Important Update: March 2, 2021, 11 AM
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National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced bizarre changes in the Common Management Admission Test (CMAT)exam dates with glaring anomaliesbetween NTA Official Website and in its own Notifications. In a big glitch, while the NTA Notification dated February 12 suggests CMAT Exam Date as “March/April 2021”, the NTA Website displays CMAT 2021 exam date as “May 8, 2021”. What’s more bizarre is that CMAT Result Date is shown as “July 22”! This raises several questions about the conduct and credibility of CMAT exam. MBAUniverse.com is publishing both these sources in this article with a hope that NTA and AICTE leadership take note and resolve this anomaly at the earliest.
Before we progress, here is a quick primer on CMAT. Initiated by regulatory body AICTE, CMAT is one of the top MBA entrance exams leading to admission in 1000+ MBA and PGDM B-schools. Great Lakes Chennai, GIM Goa,Welingkar Mumbai, BIMTECH,IMT Nagpur, SDMIMD Mysore are some of the prominent B-schools that accept CMAT scores for admissions. CMAT was launched by AICTE in 2012 and till 2018 exam was conducted by AICTE. But in 2019, NTA was given the responsibility to hold CMAT. CMAT exam is taken by more than 50,000 candidates. Any changes in CMAT exam dates impact hundreds of B-schools and thousands of students.
Now, let’s review frequent changes NTA is making in CMAT 2021 Schedule and has put the future of MBA aspirants at stake:
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Sr No
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Announcement/Notification by NTA
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CMAT 2021 Registration Last Date
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CMAT 2021 Exam Date
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1
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Released on December 23, 2020 at nta.ac.in
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January 22, 2021
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February 22/27, 2021
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2
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Released on February 6, 2021on NTA Website (nta.ac.in)
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February 6, 2021
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No information about CMAT exam date
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3
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Released on February 12, 2021 on NTA Website (nta.ac.in)
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March 1, 2021
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Exam Dates Postponed to March “Last Week/Early April 2021”
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4
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Information Displayed as on 23.2.2021on CMAT official website nta.ac.in, under “Active Exams” section
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23 January 2021
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Exam Date: May 8, 2021
Result Date: July 22, 2021
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As is evident from table above, NTA has changed CMAT 2021 exam dates many times. What’s puzzling is that while NTA Notification (Image 1 below) dated February 12, 2021 mentions CMAT exam dates as “Last Week/Early April 2021”, CMAT website (Image 2 below) mentions CMAT Exam Date as May 8, 2021 and Result Date as July 22, 2021!
Image 1 – NTA CMAT Notification dated Feb 12, available on NTA website nta.ac.in
Image 2 –“Active Exams” tab on NTA website nta.ac.in, accessed by MBAUniverse.com on 23.2.2021
CMAT 2021 aspirants and B-schools accepting CMAT score are wondering why both the dates are different on same website nta.ac.in.
CMAT in May? Delay in Admission 2021
If indeed CMAT 2021 is held on May 8 and the result is declared on July 22, both CMAT aspirants and CMAT score accepting B-schools will be adversely impacted.
Since almost all top 100 B-schools start their academic session in June/July, CMAT result announcement in July will delay Admission 2021 season.
What’s worse, some candidates may deicide to completely skip taking CMAT 2021 exam due to these flip flops. This will result in drop in MBA/PGDM admissions 2021.
Top MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT 2021
CMAT exam scores are accepted by PGDM B-schools, and MBA Departments of Public Universities and Private. Here is a list of top colleges accepting CMAT 2021:
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Sr No 1
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B-school
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Type of the Institute
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1.
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Great Lakes Chennai
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Private PGDM B-School
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2.
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GIM Goa
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Private PGDM B-School
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3.
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JBIMS Mumbai
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Mumbai University B-School
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| 4. | K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai |
Somaiya Vidya Vihar Private University
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5.
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Welingkar Mumbai
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Private PGDM B-School
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6.
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SIMSREE Mumbai
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Mumbai University B-School
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7.
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PUMBA Pune
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Savitribai Phule Pune University
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8.
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IFMR Graduate School of Business at KREA University, Sri city
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KREA - Private University
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9.
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BIMTECH Greater Noida
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Private PGDM B-School
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10.
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IMT Nagpur
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Private PGDM B-School
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11.
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SDMIMD Mysore
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Private PGDM B-School
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12.
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VIT Business School, Vellore
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VIT Private University
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CMAT: Faltering execution leads to drop in test takers
CMAT was known as AICTE CMAT till 2018 as it was AICTE which conducted this credible exam. The exam was conducted twice in a year – September and February till 2015 and then as yearly exam in the month of January from 2016 onwards. In 2019, as part of the larger consolidation of all entrance exams into single agency, NTA was assigned the task of conducting CMAT. Since then, CMAT exam is losing its focus and relevance.
The delay of CMAT 2021 to May is confounding, as during last five years CMAT was conducted in the month of January. This is the first time that CMAT is being conducted so late. Besides, there were more than 1.5 lakh CMAT test takers when AICTE used to conduct CMAT twice a year. This number is gradually coming down.
Table 1: CMAT Exam Dates
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CMAT Exam Year
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CMAT exam dates
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CMAT 2014
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Sep 2013 &Feb 2014
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CMAT 2015
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Sep 2014 &Feb 2015
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CMAT 2016
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Jan 17, 2016
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CMAT 2017
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Jan 28, 2017
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CMAT 2018
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Jan 20, 2018
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CMAT 2019
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Jan 28, 2019
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CMAT 2020
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Jan 28, 2020
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CMAT 2021
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May 8, 2021 (announced)
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Source: MBAUniverse.com Research
Table 2: CMAT Number of Test Takes
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CMAT exam year
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Total Test takers in the year
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CMAT 2014
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1,53476
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CMAT 2015
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1,01000
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CMAT 2016
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55084
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CMAT 2017
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59181
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CMAT 2018
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64448
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CMAT 2019
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54516
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CMAT 2020
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63297
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CMAT 2021
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NA
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Source: MBAUniverse.com Research
Time for AICTE to intervene…
If CAT 2020 could be conducted onNovember 29, 2020, which is as per previous year’s schedule, on behalf of MBA Community MBAUnivere.com is asking why CMAT 2021 can’t be conducted in time. Flip flops on exam dates and delay in exam will causesome students to drop the exam, thus adversely impacting MBA/PGDM Admissions 2021.
Perhaps, it is time for AICTE leadership to step in and keep a close watch on CMAT 2021 to save the candidates as well as the B-schools from undue stress and delays.
MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT Score
CMAT 2021 exam score will be accepted for MBA/PGDM admission 2021 by more than 1000 AICTE approved MBA colleges accepting CMAT score. The admission process 2021 based on CMAT score for MBA/PGDM 2021-23 batch is open in all the top MBA colleges accepting CMAT score. Many top MBA and PGDM colleges will be closing their last date shortly. Read More
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CMAT 2021
