CMAT Exam Analysis 2024 - Check Shift-wise Student Reactions, Difficulty Level, Good Attempts, Topics Break-up

CMAT 2024 Exam Analysis

CMAT exam analysis 2024 for Shift 1 and Shift 2, which will be conducted from 9 AM to 12 PM and 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM respectively, will be made available on this page. A decent CMAT 2024 score might fall between 250 and 350 marks out of 400. The CMAT 2024 exam analysis will help aspirants understand the exam difficulty level, section-wise and topic-wise weightage, and other aspects of the exam much better. General Awareness, Logical Reasoning, and Language Comprehension are usually quite easy while the Data Interpretation questions of the Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation section can be tricky. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship section is also expected to be on the easier side. Students who want to appear for CMAT 2024 can check out the detailed and section-wise CMAT previous years' analyses to increase their knowledge of CMAT. 

Section-wise CMAT 2024 Exam Analysis

The detailed CMAT 2024 paper analysis will be available after the conclusion of the exam.

CMAT 2024 Exam Timings

CMAT 2024 will be conducted in two shifts, unlike last year's trends. Given below are the shift timings for CMAT 2024:

CMAT 2023 Exam Analysis

CMAT 2023 Overall Analysis

No sectional timing was there in the CMAT 2023 exam. 1 mark was deducted for every incorrect response. Find the overall analysis of the CMAT 2023 exam in the table below.

The CMAT exam analysis 2023 for shift 1 and shift 2 is available in the tables below.

CMAT Exam Analysis 2023: Shift 1

According to students, the question paper was comparatively easier. There were a few mistakes in some questions. The General Knowledge section was on the easier side with 18 questions related to static GK. The VARC section was dominated by Vocabulary. Also, as per the CMAT exam analysis 2023 by experts, there was 1 question from syllogism and diffusion theory each. One of the RC passages was based on Bhopal Gas Tragedy and another was on Tepid Water. The overall difficulty level of the General Awareness section and the VARC section was moderate. 

The Innovation & Entrepreneurship section was theory-based and was easy in terms of difficulty. The Quant section was dominated by Arithmetic and was time-consuming. There were 5 DI sets from the Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation section. There were many Match the Following questions across all sections. The Quant section was tougher with the DI section being tricky. Logical Reasoning was moderate and lengthy as compared to other sections. There were 2 questions on Blood Relations in the Logical Reasoning section.

CMAT Exam Analysis 2023: Shift 2

The overall difficulty of the CMAT 2023 Slot 2 question paper was moderate to difficult according to candidates. The Slot 2 question paper was comparatively tougher than the CMAT 2023 Slot 1 question paper. The Slot 2 question paper was also tougher than the CMAT 2022 question paper. The VARC section was the easiest as compared to all the other sections. The Quantitative section had mixed reactions with some candidates finding the questions easy whereas others found it moderate and lengthy. The General Awareness section was difficult according to many candidates. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship section was moderate in terms of difficulty. There were no questions related to Blood Relations or Directions in the Logical Reasoning section. There were no DI sets and there was only one question for Data Interpretation related to pie charts.

There was a religion-based RC passage. There were two questions on Simple Interest/Compound Interest. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship section consisted of theory-based questions like Slot 1. Similar to Slot 1, the GK section of CMAT 2023 Slot 2 consisted of more static GK and current affairs questions. The cutoffs are expected to go down this year due to the increased difficulty level of the CMAT 2023 Slot 2 question paper.

CMAT 2023 Sectional Analysis 

Find the detailed analysis for each section of the CMAT 2023 section below.

Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation

• In terms of difficulty level, this section was relatively easier.
• 20 questions were asked from this section, out of which 5 were on Data Interpretation and the remaining 15 were on Quantitative Technique.
• 5 questions were asked from Data Interpretation that were based on Tables. No complex calculations were required.
• Questions from Arithmetic dominated this section. 6 questions were based on Arithmetic, which included questions on Time-speed-distance, SICI, Average,  Partnership, Ratio-Proportion, and Profit & Loss. 5 questions were easy and 1 was considered difficult.
• 1 question each was asked from Geometry and Modern Maths. They were of medium difficulty level. 
• 5 questions were based on Numbers and 2 questions were on Algebra. In Numbers, the questions were based on Surds, HCF, and LCM, out of which 2 were easy and 3 were of medium difficulty level. Algebra questions were of medium difficulty level and were based on Quadratic Equations and Quadratic Inequalities.
• According to the students, 1 question on Probability did not have the correct answer in any of the options provided.
• Around 16-17 attempts in this section with 80% accuracy were considered good.

