How to prepare for top MBA exams other than CAT - IIFT, NMAT SNAP, CET

CAT 2020 results are out, while some have belled the CAT this year, many are still not sure whether they will be able to land into a good MBA college with their CAT scores. The stress that is involved while preparing for CAT or MBA exams other than CAT can’t be explained. Any MBA aspirant has a strategy to appear in more than one exam. But you have to be smart about it. The explanation for this is the overlap between the syllabus and the kind of questions posed in these tests. In these tests, one also needs to be mindful of dissimilarities. Knowing these variations will give an aspirant a massive advantage over someone who is not conscious of them. The two main points to keep in mind are:

• Similarities between the tests
• Differences between the tests

There is be no big difference in the planning strategy to be adopted for MBA exams other than CAT. Of course, each test does have its own genetic code, so there will be slight strategic and substance variations. But it would hardly be the case that you can grasp and resolve all the questions from NMAT, when you are struggling to smash the IIFT exam, SNAP, and CET exam. 

Syllabus for MBA exams other than CAT

Some topics that are very generic to any MBA exam, which you cannot afford to miss are:

Para jumbles, critical reasoning, grammar, simple and complex arrangements, blood relations, are also a part of the tests. And of course, there is a general awareness section which includes questions from day to day important events. 

CAT vs other exams

NMAT 

NMAT is a national MBA entry examination administered for admission to NMIMS and other reputed B-Schools in India by GMAC or NMAT. NMAT is a fun exam for applicants. It is designed to keep the ease of test-takers in mind.

During the test window, candidates are permitted to select their chosen date and self-schedule the test, appointment date, time, and location, depending on the availability of seats at each test center. This is a special thing about the test.

The good part about NMAT is that there is no negative marking, which means you should push the attempt a little more vigorously. For the last few years, the cutoffs have hovered around 207 and 360. Beware of individuals worried about several attempts and questions that are leaked/repeated. At the end of the day, it does not matter a great deal. 

NMAT is accepted by NMIMS University and 30+ leading B-schools and Universities. Some other colleges are VIT Vellore, XUB Bhubaneswar, ICFAI University colleges, Jindal Global University, specialized Programs offered by well known private B-schools like SPJIMR, ISB and TAPMI.

CAT VS NMAT Syllabus  

CAT vs NMAT Syllabus: VARC

CAT vs NMAT Syllabus: DILR

CAT vs NMAT Syllabus: QA

CAT vs NMAT: Marking scheme

CAT vs NMAT: Sectional Time Limit

IIFT 

IIFT provides you with an MBA Degree in International Business. Along with marketing, banking, trade, you can also do a dual major in whatever stream you want and can even do a minor in operations. 

It used to be a selection-based test (about 30-35 marks on 100 cut-offs), but it has progressively changed to a speed-based test over the last few years (cutoffs at 48.5 marks on 100). The general expectation for IIFT 2021 is that RCs will be long, VA quick, DI will be complex in the calculation, Quantitative a bit medium to challenging, and LR manageable. GK is pretty moderate and if you have a daily habit of reading, you can easily crack it.

The sectional cutoffs are low and you should focus on optimizing your overall performance to crack this exam. While the other parts are pretty much the same as CAT, verbal ability focuses more on vocabulary. 

IIFT Exam Pattern and Syllabus

Time to spend on each section

Colleges that accept IIFT score:

• IIFT Delhi - Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
• IIFT Kolkata - Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
• Krupanidhi School of Management, Krupanidhi Group of Institutions
• Community Institute of Management Studies
• Indian Academy School of Management Studies
• Jain College of Engineering - JCE
• International Institute of Fashion Technology, North Delhi

SNAP

The Symbiosis National Aptitude Test usually referred to as SNAP, is a national entry-level management test taken annually by about 50,000 test-takers. SNAP 2020 was a 60-minute online exam conducted by Symbiosis International (Deemed University) for admission to its 16 Management Program Institutes.

Again, a measure for speed. 150 questions, 120 minutes in a format that is paper-based. About 50 percent of the total score will be the overall cutoff. Compared to the other entrance examinations, the few distinctions are: a difficult GK segment, in the logical thinking section (moving coins, cat and mice puzzles, etc.), tons of brain teasers and puzzles, and a verbal skill section focused on vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, the language of origin, special words, etc.)

Difference between SNAP and CAT

SNAP VS CAT: Syllabus

The syllabi of both CAT and SNAP are more or less the same, having Quant, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning. Given below are the subjects one needs to study for SNAP and CAT.

SNAP VS CAT: Exam Pattern

The time duration of the CAT exam is more and the number of questions is less than SNAP. However, what makes the CAT tougher is the sectional time-limit.

In CAT, the candidates are supposed to complete each section within 60 minutes. As soon as the 60 minutes gets over, the candidate is directed to the next section. Also, in CAT, candidates are bound to solve the question paper in the sequence as given.

SNAP is flexible. In SNAP, there is no sectional time-limit and the candidates can choose the sequence of questions to solve, as per their choice.

SNAP vs CAT: Marking Scheme

There is negative marking in both CAT and SNAP, which makes both the exams tricky. It is crucial to choose questions that you can answer with 100 percent accuracy and leave out the ones you are not sure of. The wrong choice of question adversely impacts the score.

CET

CET is the common entrance exam taken by the Technical Education Directorate (DTE) of Maharashtra for UG(Engineering/Medical) and PG(MBA/MMS/PGDM) courses.

The king of speed tests! Any speed junkie worth his/her name will tell you that CET is the cheetah of speed tests. 200 questions, 150 minutes, no negative markings, no sections, no GDPI (at least until this year) make it look simpler than the rest. Input-output, coding-decoding, syllogisms, verbal logic, paragraph starters, and a whole section on visual reasoning (paper folding and cutting, analogies and series), etc. are the special query forms.

Colleges that take CET score - JBIMS, SIMSREE, PUMBA, K J Somaiya, Dy Patil, N L Dalmia 

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