NMAT 2015 to NMAT 2015 by GMAC: No change in exam pattern; exam from Oct 6 to Dec 19; know the key facts

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is going to conduct first ‘NMAT by GMAC’ with no changes in content of the test, in the longest testing window of 75 days from October 6 to December 19, 2015 after acquisition of NMAT in March 2015 and renaming it NMAT by GMAC 2015 instead of NMAT 2015.

Announcing that ‘NMAT by GMAC’ will not be different than ‘NMAT’ as regards content of the exam, Vikram Shah Associate Director, Market Development –South Asia GMAC said “There will be no change in the content of the NMAT by GMAC™ exam in the 2015 cycle and the format of the exam will remain same; it be a multiple-choice question paper that includes Quantitative Ability, Language Skills and Logical Reasoning”. It implies that although NMAT 2015 will appear before the test takers as NMAT by GMAC, it would not be a changed exam at least in 2015.

‘NMAT by GMAC’ will be a computer based objective type multiple-choice test as NMAT 2015 would have been. Since NMAT 2015 would also have 120 questions to be solved in 2 hours (120 minutes), similar pattern is to continue in NMAT by GMAC 2015 for MBA admission 2016. It means the aspirants who will have 1 minute per question to solve in NMAT 2015, will again have the same time available to him in NMAT by GMAC 2015. No descriptive type of questions would be supposed to be asked in NMAT 2015 and NMAT by GMAC also does not propose to place descriptive questions in 2015.

GMAC, the owner of GMAT exam acquired NMAT 2015 and all subsequent year NMATs which would be the entrance exam for admission to flagship MBA programme at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), in the month of March 2015 and have renamed it ‘NMAT by GMAC’ with the goal to globalize the Indian Management Education. According to Mr Shah “The acquisition of the NMAT in March this year represents something of a first expression of GMAC's evolving strategy to leverage our testing competencies to deliver assessments for management education beyond the GMAT exam.”

Sharing with MBAUniverse.com about the future perspective behind changing the title of the NMAT exam to ‘NMAT by GMAC’ as there is no proposed change in the exam content, Vikram Shah, says “Previously owned by GMAC member school, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies — or NMIMS, the NMAT was used as an admissions criterion to its flagship MBA and Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programs. Our goals for the newly retitled NMAT by GMAC™ exam include expanding usage across business schools in India and then exploring its use in regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa. We see that expansion as both a business opportunity and a mission opportunity to bring more people, including women and those from non-engineering backgrounds, into graduate management education in India and beyond”. NMAT 2015, therefore would have a different name NMAT by GMAC but no substantial changes in the content level.

NMAT by GMAC 2015 on the lines of NMAT is expected to be taken by more than 70000 candidates exploring admission opportunity to MBA programmes in NMIMS and other associated B- schools accepting NMAT by GMAC scores.

The online registration for NMAT by GMAC has already opened on July 2, 2015 and will continue till October 5, 2015. GMAC is the owner of GMAT exam which is a mandatory exam to explore admission opportunity in 6000+ MBA programmes across the world in top B schools. Now with the transfer of ownership of NMAT 2015 and subsequent year NMATs, the exam will be known as ‘NMAT by GMAC 2015’ instead of ‘NMAT 2015’

Important dates for NMAT by GMAC
Registration and scheduling for the NMAT by GMAC has begun and will close on October 5, 2015. Below are listed the important dates for the NMAT by GMAC to be conducted from October 6 to December 19, 2015.

NMAT by GMAC: Test components
NMAT 2015 now known as NMAT by GMAC shall have same test components as earlier NMAT used to contain. The time allocation and number of questions will also not change and the entire exam will follow the earlier NMAT pattern

Test sections are Individually timed
According to Mr Shah, “Each of the three sections is individually timed. Test takers need to answer and review the questions of a particular section within the allotted section time.” The NMAT by GMAC test takers would therefore need to solve each section within the prescribed time limit to get the best out of the exam.

Sectional weightage
NMAT by GMAC test takers will be allowed select the order of the sections in the test as would be there in NMAT 2015. There will be sectional as well as overall cut offs in NMAT by GMAC. The necessity is to perform well relative to other candidates in each of the 3 sections to get shortlisted for final admission.

No negative marking in NMAT by GMAC
The good news for NMAT 2015, now NMAT by GMAC aspirants is that there would not be any negative marking in the exam. According to Mr Shah “Sometimes candidates are just not sure of the right answer on the test and are running out of time. Well candidates can make an informed guess instead of skipping a question without the fear of a penalty for a wrong answer”.

Registration: More payment options
More payment options have been added to pay the NMAT by GMAC exam fee. This year the candidates will have an additional choice to pay the NMAT 2015 exam fees through net banking option. According to Mr Shah “We have tied up with billdesk and it allows candidates to use any of the 58 banks listed in the net banking option to pay the exam fees online. This will give more choice to the candidates while registering for the exam.”

Changes to derive confidence
Following changes are there in NMAT by GMAC to derive confidence among the aspirants

Candidates can revise answers: Candidates can review answers at the end of each section so that they have the opportunity to revise if they are not sure of the original response.

Taking the test multiple times: Candidates can take the NMAT 2015 renamed NMAT by GMAC three times in a given admissions cycle. This gives the confidence to the candidates that they have more than a single opportunity to perform their best.

Long testing window: A long testing window in NMAT by GMAC allows candidates to choose a convenient test date. The 75-day test window for NMAT 2015 opens the first week of October and extends through the third week of December.

Self-scheduling: Candidates can choose the test appointment date, time and location in real-time based on the availability of seats at each test centre.

Testing locations – Candidates can choose from any of 27 conveniently located testing centers to take the exam.

Sending scores up to 7 programmes for free- Candidates can choose to select the list of programmes they want to send their scores to before or after taking the exam. Up to 7 programmes are included in the registration fee. However, candidates will be able to send their scores to more than 7 programmes before or after they register for an additional fee.

Applying to business schools after reviewing results- Candidates can view the results and then decide to apply to business school or retake the test depending on their comfort with the results they have obtained.

Exam prep material–According to Mr Shah “GMAC is working to introduce the NMAT prep material for the benefit of the candidates sometime in August. This will reduce the anxiety of the candidates on the structure of the exam, content and the types of questions and help candidates to familiarize themselves with the NMAT exam”.

The big change this year is in the number of institutions in India accepting the NMAT by GMAC exam score. Apart from 4 campuses of NMIMS 11 other Universities & B-schools that will also accept NMAT by GMAC scores are NMIMS University, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad; Alliance University, Bangalore; Ansal University, Delhi NCR; ICFAI University; Mody University, Rajasthan; Munjal University, Delhi; NIIT University, Delhi NCR; Shoolini University, Chandigarh; SRM University, Chennai; Thapar University, Chandigarh; VIT University, Vellore; Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on NMAT by GMAC 2015