'NMAT by GMAC' exam to allow candidates three attempts in 75-day cycle

The Graduate Management Admission Council, governing body of the NMAT by GMAC exam (earlier called NMIMS Management Aptitude Test or NMAT will give candidates three attempts in the 75-day test cycle from this year onwards, so that they can submit their best scores to the B-School of their choice.

Vikram Shah, Associate Director-Market Development, South Asia at the Graduate Management Admission Council said, "A candidate can take the NMAT three times in a given admissions cycle. This will ensure that the candidate is given an opportunity to give his best score to the institute that he wishes to join."

After the results are declared, candidates can view their results and then decide to apply to business school or retake the test depending on their comfort with the results they achieved. A total of three attempts are allowed in one testing cycle.

NMAT by GMAC will not have any negative marking. Shah said that due to this, a candidate can make an informed guess instead of skipping a question due to penalty for a wrong answer.

The registrations for NMAT by GMAC began on July 2, 2015. Registration for the exam will close on October 5, 2015.

Shah said that this year 12 institutions apart from NMIMS will accept NMAT scores. NMAT was the MBA entrance exam for admissions to Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Mumbai.

The exam is scheduled to take place starting October 6 and will continue through December 19, 2015, at 27 centres in 18 locations across India.

In March 2015, GMAC had acquired the NMAT exam in India from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). It assumed ownership and management of the NMAT and the exam was re-titled the 'NMAT by GMAC'. This was its first ever acquisition of a test asset anywhere in the world.

This year, there is no change in the content. Shah said that going forward there will would be a roadmap to bring it on par with global standards and needs of institutes.

In the next 30-45 days, there will be preparatory material available on NMAT by GMAC. This will include online mock tests as well as official guides for the exam that will available offline.

The NMAT exam is computer-delivered and gives each candidate a randomly generated test from a pool of questions, provided one-at-a-time. The NMAT exam has three sections - Language Skills, Quantitative Skills and Logical Reasoning. All three sections of the NMAT are individually timed and test takers must answer questions and review answers to each section within the allotted time of 120 minutes.

After registering for NMAT by GMAC, candidates will be required to visit the particular institute's website and register there too. Shah added that scores of the candidate would be automatically sent to the institutes that they have chosen after the results are declared.

Candidates can choose to select the list of programmes they want to send their scores to before or after taking the exam. Up to 7 programmes are included in the registration fee.

Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS University, said that they are hopeful of benefiting from GMAC's expertise in the field by making the test an equitable platform for candidates aspiring to pursue management education.

Conducted by GMAC, the test scores are now accepted by NMIMS University, Alliance University, SRM University, BML Munjal University, VIT University, ICFAI University, Ansal University, Mody University, NIIT University, Thapar University, Shoolini University and Woxsen School of Business for their graduate management programs.