MAT September 2016 Analysis

Updated On: September 13, 2016 12:23 pm IST | MAT

Management Admission Test (MAT) was conducted on Saturday 10th September’16 across the country...candidates can take the test either in Paper Based mode or Computer Based mode. Paper based test was conducted on 4th Sep; The sections wise analysis- MAT Sep

Management Admission Test (MAT) was conducted on Saturday 10th September’16 across the country. Around 40,000 candidates appeared in the test. MAT is a national level entrance examination conducted by All India Management Association. It is conducted four times a year for the admission in various Management programs in a large number of institutes. The MAT is a two and a half hour computer based online test which is on a single day test window on 10th September 2016. However, candidates can take the test either in Paper Based mode or Computer Based mode. Paper based test was conducted on 4th September 2016. It is conducted to evaluate a candidate’s ability in various areas of aptitude such as Quantitative ability, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness.

MAT comprises questions from 5 sections of 40 questions each:

Section	Subject Area	Number of Questions
Section I	Language Comprehension	40
Section II	Intelligence and Critical Reasoning	40
Section III	Mathematical Skills	40
Section IV	Data Analysis and Sufficiency	40
Section V	Indian and Global Environment	40

Marking Scheme: 1 mark for each correct answer. 1/4th mark is deducted for each incorrect answer.

The overall structure of the MAT exam remained the same as that of the previous years’ While a few question were difficult, most of the questions were easy to moderate in terms of level of difficulty, A few questions had been reported to have incorrect options (subject to verification). A judicious selection of questions must have helped students maximize score. .

The sections wise analysis- MAT Sep 2016

1. Language Comprehension

This section had 20 Verbal Ability/Verbal Reasoning questions and 20 Reading Comprehension questions. In Reading Comprehension, there were 4 passages, all with 5 questions each. Two passages were about 600 words long and two were about 500 words long. The previous year’s trend used to be 5 passages, all with 4 questions each.

Most of the questions in each passage were direct and easy while one each would be of a moderate and difficult type respectively. A few questions tested one’s reasoning abilities as well.

The VA/VR questions included:

Sentence completion with double blanks
Para-jumbles with 5 sentences each
Grammar questions (on identifying which part of the sentence had an error).
Questions on finding essence of text

Some of the questions were on the easier side while few were of moderate difficulty level.

An attempt of around 25-26 questions, with 85% accuracy would be good.

2. Intelligence and Critical Reasoning

This section included questions with a mix of Verbal Reasoning and Logical Reasoning. Around 13 Verbal Reasoning questions were there. They included questions on Statement-Course of Action, Statement and Cause/Effect types and Reason and Assertion.

The LR section included standalone questions as well as set-based questions. All the questions were easy and could have been attempted within 30-35 minutes. Questions were mostly on the following topics:

Logical Reasoning (Total 27 questions), Family tree (standalone questions), Venn diagrams, Complete the series, Cubes (Visual Reasoning), Linear equations, Remainder Directions (standalone questions), Matrix arrangement (2 sets of 5 questions each), Circular arrangement (1 set of 5 questions), Verbal Reasoning (Total 13 questions), Statement/Course of Action, Statement and Cause/Effect, Assertion/Reason.

A good time allocation for this section would be 35 minutes in which 30 questions were solvable.

3. Mathematical Skills

The section was dominated by Arithmetic heavy (25-26 out of 40 questions). And questions warranted lengthy calculations. As a whole, questions in this section were between Easy and Moderate level of difficulty.

Questions were mostly on the following topics:

Time-Speed-Distance, Time and work, Simple and Compound Interest, Mixtures, Pipes and Cisterns, Percentages, Profit and Loss, Permutation & Combination, Probability, Geometry, Trigonometry, Mensuration, Algebraic Equations etc.

An attempt about 20-22 questions in 35-40 minutes with 85% accuracy should be good.

4. Data Analysis (Interpretation) and Data Sufficiency

The Data Interpretation section included 6 sets of 5 questions each. The questions were calculation heavy. Though the questions appeared easy but many required a lot of calculations. There was a caselet and difficult. There were questions on Quantitative Comparison and questions on Data Sufficiency (all quantitative-based) which were quite easy. Questions were mostly on the following topics:

Line Graph, Bar Graph, Pie Charts, Caselet, Quantitative Comparison, Data Sufficiency

An attempt of around 22-24 questions with 85% accuracy, in about 35 minutes, would be good.

5. Indian and Global Environment:

Questions in this section were mostly based on current events of the past few months. Anyone who regularly reads newspapers and keeps abreast of current economic and political scenarios in India and abroad would have found this section easy. Questions, mostly, were based on national events and some on international events.

This section could easily be attempted. A good attempt would be about 25 questions in about 12-15 minutes, with 85% accuracy.

Overall, the test was on the easier side and a score of 600 plus would be a good score to get a call from any B-school which takes MAT score.

All the best.