All about MBA Entrance Exams and Preparation

All about MBA Entrance Exams and Preparation

There are several MBA entrance exams conducted in the preceding year for a specific academic year. In the previous blog, we discussed some information about some major entrance exams that you must keep in mind before preparing and applying for the exams. In this blog, we will discuss the purpose of these exams and how you can prepare for these exams. Let's get started on how to give MBA entrance exam.

In India 3,50,000 students appear for MBA entrance exams per year to apply for 5000+ colleges which provide full time, part time, distance MBA and Online MBA programs. Considering the number of MBA aspirants, there are many MBA entrance exams that are meant to test the problem solving skills, Aptitude Skills, and Reasoning Skills of the students every year. There are 14+ MBA entrance exams held every year. Some exams are college specific, where as some MBA entrance exams are centralized for the MBA admission process. Colleges which give admissions for MBA programs reserve the right to choose the package of exam scores valid for their admission procedure. Some colleges may have a cut-off percentile as per the number of seats in their MBA program.

Suppose a college accepts CAT, MAH CET, XAT and NMAT scores for the MBA admissions. Students having a valid scorecard of these exams can apply for the college admission process, whereas a student cannot apply for the same college on the basis of their CMAT score. There are other rounds held for the selection process like the Group Discussion round, SOP or Essay Writing round, Personal Interview round, and many more rounds alongside evaluating the exam scorecards. A student who clears all the rounds is eligible to take an admission in the MBA program.

The purpose of these exams is to allow MBA aspirants to showcase their problem solving skills on a platform that gives an equal opportunity for every student. MBA aspirants can secure an admission in their dream university or Institute by clearing an entrance exam with an outstanding overall percentile and great section-wise scores.

Before the preparation for MBA entrance exams, you must first check for the MBA entrance exam syllabus in order to get a fair idea about the syllabus and plan out the preparation for getting the required percentile score. The syllabus of these exams generally comprises Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation, Data Sufficiency, Verbal Ability, Verbal Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, General Knowledge, and Decision-Making type of questions. Any one exam may not have all these sections, but MBA entrance exams do have a specific combination of 3-4 sections out of all these sections.

The syllabus for these exams may not be in line with MBA studies but the questions in the exams, time conditions, and level of difficulty of the questions are designed in a way that tests the decision making ability and spontaneity of an MBA student. If a student has a mindset of an MBA graduate, he or she can easily crack the entrance exams and other rounds following the entrance exams. An ideal time to prepare for these entrance exams is to start 9-12 months before the exam date.

For preparation of the exams, the first step is Concept building. For building your concepts, you need over 400-500 hours of dedicated learning, but you need consistent learning for 6-7 months. Problems can be taken care of by practice, but problem solving skills come only from consistent learning. So you must understand the syllabus, question patterns, and other aspects of the exam that you are targeting and then start learning. There are many ways in which you can prepare for these exams. You can join a Classroom coaching which provides you with regular classes, workshops, mock tests, and helps you with Interview preparation. Classroom coaching requires huge investment as the fees are high and you need to be present physically for the classes, so you have to dedicate your time separately. You can also purchase MBA entrance exam preparation books to prepare for the exam.

You can go for online classes, which is similar to online schooling. Online learning is not much effective for exam preparation unless you are eager to learn for the exams. Another way is that you purchase Recorded study Material, which is flexible as you can manage your study hours and study through the material whenever you wish to. You can also choose the sequence of topics that you want to study. Online classes cost you the same as classroom coaching. Purchasing Study material is better than going for online learning. Purchasing courses will cost you less than one fourth of what you invest in classroom learning. You can have access to mock-tests and past year question papers with the entrance exam study material for application of concepts you learnt in the courses.

Second step after you have built your concepts in Entrance exam preparation is to apply the concepts and solve diverse types of questions while upgrading the level of difficulty and solving past year question papers of MBA entrances.

Once you have mastered the increased level of difficulty for around 1 month, you can start with the mock tests and test series. For great preparation, you must choose the updated test series and mock tests. You must answer minimum 40-50 mock-tests and test series to get an idea of your preparation for entrance exams. By answering the mock tests, you get a fair idea of how you will perform in the actual exam.

Additional Tips for Preparation: Read Novels, Newspapers, and Keep Solving Sudoku puzzles simultaneously with your study sessions!!

Here is a table of some MBA entrance exams in sequence of exam dates, for a specific MBA batch.

For getting access to increased level of difficulty questions, please visit YouTube channel @cat_prep_with_maxxcell we have uploaded the practice sessions with an increased level of difficulty and an answer key to the previous year question papers.