NMAT 2013 vs CAT 2012 A Qualitative Comparison

Having appeared for NMAT and CAT in the space of 3 days, I felt that a good way to analyse both exams
would be compare their entire experience at one place so as to give students a suitable frame of
reference. Here, I have looked at the two exams, their structure and difficulty level, their exam players,
the experience etc while appearing for the test and even hours after the test.

I appeared for NMAT on 11
th
October in the 9:00 a.m. slot and CAT on 13
th
October in the 10:00 a.m.
slot. I cannot disclose actual questions or chapters due to the respective non-disclosure agreements.
However, I will try and give you a feel of both exams.
However, please note that some of my views here under Recommendations are purely personal and
you may have to apply them in your exam keeping your preparation level in mind.

Area CAT NMAT Recommendations
Check-in
Process
1) Admit Card Mail
+ 1 Valid ID card
needed
2) Biometrics
includes
photograph and
fingerprint
3) Bags and
valuables not
allowed in the
test lab. Only a
wallet allowed.
4) Lenient in terms
of frisking
1) Confirmation
Mail + 2 Valid ID
cards needed
2) Biometrics
includes
photograph and
signature on a
digital pad
3) Bags and
valuables not
allowed in the
test lab.
4) Very strict in
terms of frisking.
1) Where I suggest carrying 2 ID cards
for CAT, I would recommend carrying
3 for NMAT. It helps to have an extra
ID
2) Try to carry an ID that shows your
face AND sign clearly. The CAT
authorities will accept an ID only if it
shows your face clearly. Also, the
NMAT authorities check your sign on
biometrics vs ID card. They made me
sign on the digital pad thrice because
they could not match my signature
with the one on my PAN card.
3) Carry only as much stuff as you really
need
NDA
1) 5 minutes
after the tutorial
and just before
the test
1) 2 minutes
before the
tutorial and test
1) Both the non-disclosure agreements
more or less say the same thing.
Make it a point to read them quickly
and accept them at the earliest
Tutorial 1) 15 minutes 1) 13 minutes
1) Both the tutorials give you an
overview of the screens and features
that you will encounter during the
exam. An added advantage of the
NMAT tutorial is that at the end of
the tutorial, you can try the
functionalities of the review screen
using the slides of the tutorial. Since
time saved in the tutorial does not
get added to the exam, utilize this
time to go through the tutorials well

Section
Order and
Selection
1) 2 sections with
no choice in
selection.

1) 3 sections with a
choice in
selecting section
order
2) There is a
separate screen
that allows you
to pre-determine
the order in
which you will
attempt all 3
sections.
3) The screen gives
you 6
combinations of
section orders
and you have
click on the one
that suits you the
best.
4) If you do not
select the section
order within 3
minutes, the
system
automatically
starts the test
using the first
section order
given.
1) NMAT has been more student-
friendly in the sense that it has
allowed the student to decide first-
hand what order he/she wants to
attempt the sections in.
2) There is a section order screen which
has a time limit of 3 minutes. This
screen gives you 6 combinations: VA-
QA-LR, QA-LR-VA, VA-LR-QA etc. You
can select any combination that you
want. The sections will be displayed
as per your selection
3) If you do not select within 3 minutes,
the system selects the default option
i.e. VA-QA-LR
4) Also, once you select the section and
start the test, you cannot change the
order midway. So, if you select VQ-
QA-LR and during VA, you feel you
want to attempt LR second, it will not
be possible.
Sections
1) Section 1 QA +
DI 30
questions 70
minutes
2) Section 2 VA +
LR 30
questions 70
minutes
1) QA 48
questions 60
minutes
2) VA 32
questions 22
minutes
3) LR 40 questions
38 minutes
1) Unlike CAT, since you know the
structure in terms of subject area
beforehand because of the breakup
given by the NMAT authorities, you
can plan and prepare accordingly. In
CAT, you wont know how much time
to spend on DI and how much on QA
2) However, this year, the DI and LR
breakup and questions types in
section I and II have been similar to
last year, so you can plan some part
of your attempts beforehand.
Negative
Marking
1) Yes, but
undisclosed
1) No
1) CAT clearly wants a focus on accuracy
and attempts based on whether you
are confident of what you know.
2) NMAT obviously wants you to
attempt all questions (like MHCET)
because of the no-negative marking

