CMAT 2023 Slot-1 Analysis: GK and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Sections to Decide Your Percentile; Check Cut off in Top MBA colleges

CMAT 2023, which is being conducted in two shifts – morning and afternoon on May 4, has brought a few surprises for the test takers with a bit difficult 5^th section on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This is the second CMAT exam with 5 mandatory sections and reduced number of questions. Deviating from its earlier question pattern and difficulty level, although the total number of questions in CMAT 2023 have remained 100, but the sectional composition and number of questions in each section have changed.

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National Testing Agency (NTA) is conducting CMAT 2023 exam with following key changes:

• Test Slots: 2 Slot Exam instead of Single slot exam last year
• Number of Sections: 5 Section Exam
• Number of questions in Each Section: 20
• Total Questions: 100
• Optional Sectional: None
• Compulsory Sections: All
• Marking Scheme: + 4 Mark for each correct answer and -1 Mark for each wrong answer

CMAT 2023 Slot Duration and Exam Time

CMAT 2023 Exam Shift	Shift-1: May 4, 2023	Shift-2: May 4, 2023
Exam Time	9 AM to 12 Noon (3 Hours)	2.30 PM to 5.30 PM (3 Hours)
Reporting Time at Test Centre	7.30 AM	1.00 PM

MBAUniverse.com CMAT 2023 Slot-1 Analysis shared below. It consists of complete CMAT exam details, type of questions, difficulty level, expected percentile, cut offs for top MBA colleges accepting CMAT among other details.

Key highlights of CMAT 2023 exam are:

1. Overall Moderate Exam: Students and experts have rated CMAT 2023 Slot-1 as a moderate difficulty level exam overall
2. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The Section was a bit difficult with more questions on GK. The section needed diverse preparation. Those who had spent some time to understand the details and syllabus on the new 5^th section at MBAUniverse.com, they could prepare well on Innovation and Entrepreneurship section and could attempt a good number of questions with most of them marked with right answers. This will help them to have good improvement in their score and percentile.
3. Other Sections – Easy to Moderate: Other 4 sections in CMAT 2023 question paper had more focus on static GK, and placed much easier LR in the question paper while RC passages were lengthy although the questions based on it were not so difficult.

The CMAT 2023 exam analysis below contains the following:

• CMAT Analysis highlighting the key changes in CMAT 2023 exam, scoring pattern, Number of questions, sectional division among others
• CMAT 2023 expected cut offs for a different percentile range
• CMAT 2023 expected cut offs for top MBA colleges like JBIMS, SIMSREE, PUMBA, K J Somaiya, GIM Goa, Great Lakes, IFMR-GSB, BIMTECH among others
• CMAT 2023 Analysis by MBAUniverse.com and also by top coaching institutes like IMS Learning among others

CMAT 2023 Analysis: 10 Important Changes from Last Year
CMAT 2023 exam has following important changes as from last year:

Sl	CMAT 2023 Exam	CMAT 2022 Exam
1.	2 Slot Exam	Single Slot Exam
2.	5 Section Exam	5 Section Exam
3.	Compulsory 5th Section on Innovation & Entrepreneurship	Compulsory 5th Section on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, was optional in 2021
4.	3 Hrs exam	3 hrs exam in 2022 and in 2021 Option ws given to attempt CMAT in Time duration of 3 hours or 3½ Hours
5.	Total Questions 100	Total Questions 100 in 2022 and were 125 in 2021 with Option to attempt 100 or 125 questions
6.	No additional time for 5th Section	No additional time in 2022 but 30 Minutes additional time for 5th section in 2021
7.	5th section Score counted for Percentile calculation to prepare merit list	Counted in 2022 but Not counted for Percentile calculation to prepare merit list in 2021
8.	20 Questions in Each of the five Sections	20 Qs in 2022 but 25 Questions in Each of the five Sections in 2021
9.	No sectional time limit and candidates can attempt any question in any section within time limit of 3 hours	No sectional time limit and candidates can attempt any question in any section within time limit of 3 hrs in 2022 and 3 or 3½ hours in 2021
10.	Candidates need not apply for the new course of  Innovation & Entrepreneurship	Candidates did not need to apply for new course in 2022 also, but had to apply for the new course of Innovation & Entrepreneurship in 2021
11.	Number of CMAT Test cities increased to 110	Number of CMAT exam cities were 109

NTA conducts CMAT exam on behalf of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). CMAT exam 2023 is conducted in a revised test pattern as AICTE has revamped the CMAT exam pattern.

