In medieval England, many knights strived for the quest for the Holy Grail, an ultimate dream. In today’s world, for anyone who wishes to have a great career and a great life, the equivalent is securing an MBA. The most popular way for this is the CAT. But there are Other Management Entrance Tests (OMETs) too, that pave the way to join some really good institutes. This article will talk about two of these: NMAT and SNAP.
Conducted by the GMAC for NMIMS and other reputed institutes, this year, NMAT has turned computer adaptive, on lines of GMAT. So, if a candidate gets a question right, the next question gets more difficult. Also, there’s a penalty for unanswered questions.
Conducted for admission to various colleges under the Symbiosis brand, SNAP, this year, is for a duration of an hour, with 1 mark for the right answer, 25 per cent negative marking for wrong answers. As is evident from the paper patterns above, the key to crack these exams is a good combination of speed and accuracy. You need to answer more questions with higher accuracy. So how do you prepare?
Keep three parameters in mind: Thorough preparation of concepts, practising on a regular basis and, taking and analysing mock tests.
Language skills
Verbal ability across aptitude and speed-based tests primarily focuses on reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, and paragraph-based questions. NMAT and SNAP are no exceptions. The latter, in particular, is known to pose questions that test your vocabulary and grammar basics. So to start off, try reading around half an hour on a daily basis. This will develop a strong foundation for you to ace your reading speed, vocabulary, and grammar. Along with this, you could work on each of these areas individually too. Etymology and word families help with further boosting of word power. For para jumbles, try arriving at the answer via elimination of options as it’s faster. For SNAP, in addition to the above, go through figures of speech, homophones, homonyms, idioms and phrases, punctuations, and so on.
Quantitative skills
For the uninitiated, this section can get intimidating, but once you figure out which areas are often tested on, it gets easier. You could start practising questions from arithmetic based topics such as percentages, ratio proportion, time and work, time and distance, and probability. You can also expect questions from geometry and mensuration, two to three sets of data interpretation and data sufficiency. NMAT, along with these, covers questions from algebra and simple, quadratic equations. Hence, regular practice across these areas will definitely come in handy. Speed mathematics acts as a lifesaver, so have the following data on your fingertips: squares till 40, cubes till 20, and reciprocals till 1/20.
Logical reasoning
Here, one can expect questions from linear and circular arrangements, coding and decoding, blood relations, Venn diagrams, direction sense, number and letter series, and verbal and critical reasoning. In addition to these, SNAP also focuses on clocks, calendars, symbols and notations, and non-verbal reasoning. These can get a bit time consuming, so please ensure you practice them regularly.
Every long journey starts with a single step. So try having a daily schedule; make every minute of study count. The next step is taking and analysing mock tests regularly. Check them on both speed and accuracy. If you find yourself lacking in the former, more practice is essential.
For the latter, strengthening of basic concepts is the key. In NMAT, owing to the new format and the fact that there are sectional cut-offs and an overall cut-off, don’t waste time on any question, don’t leave questions unanswered, and score across all sections. For SNAP, a proper time allocation plan across sections is the key. All the best on this journey towards your dreams!!
(The writer is Assistant Course Director CAT, T.I.M.E.)