policy.
3) For questions where you are not sure
in NMAT, flag the question and in
the last 2-3 minutes, randomly mark
those questions. Dont waste time on
those questions initially.
Termination
of Section
1) Not allowed
before the
scheduled time
lapses
1) Lapse of
schedule time
2) Completion of
questions
1) Unlike CAT, if you finish your section
slightly earlier than allowed in NMAT,
you CAN end that section and move
to the next section.
2) However, your time saved in this
section does not get added to the
subsequent section.
3) So, in case you save time on, say,
Verbal Ability, it is a better idea to
review your questions. You will
anyways lose the spare time by
ending.
Breaks
1) No breaks
allowed 30
minutes prior to
and during the
exam
1) Breaks allowed
but they are
timed. Any time
that you use in
the break gets
deducted from
that section
1) For CAT, it makes sense to take your
water and toilet breaks well in
advance.
2) For NMAT, though the Pearson
authorities were slightly more lenient
and allowed people to take water and
toilet breaks even 10-15 minutes
before the exam, it may not be wise
to take a chance.
3) In NMAT, if you manage to end
section 1 or section 2 with more than
5 minutes to spare (unlikely), you
could use it to take a break.
4) In NMAT, you are allowed breaks, but
you do lose time. Keep that in mind.
Group
Questions
1) Number of
questions in the
set declared
beforehand
2) All questions
seen one below
the other on the
right hand side
of the screen
1) Number of
questions in the
set NOT declared
beforehand
2) Each question
seen on a fresh
page
1) As is evident, CAT scores more than
NMAT in this regard. In NMAT, when
you start a group question, you dont
know how many questions that set
has. This makes attempt planning
virtually impossible.
2) For each question, you need to use
the Next and Previous buttons.
This harms you if the latter questions
of a set are easier or multiple
questions are related to each other
e.g. if calculating data for question 1
can help solve question 4 as well.
3) In CAT, since you can see all
questions together, you can decide

whether you want to attempt all the
questions or some or skip the set
altogether.
4) Also, one disadvantage of the NMAT
player is that if the data in the
question extends either horizontally
or vertically, you cannot move to the
next question till you scroll the bar in
the required direction. One set in my
paper had a data bar that was
redundant to the questions in the set,
but I had to scroll the bar each time
to see that bar and then move to
the next question. It may not waste
too much time, but is surely an
irritant.
Highlighting
in RCs
1) Allowed in CAT
1) Not allowed in
NMAT
1) Since highlighting is not allowed in
the NMAT RCs, finding relevant data
may become slightly more difficult.
You may need to practice NMAT RCs
accordingly.
Section End
Warnings
1) 5 minutes
before the end
of each section
and 1 minute
before the end
of each section
1) 5 minutes before
the end of each
section
1) Since NMAT gives only one warning
i.e. 5 minutes before the section is
scheduled to end, you will have to
keep a tab of when approximately 2
minutes are left. This will help in
marking the questions you havent
attempted
Difficulty
Level
1) Challenging
compared to
last year
1) Same as last year
1) I found CAT 2012 more challenging
compared to last year with a better
quality of questions and a couple of
innovative sets in LR.
2) I felt NMAT 2013 was similar to my
NMAT 2012 exam in nearly all
respects.
Attempts
1) 25 in section I
with
approximately
21-22 correct (I
assume)
2) 30 in section II
with
approximately
26 correct
(Again.
Assumption)
3) 55 in all

1) 42 out of 48 in
QA
2) 36 out of 40 in LR
3) 32 out of 32 in
VA
4) 116 out of 120 in
all
1) For CAT, I would suggest anywhere
between 19-21 attempts with 17+
correct in section I and 25 -26
attempts in section II with 22+ correct
2) For NMAT, try to attempt all 120
questions


Please note that the last two points above (in RED) depict my personal performance and opinions and as
such, should not be taken very rigidly. Please look at your actual exam and then take a decision. You can
use these as a guideline.

Wish you all the very best!