Eight Pitfalls to Avoid in CMAT Exam 2025: Expert Speak

CMAT 2025 aspirants have been working hard on various topics for past few months now. As the exam day closes in, it is time to know the common pitfalls to avoid. Steer clear of these pitfalls on CMAT 2025 exam day to score high.

By Mikin Shah

CMAT exam is not too tough to crack. It is conducted after CAT, XAT, SNAP and NMAT, which makes it more manageable as the candidates have already experienced other aptitude tests. However, if one doesn’t pay the right amount of attention, they may face unfavourable situation during the CMAT exam. One may get sweaty palms on seeing difficulty level of the questions. So, the important thing to do is, be confident and calm. Also, be aware of the exam process. As the CMAT 2025 closes in, know how to manage the 3-hours test, what to do and what not to do.

CMAT is a MCQ based test having five sections, every section of CMAT 2025 exam will have 20 questions, which means you need to prepare equally well for all five sections. To get good overall CMAT percentile, you need to solve equal number of questions in every section. Given the exam structure and difficulty level, candidates must solve 2/3rd of the total questions in every section.

The National Testing Agency or NTA will conduct CMAT 2025 on January 25 2025. The final few days before CMAT exam is the right time to give preparations a final push.

By now, the candidates must have completed the CMAT syllabus, practiced enough number of CMAT mock tests and are comfortably placed viz. the topic revision routine. Right now what is worth paying attention to is knowing the common mistakes that candidates make in CMAT exam and how to avoid them.

Mikin Shah, MBA expert shared with Shiksha a few common errors made by students in CMAT exam. He listed down eight pitfalls to steer clear of in CMAT exam:

8 Pitfalls to Avoid in CMAT 2025

1. Not knowing the ideal number of attempts. This is like building a house without the blue-print. You must have a fair idea of the number of attempts you are going to target. CMAT has 100 questions, so you must target about 70-75 questions.
2. Being too ambitious in terms of number of attempts. For CMAT, the rule is simple - WORSHIP ACCURACY. Any student attempting more than 70-75 questions is either a potential topper or a consummate disaster. So, don't try to solve all the questions.
3. Do not fret about the GK section and try to over-prepare for it. It is the most random section and your score will reflect your ingrained reading habit and general awareness.
4. Appearing for CMAT exam without adequate mock test practice. You must appear for at least 10 CMAT mock tests of varying difficulty levels. This will prepare you for all kinds of situation in the actual exam.
5. Having a pre-decided absolute target score (say 200). The absolute scores would depend upon the difficulty level of the CMAT question paper. What matters is your ranking and not the score. So, make a target score after going through the paper once.
6. Do not study too hard on the day before CMAT 2025. Go for revision of important topics only and sleep for at least seven to eight hours.
7. Do not get put off by a bad start. CMAT is a three-hour exam and there are no restrictions in terms of sectional time limit or cut off scores. So, even if you have a less than ideal start, you can easily recover if you keep calm.
8. Do not over-attempt in the CMAT Language Comprehension section - especially the critical reasoning questions. Fifteen good attempts in this section would do the trick for most of the students.

Read More:

• CMAT 2025: Exam Day Guidelines and Strategy to Crack the Test
• CMAT 2025: Last Minute Tips to Ace the Test
• CMAT Exam Day Checklist: Dos and Don'ts
• Top Colleges Accepting CMAT Score

About the Author

Mikin Shah is the co-founder and director of a popular educational institute which specialises in entrance exams, MBA tuitions and finance courses such as CFA.