CMAT Analysis 2023: Sectional Composition of Question Paper
CMAT 2023 Slot-1 has 5 Sections and all the sections are compulsory. Number of questions and maximum scoring chances in CMAT 2023 are as under:

CMAT 2023 Exam Sections	Number of Questions	Maximum Marks Section-wise
Language Comprehension	20	80
Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation	20	80
Logical Reasoning	20	80
General Awareness	20	80
Innovation & Entrepreneurship	20	80
Total: Sections-5	100	400

CMAT 2023 Question Paper & Scoring Pattern

• Language Comprehension Section had  RC passages with a length between 80 and 500 words
• Quant section was moderate and had more questions on Arithmetic. Few questions were also found on Algebra, P&C, Probability, Geometry and Mensuration.
• Data Interpretation (DI) part in Quant section had PI chart and Table based questions of moderate difficulty level
• Logical Reasoning was easier but had very close answer options
• Questions in Innovation and Entrepreneur section were asked on recent innovations, initiatives taken by Govt to boost Entrepreneurship
• There was no sectional time limit and candidates could attempt any question in any section within time limit of 3 hours 
• Each Correct answer is awarded + 4 Marks and Each wrong answer is penalized with -1 negative marking
• Percentile cut off Merit will be prepared out of 400 marks

CMAT 2023 Score Vs Percentile
Based on the feedback received from the candidates and experts, we expect the following percentiles against scores for CMAT 2023

CMAT Score	Percentile
315-350	100
286-310	99.1-99.99
261-285	90-99
201-260	81-89
171-200	71-80

Check complete range of CMAT score Vs Percentile

CMAT 2023 Expected Cut Offs for Top MBA Colleges
The CMAT 2023 percentile range required for MBA admission 2023 may not go up in top MBA colleges. NTA awards higher percentile at low scores to the test takers. Out of 400 maximum marks, now the 95 to 99.99 percentile is awarded to a wide score range of 251 - 340 marks. Some of the top MBA colleges with expected CMAT percentile cut off for admission 2023 are as below:

Management Institute	Expected CMAT Cut off Percentile
JBIMS Mumbai (Admission through DTE CAP Round)	99+
K J Somaiya Institute of Management Mumbai	92+
SIMSREE Mumbai (Admission through DTE CAP)	95+
PUMBA Pune (Admission through DTE CAP)	94+
Great Lakes Chennai: Great Lakes Institute of Management - GLIM	90+
GIM Goa: Goa Institute of Management	90+
BIMTECH Greater Noida	80+
Prin L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research	80+
Jaipuria Institute of Management Lucknow	75+
XIME Bangalore: Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship	75+
SDMIMD Mysore: SDM Institute For Management Development	75+
IFMR Graduate School of Business at KREA University	75+
VIT Business School (VIT) Vellore	70+

Check Complete List of Top MBA colleges with CMAT cut offs

CMAT Analysis 2023: Key Highlights & Questions

• The CMAT exam overall difficulty level was moderate
• General Awareness (GK) section was found tough with more questions on Static GK
• Many GK questions were based on Education system, New Education policy, History and other topics

Percentile Cut off Calculation in CMAT 2023
NTA will determine CMAT percentile out of 400 marks based on the score obtained by the test taker in all the five sections.

Although CMAT 2023 Cut Offs & Scores will be released alongwith the CMAT result declaration by NTA on its official NTA CMAT website, you can check your expected CMAT percentile with the CMAT Percentile Predictor.

CMAT 2023 Exam Analysis by IMS

CMAT 2022 is being conducted on May 04, 2023 in two slots between 9 AM to 12 Noon (Slot 1) and 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM (Slot 2). This is the analysis of the first slot.

TEST OVERVIEW
The structure of the test and estimates of good attempts are as follows:.

Section	No Of Questions	Marks per Question	Maximum Marks	Good Attempts	Overall LOD
Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation	20	4	80	16-17	Easy
Logical Reasoning	20	4	80	16-17	Easy
Language Comprehension	20	4	80	16-17	Easy
General Awareness	20	4	80	11-Dec	Medium
Innovation and Entrepreneurship	20	4	80	11-Dec	Medium
Total	100		400	70-75

• The test had no sectional timing.
• Incorrect responses invited negative marks (-)1 for each incorrect response

VERDICT
Overall, the difficulty level of slot 1 of CMAT 2023 was similar to that of CMAT 2022 (single slot).

