending arms of leading banks. Obviously, once selected they will give you a rural profile. In a nutshell, IRMA's PRM is for those who can embrace rural life.
If you plan to take this exam because you want some exam practice before the big daddy CAT 2008 then don't take this exam. Because this exam is diametrically opposite to a typical exam.
Placements at IRMA
Go here for IRMA placement figures for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Prep downloads for IRMA 2008
Mock paper : will update soon
GK Prep : The competition master website. Register here and keep reading archives and latest issues.
Planning commision of India : For economic survey 2008. Very important as most of "issues of social concern" is relevant to this survey.
Keep an eye on all the awards, events etc.
Ministry of rural development : for the latest on rural development scheme.
Institute of Rural Management was established in 1979 with a vision to provide managerial education to the rural co-operatives. Owing to the uniquenes of the programme IRMA has been conducting its own entrance exam for admissions to its PRM courses. By and large IRMA exam is divided into four sections,
Section I : 50 questions on Quant and Data Interpretation
Section II : 50 Questions to test Logical Reasoning
Section III : 40 Questions on English usage includes RC
Section IV : 60 Questions focusing on Issues of Social Concern ( GK)
The overall difficulty level of the paper is from average to moderately difficult and it carries negative marking.
Following is a brief on what has happened in this paper thus far
Sectionwise DNA of IRMA entrance exam
Quant and DI
If you have decent quant skills and good vedic mathematics skill, then you need not worry about this exam. A hell lot of questions in quant section look like "calculate 234.78712*321.99-91.8768473+bla bla", of course you are given for choices to chose your answer from. If you have good vedic maths ( read mental maths skill) along with good elimination skills, the battle is half won. Rest of topics are run of the mill work, percentage, Time speed and distance problems. Since DI is also bundled into this section, number of Quant questions get further reduced. So, anybody having a Quant-o-phobia can hope to do well on this one.
Logical Reasoning
This section is a far tougher section than the quant section. Arguments, decision making, cause and effect, definatel false/probably true, assumptions etc are some of the topics that are covered in this section. if you can spot an easy question easily, you shouldn't be facing much problems with this one as well.
English Usage and Reading Comprehension
This section forms 20% of the IRMA entrance exam. Generally, 4 to 5 Reading comprehension passages feature in this section. These passages carry some kind of social awareness connection. Questions on sentence correction, Parajumbles and fill in the blanks complete this section. The section is again atmost of moderate difficult level.
Issues of Social concern and General Awareness
Probably the most easiest to score but unfortunately the most dreaded section of IRMA paper. Because coming to terms with general awareness is still easy but issues of social concern is something which doesn't come naturally to us, because as a nation we are socially unconcerend. We would know inflation figures but we would not know the reasons behind it. We would know that there is a nationwide grain shortage but we wouldnt know the absolute numbers of shortage. IRMA's paper tests just that. What was increase in India's barley production in XYZ financial year, so on and so forth.
Negative Marking and Sectional Cut-offs
Thank god for negative marking and sectional cut-offs in IRMA paper. Becuase if it hasnt been for these two, nobody would have taken this exam seriously. These two raise the overall difficulty level of this paper. The cut-offs are in percentile terms, so generally, the section on Issues of social concern has lower cut-offs while quant has higher cutoffs.
Who should take this exam, Prep resources, institutes taking this exam in IRMA 2008 Part II.
Section I : 50 questions on Quant and Data Interpretation
Section II : 50 Questions to test Logical Reasoning
Section III : 40 Questions on English usage includes RC
Section IV : 60 Questions focusing on Issues of Social Concern ( GK)
The overall difficulty level of the paper is from average to moderately difficult and it carries negative marking.
Following is a brief on what has happened in this paper thus far
Sectionwise DNA of IRMA entrance exam
Quant and DI
If you have decent quant skills and good vedic mathematics skill, then you need not worry about this exam. A hell lot of questions in quant section look like "calculate 234.78712*321.99-91.8768473+bla bla", of course you are given for choices to chose your answer from. If you have good vedic maths ( read mental maths skill) along with good elimination skills, the battle is half won. Rest of topics are run of the mill work, percentage, Time speed and distance problems. Since DI is also bundled into this section, number of Quant questions get further reduced. So, anybody having a Quant-o-phobia can hope to do well on this one.
