All About Management: Difference among CAT, MAT & CMAT

The Resurgent MBA: A Choice

After a little time in doldrums, MBA has again lured the interest of students. MBA- The degree in itself contains mass. Management is vast and to learn it one has to acquire knowledge of every aspect of management. Students who aspire to pursue their career into management should hold an MBA degree to make their way forward in the corporate. To enter into an MBA program, there are numerous “GATEWAYS” which are the entrance exams to help you enroll into the management program.

Getting an MBA degree is just not enough, until good and prestigious institutes are considered as a way to get it. To get into a good MBA B-school, it is equally important to learn about the entrance exams and what are essential differences among the exams.

The Difference: CAT v/s MAT v/s CMAT

To be a part of MBA curriculum and clear the gateway you need to know the pattern and basic differences among the exams. The below table specifies the contrast among the 3 top exams in management which a student must know before filling the forms for the exams. CAT, MAT, and CMAT are 3 different exams conducted by 3 different bodies but all are the gateways for pursuing MBA. There are many differences in these exams and their pattern, mode, duration participating institutes etc.

To know the right choice of the exam depending on your scope and personal preferences you can go for either exam.

Criterion	CAT	MAT	CMAT
INTRODUCTION	CAT (Common Admission Test) is a national level entrance exam conducted since 1950 and recognized in the year 2009.	MAT (Management Aptitude Test) is a national level entrance exam conducted since 1988 and approved by Govt. Of India and HRD Ministry in the year 2003.	CMAT (Common Management Admission test) is also a national level exam conducted since 2012 when its first edition was recognized.
CONDUCTED BY	CAT is conducted by IIMs (any 1 IIM out of 20 on a rotational basis)	MAT is conducted by AIMA (All India Management Council) which is a non-lobbying organization of professional management with active support of Govt. Of India.	CMAT is conducted by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) which is a statutory body under Department of Higher Education, HRD Ministry, India.
FREQUENCY	CAT is conducted once in a year(annually) in the month of November	MAT is conducted four times a year in the months of February, May, September, and December	Till 2015, CMAT was conducted twice in a year, but from the academic year 2016-17 AICTE has decided to conduct the exam once in a year in the month of January
MODE OF EXAM	CAT is an online exam i.e computer based exam	MAT is conducted in 2 modes- Paper-based and computer-based. Candidate can choose either mode.	CMAT is online exam i.e computer based
DURATION OF THE EXAM	Duration of CAT exam is 180 minutes which is 3 hours	Duration of MAT exam is 150 minutes which is 2.5 hours	Duration of CMAT exam is 180 minutes which is 3 hours
PATTERN OF THE EXAM	There are 3 sections namely Quantitative ability(34 Questions), Verbal and Reading Comprehension(34 Questions), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning(32 Questions)	There are 5 sections namely Language Comprehension, Intelligence and Critical Reasoning, Data Analysis and Sufficiency, Mathematical Skills & Indian and Global Environment. Each section has 40 questions.	There are 4 sections namely QA, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness and each section has 25 questions.
MARKING PATTERN	The maximum negative marking done for every wrong answer is 0.33 marks and for every right answer, 1 mark will be given.	For every right answer 1 mark will be given and for every wrong answer 1/4th mark will be deducted	For each right answer 4 marks will be given and for each wrong answer 1 mark will be deducted
APPLICATION FEES	The application fees for CAT is 1600 INR for General and for others it is 800 INR	The application fee for MAT is 1200 INR	The application fee for CMAT is 1400 INR for General and for others it is 700 INR
PARTICIPATING INSTITUTES	All IIMs and the other ‘A’ certified colleges. For more information on the participating institutes, you can visit the official website of CAT https://iimcat.ac.in/	All AIMA approved colleges accept the MAT scorecard. For MAT participating institutes you can visit the official website of AIMA through the below link http://apps.aima.in/mat-february-2017/index.php?page=MIList	All AICTE approved B-schools will accept the CMAT score. For CMAT participating institutes you can visit the AICTE official website through www.aicte-cmat.in

The difficulty level of the exams is also different. CAT ranges from High to Moderate level whereas CMAT is a level low from CAT which is moderate and lastly, MAT ranges from moderate to low level of difficulty.

Also if you compare the differences among the sectional pattern of the 3 exams you will find that CMAT exam has a section called General Awareness which is not included in either MAT or CAT and which is the most difficult part in terms of preparation as theoretically the subject has no bounds!