26, October 2021
MBA is rightfully known to be the most popular and prestigious course, despite being the mainstream. One of the very reasons for its popularity is the job prospects it offers, which is why it is also the safest career path after graduation for most students. Completing an MBA programme displays a dedication to learning, refining, and adopting abilities that can aid a company's success. Furthermore, people with MBAs are more confident in their market potential and the abundance of expertise they can bring to the table. This also means having a more secure and rewarding professional life throughout.
The real deal is getting Admission to MBA courses in India, as there is always a restriction in the number of available seats as opposed to the candidates desirous of pursuing this course. This means exceptional input is required to clear most MBA entrance exams, especially if you're aiming for IIMs. While the most famous and widely accepted exam is CAT, there are various other options that an MBA aspirant can explore to pursue their dream course. Let's look at some of these exams and understand how to go about them!
MBA entrance exams can be broadly categorised into three categories: national level exam, state-level exam, and university level exam. Let's look at them in detail.
National level exams are conducted at different centres throughout the country and are accepted by almost all colleges offering the particular course. The difficulty level of these exams is usually tough since they open up admission to most government colleges. For MBA in India , there are 12 national level exams. Some of them are listed below:
| Exam Name | Details |
|---|---|
| CAT | CBT exam conducted by IIM-A every year in November. In 2021, the duration of the exam is reduced to 2 hours from 3 hours, with the number of questions reduced to 76 from 100. Total marks have fallen from 300 to 228. CAT notification issued on July 31, and the registration window lasted from August 4th to September 22. |
| CMAT | Conducted annually by NTA during the last week of January. Application process begins early in November and goes up until December. Recently added a new section called “entrepreneurship” in addition to language comprehension, DI, LR, general awareness, and quantitative techniques. |
| NMAT BY GMAC | Applications for this entrance exam are currently open. NMAT is conducted by the graduate management admission council every year in October and November. 120 minutes are given for a total of 108 questions, from sections including language skills, quantitative skills, and reasoning skills. |
| IB SAT | Conducted once every year by ICFAI Business School Hyderabad. This year, the exam will be conducted at the end of December. The application process began on 6th July and will continue until December 16th. |
| SNAP | Applications for SNAP 2021 are currently open. The exam will be conducted once on December 8th and twice in January 2022—8th and 16th. The application process began on 31st August and will end on November 27th this year. |
| MAT | Conducted by AIMA. The duration of this exam is from 28 September. The registration will be closed after 30th November 2021. |
| ATMA | Exam conducted on 7th September this year. The results were declared on the 11th of September. The exam consisted of questions from the section including analytical reasoning, verbal skills, quantitative skills. |
| IIFT | Date of the IIFT exam has been postponed to October 25. All candidates are required to apply at the IIFT NTA Official website, iift.nta.ac.in for the entrance exam. This entrance exam will be held on 5th December 2021. |
| JIPMAT | Entrance exam specifically conducted for students who wish to pursue the 5-year integrated management program in the 2 IIMs—Bodh Gaya and Jammu. In 2021, the JIPMAT exam was held on 10th August. |
State-level exams are conducted by a particular state and allow students to take up admission in various public, semi-government, and private universities belonging to that state. Some of these exams include:
| Exam Name | Details |
|---|---|
| HPU MAT | Conducted by Himachal Pradesh University Business School every year in May. The mode of this exam is offline. |
| JEMAT | Conducted by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology every year for admission into MBA courses. The exam for this year took place on 21st September. |
| PU MET | Conducted by Punjab University, Chandigarh. The exam was held on July 10 this year, and results were declared on 30 July 2021. |
| Karnataka PGCET | Conducted by Karnataka Examinations Authority once a year for programs like Mtech, MBA, and MCA. The MBA exam this year will be conducted on 14th November 2021. |
| TANCET | The TANCET exam was conducted in March this year. Candidates can check their results from the official website by entering their registered id and password. |
| APICET | Conducted every year by Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. The results for APICET 2021 were released on October 1. |
| TSICET | MBA entrance exam conducted online by Kakatiya University to allow students from Telangana to take admission into all participating colleges. This year, the exam was conducted on August 19th and 20th. |
| KMAT | Applications for Karnataka Management Aptitude Test 2021 are currently open. The registration process commenced on July 6th, and students can apply online until 25th October 2021. |
| KMAT KERALA | Conducted by Commissioner of Entrance Exams in affiliation with Cochin University of Science and Technology. This exam is held twice a year, and application forms were released in March 2021. |
| MAH MBA CET | MBA entrance exam conducted by Maharashtra State every year to allow students to get into MBA and MMS courses in colleges of the particular state. This year, the exam was conducted in September, and the tentative date of the result is October 20th. |
University Level Exams are conducted mostly by private universities that accept these entrance exams in addition to the ones centralised and conducted nationally. These exams are mostly flexible and act as a qualifying criterion to secure MBA courses in these colleges. Some of these exams include:
| Exam Name | Details |
|---|---|
| GMAT | One of the most popular entrance exams for students who wish to pursue MBA courses abroad. Conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Includes questions from sections such as quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, integrated reasoning, and analytical writing. |
| SRMJEEM | Computer-based exam conducted by SRM University, Chennai. Allows students to take admission in its MBA courses at different campuses across the country. A total of 100 questions are asked from sections like data interpretation, quantitative aptitude, reasoning, English, and GK. There is no negative marking. |
| UPES-MET | Computer-based test conducted by the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. Qualifies students for admission to its MBA program. The exam is conducted in 4 cycles and multiple phases to facilitate a convenient admission process for all interested students. |
| IPU CET | GGSIPU conducts the IPU CET exam once a year for admission to different UG and PG courses. For MBA, this exam is conducted in 11 states across the country. The application process for 2021 began on 8th June. |
| GMET | Entrance exam for admission to Guru Nanak Dev University MBA programs, held once a year. The question paper includes MCQs from various sections including mental and numerical ability, general knowledge, English, and business aptitude. |
Other than these, several other universities conduct their MBA entrance exams to tone down the competitive nature of mainstream MBA exams and foster the inclusion of students from diverse backgrounds in such futuristic courses. Some of these entrance exams include GUMAT conducted by Galgotias University, HBSAT conducted by Hyderabad Business School, ALLIANCE-AMAT by Alliance University, B-MAT by BharatiVidyapeeth Deemed University, X-GMT by Xaviers Institute of Management, SMAT by Shiv Nadar University, and JKLU-MET by JK Lakshmipat University.
