NMAT Exam Analysis 2024

NMAT 2024 offers the Option to choose one out of two testing modes- Online computer based test at exam centres or Proctored Internet Based Test (IBT) from home. NMAT 2024 Analysis key highlights at a glance are:

• MCQ format: All the questions in NMAT 2024 exam pattern are of Multiple Choice type (MCQs).
• 108 questions: NMAT exam has 108 questions.
• NMAT 2024 Time Duration: The total time allotted in NMAT by GMAC exam pattern 2024 is 120 minutes (2 hours) to attempt the complete test
• Choice of order of sections: Test taker can choose order of sections. However, GMAC strictly expects you to follow the same order, once the order of the sections is selected.
• Individually timed sections: Each of the three sections in current NMAT pattern are individually timed and the candidates have to attempt the questions in the respective section within the allotted sectional time limit.
• No negative marking: The NMAT 2024 exam pattern is without any penalty of negative marking. 
• Moderate difficulty exam: NMAT by GMAC 2024 is a moderate difficulty exam
• Uniform Marking scheme: Each correct answer is awarded +1 mark and there is zero marking for un-attempted question. The scaled score for each section is in the range of 12 to 120 with a total scaled score for all the three section coming between 36 and 360. 
• 3 Attempts allowed:  You can take the NMAT by GMAC three times in a given admission cycle. This gives you the opportunity to improve your score
• Choice of Self-scheduling: The NMAT by GMAC offers you the liberty to choose your test appointment date, time and test center location.
• Get Score Card at End of the Exam: Test-takers receives scorecard at the end of their NMAT exam

GMAC, the NMAT conducting body, releases the updated NMAT exam pattern, much before the start of exam, for the convenience of the test takers to understand the changed structure of NMAT exam, and prepare accordingly.  

The NMAT by GMAC remains on the same test format during the 75+ days test window. The test taker has more than a minute per question to solve. No descriptive type questions are asked in NMAT by GMAC.

NMAT 2024 Exam Pattern

NMAT comprises of 3 sections – each containing 36 questions. The option to skip to the next question without answering the current question is disabled. It is mandatory for the students to attempt all the questions. As the exam is Adaptive, students will be rewarded higher scaled score for answering tougher questions correctly as compared to easier questions.

Previous Year NMAT Analysis

The Language Skills section in NMAT was balanced with questions from Reading Comprehension (2 passages), Parajumbles, Grammar and Vocabulary based questions. Each of the topics in the NMAT had good weightage. The section was of moderate difficulty level. Key topics and type of questions appeared in NMAT 2023 are as below:

Exam Wise Section wise Topics & Types of Questions Table

Year: NMAT 2023

Section: Language Skills

The Logical Reasoning Section in NMAT had questions based on Verbal Reasoning, Critical Reasoning, Analytical Reasoning. Each of the topics in the NMAT had good weightage. The section was of moderate difficulty level. Key topics and type of questions appeared in NMAT 2023 are as below:

Exam Wise Section wise Topics & Types of Questions Table

Year: NMAT 2023

Section: Logical Reasoning

The Quantitative Skills Section in NMAT had 2 Sets of Data Interpretation problems with 8 Questions out of which a few were rated difficult. Arithmetic had highest number of questions. Other topics like Algebra, Number system, Geometry had fewer questions.  The section was rated moderate to difficult. Key topics and type of questions appeared in NMAT 2023 are as below:

Exam Wise Section wise Topics & Types of Questions Table

Year: NMAT 2023

Section: Quantitative Skills

GMAC has stopped awarding percentile score for NMAT exam and awards only scaled score. In the revised pattern, NMAT score between 225 to 235 is the likely NMAT cut off for NMIMS MBA admission. NMAT score of 200+ can lead to MBA admission in other top B-schools.

