NEW DELHI: The season of management exams is about to start. The application process for NMAT has already started. The official notification for CAT 2017 would be out soon and the application process will begin in August (tentatively). CAT notification would gradually be followed by notifications for SNAP, XAT, CMAT etc. Every year lakhs of students appear in management entrance exams but few make it. Management entrance exams don’t have a difficult syllabus but what sets them apart is that they test a student’s problem solving skills and analytical thinking rather than their ability to memorize facts and figures.
None of the management exams conducted in the country have a fixed syllabus but students can always draw an outline of the syllabus based on the sections which constitute the question paper and previous year papers available in the market.
All the management entrance exams share some common sections while retaining an individual character which sets them apart. Here we will go through some of the common topics and characteristics of management entrance exams.
Common Characteristics of Management Entrance Exams
1. Quantitative Ability: Almost all management entrance exams have one section which tests a student’s quantitative ability skills. Quantitative ability basically comprises of questions from topics which a student has studied till class 10th and a few topics from 10+2 mathematics syllabus. The topics are secondary and higher secondary level but need analytical and deductive skills.
2. Logical Reasoning: You will never come across a management entrance exam which does not have questions from logical reasoning. Logical Reasoning questions are generally questions which test your common sense and deductive skills. In management entrances these questions test your ability to deduce a conclusion from a given set of argument and evaluate your capability to isolate and identify various components of a set of arguments presented.
3. Language Comprehension: Every management examination has this section. The name may be different but the section essentially focuses on testing a candidate’s language and communication skills. These questions evaluate if a candidate is able to decipher arguments and conclusions from a paragraph. The emphasis here is on both language skills and analytics reasoning. A candidate should be able to identify the arguments presented in a paragraph and be able to not just summarize it but draw their own conclusions from the same.
4. Data Interpretation: In some exams this is a separate section and in some it is clubbed with either Quantitative Ability section or Logical Reasoning section. Either way, this section tests a candidate’s ability to draw conclusions based on a given set of data. This section is important and often fetches good marks to those who prepare well for it.
5. General Awareness: This section is not common to all exams, for example SNAP has a section dedicated to general awareness while CAT doesn’t. This section will test your knowledge of the world surrounding you. It will check your awareness of the social, political, and economic climate of the country and the world.
The common components make it easier for students to prepare for multiple management entrance exams at one go. However, there are other factors involved which make the exams uniquely different such as the difficulty level, exam duration, marking scheme, mode of examination, types of questions etc. A student due to appear for the management entrance exams should consider these factors as well at the time of preparation.
[“source-ndtv”]
