MAT May 2025 PBT exam will be held on September 21 and you are all prepared for the exam day. So, what should one do as last minute preparation for MAT exam? Here are some key tips that aspirants must follow for last minute preparation for MAT 2025. Also know the MAT exam day strategy. 
Last minute MAT preparation is all about making an exam strategy, i.e. how to utilize 2 hours in the best manner. To be able to optimise your performance, you need to utilise the last day before MAT 2025 exam in revision of important chapters and planning our a time management strategy. Don't attempt a MAT mock test or try to study a topic left untouched so far. Stay confident of your preparation. Take a look at a previous year's MAT question paper to know which type of questions to expect.
MAT exam is conducted from 10 am to 12 pm, so you can wake up early in the morning and revise important concepts and formulae one last time. But as part of your last minute preparation for MAT exam 2025, you should mainly focus on devising an exam day strategy. Read below to know what to do.
MAT 2025 Marking Scheme and Time Limit
The MAT 2025 question paper comprises five sections – Language Comprehension, Intelligence & Critical Reasoning, Data Analysis & Sufficiency, Mathematical Skills and Economic and Business Environment. Have a look at the MAT marking scheme and time-limit below:
- The paper carries 150 multiple-choices based questions and each question carries 1 mark
- Each section of the MAT question paper has 30 questions in MCQ format
- There is negative marking of 0.25 marks for wrong attempt
- The exam duration is two hours. There is no sectional time-limit
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8 Last Minute Tips for MAT Exam 2025
The key to perform well in MAT is to use the exam duration effectively and select the right questions to answer. Here are a few last minute MAT 2025 exam tips to follow:
1. Do not study a day before: Take a break from full-fledged study routine of 8 hours on the day before exam to keep your mind relaxed. You can revise important theorems and formulae before going to bed at night.
2. Revise GK: In the last few minutes before the exam what should you do? Check important Quantitative Aptitude formulae and check short notes that you made on General Awareness (Economic and Business Environment) and revise them.
3. Check MAT admit card and other documents: Check whether you have kept all the required documents before leaving for the MAT exam centre. Make sure you have kept two copies of MAT 2025 admit card and a photo ID. Do not forget to keep a blue or black ball-point pen for signing the attendance sheet.
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4. Time management: MAT doesn’t have sectional time-limit like CAT, so candidates need to be mindful of using 120 minutes judiciously. They should have a definite idea of how much time to spend on which section so that they are able to solve a good number of questions in all 5 sections. Keep Economic and Business Environment section as last priority as it is memory based and would require not more than 10 minutes.
5. Speed and accuracy: MAT is a speed-based test having 150 questions to be solved in 120 minutes. So, focus on the speed while solving the questions. If you get stuck on a question for more than a minute, leave it and move to next. You can always come back to it later if time permits. Solve GK questions at last as it is not considered for percentile creations so you need not worry about it.
6. Avoid negative marking: You don't have to solve all the questions in MAT exam. If you are not confident of solving a question accurately, then skip it. Remember, there is negative marking for wrong answers in MAT but not for unanswered questions. If you skip a question, you will be marked 0 for it.
7. Don’t gamble: If out of the four options, you manage to zero-in on two possibly correct options out of which one could be definitely right, take a few seconds to analyse and choose the preferred option. Better still, leave the question if you are not totally convinced about your preferred option.
8. Stay away from stress: Be calm and confident during your MAT 2025 exam. Don’t take undue stress of tough questions. If you will take stress, you will be vulnerable to making silly mistakes even in easy questions. So be positive and tell yourself- “I can crack it”.
Shiksha MAT Mock Test (Free)
Check below free MAT mock test by Shiksha to know your preparation level and for better exam day experience.
| MAT_Mock_Test_1 | MAT_Mock_Test_1_Solutions |
| MAT_Mock_Test_2 | MAT_Mock_Test_2_Solutions |
All the best!
