NMAT 2010, the entrance exam of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Mumbai, started on Saturday, January 30, 2010 and will continue till Monday, January 8, 2010. The exam is being held at 19 test centers across the country and several centres abroad.

With the bad experience of CAT 2009 test takers, there were fears that NMAT would also meet the same fate. With 25,000 candidates already taken the test till 5 February, there has been very less glitch or error reported from the NMAT 2010 testing centers.

MBAUniverse.com got the opportunity to visit one of the test centers to find out the experience of test takers and the overall facilities being provided to the test takers. Our correspondent Sreetama Datta visited the test center at Hierank Business School in Noida, to get the first hand experience. She interacted with test takers post the exam to know their test experience, as well as the officials from Pearson Vue, the test executing agency.

Here is the first eye view:

The primary checking
The candidates had to produce two identities, a primary and a secondary one. One of the ID contained a photograph of the candidate and the other contained the signature. After entering, the biometric testing was taken care of by taking a photograph and matching of signatures.

Test executing agency Pearson Vue spokesperson Sanjiv Kataria shared with MBAUniverse.com that the photograph and the signature will be retained and used during the NMIMS interview. “In case the records are not matched the test can be terminated,” Kataria mentioned.

He further said, “The test experience gives all the candidates fair chance to take the test in a hassle free-manner. We are really strict with the security checking and the timing but that is only to ensure a free and fair testing for all,” he said.

Timing
The test is held in three slots every day at 9.30 am, 1 pm and 4.30 pm. The candidates arrive at the center 45 minutes prior to the testing time.  “There is enough buffer time in between the slots. This gives us scope to rectify an error, in case something happens,” Kataria mentioned.

“We allow the candidates to enter the test center 15 minutes post the scheduled time if they have some really genuine reason. But if they are late for more than half an hour or so, we ask them to file an appeal to NMIMS, if they find the reason genuine enough, they will reschedule the candidates test,” Kataria said.

Role of Test Administrators
The Test Administrators play a very important role during the test. They not only help the candidates but also proctor them to ensure not a single candidate does anything unfair during the test. On the role of the TAs Kataria said, “The TAs are selected very carefully by Pearson Vue. They had to undergo the computer based test themselves in order to qualify for being a Test Administrator. Extensive training is given to them after that. We have a lot of back ups so that the test centers never run short of TAs.”

The test format
The duration of the test is two hours including 15 minutes of the tutorial. The candidates need to agree to the testing agreement. According to another member of Pearson Vue, there are 120 questions divided equally in all three sections. The sections were not divided and the questions are intermingled throughout the paper.

The candidates’ verdict
MBAUniverse.com interacted with the test takers after the exam was over. Ankit, a test taker, expressed, “The test was completely hassle-free. The NMAT experience was much better than the CAT 2009 experience, but I have one complaint about the appearance of the questions.”

“The questions were all intermingled and I could not make out which questions belonged to which section at a quick glance. I had planned to start with my favorite section but could not do so as clicking on ‘NEXT’ and ‘PREVIOUS’ buttons were not feasible in a speed-based test like NMAT. It would have been better if there were buttons mentioning the sections,” he said.

On asked about the difficulty level of the paper, he said, “The paper was of moderate difficulty level. Though some people were saying that it is possible to attempt all the questions, but I could not do so,” he added.

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