Logical Reasoning

• 12 questions were on Non-Verbal Reasoning. These questions were based on topics like Directions, Series Completion, Linear Arrangements, Family Tree, Counting the number of triangles and squares, and Coding among others
• 8 questions were on Verbal Reasoning. Syllogisms, strong/weak arguments, assertion-reason, analogy, and odd one out were the topics covered. 
• All the questions asked in this section were standalone questions.
• There were no set-based questions.
• The questions were not lengthy. They were straightforward and easy to solve. No complex calculations were required. 
• Around 16-18 attempts in this section with 80-85% accuracy were required to attain a 99 percentile.

Language Comprehension

• 5 Reading Comprehension questions were asked in this section. Most of the questions were easy to answer.
• The lengths of the three RC passages ranged from 70 to 100 words in length. The passages were easy to read and students faced no difficulties in reading them.
• The topics of RC passages were: Gandhi’s principles; Opinion on the subject of Poetry; Extract from a story. 
• 16 Non-RC questions were asked. These questions were easy in terms of difficulty level. 
• 7 questions were from Vocabulary and questions were asked from Synonyms, Antonyms, FIBs, Idioms, Match the Following, etc.
• 7 questions were asked from Grammar that included FIB, identify the correct statement, direct/indirect speech, classify the sentence, question tag, etc.
• 1 question was from Verbal Reasoning. 4 statements were provided out of which candidates were required to identify the correct response.
• Good attempts were around 16-17 with an accuracy of 80%.

General Awareness

• The difficulty level of this section was higher compared to other sections.
• 16 questions were based on Static GK.
• 4 questions were based on Current Affairs. Maximum questions were based on the current events in India with a few questions dealing with international events.
• Questions based on sports, constitution, history, books and authors, physics, and geography dominated this section.
• In order to obtain a 98-99 percentile, 12 to 14 attempts with 85% accuracy were considered ideal.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• The difficulty level of this section was high.
• 16 questions were based on Business and Entrepreneurship concepts (Nascent Entrepreneur; Phases of funding; Reasons for failure).
• 4 questions were based on Business GK.
• In order to obtain a 99 percentile, 11 to 12 attempts with 80% accuracy were considered ideal.

CMAT 2023 Cutoff

The cutoff for the CMAT 2023 exam has been provided below.

CMAT 2022 Exam Analysis

CMAT exam analysis from previous years is an excellent source of information when it comes to exam pattern, syllabus, and expected difficulty levels. Here is the detailed analysis for CMAT 2022 paper section-wise:

The CMAT 2022 memory-based question paper will comprise questions from 5 sections namely Language Comprehension, Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, General Awareness, Logical Reasoning, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship. 

CMAT 2022 Revised Exam Pattern

NTA had revised the exam pattern for CMAT 2022. Earlier Innovation and Entrepreneurship was an optional section, but now it is a mandatory section.

CMAT 2021 Exam Analysis

CMAT 2021 Shift 1 was held on March 31 from 9 am-12 pm and CMAT 2021 Shift 2 was conducted from 3 pm to 6/ 6:30 pm. A detailed CMAT exam analysis for the 2021 question paper based on student reports from the exam centres has been updated here for Shift 1 and Shift 2. Candidates should check out the CMAT exam analysis 2021 to make comparisons and understand how the exam pattern has changed since.

The overall difficulty level of Shift 1 was reported to be moderate and the total number of questions was 125. The overall difficulty level of the CMAT Shift 2 was also recorded as moderate and a total of 125 questions were asked in the exam.

CMAT 2021 Updated Exam Pattern

The updated exam pattern for CMAT 2021 was as follows.

Changes in CMAT 2021 Exam Pattern - Key Points

• A new section - 'Innovation & Entrepreneurship' has been added to the CMAT 2021 Exam Pattern.

• The section will have 25 questions and 30 additional minutes are given to the candidates attempting this section.

• The section is optional and only candidates who have opted in for the Innovation & Entrepreneurship course will be required to attempt this section.

• The marking scheme of CMAT 2021 has remained unchanged so far and the total marks, duration, and the total number of questions will vary as per the candidate's choices.