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MAT test cities are not same for CBT and PBT. Number of CBT test cities is more than PBT test cities. CBT and PBT test cities are listed below:
MAT PBT Test Cities:
Bengaluru, Bhilai, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Durgapur, Gandhinagar, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Haldwani, Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Jalandhar, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Kottayam, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Nashik, Noida, Patna, Prayagraj, Raipur, Ranchi, Silchar, Siliguri, Surat, Tezpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam
MAT CBT Test Cities:
Agra, Ahmedabad, Asansol, Bareilly, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Delhi, Ernakulam - Kochi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hubballi (Hubli), Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Meerut, Mumbai, Mysuru (Mysore), Nagpur, Noida, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Rourkela, Shillong, Shimla, Salem, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Vellore and Vijayawada
No, MAT CBT and MAT PBT test cities are not same. Check the table below for cities in which MAT PBT and MAT CBT will be conducted.
MAT PBT Cities
Bengaluru | Guwahati | Nashik |
Bhilai | Hyderabad | Noida |
Bhagalpur | Jodhpur | Patna |
Bhubaneshwar | Kanpur | Prayagraj |
Chennai | Kolkata | Raipur |
Coimbatore | Kottayam | Ranchi |
Delhi | Lucknow | Surat |
Durgapur | Madurai | Varanasi |
Gandhinagar | Mangaluru | Visakhapatnam |
Gurgaon | Mumbai |
|
MAT CBT Cities
Agra | Gurugram | Mumbai |
Ahmedabad | Guwahati | Mysore |
Asansol | Hubbali | Nagpur |
Bengaluru | Hyderabad | Noida |
Bhopal | Indore | Patna |
Bhubaneswar | Jaipur | Raipur |
Chandigarh | Jammu | Ranchi |
Chennai | Jamshedpur | Rourkela |
Coimbatore | Kolkata | Thiruvananthapuram |
Dehradun | Kozhikode | Thrissur |
Delhi | Lucknow | Tiruchirappalli |
Ernakulam- Kochi | Madurai | Vijaywada |
Ghaziabad | Meerut |
|

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Student Forum
Answered a week ago
Hi.
- Minimum Requirement: A MAT score of at least the 64 percentile is the standard benchmark for general category candidates to be consider
h
Scholar-Level 17
Answered a week ago
Hi.
Yes
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Scholar-Level 17
Answered a week ago
Hi.
- Per
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Scholar-Level 17
Answered a week ago
Hi.
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Scholar-Level 17
Answered a week ago
GIBS Business School, therefore, accepts 'all national-level entrance examination' scores that include the major management exams like CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, ATMA, GMAT, and in some cases State CET exams for admissions to PGDM and MBA programs. These scores will determine a candidate's eligibility for
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered a week ago
Hi.
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Scholar-Level 17
Answered a week ago
VIT Business School accepts MAT exam percentile for admission to MBA programme. The MAT Cutoff 2024 is 80 for students belonging to the General All India category. In 2023, the VIT Business School cutoff was 80, and in 2022, it was also the same, at 80.
This trend suggests that the MAT percentile has
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Contributor-Level 9
Answered a week ago
GIBS Business School accepts scores from CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, GMAT, ATMA, and various State CETs for admission to its PGDM program.
These entrance exams serve as the primary eligibility criteria for candidates applying to GIBS. The institute evaluates applicants based on their test scores along with
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 3 weeks ago
You can get admission for an MBA in Chandigarh University without appearing for CAT or MAT exams. The university has its own entrance test named as CUCET ( Chandigarh University Common Entrance Test). The Cucet test is accepted for MBA admission. If you perform well and clear the CUCET entry test, n
S
Contributor-Level 8
Answered 3 weeks ago
The admission deadline for GITAM MBA through the MAT entrance exam is February 21, 2025, based on information from their admissions notice.
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Contributor-Level 8
Registration - 23 Oct '25 - 7 Dec '25