Candidates planning to appear for multiple management entrances often get confused between which exams to take and which not. This is quite natural as there are many exams and not everyone can afford to take all the tests.

If you are an MBA aspirant, there is a high chance of you getting confused between whether or not you should take CMAT. Questions like, “Is CMAT good for me?” and “Why should I take CMAT?” must be revolving around your mind. This article will list the top reasons for you to take CMAT.

What is CMAT?

The CMAT is the Common Management Admission Test that the National Testing Agency conducts every year to help various institutes shortlist candidates for the MBA or PGDM programmes. The score of CMAT acts as a prerequisite for entry into more than 1000 management institutes in India.

6 Reasons why CMAT is good for MBA

1. Lower Application Fee- The registration fee for CMAT is much lower than other popular exams like CAT or XAT. For example, the application fee for general/ open category students in CAT is Rs 1900 while the fee for XAT is Rs 1700. Compared to that, the registration fee for CMAT is Rs. 1600 for the male and Rs 1000 for female candidates of general/ open category. Similarly, the application fee for General-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST and PwD is also lower in CMAT than the CAT/ XAT.
2. Wider Acceptability of CMAT- The score of XAT is accepted in more than 150 colleges. However, the score of CMAT is accepted in all AICTE approved MBA institutes. Over 1000 colleges will accept the CMAT 2020 scores.
3. Moderate Difficulty of CMAT paper- Unlike CAT or XAT, CMAT is not very difficult to clear. The number of tricky questions is less in CMAT as compared to CAT/ XAT/ IIFT.
4. Higher Chances of Getting into Top MBA Colleges- Many of the best management institutes like JBIMS, SIMSREE, SIMSR, GIM, etc accept CMAT scores. Since the difficulty level of CMAT is moderate, there are higher chances for a hard-working candidate to score 90+ percentile. The cut-offs of CAT/ XAT and CMAT are usually the same for these MBA colleges
5. Government-approved Colleges- All colleges accepting CMAT scores are the colleges with AICTE approval. The AICTE-approved college means an institute conforms to the education standard set by the organisation.
6. A Good Alternate: As the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) do not accept CMAT, almost all MBA aspirants prefer CAT over CMAT. However, CMAT can be a very good substitute if a candidate is not able to perform well in the CAT. The syllabus of CAT and CMAT are quite similar and it won’t require much preparation if you have already studied hard for CAT. The overall percentile will be the determining factor for the shortlisting process.

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Top MBA Colleges accepting CMAT 2020

Of 1000+ colleges accepting CMAT scores, the following are regarded as some of the best management colleges in India.

1. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai
2. KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai
3. Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education, Mumbai
4. Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai
5. N L Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai
6. Goa Institute of Management, Goa
7. Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
8. Institute of Financial Management and Research, Chennai
9. Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore
10. KIIT School of Rural Management, Bhubaneshwar
11. Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad
12. IMT Nagpur
13. IMT Hyderabad
14. Xavier Institute of Social service, Ranchi
15. Indus Business Academy, Bangalore