CMAT 2021 Difficulty Level

Given below is the section-wise and overall level of difficulty of the CMAT 2021 question paper based on the CMAT paper analysis for 2021.

No. Good Attempts in CMAT 2021

Given below are the number of good attempts in CMAT 2021 based on the CMAT paper analysis of 2021's question paper.

CMAT 2020 Exam Analysis

One of the most sought-after national-level MBA entrance exams, the Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) was conducted successfully on 28th January 2020 by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The exam was conducted from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm (in a single session) online i.e. computer-based format.  The CMAT paper analysis for 2022 has been provided below for candidates.

Taking note of the past years' trends, CMAT 2020 was moderately difficult in nature. In the exam, test takers had to attempt 4 sections consisting of Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, and General Awareness carrying 25 questions each, and they were given the time duration of 3 hours to complete the entrance exam. All the questions in CMAT 2020 were Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and negative marking was also prevalent in the paper. To gain in-depth and comprehensive knowledge about the exam, scroll below and find the CMAT exam analysis 2020.

Important Highlights of CMAT 2020 Paper

Lets' check out some of the major highlights of the CMAT 2020 exam:

• The difficulty level of CMAT 2020 was moderate as compared to last year's paper.

• The National Testing Agency conducted the CMAT exam in a single session (From 9:30 am to 12:30 pm).

• The exam had four sections - Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, General Awareness.

• There were 25 questions that candidates had to attempt in each section. 

• Each question was of 4 marks and negative marking was applicable in the exam. For each wrong answer, one mark will be deducted.

• The CMAT score will be accepted by all recognised and approved Institutions/University Departments/Constituent Colleges/Affiliated Colleges

Section-Wise Analysis of CMAT 2020

The CMAT paper analysis contains the overall analysis and section-wise analysis. Through CMAT section-wise exam analysis, candidates will get an overall idea about the type of questions, difficulty level, etc. 

CMAT 2020 Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation Analysis:

• The Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation section had a total of 25 questions.

• In terms of the difficulty level, most of the candidates found this section easy. However, some of the test-takers found a few questions on Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation tricky to attempt.

• In this section, most of the questions were based on Arithmetic, whereas only a few questions were based on Ratio, Percentage, Interest, Time, and work. The questions of Data Interpretation questions were a bit lengthy.

CMAT 2020 Logical Reasoning Analysis:

• There were 25 total questions in the CMAT 2020 Logical Reasoning section.

• Considering the difficulty level, this section was moderately difficult.

• According to the CMAT paper analysis, most questions were based on topics such as distribution, arrangement, comparison, coding/ decoding, blood relations, directions, cube, sequence, clock, and calendar, grouping, statement conclusion, word relationship, statement argument, reasoning & assertion, etc.

CMAT 2020 Language Comprehension Analysis:

• The Language Comprehension section of CMAT 2020 had a total of 25 questions.

• All the questions from the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section were moderate in terms of the difficulty level. 

• Here in this section, the Reading Comprehension covered a total of 6 questions and the rest of the questions were asked from the verbal ability. Some of the major questions from Verbal Ability were antonym and synonym, identify correct sentence, para jumble, idiom/ phrase, word analogy, fill in the blanks, etc.

CMAT 2020 General Awareness Analysis:

• This section had 25 questions in total.

• Just like in the previous years, the General awareness section was difficult to attempt. Candidates found a few questions ambiguous and tricky to attempt.

• In the General Awareness section, questions were asked on topics such as the Indian Constitution, Recent Acts of Parliament, Appointments, Famous personalities, etc.

CMAT 2020 Overall Exam Analysis

Considering the overall analysis of CMAT 2020, the exam was on predictable lines with a moderate difficulty level.Check out the overall CMAT paper analysis 2020 below:

CMAT 2019 Exam Analysis

The detailed CMAT exam analysis 2019 for both Slot I and Slot 2 is available now. The first session of CMAT 2019 ended at 12.30 PM. As per the analysis of CMAT 2019 Slot-1, the test was on predictable lines. According to the CMAT paper analysis 2019, the overall difficulty level of the paper was easy, the Verbal section was slightly more difficult and Data Interpretation turned out to be time-consuming. GK was also quite twisted in terms of the difficulty level. The CMAT cut-offs may go high this year, considering the fact that students found the paper to be easy. In Srinagar, the exam was postponed to 29th January 2019. The CMAT exam analysis 2019 does not only contain the students' reaction after the CMAT 2019 exam but also the opinions of the experts have been included in the detailed CMAT exam analysis for the year 2019.