Logical Reasoning
This section is a far tougher section than the quant section. Arguments, decision making, cause and effect, definatel false/probably true, assumptions etc are some of the topics that are covered in this section. if you can spot an easy question easily, you shouldn't be facing much problems with this one as well.
English Usage and Reading Comprehension
This section forms 20% of the IRMA entrance exam. Generally, 4 to 5 Reading comprehension passages feature in this section. These passages carry some kind of social awareness connection. Questions on sentence correction, Parajumbles and fill in the blanks complete this section. The section is again atmost of moderate difficult level.
Issues of Social concern and General Awareness
Probably the most easiest to score but unfortunately the most dreaded section of IRMA paper. Because coming to terms with general awareness is still easy but issues of social concern is something which doesn't come naturally to us, because as a nation we are socially unconcerend. We would know inflation figures but we would not know the reasons behind it. We would know that there is a nationwide grain shortage but we wouldnt know the absolute numbers of shortage. IRMA's paper tests just that. What was increase in India's barley production in XYZ financial year, so on and so forth.
Negative Marking and Sectional Cut-offs
Thank god for negative marking and sectional cut-offs in IRMA paper. Becuase if it hasnt been for these two, nobody would have taken this exam seriously. These two raise the overall difficulty level of this paper. The cut-offs are in percentile terms, so generally, the section on Issues of social concern has lower cut-offs while quant has higher cutoffs.
Who should take this exam, Prep resources, institutes taking this exam in IRMA 2008 Part II.
What to expect is a new series, which will be covering all the MBA exams that will be conducted during season 2009. Each exam will be covered in two parts, First part will try to understand the pattern emerging out of previous year exams and second part will be a 'how and what to prepare' article. Going by last year trends IRMA 2008 will be the inaugural exam for 2008~2009 MBA exam season and will be conducted just a Sunday before the CAT 2008 Sunday. So respecting the trend 'What to expect' series will start with IRMA 2008 MBA entrance exam.
Ideally, each exam profile will be followed by a profile of B Schools featuring in that particular exam. These B School profiles will cover life at campus, placements statistics, summer internships, Extra curricular at B School and Most importantly a round up on how the alumni are doing in the corporate world.
Do not miss out on this series, sign up for the news letter and get new posts delivered directly to your mail box. Use the input box above to sign up!! Best of Luck with your preparation!!
Ideally, each exam profile will be followed by a profile of B Schools featuring in that particular exam. These B School profiles will cover life at campus, placements statistics, summer internships, Extra curricular at B School and Most importantly a round up on how the alumni are doing in the corporate world.
Do not miss out on this series, sign up for the news letter and get new posts delivered directly to your mail box. Use the input box above to sign up!! Best of Luck with your preparation!!
Alright so you have decided to decimate your existence as one of th 2.5 lakh who will appear for the CAT 2008 and you strongly believe that come January and you wil rise like a phoenix and proudly tell the world that you are 99.xx %iler. That you have learned a different English, which has just seven alphabets A,B,C,K,L,I,S. If yes, congratulations, because self belief in your own capabilities is one of the main ingredients of ultimate CAT success. But how do you plan to go about the other ingredients? you know Quant, verbal, Reasoning, Awareness and bla bla bla. Here is a step by step guide to help you cook a delicious CAT 2008
Step I : Know the time you have in your hands
Before you start your CAT 2008 preparation, i would suggest that you calculate the kind of hours you can put in your CAT preparation. Today we are sitting on the 17th of april ( As symbol of freedom and Brotherhood, the Olympic torch is caged in Delhi) and CAT will be held on 18th of Novemeber (or the sunday closer to 18th). Assuming that you put in 2 hours on weekdays and 5 hours on saturdays and another 8 hours on Sunday this is what you will have,
Step 2: Take a mock CAT
With this math done, next step would be know to how to invest your time on different CAT 2008 sections. But before you do that you ought to have a fair idea of your weakness and strengths in these sections. To do that, take a Mock CAT. Grab a paper from the internet and create real test atmosphere at your home and take the test with honesty. See, you are doing this because you wanna know where you stand so no point faking the effort. Afterall you can not lie to yourself. As for test download locations, you can download a mock CAT paper from here or here.