Expected NMAT 2024 Cut off in Top MBA Colleges
For MBA admission 2025, the expected NMAT 2024 cut off for top MBA colleges is shared below:

Questions in the NMAT by GMAC exam are selected from the question pool for each examinee, based on his/her performance on the questions previously answered. The questions, which a candidate receives are targeted at his or her ability level. A candidate, who has higher ability to receive and answer more difficult questions in NMAT exam, is awarded higher scaled score than the candidate who is able to answer low difficulty questions.  Thus, NMAT by GMAC exam first obtains the candidate’s final ability estimate based on the probabilistic model approach of modern exam theory, and awards the low or high score. Then the obtained score is transformed to a scaled score ranging from 12 to 120.

Over the years NMAT exam pattern has changed from more number of questions to fewer questions; the process of percentile calculation in NMAT is discontinued; instead of varying number of questions with different weightage, each section has equal number of questions with equal weightage and many other aspirant friendly changes as below:

NMAT: Key Changes in Exam Pattern over the years

NMAT 2023 Analysis by CL
Below is shared the NMAT by GMAC 2023 exam analysis by Career Launcher

NMAT 2023 comprised of 3 sections – each containing 36 questions. The option to skip to the next question without answering the current question was disabled, making it mandatory for the students to attempt all the questions. As the exam is Adaptive, students will be rewarded more for answering tougher questions correctly as compared to easier questions. The topic – wise questions served to the students in each of the sections shows variation for each of the students.

Let’s take a look at the individual section-wise analysis of NMAT 2023 based on the feedback given by our students

Language Skills (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension)

Overview: The Language Skills section was balanced with questions from Reading Comprehension (2 passages), Parajumbles, Grammar and Vocabulary based questions, each of the topics being equally stressed upon.

• Complexity Level –Easy to Moderate
• No of questions – 36

The Section Division is tabulated below:

Quantitative Skills (Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation)

Overview: The Quantitative Skills section of NMAT 2023 contained 1-2 sets of Data Interpretation amounting to 22 percent of the section. The rest of the section was Arithmetic and Modern Math (PNC and Probability) heavy. The number of questions from Algebra, Number System and Geometry was abysmal.

• Complexity Level –Moderate to Difficult
• No of questions – 36

The section division is tabulated below:

Logical Reasoning (Logical Reasoning and Critical Reasoning)

Overview: Verbal reasoning comprised of more than 50 percent of the Logical Reasoning section in NMAT 2023. However, the overall level of difficulty of the questions was easy to moderate.

• Complexity Level –Easy to Moderate
• No of questions – 36

The section division is tabulated below:

Overall, the difficulty level of NMAT 2023 is moderate in terms of questions asked. However, it also depends on the ability of the candidate as NMAT 2023 is a “Computer Adaptive” exam. All these sections have been modified on many aspects. 

NMAT 2023 Analysis by IMS

Below is shared the NMAT by GMAC 2023 analysis by IMS Learning

NMAT 2023 started on 10^th October and will continue till 19^th December 2023.  NMAT allows 3 attempts to a candidate subject to the candidate paying the necessary fees for each attempt.

This analysis is based on the feedback received from the students and the IMS experts who appeared for the tests in the two slots on 10^th October 2023.

The structure of the NMAT had changed in 2020 – from a computer based test to an Adaptive Test. As a result, the weightage for difficult questions became higher than for easy questions. The test did not allow students to skip questions and the level of difficulty of the next question depended on whether the previous attempt was correct or incorrect. Students, therefore, are advised to ensure that the initial set of questions are attempted correctly. Clicking the Next button without selecting an option resulted in the prompt ‘You must complete your answer to this question to continue’. The instructions for the test mentioned that unattempted questions at the close of the section would attract a penalty. The format thus made time-management an important aspect of the test. The adaptive format of the test also implied that the topic-wise break-up of questions that individual students faced (given in the analysis) could show some variation.

The overall difficulty level was slightly higher compared to last year’s test.

