Ayush Saxena, MAT 2018 topper with 99.93 percentile in an interview with Shiksha says “constantly practicing questions online for all the different topics and learning the tricks through YouTube” has helped him score good marks. A Post Graduate in Mechanical engineering, Ayush is currently the Deputy Manager in ICICI bank, Mumbai. He had a purpose in mind that he wanted to clear MAT exam with high score and this led him to start preparing for the test right from January 2018. To know more on it, read Ayush’s success mantra for MAT exam.
Q 1: Are you satisfied with your MAT result? How much score were you expecting?
A: I am totally satisfied with my MAT result and I was expecting above 95 percentile. But the result over exceeded my expectations.
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Q 2: Was this your first MAT attempt?
A: Yes, this was my first attempt
Q 3: When did you start preparing for MAT exam? What was your overall prep strategy?
A: I started preparing for MAT 2018 from January 2018. My overall strategy was to minimize the wrong answers and for it, I worked on the subject matters on which I felt I am strong at. This I did to gain maximum marks.
Q 4: Please, share with us your section-wise strategy?
A: For quant, I used to study through books of Arihant publication and online practicing of test papers from Oliveboard. For English, I was daily reading times of India and the Hindu. For Data analysis, I was practicing online papers as well.
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Q 5: Which books did you refer to for MAT preparation?
A: I did not specifically prefer any books for MAT; I was constantly practicing questions online for all the different topics and learning the tricks through YouTube
Also Read: MAT 2018 Cutoffs
Q 6: Did you join any coaching institute? How does coaching institute help in exam preparation?
A: No, I did not join any coaching institute.
Q 7: How important is practicing MAT mock test series?
A: It is the core of any success. Regular practice only makes us realize how and what type of questions can come in the exam. I constantly used to practice, ranging from 6 hours to 10 hours. a day.
Also Read: MAT 2018 Question Paper
Q 8: What was your exam day strategy?
A: On the exam day, I stopped looking into any new topics and was minimizing in think what time of questions will come. Staying focused is the key on exam day as many students discussed a lot and students tend to hear and nervous out themselves.
Q 9: Which other MBA entrance exams did you take or are planning to take?
A: I am planning to take XAT 2020.
Q 10: How did you deal with your strengths and weaknesses while preparing for the exam?
A: I wanted to hide or protect my weakness so my strategy was to study the topics, which are my strength. However, if we are not sure we should not guess out the answer, which only leads to revealing our weaknesses.
Q 11: Any tips for future MAT aspirants?
A: The only advice I will give is to focus on the goal and the exam day is the crucial thing.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered a week ago
VGIM Cutoff 2025 is not available yet. However, according to the VGIM MBA/PGDM cutoff 2024, the overall MAT percentile required for admission to PGDM course is 70 for the students belonging to the General AI category
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Contributor-Level 9
Answered a month ago
MAT is an easy exam compared to other MBA entrances, so you don't need much time for preparation. You can practice sample questions and mocks for mastering the topics. On the exam day, don't aim to solve all the questions. Attempt only those which are from your comfort area. There is negative markin
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Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham accepts the CAT, MAT or the XAT exam for admission to the MBA course. Students can attempt any one of the aforementioned exams. After taking part in the exam, students have to attain a valid percentile.
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GIBS Business School situated in Bangalore acknowledges CAT, MAT, and XAT as authorized admission tests for both undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
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MAT is overall an easy exam, but if you compare the sections, usually the Quantitative Aptitude is considered tougher than rest of the four sections, due to calculation intensive questions.
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