In a poll conducted by Shiksha, maximum number of respondents said they read newspaper to improve vocabulary for cracking English section of MBA entrance exams. Read more.
English Vocabulary preparation
Reading comprehension is an important part of all MBA entrance exams. In fact, it is an important section in many other entrance and competitive exams. Aspirants follow various paths to improve their English comprehension skills, verbal as well as written. The most popular being reading newspapers and magazines. We’ve been taught in school to read newspapers daily, not only to gain knowledge of what’s going around us but also to improve English. Reading newspaper, helps in improving vocabulary, grammar, sentence construction, spelling, and all the aspects of English as a language.
The childhood habit of reading newspaper, books and magazines comes into use in adulthood. Whether going for higher studies or opting for a job, you need to have good English communication skills. And that is why English comprehension and vocabulary are an important section in all MBA entrance exams.
Shiksha Poll: What do you do to improve your vocabulary for MBA entrance exams?
Often, many aspirants from non-English medium education background or from Technical streams are weak in English comprehension. To improve that, most of them resort to reading newspaper.In a poll conducted by Shiksha too, maximum respondents said, they read newspaper to improve vocabulary. Check below the finding.
Candidates preparing for MBA entrance exams such as CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, NMAT, etc. specifically read newspapers as part of their preparation plan. Out of over 200 respondents who took the Shiksha poll, 40 % said they read newspaper, whereas 11% said they read vocabulary building books. 16% of the respondents solve tests and puzzles to improve vocabulary and 8% use flash cards. 25% however, understands that English vocabulary is vast and there is a need of using combination of all the methods for best results.
Poll result
While, reading vocabulary books and solving word puzzles are also proven methods of vocabulary building, newspaper is still the most popular. It could be because, in a newspaper one can find vocabulary of all types – easy, tough, local/foreign words, idioms, etymology, synonyms. Antonyms, similar sounding words, words with same spelling but different meanings, etc.
Yes, the NMAT is easier than the CAT exam. This is due to the following reasons:
- There is no negative marking in the NMAT unlike one-third negative marking for wrong answers in the CAT.
- You can do guess marking in a last-minute rush and get three marks even if only one choice is right.
- NMAT allows you to schedule the order of sections during the test. This makes it easier to attempt the sections for which you are well prepared.
- According to the updated pattern, the CAT has only 66 questions, compared to the NMAT's 108 questions, but the level of difficulty is higher.
- The CAT is a concept-based exam where you need to understand each question, and therefore, you need accuracy as well as speed in this exam.
- The competition in the NMAT is less than that in the CAT. As most MBA aspirants aim for IIM.
CAT exam is a national level MBA entrance exam conducted by the IIM. Every year, over 2.3 lakh candidates apply for it. Since the last two years, the competition has increased further with oveer 3 lakh candidates applying for the exam.
The CAT score is accepted by the Iims and all top MBA colleges in India. To select the best candidates from over 3 lakh test takers there is a need for stringent criteria. That's why, the CAT exam is tougher than other MBA entrance exams. Even though the syllabus of CAT is same as that of other MBA entrance exams, the question paper set by the IIM faculty always has tough questions. Moreover, CAT has sectional time limit for each section which is not there in any other exam except XAT. Having a time limit for each section adds pressure on candidates to complete solving adequate number of questions in a section within the time limit. If a student is weak in a particular subject, they can't use the time as per their need. CAT's Reading Comprehension passages are long and dense unlike other MBA exams. This is one more reason why most candidates feel CAT is tougher than any other MBA entrance exam.
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Yes, CMAT is much easier that CAT exam. Despite the fact that CMAT and CAT syllabus are same and that CMAT has two more sections than CAT the former is much easier than the latter. The CAT exam is usually of moderate to high difficulty level, whereas the CMAT exam is of easy to moderate difficulty level.
There are key differences between CMAT and CAT which make the former easier. There is no sectional time limit in CMAT so candidates do not face the pressure of completing a given section within certain time limit. In CAT there are 4-5 Reading Comprehension passages which are 500-600 words, and 12-14 question.
In CMAT there is usually, only one Reading Comprehension passage, having 4 questions. The Quantitative Aptitude questions of CMAT are also easier than CAT and so are Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation questions. It is easier to score high percentile in CMAT as the number of applicants is more than one Lacs less in CAT.