The structure of the test was as follows:

Quantitative Skills

As per the feedback from students, out of 36 questions in the Quantitative Skills section, 8 were  on Data Interpretation, 4 on Data Sufficiency and 24 on Mathematics. Out of the 24 questions on Mathematics, 8 questions were on Modern Math, 3 questions were on Numbers, 2 questions were on Algebra and the rest were on Arithmetic. There were two sets on Data Interpretation. As mentioned earlier, it is important to note that since the test was adaptive, there could be some variation in the topic wise breakup of the questions asked to different students.

There were two sets on Data Interpretation. Both sets involved somewhat complex and time consuming calculations. One set of 4 questions on Tables and the other set of 4 questions on a combination of a bar graph and a line graph. Because of the nature of the presentation of the data, it required some effort to make sense of the data before the set could be attempted.

There were 4 questions on Data Sufficiency on various topics.

Following was a representative break-up of the Quantitative Skills Section (as per student feedback):

Data Interpretation sets were somewhat calculation intensive.

Logical Reasoning
Before 2020, the number of non-verbal reasoning questions usually exceeded that of verbal reasoning in the LR section of NMAT. Due to the adaptive nature of the NMAT (in practice since 2020), the structure can be different for different candidates. For instance, in the Logical Reasoning section, some students encountered around 21 questions (out of a total 36) related to verbal reasoning such as statement assumption, statement conclusion, course of action, syllogisms and critical reasoning questions such as inference, main point, strengthen the argument etc, and the remaining 15 were related to nonverbal reasoning such as puzzles, arrangements, coding, input-output, etc. Some students also reported a mix of 18 questions on Verbal and Non Verbal reasoning each. The Non-Verbal Reasoning questions consisted of set-based questions as well as standalone questions.

Following is a representative break-up of the Logical Reasoning section (as per student feedback):

Language Skills
The Language Skills section of NMAT on Day 1 was easy to moderate.

In today’s slots, there were 2 passages each. In the first slot, the passages were on “Japanese economy from WW II to present”’ and “Challenges in implementing solar energy.” In the other slot, one was about “Visual Art” and the other one was about “Social Cinema”. The passages were about 450-550 words long. Question types from the passages included inference, tone and attitude, specific detail questions, suitable title and central idea. The two passages had 4 questions each.

Grammar and Vocabulary questions included: Spotting the error in the underlined parts of a sentence, fill in the blanks (single, double, prepositions-based); Jumbled paragraphs, and Word Analogies.

Following is a representative break-up of the Language Skills section:

Students are advised to drag the slider of the vertical scroll bar to the bottom of the scroll box while attempting questions with a lot of text to read. In case the slider is not touching the bottom of the scroll box, the test-taker is prompted with a pop-up notification stating “You have not viewed the entire screen. Make sure you scroll to every corner of the screen.”

Miscellaneous
The User Interface of the test was the same as in 2022. The UI had three buttons at the bottom:

1. Help: To read the instructions
2. Zoom: To select a view of Default Font, Large Font and Larger Font (approximate changes in font sizes)
3. Next: To go to the next question.

There was no Flag for Review button since this was an adaptive test.

Test-takers were presented with a scorecard at the end of the test.

Students are given the option to choose the order in which they want to take the three sections of the exam. If any questions were left unattempted at the close of the section, there would be a popup on screen stating ‘You have run out of time for this section. However, if all questions were attempted, the interface would show another message ‘This completes the LS/LR/QS section’.

The test can be ended anytime by clicking the ‘End Test’ button in the final section.

When you go for your exam, ensure that you carry the following with you:

1. Primary ID
2. Secondary ID
3. Admit card
4. Confirmation email

The test centre staff will return the copy of your admit card after signing and affixing the stamp. Make sure that you retain the same because you will have to carry the same copy for later attempts in NMAT. You are allowed three attempts in NMAT after paying the necessary fees for each attempt. However, as per the Admission Handout for Management Programs – 2023, NMIMS accepts scores of the first NMAT examination attempted by the candidate.