National Management Aptitude Test (NMAT): December 30, 2007

Q: What prep strategies do you recommend for this exam?
This exam emphasizes upon the Analytical reasoning (AR) and Logical reasoning (LR) skills. The QA (Quantitative Ability) and VA (Verbal Ability) questions are relatively easy as compared to those in the DA (Data Analysis) section. Students must work on the DS (Data sufficiency) and AR/LR separately. Students applying for the Capital Markets and Pharmaceutical specialization are required to take an additional test pertaining to this section – so students must strengthen their academic/ general awareness in this area.

Q: How is it similar and different from CAT?
The different sub-topics are spread across the paper and not segregated to sections. Last year there were 5 sections and 2.5 hrs paper – this year it is going to be a 2 hrs paper with 3 sections and additional test for the 2 specialization streams. Compared to CAT, which can be termed as difficult, the overall difficulty of the paper is moderate.

Xavier Admission Test (XAT): January 6, 2008

Q: What prep strategies do you recommend for this exam?
The students must concentrate on both accuracy as well as speed because the number of questions is more and there is usually differential marking and differential negative marking across sections. The QA (Quantitative Ability) section is relatively tougher and students need to incorporate more practice in this area in their preparation schedules so as to maximize their score. One unique feature of the XAT is an essay. The Essay writing at the end makes it imperative for students to practice on grammar as well as cohesive English reasoning. The essay invariably also comes up as a point of discussion during the personal interview of candidates who clear the written stage.

Q: How is it similar and different from CAT?
The total number of questions is more, the RC (Reading Comprehension) passages are relatively longer and the time duration for the non-essay part is less than that for CAT. The essay part of course is a big deviation from CAT.

Q: Any specific preparatory material like books, magazines, websites that you would like to recommend for this particular exam…
Students must practice writing everyday as per the standards of writing rubrics. For reference students can take clues from the official IELTS and TOEFL website for the writing standards and samples.


Faculty of Management Studies Entrance Exam (FMS): January 13, 2008

Q: What prep strategies do you recommend for this exam?
Major emphasis of this paper is on the EU (English Usage) and AR (Analytical reasoning), which forms close to half the paper. The number of questions (nearly 175), lengthy RC and critical reasoning passages (7) and a testing timeline of 2 hours make it a speed oriented exam. The QA (Quantitative Ability) section is relatively the easiest of all the sections with a substantial number of questions from the easy sub topics such as Time / Distance; Ratios etc.

Q: How is it similar and different from CAT?
Emphasis is on Speed, more number of vocabulary based questions, both of which are quite unlike CAT. But as in CAT, there is an underlying emphasis on the reasoning ability in FMS entrance exam as well.

Q: Any specific preparatory material like books, magazines, websites that you would like to recommend for this particular exam…
For the vocabulary section which consists of sentence completion and Analogy – students can refer to the web resources available for GRE which consists of these types of questions only. Students must also concentrate on fundamentals of English grammar.

The above inputs are compiled by:

Deekshant Sahrawat heads the highly successful MBA coaching program MBAGuru at Roots Education. Deekshant is an IITD and IIMC alumnus who has successfully mentored hundreds of students into IIMs and some of the other leading Business Schools in India and abroad. Deekshant is a professional song-writer for India's premiere band, Euphoria and also writes songs for films.

S.Nithya, who is a language and communications expert, who is working in the English division at MBAGuru where she trains students in the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension skills for CAT and other B-School entrances. Nithya is a Post Graduate in English and Education Management, and is pursuing research (M.Phil) in Education, Training & Development. Nithya carries immense managerial experience apart from an expertise in English and communication skills, which are invaluable in all the selection stages of the B-School admission process.