As is the case generally with CMAT, this time too, time was not a constraining factor. Some of the questions in the five sections were sitters. However, some questions in both General Awareness and Innovation and Entrepreneurship sections were challenging. They could become the decisive questions and impact the overall percentile. Based on the feedback received from IMS candidates and experts, we expect the following cut-offs in CMAT 2023:

Score	Percentile
295 - 305	99.5+
275 - 285	99
255 - 265	95
235 - 245	90
For B-School cut-offs, see Note ** at the end

SECTIONAL ANALYSIS

Quantitative Technique and Data Interpretation:
This section was relatively easy in terms of Level of Difficulty. Out of 20 questions in the section, 5 were on Data Interpretation and the remaining 15 were on Quantitative Technique. A set of 5 questions on Data Interpretation consisted of questions based on Tables. Most questions on Data Interpretation involved simple calculations.

The questions on Quantitative Techniques were dominated by questions on Arithmetic. Out of 15 questions on Quantitative Techniques, 6 questions were on Arithmetic, which included questions on Time-speed-distance, Ratio-Proportion, Profit & Loss, SICI, Average, and Partnership. There was 1 question each on Geometry and modern Maths, 5 questions on Numbers and 2 questions on Algebra. Most of the questions on Quantitative Technique were easy. Students reported that one question on Probability did not have the correct answer in any of the options.

Area	No of Questions				Details
-	Easy	Medium	Difficult	Total	-
Arithmetic	5	1	0	6	Time-speed-distance, Ratio-Proportion, Profit & Loss, SICI, Average, Partnership
Geometry	0	1	0	1	Triangles
Modern Math	0	1	0	1	Probability
Numbers	2	3	0	5	Surds, HCF LCM
Algebra	0	2	0	2	Quad equations, Quad inequality
Data Interpretation	5	0	0	5	Table (Set of 5 questions)

Around 16-17 attempts in this section with 80% accuracy would be good.

Logical Reasoning:
Out of the 20 questions in this section, 12 were on Non-Verbal Reasoning and 8 questions were on Verbal Reasoning. All the questions were standalone questions and there were no set based questions.

The questions on Non-Verbal Reasoning were spread across different topics in Logical Reasoning such as Directions, Series Completion, Counting the number of triangles and squares, Linear Arrangements, Family Tree, Coding etc. The questions on Verbal Reasoning included questions such as Syllogisms, strong/weak arguments, assertion-reason, analogy, odd one etc.

The questions were not lengthy and many questions were straightforward and very easy to solve.

Area	No. Of Qs.
Directions	1
Series Completion	1
Counting the number of triangles and squares	2
Linear Arrangement	2
Family Tree	3
Coding	1
Miscellaneous
Verbal Reasoning
Syllogisms, strong/weak arguments, assertionreason, analogy, odd one etc.	8

Around 16-17 attempts in this section, with 80% accuracy, would be a good attempt.

Language Comprehension:
The Language Comprehension Section consisted of 5 Reading Comprehension questions and 16 Non-RC questions. The lengths of the three RC passages were in the range of 70 to 100 words. The passages were easy to read. The topics of RC passages were: Gandhi’s principles; Opinion on the subject of Poetry; Extract from a story. Most questions were easy to answer. The non-RC questions were easy as well.

Area	No. of Qs.
Reading Comprehension	5
Vocabulary - Synonym, antonym, FIBs, idioms, match the following, etc	7
Grammar - FIB, Identify the correct statement, direct/indirect speech, classify the sentence, question tag, etc.	7
Verbal Reasoning - PJ ( 4 statements)	1

Around 16-17 attempts in this section with 80% accuracy would be good.

General Awareness:
Out of the 20 General Awareness questions, 16 were based on Static GK. 4 questions were on Current Affairs. The majority of questions were based on Indian events. Only a few questions were on international events. The questions were on Sports, constitution, history, books and authors, physics, geography, etc. Overall, this section was of medium difficulty level.

11 to 12 attempts in this section with 80 % accuracy would be a good attempt.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship:
Out of the 20 questions, 16 were based on Business and Entrepreneurship concepts (Nascent Entrepreneur; Phases of funding; Reasons for failure etc.). 4 questions were on Business GK. Overall, this section was of medium difficulty level.

11 to 12 attempts in this section with 80 % accuracy would be a good attempt.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on MBA admission 2023 with CMAT 2023 exam score