As compared to other management entrance exams such as CAT, XAT, and IIFT, CMAT was quite easy. The majority of candidates attempted around 75- 90% of questions within a time duration of 120 -150 minutes. Candidates did not face any technical glitches during the exam and most of them are quite confident about scoring high marks.

The CMAT examination comprises four sections including Language Comprehension, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, and General Awareness. All the sections had easy-to-solve questions. The section of Reading Comprehension comprised easy passages, which they were able to solve much ahead of time.

Out of all the sections, the GK section turned out to be a bit tricky because of the out-of-the-box questions.

According to the CMAT paper analysis 2019, candidates did not find any out-of-syllabus questions in the exam. There were 100 questions and each section comprised 25 questions. The paper had to be solved within 180 minutes and it carried 400 marks in total.

The examination conducted in the second slot was similar to that of the first slot. According to the analysis of CMAT 2019 conducted in the second slot from 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM, the exam was easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty level.

CMAT is an online management entrance exam conducted on a national level. As per the directions of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, National Testing Agency (NTA) is responsible for conducting the CMAT from 2019 for management aspirants. The duration of CMAT is three hours and it is being conducted in two slots. NTA successfully conducted the exam in various test cities Pan-India. 

CMAT basically tests candidates' knowledge and ability based on sections like Quantitative Technique, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, and General Awareness. On the basis of CMAT scores, suitable graduate students are shortlisted for admission in MBA and PGDM courses offered at various AICTE-approved institutions. There is a long list of AICTE-Approved Institutions/University Departments/Constituent Colleges/Affiliated Colleges that accept CMAT scores. The CMAT paper analysis consists of the overall analysis and the section wise analysis. Go through the detailed section-wise CMAT 2019 exam analysis in the following sections.

Section-wise CMAT 2019 Exam Analysis for Slot I

CMAT 2019 Language Comprehension Analysis

According to the CMAT paper analysis, this section comprised of four passages, out of which three passages were short and had 3 questions each. The questions in these three passages were based on World Trade Organisation and who decides the status of developing countries; Endangered Languages (Eg: Greek and Latin); Parenting and culture-related value system. The passages were of easy difficulty level and consisted of factual questions except for one inference question. The fourth passage had a moderate length and it had 6 questions for the candidates to attempt. The questions were based on Steve Jobs, some little-known facts about him, and his views on life.

As per the CMAT paper analysis, the questions under the Verbal Ability section were easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty level. It comprised of 1 Sentence Correction question, 4 Vocabulary questions, 1 Grammar Part error question, 2 questions on Idioms, 1 Para Jumble (PJ) question, and 1 Sentence Completion question.

A candidate with around 22-24 attempts in this section, with 85-90% accuracy could score well in the exam.

CMAT 2019 Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation Analysis

Like all the CMATs conducted in the past, this particular section had no set-based ones. It had all single questions. As per the CMAT paper analysis, in terms of the difficulty level, there were 9 moderate questions, 2 difficult questions while the rest of the questions were easy. There were 13 questions, which were quite easy and just required the candidates to implement simple basic concepts.

As normally is the case, Arithmetic and Geometry based questions dominated this section. Other questions were equally distributed in the areas of Algebra, Modern Math, etc. There were 2 Data Interpretation questions, which were not set based. 

A candidate could expect a good score with around 23-25 attempts with 90% accuracy.

CMAT 2019 Logical Reasoning Analysis

According to the CMAT paper analysis, this section had an easy to moderate difficulty level. There were four Verbal Reasoning questions and two Analogy questions. Also, there were questions based on topics like sequence, Coding/Decoding, Blood Relation, etc. 

A candidate could expect to score well with around 23-25 attempts in this section, with 90% accuracy.

CMAT 2019 General Awareness Analysis

According to the CMAT paper analysis, this section had around 8 questions based on Current Affairs. Those who read the newspaper daily or those who have a good knowledge of what’s happening across the world could have easily managed to attempt the questions. The paper was dominated by static GK questions and there were questions based on Science, Awards, Politics, etc.

A candidate could expect to score well with 13 to 15 attempts in this section with 80% accuracy.

