New test may replace MAT

By Madiha Jawed

It might be the end of the road for the 24 year old Management Aptitude Test (MAT), if government's test is made compulsory. The exam might be pulled out from AICTE institutes as the students might have to take a mandatory test that would be run by the government for all its approved institutes.

All India Management Association (AIMA), the sole body conducting MAT since 1988 said that it would pull out the very test on the demand and pressure of the government. Nevertheless, AIMA would certainly emphasize to modify the test for private universities that run independently.

AIMA's director general- Rekha Sethi was quoted saying "If CMAT stays then MAT will not continue with its normal version. Let's not be unrealistic about what we have to face in the future"

The government has formulated a one of its kind Common Management Admission Test (CMAT), and is considering it to be one of the chief national tests for business education. The first edition for the same would be run between 20-28 February. It would be administered on the lines of GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), a globally accepted management test.

CMAT would possibly be subscribed to by all 3,500 recognised business schools in the country. However, it would not replace the common admission test (CAT) which is used for admission to IIMs and few other management schools.

As stated by AIMA's director general, national body comprising institutes, industry and students, the association will withdraw MAT from AICTE-approved institutes in the spirit of collaboration.

Some officials believe that these so-called national tests would prove to be a good-move as it would reduce stress for students. On the contrary, the director of a Bhubaneswar-based institute considers that the discontinuation of MAT could hurt aspirants in small towns. In fact, E. Abraham, director of XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, who runs a separate national test, said "One centralized entrance examination may not be a great idea for postgraduate programmes. One of our main focus areas is human resources, and we need to get candidates with the right aptitude. Hence, a centralized test cannot give us that benefit." According to him the difference in the course curricula necessitates different types of selection processes. (Read More)

There is no specific timeframe decided for the withdrawal of MAT from AICTE-approved B-school.
Akin to GMAT, which is well-liked because of its availability round the year, CMAT too would be quite flexible and will be held four times a year. CMAT will mainly target smaller cities and towns as most well-known institutes in metros and larger cities largely who use CAT to select students. Besides this, CMAT will be conducted online.

S.S. Mantha, chairman of AICTE and the key person responsible for CMAT 2012, said" This is our debut year and from the next session, we have decided to hold it twice a year to make it convenient for students, parents, and of course, for the management institutes".

Apart from IIMs, IITs and other renowned Institutes which use CAT scores to shortlist students for management programmes will now welcome CMAT. Management education aspirants would breathe a sigh of relief as they would not have to fill up multiple entrance exam application forms. CAT & CMAT are the two points business school aspirants should keep in mind from the coming year 2013.

AICTE plans to make CMAT a two time affair, CMAT is likely to be held in February & August next year. The USP of the exam is that students can take the test twice and the better of the two can be submitted for MBA admissions.

CMAT will be taken by nearly 70,000 MBA aspirants this year. CMAT 2012 is scheduled to be held between 20-Feb-2012 and 28-Feb-2012. CMAT is for 400 marks. Listed below is the CMAT 2012 structure.

Note: There shall be negative marking for wrong answers, for each wrong answer 1 mark shall be deducted. (Read more)

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