MBA entrance exams analysis@ Comparative analysis of top 6 MBA entrance exams

Aug. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- With the announcement of the major MBA entrance examinations, students, in all probability, must have selected the tests which they will take for the examination season 2012-13. The popular MBA entrance examinations are CAT, XAT, CMAT, NMAT, IIFT and SNAP. Though the overall preparation for these can be the same, there are certain intricacies in the exams which may require students take special effort for a particular exam related to its pattern. This article of MBAUniverse.com will give them a comparative analysis of the main MBA entrance exams.

At a glance

Exam: - CAT

Sections: - 1- Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (QA & DI)    
                  2- Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning (VA & LR)


No. of Questions: - QA & DI – 30

                   VA & LR – 30

                   Total - 60


Duration: - 70 minutes for each section. 140 minutes in total


Marking Scheme: - Total marks – 240
4 marks for correct answer. ¼ negative marking for wrong answer


Difficulty Level: - Moderate to Difficult




Exam: - XAT

Sections: - 1- Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (QA & DI)    
           2- English Language Ability & Logical Reasoning (ELA & LR)
           3- Data Sufficiency (DS)
           4- Essay Writing (EW)


No. of Questions: - According to XAT 2012- QA & DI – 28

                   ELA & LR – 32
                   
                   DS – 25

                   Total - 85


Duration: - 2 hours


Marking Scheme: - Total marks – 100
¼ negative marking for wrong answer


Difficulty Level: - Difficult




Exam:- NMAT

Sections: - 1- Language Skills    
           2- Quantitative Skills
           3- Logical Skills
           

No. of Questions: - Language Skills – 32

                   Quantitative Skills – 48
                   
                   Logical Reasoning – 40
     
                   Total - 120

Duration: - 2 hours

Language Skills – 22 minutes

Quantitative Skills – 60 minutes

Logical Reasoning – 38 minutes


Marking Scheme: - 1 mark for each correct answer. No negative marking


Difficulty Level: - Moderate



Exam: - CMAT

Sections: - 1- Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation (QT & DI)    
           2- Logical Reasoning (LR)
           3- Language Comprehension (LC)
           4- General Awareness (GA)
           

No. of Questions: - QT & DI – 25

                   LR – 25
                   
                   LC – 25
               
                   GA – 25
     
                   Total - 100

Duration: - 180 minutes


Marking Scheme: - 4 marks for each correct answer. No negative marking


Difficulty Level: - Moderate



Exam: - IIFT

Sections: - 1- Quantitative Ability (QA)    
           2- Reading Comprehension (RC)
           3- English Usage (EU)
           4- Data Interpretation (DI)
           5- Logical Reasoning (LR)
           6- General Awareness (GA)
           

No. of Questions: - QA – 24

                   RC – 15
                   
                   EU – 20
               
                   DI – 19
         
                   LR – 21

                   GA – 21
     
                   Total - 120


Duration: - 2 hours


Marking Scheme: - 1/3 Negative marking scheme`


Difficulty Level: - Difficult



Exam: - SNAP

Sections: - 1- General English (GE)    
           2- Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency (QA, DI & DS)
           3- Analytical & Logical Reasoning (AR & LR)
           4- General Awareness (GA)
         
           

No. of Questions: - GE – 40

                   QA, DI & DS – 40
                   
                   AR & LR – 30
               
                   GA – 40
         
                   Total – 150


Duration: - 2 hours


Marking Scheme: - Total marks - 180


Difficulty Level: - Moderate

As one can see, in spite of having minor differences in terms of the sections, number of questions, duration or the marking scheme, the basic pattern is more or less identical. The basic sections of the exams are quantitative ability, verbal ability, data interpretation and logical reasoning. CMAT, IIFT and SNAP have a section on general awareness while XAT has a section on essay writing.

Now let us have a look at the common topics of the basic three sections in the exams.

Quantitative ability: Time, speed & distance; directions; work & time, profit & loss; permutation & combination, probability, miscellaneous; percentages; algebra; pie chart; bar graph; geometry, mensuration & coordinate geometry.

Verbal ability: Reading comprehension and English usages consist the major part of the section. Vocabulary questions include synonyms, antonyms, figure of speech and idioms. The other questions are on grammar, paragraph completion, sentence jumble and word jumble.

Data interpretation & logical reasoning

Data Interpretation questions are asked in the form of graphs, charts, figures, etc. Logical reasoning questions are on blood relations, team selection, arrangement, coding & de-coding, information-based sets, syllogisms, course of action, etc.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on MBA entrance exams.