Overall, a candidate would fetch around 99+ percentile for attempting around 85 to 87 questions with around 90% accuracy (net score of 305 to 310). Around 95 percentile could be possible with attempts of around 74-76 questions with around 90% accuracy (net score of 260 to 265). Around 90 percentile could be achieved with attempts of around 64-66 questions with around 90% accuracy (net score of 225 to 230).

CMAT was conducted in two slots - the first slot was from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, for which the reporting time was 8:30 am.

The second slot is from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, for which the reporting time was 1:30 pm.

The CMAT 2019 Result will probably be released by 8th February 2019. Soon after the exam is conducted, test takers can predict their respective percentiles through our CMAT Percentile Predictor tool. There is a specific process to determine the percentile of candidates on the basis of the CMAT score. Check the detailed analysis of CMAT score vs percentile, CMAT rank vs percentile and CMAT scoring mechanism here

Source: IMS India

CMAT 2018 Exam Analysis

The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) 2018 was conducted successfully on 20th January 2018 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Candidates reported to their respective exam centres at 8:30 AM. According to students, the CMAT 2018 remained on predictable lines, and there were no surprise elements. The overall difficulty level of the paper was moderate but Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning (LR), and General Awareness were slightly on the difficult side. No major technical glitches were reported at the exam centres.

Students reported that they found Data Interpretation part in the Quant section difficult as well as lengthy. According to the test-takers, even the Logical Reasoning section turned out to be tricky and time-consuming. The General Awareness section was also on the tough side as compared to last year. Students hoped to score well in the Quant section and Language Comprehension sections as they found these topics doable. 

CMAT 2018 Overall Exam Analysis

CMAT 2018 Sectional Analysis, Percentile & Scores

Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation (Quant & DI)

Language Comprehension

Logical Reasoning

General Awareness

CMAT 2018 Expected Sectional Cut-offs

CMAT 2018 Expected Overall Percentile Cut-offs

CMAT 2017 Exam Analysis

CMAT 2017 was conducted on Saturday, 28th Jan 2017. CMAT, like previous years, was a computer-based test and comprised 100 questions. It had four sections and each section had 25 questions. A student had 180 minutes to solve them. 4 marks are awarded for each correct answer while an incorrect attempt leads to a negative marking. A detailed CMAT exam analysis for the year 2017 is given below:

CMAT 2017 Exam Pattern:

Given below is a general overview of the four sections of CMAT.

CMAT 2017 Difficulty Level

CMAT 2017 was moderate in terms of the difficulty level. The performance of a student in the Language Comprehension and General Awareness sections was expected to be the key differentiator; the other two sections (Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) were quite doable in which the questions were easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty level.

CMAT Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation Analysis:

Questions in this section were mostly from all areas of quantitative aptitude: Arithmetic and Algebra, Modern Algebra, Geometry/ Mensuration/ Coordinate Geometry, and Number Systems to name a few. About 2 to 3 questions were from probability. Data Interpretation Analysis sets involved Tabulation, Pie-chart, etc. The difficulty level of the section was moderate. While most of the questions were doable, there were 2-3 tricky questions. An attempt of around 18-20 questions in this section would be considered good.

CMAT Logical Reasoning Analysis:

This section had questions from both Verbal as well as Analytical Reasoning. The section had no group questions and all were stand-alone questions. The section was pretty time-consuming and of moderate to difficult level. An attempt of around 15 questions would be considered good.

CMAT Language Comprehension Analysis

The section was along the lines of the earlier CMAT. Passages were short and of about 200-250 words, with 3-7 questions each. The passages were easy to read and comprehend but the questions the passages were a little difficult. There were mostly implied questions. The rest of the questions were of sentence correction, Para jumbles, synonyms, antonyms, fill in the blanks, etc. An attempt of around 18-20 questions in this section was possible would be considered good.

CMAT General Awareness Analysis

Toughest of all the sections. This section was also very similar to that of the previous CMAT exams. About one-third of the questions were based on current affairs and one could have solved the questions only if kept in touch with the newspaper or other news media regularly. Questions on Static GK ranged from Art and Culture, Sport, Science, Polity, Awards & Honors, etc. An attempt of around 12 plus questions would be considered very good. Overall, an attempt of about 60-65 questions with around 80-85% accuracy should fetch a good percentile score. However, the cut-offs for good institutes are likely to remain high.