Step 3 : Allocate time based on your performance
Once you have the score in your hands, you will have a fair bit of idea on areas where you need to put an extra ounce. Divide your time accordingly. Do not over do or under do any section. Do not think that you need not practice Reasoning or Do not think Reading comprehension is child's play. Becuase trust me, sooner or later you yourself will realize that it is not. So, be judicious and frame a time plan.
This allocation also depends on two parameters, One if you are working or not and two do u want to self study or you would rather go for a contact programme. Once you are enrolled into a classroom programme, classroom schedule more or less drives your timetable but in other cases you have to chalk out your plan. How to decide if you want a class room programme or self study warrants one whole post, so more on that later.
Step 4 : Follow your time table
Yea right!!
Step 5 : Mock CAT every Sunday
Take a mock CAT every sunday. Save your scores and keep checking your progress. Also, check if your time table is in line with your progress. because as the time passes you will get a better hang of things.
Step 6 : Read Newspapers, magazines, Watch News Channels
No matter how much you hate all that, you have no other option but to do all this and more. You will need all this current affair gyan and analytical skills in later stages of your CAT career. So start as soon as possible.
Step 7 : Take mock CAT series
Most CAT training institutes conduct All India level Mock series during august to novemeber period. Enroll for one of those and keep a tab on your performance vis-a-vis fellow contestants. Contestants? Yea, CAT is a contest afterall!!
Follow these broad guidelines with discipline and I can assure you that your final CAT 2008 score will be way better than your first Mock. I didnt do much of these and I couldn't achieve what I wanted to. But for me CAT dream is over, I hope this recipe helps you cook your dream of CAT 2008 success!!
Best of Luck!!
Comments are open!!
Step I : Know the time you have in your hands
Before you start your CAT 2008 preparation, i would suggest that you calculate the kind of hours you can put in your CAT preparation. Today we are sitting on the 17th of april ( As symbol of freedom and Brotherhood, the Olympic torch is caged in Delhi) and CAT will be held on 18th of Novemeber (or the sunday closer to 18th). Assuming that you put in 2 hours on weekdays and 5 hours on saturdays and another 8 hours on Sunday this is what you will have,
Step 2: Take a mock CAT
With this math done, next step would be know to how to invest your time on different CAT 2008 sections. But before you do that you ought to have a fair idea of your weakness and strengths in these sections. To do that, take a Mock CAT. Grab a paper from the internet and create real test atmosphere at your home and take the test with honesty. See, you are doing this because you wanna know where you stand so no point faking the effort. Afterall you can not lie to yourself. As for test download locations, you can download a mock CAT paper from here or here.
Step 3 : Allocate time based on your performance
Once you have the score in your hands, you will have a fair bit of idea on areas where you need to put an extra ounce. Divide your time accordingly. Do not over do or under do any section. Do not think that you need not practice Reasoning or Do not think Reading comprehension is child's play. Becuase trust me, sooner or later you yourself will realize that it is not. So, be judicious and frame a time plan.
This allocation also depends on two parameters, One if you are working or not and two do u want to self study or you would rather go for a contact programme. Once you are enrolled into a classroom programme, classroom schedule more or less drives your timetable but in other cases you have to chalk out your plan. How to decide if you want a class room programme or self study warrants one whole post, so more on that later.
Step 4 : Follow your time table
Yea right!!
Step 5 : Mock CAT every Sunday
Take a mock CAT every sunday. Save your scores and keep checking your progress. Also, check if your time table is in line with your progress. because as the time passes you will get a better hang of things.
Step 6 : Read Newspapers, magazines, Watch News Channels
No matter how much you hate all that, you have no other option but to do all this and more. You will need all this current affair gyan and analytical skills in later stages of your CAT career. So start as soon as possible.
Step 7 : Take mock CAT series
Most CAT training institutes conduct All India level Mock series during august to novemeber period. Enroll for one of those and keep a tab on your performance vis-a-vis fellow contestants. Contestants? Yea, CAT is a contest afterall!!
Follow these broad guidelines with discipline and I can assure you that your final CAT 2008 score will be way better than your first Mock. I didnt do much of these and I couldn't achieve what I wanted to. But for me CAT dream is over, I hope this recipe helps you cook your dream of CAT 2008 success!!
Best of Luck!!
Comments are open!!
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