MAT 2016: Language Comprehension in September exam; expert guide how to score high

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
August 20, 2016
The very first section in MAT 2016 September exam will be of Language Comprehension with 40 MCQs on Grammar usage, vocabulary as well as RC passages
Major components and topics that need to be prepared for Language comprehension section in MAT 2016 September exam can broadly be divided into VA & RC area

MAT 2016 September exam, to be held on September 4, 2016 will consist of 5 sections comprising 40 MCQs in each section. Language comprehension section will consist of 40 questions and AIMA suggests a 30 minute time limit to solve this section. Accordingly, you have less than 1 minute to solve each question. Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on MBA exam preparation shares tips how to maximise your score in Language Comprehension section of MAT 2016 September exam.

MAT 2016 September exam will be held on Sunday September 4, 2016 in 51 test cities across the country. This is the first MAT exam the scores of which will be valid for admission to MBA 2017-19 batch. You have around 15 days times to revisit and prepare for 40 questions in Verbal Ability or Language comprehension section in MAT 2016 September test.

A two and half hour test, MAT 2016 September exam gives you the choice to appear in paper based test or online computer based test. The test will be divided in 5 sections consisting of 200 MCQs carrying 1 mark each for the right answer. However scores are awarded out of the composite score of 800 and a score above 450 or 500 is considered as good score.

If you look at the other important MBA entrance tests like CAT, XAT, CMAT, most of the MBA entrance exams have 3 to 4 sections. Another important point is that a few exams have one or other section, scores of which are not considered in awarding the percentile for example XAT. But MAT 2016 September exam has 5 sections with equal weightage and whatever you score in each section will be duly considered to place you in the merit list.

If you wish to get not only a good score but also very good score above 550 or 600, you have to focus on all the sections as each one of them carry equal number of 40 questions. The very first section in MAT 2016 September exam will be of Language Comprehension or you could call it Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension since it will have RC passages as well as questions based on English Language and Vocabulary usage.

Components of English Comprehension
Content wise also MAT 2016 September test can be considered as an important practice exam before IIFT, CAT, SNAP and XAT. Major components and topics that need to be prepared for Language comprehension section in MAT 2016 September exam can broadly be divided into VA & RC area.

The Core topics in Verbal Ability Area are – Parts of speech like - usage on Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs pattern, conditionals, modifiers, sentence corrections, fill in the blanks, Active-Passive, reported speech, vocabulary usage and reading comprehension passages.

Tips to crack Verbal Ability questions
Practice is the key to success in grammar and vocabulary based questions. Please note that all the grammar parts are interconnected. All the ‘Be’ form verbs should be used carefully. You might know they are only 8 and can be used in all the tense forms of present, past and future – they are ‘is, am, are, was, were, be, being been’. Entire tense structure moves around them.

Whenever you pick the error in Passive or reported speech sentences, most of the time they belong to incorrect usage of ‘Be’ form verb. Look at the following sentence-

Pick out the correct sentence-
A.  My pocket has picked someone.
B.  Someone was picked my pocket.
C.  My pocket has been picked.
D.  My pocket has been since picked up by someone.

Ans.C: Please note that the subject in Active sentence is either hidden when converted to passive or the doer of the action takes the place of agent. In this sentence you do not need to elaborate who picked the pocket, so can remove the agent someone. The use of ‘since’ is also not correct. If you wish to use ‘since’ you should use it between ‘has’ and ‘been’. Passive can be made of any tense form but can never be made without the use of ‘Be’ form verb.

This is also true of Reported speech as changing the direct speech to indirect one requires use of ‘be’ form verb.

So make sure that whenever you are given the task to pick out the errors in passive or reported speech sentences, you have looked well for the correct use of ‘Be’ form verb.

This is only a fraction of many topics. All the above topics need to be understood. If you devote only half an hour a day, you will be able to build strong basics on Language comprehension in a week’s time.

Vocabulary
You may find more synonyms and antonyms; vocabulary usage in MAT 2016 September exam. Usually we mug up the words, their similar and opposite meanings and tend to forget. There is no need to go for it now at this juncture.

The pattern of vocabulary words asked in MAT exam reveals that these words are moderate ones and do not belong to a tough literature. There may be some of the words whose meaning is hidden in the word itself. There may be 2 words joined in one, if you split them the meaning will be clear to you. Therefore, it is suggested to leave mugging of words now and focus on simple usage for next 5-6 days without beginning anything new. It will be much easier to decode the 4-5 vocabulary words and arrive at correct answer. This will help you to score high without any loss of marks.

RC: High weightage area
Reading Comprehension passages in MAT 2016 September exam could prove to be a good source of high scoring as each passage is followed by more than one question. If you practice only for next few days on moderate RC passages, Newspaper editorials, magazines carrying rich vocabulary among others source material, you can ensure high score in Language Comprehension section.

For example, if you read the passage carefully, you will find the answers to the questions following the passage within the passage itself and can get full marks. If there are 4 such passages followed by 4 questions each, you can score not less than 16 raw marks and about 64 marks out of a composite score of 800.

The only requirement to score high in Reading Comprehension is that you should have a good reading speed with accuracy and should be able to spot out the key words and sentences which contain answers to your questions. A small brush up can improve your skill well in next 4-5 days.

Although MAT is a national level management entrance test, but if we measure the level of difficulty in MAT, the exam is less difficult than CAT/XAT/CMAT and SNAP. So if you practise well, you can crack MAT without much difficulty and with high score.

The registration process for MAT 2016 September exam will close on August 23, 2016. You have still time to register and apply for MAT. If you find that the computer based online test centre for the exam is near to your place, it is advisable to go for computer based test as it will also offer you an opportunity to get acquainted with online exam pattern. However, if you do not find the CBT test centre near to your place, it will be better to opt for paper based MAT 2016 which is going to be held in 51 test cities on September 4, 2016.

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