Important Topics for MAT – AIMA Test Pattern

MAT is an objective type test with multiple-choice answers. Candidates have to answer 200 Questions in 150 minutes. The test is designed to measure a student’s aptitude for business education. It is important that a student scores marks in all the sections of the test. Students are not allowed to use calculators during the examinations. There is negative marking for wrong answers. Hence guess work does cost you marks. Beware. Questions are divided into five sections as follows:

1. Language and Comprehension: 40 questions – 30 minutes
2. Mathematical Skills: 40 questions – 40 minutes
3. Data Analysis and Sufficiency: 40 questions – 35 minutes
4. Intelligence and Critical Reasoning: 40 questions – 30 minutes
5. Indian and Global Environment: 40 questions – 15 minutes

The MAT examination tests the students on the following:

Language & Comprehension: Topics covered are Paragraph completion, Paragraph jumbling, Sentence correction, Sentence completion, Synonyms/antonyms and Fill in the blanks. To fare well in this section it is important to develop vocabulary by reading thought provoking books, magazines and editorials in newspapers. Update your grammar by reading books which enhance English language skills.

Mathematical Skills: Focus of the test is on the basic concept of Mathematics. The topics include Arithmetic, Geometry and Mensuration, and miscellaneous topics such as Time, Speed & Distance, Simple/Compound Interest, Series, Mixture and Set theory. The right way to prepare is to study Mathematics books of NCERT from Standard VII to X. Learning as many formulae as possible and remembering them would help. Learn the shortcuts to remember the formulae.

Intelligence and Critical Reasoning: Data Arrangement, Input Output type, Strong and Weak Argument, Probably/Definitely True, Critical Reasoning, Blood Relations, Series Completion, Coding Decoding, Letter Sequence, Number Sequence, Analogies, etc. are tested in this section. Reasoning demands a lot of practice. It requires training your brain to think and act in a particular way. Enhance your skills by solving puzzles. Discuss with your friends and teachers to find solutions, if you cannot solve. Speed in answering is the essence of scoring in this section. Practice, practice, practice.

Data Analysis & Data Sufficiency: Number crunching is very important for aspiring managers. In this section, ability to deal with Tables, Charts, Line graph, Data sufficiency, Pie chart, Combinational graph, Bar graph, etc. are tested.

Indian and Global Environment: General awareness of the students is an important requirement for management education. Hence general knowledge of the students is checked in this section. Basic knowledge of Science, Geography, History, Economics, Current Affairs, Politics, etc. would be useful to do well in this section. Current affairs, acquisitions, mergers, economics, business ideas, statistics, punch lines, brands, etc. would help. A good knowledge of all branches of general knowledge can be acquired by reading books, newspapers that will keep you updated with the happenings around the world. Students may read year books from Malayala Manoram, Competition Success Review, etc. for scoring better in this section.

Analyze your strengths and weaknesses in each of the above areas. Prepare a plan to capitalize on your strengths and eliminating the weaknesses. Start your preparation as soon as possible. Remember the saying ‘early bird catches the worm.’ Plan in such as way that there is some time left at the end for revision. This is what most of the students miss out on.