How to Prepare for NMAT and CAT Simultaneously?
NMAT and CAT registrations start in the second quarter of the year. Candidates can follow a plan to prepare for NMAT and CAT together.
NMAT & CAT Preparation Simultaneously
NMAT and CAT Preparation Simultaneously: IIM Kozhikode will conduct CAT 2025 on November 30. Whereas, NMAT 2025 will be conducted from November 5 to December 19. Candidates aspiring for both entrance exams can prepare for both CAT and NMAT together. NMAT and CAT are among India's most sought-after MBA entrance exams. NMAT and CAT share topics in all three sections. Additionally, NMAT and CAT have an identical exam duration of 120 minutes.
CAT is tough compared to NMAT; therefore, candidates preparing to ace CAT 2025 can easily get a good score in NMAT 2025. However, the art of getting a good score in CAT and NMAT can be tricky in terms of taking the exam. Candidates can take NMAT thrice during the testing window. Whereas, candidates get only one attempt for CAT. Scroll down to know more details on how to prepare for CAT and NMAT simultaneously.
Reasons to Prepare for NMAT & CAT Together
Preparing for two competitive exams can be tough considering the planning required to devise a common preparation strategy.
Keeping the difficulties aside, candidates can take both NMAT and CAT in one admission session for the following advantages:
To get admission in IIM Bangalore, studnets are required to fulfil the admission criteria of the desired programme. have a bachelor's degree with a minimum of 50% or an equivalent CGPA (45% for candidates belonging to the SC/ST/PwD category). IIM Bangalore admission is completely entrance-based. Admission to the flagship course, i.e., the MBA of IIM Bangalore, is based on a valid score in the CAT exam, followed by a personal interview (PI) and written ability test (What) round. IIM Bangalore offers admission to Indian students via CAT and international students via GMAT/GRE. IIM Bangalore conducts the IIM-B tests for admission to Executive MBA (EPGP) and PhD courses.
CAT syllabus is vast. It has numerous topics from Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. Covering the CAT syllabus also includes practicing a variety of sample questions on the topics included. Thus, it requires a lot of time. Candidates must given themselves atleast 3-4 months to cover CAT syllabus and keep in mind the following:
· Check the previous years' CAT papers to know topics which carry more weightage so that you can focus on those topics more.
· List down topicsin order of easy, moderate and tough and allot time to them accordingly.
· Make sure to study about 6-8 hours per day to complete the syllabus 2-3 months before the exam.
· After studying every topic, practice sample questions. Balance theory with practical.
- Additional Admission Opportunities: Nearly 64 institutes offer admissions across India and abroad based on NMAT scores. Additionally, more than 1500 colleges, including IIMs, offer MBA admission based on CAT. With both CAT and NMAT scores, candidates raise their chances of admission.
- Decline in Stress with a Backup Plan: Candidates appearing for two MBA entrance exams will reduce performance anxiety which could, in turn, boost their confidence. This is due to a stable backup plan.
- Identical Syllabus Requires Minimal Effort: Syllabus for NMAT and CAT are similar on most fronts leading to no extra effort for NMAT. The VARC section from the CAT exam is identical to the Language Skills section from NMAT. DILR from CAT has identical questions to the Logical Reasoning of NMAT. Similarly, QA from CAT has identical questions as in the Quantitative Skills section of NMAT.
| CAT Section-Wise Preparation |
NMAT Section-Wise Preparation |
Prepare for NMAT and CAT Simultaneously
Explore more MBA exams with upcoming dates
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30 Nov '25
23 Oct '25 - 7 Dec '25
30 Sep '25 - 10 Dec '25
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Candidates can take the first attempt of NMAT 2025 on November 5. Candidates will be able to schedule the second attempt of NMAT 2025 after the exam date of the first attempt. However, there should be a gap of 15 days between two attempts.
How Should I Schedule NMAT 2025?
With CAT 2025 being conducted on November 30, candidates can schedule their first attempt on November 5 and keep the remaining month to prepare for CAT 2025. Candidates can take the second and third attempt of NMAT after taking CAT.
Planning NMAT Exam Dates Strategically
| Exam and Attempts |
Exam Dates for Best Shot at NMAT and CAT |
|---|---|
| NMAT First Attempt |
On 05-Nov-2025 |
| CAT |
30-Nov-2025 |
| NMAT Second Attempt | Anytime after CAT 2025 |
| NMAT Third Attempt |
Until 19-Dec-2025 |
Tips to Prepare for NMAT and CAT
Candidates aspiring for admission based on NMAT or CAT, must follow the below mentioned preparation tips:
- Make a study plan by laying out unique and common topics from the CAT and NMAT syllabus.
- Firstly focus on obtaining the conceptual knowledge from topics under QA and VARC.
- Prepare short notes for all the topics that can help in the last-minute preparation for CAT and NMAT.
- Plan out all topics from the NMAT syllabus and CAT syllabus in a single prep strategy. This would help avoid duplicacy while studying.
- Attempt mock tests, and practise previous year’s question papers of NMAT and CAT to get aware of the test patterns of both exams.
- NMAT is a speed-based test; therefore, solving questions within a limited time can help candidates prepare better.
- Solving previous year’s question papers and mock tests can help candidates exponentially.
- Consider attempting mock tests of other MBA entrance exams to get a hold of all types of question papers.
The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.
- Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
- Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
- Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
- Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.
Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.
Besides NMAT and CAT, candidates can also appear for MAT, XAT, CMAT, SNAP, among other exams. Almost all MBA entrance exams have a common syllabus with slight changes in the difficulty level.
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Yes, aspirants can get direct admission at IMT Ghaziabad. Thus, candidates who do not get admission through the institute admission process can take admission. The direct admission is granted under the management quota. Aspirants are advised to reach out to the admission office for complete details regarding the same.