Management teachers are unanimous in their views that cracking the management aptitude test (MAT) depends on the amount of practice put in by examinees. “There is no alternative to solving the problems over and over again. If you practise solving the question papers of the last five years, you can be sure of cracking the exam. Most of the questions asked in the exam are of Class X standard. The important thing to keep in mind is to solve as many questions as possible within a short time. Also, one should not resort to guesswork as there is negative marking for wrong answers,” says professor Ashok Banerjee, head of the MBA programme, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta.

According to him, since MAT tests the balanced approach of a student to the different sections of the question paper, a high score is not enough to secure admission to a good business management school. A student has to clear the respective cutoffs in each section, besides getting a high overall percentile.

“A student appearing for MAT has to answer 200 questions within 150 minutes. Therefore, he should not spend more than 25 to 30 minutes on the language comprehension section, 35 to 40 minutes on mathematical skills, 35 to 40 minutes on data interpretation analysis, 35 to 40 minutes on logical reasoning and 15 to 20 minutes on India and the global environment. Though the marks on general awareness are not taken into consideration while calculating the percentile, students should not ignore it as some institutes do consider the marks scored in that paper,” Banerjee says.

R.P. Banerjee of the Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM) feels a candidate should concentrate on the first four sections as the composite score is arrived at by using these sections only. Also, as equal weightage is given to the four sections, a candidate should allocate time to all the sections and solve the easy questions first before tackling the difficult ones. “As MAT gives percentile scores, the difficulty of the paper should not matter at all. What matters is your individual score in respect to others,” he says.

“You should start with a section you are good at. A bad start lowers morale and affects your performance. You may experiment with various combinations before deciding on what works best for you,” he adds.

Here’s how you can tackle the individual sections:

English comprehension: In MAT, the passages in this section may be selected from topics such as psychology, philosophy, medicine, economics, sociology, art, the environment, literature, culture and politics and other general topics. To do well it is important to achieve both reading speed and comprehension ability. Hence candidates should read at least 10 articles from each of these areas, says Sajal Mitra of Triumphant Institute of Management Education Pvt. Ltd (T.I.M.E.) which coaches students for various management exams. One should also have a thorough knowledge of grammar and the use of adjectives, adverbs, preposition and tense. A candidate should pay attention to improving vocabulary (for solving questions on analogies), the basics of usage (for correcting sentences) and also comprehension skills (for answering a question on a passage). For answering questions in this section, reading any good book on grammar will suffice.

Mathematical skills: To do well in this section, candidates should give importance to numbers, number theory, geometry and mensuration. One should know every formula, the concepts in quantitative aptitude as well as the steps involved in solving the questions. “It is important to increase calculation speed by using short-cut techniques while solving problems in maths. Memorising tables, square roots and squares of numbers helps in solving questions quickly,” says Debansu Ray of the Institute of Business Management, Jadavpur University. One should solve questions on time and work, mensuration, time and distance, ratio and proportion, averages, permutation and combination and probability. The focus should be on getting to know the variety of questions and developing the ability to solve them.

Data analysis and sufficiency: In this section, questions are asked on bar graph, pie charts, 3D graph and line graph. Most of the questions are based on data interpretation. One should have a thorough knowledge of charts and bar graphs. Also, one should try and improve on one’s calculation speed. Otherwise it will be difficult to complete the paper.

Logical reasoning: This section has mixed questions based on analytical reasoning, critical reasoning and individual questions on various topics like clocks and calendars. Focus on verbal and non-verbal reasoning as well as assumptions and the conclusion. It is important to develop good logical skills to do well in this paper.

General awareness: Though the marks scored in this section are not added to the total score, candidates should take care to do well in this section as it is left to individual colleges to consider the marks.

One should attempt as many questions as possible to get a decent score. Questions asked generally pertain to the economy, government policies and recent schemes. One should also bone up on facts pertaining to Indian companies and multinationals and on mergers and acquisitions.

4 Fundas :

1. As soon as you receive the question paper, check the structure of the questions, the number of sections and sub-sections as well as the questions in each section / sub-section.

2. Divide the available time among all the sections. Do not spend more than 40 minutes on any section.

3. Start with a section you are good at. A bad start lowers morale and affects your performance.

4. Do not worry about how many answers you have got right. Since MAT gives percentile results, it all depends on how much you have scored in respect to others.

Sources: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)