How to prepare for the Bocconi Test?
Bocconi Test conducted by SDA Bocconi Asia Center With a lot of tests being conducted over the MBA season, candidates have to prepare separately for each one of them. To make sure that the test-takers know the interface and what to expect, I have penned down a review of the aptitude test conducted by SDA Bocconi Asia Center. The test is divided into 3 parts: Verbal Reasoning Test, Numerical Reasoning, and Logical Reasoning Test. Each section has a couple of practice questions that you might want to take before you start the actual test. These will give you a feel as to what the interface would look like, where the relevant buttons are and the kind of content you are dealing with. You can also practice the sample test available here. Verbal Reasoning Test The Verbal Reasoning Test part of the exam has 30 questions to be solved in 19 minutes (the countdown timer is in the form of minutes only and so, will start from 19 minutes). The questions are completely based on comprehending short passages and drawing conclusions from the given data. The upside of having such a section is that candidates are tested purely on the basis of their aptitude and not extensively on the basis of technical content. There were 10 passages that had 3 questions each. The passages range from 100-120 words in length and are pretty easy to read and understand. The key thing to do here would be to keep a track of time and move ahead quickly. The average time taken to move through a passage would be less than 2 minutes and so, you need to make sure that you don’t get stuck on some question.Also, you will not be able to go back to a question once you have attempted it and you will not be able to move to a fresh question unless you answer the existing question or give it a pass. Not seeing a few questions in the given time period is bound to hurt you as there is a fair split of questions on the basis of their level of difficulty and you might have a few easy questions towards the end. The basic format of a question-set is a passage followed by 3 statements each of which has to be categorized under True, False or Cannot Say. The best thing to do here will be to look at verbs carefully and understand the difference between could, may, might, will, must, should and so on. If the passage talks about a possibility, the conclusion cannot be a certainty. Also, pay attention to the facts mentioned in the passage: the chronology, the data in the form of percentages, ratios, studies, etc. and the persons involved in the activity. Numerical Reasoning This is probably the toughest section of the test. You will have 18 minutes to answer a maximum of 15 questions that are in the form of data interpretation sets with 5 answer options. There are 3 questions per set and almost everything is calculation intensive. There isn’t an on-screen calculator present and so, you would have to be pretty good at guesswork if you have to save some time while solving the section. The key thing would be to read the table/chart properly before jumping on to the set or else, you might find yourself revisiting the set a few times before you get the hang of it. Considering that you have around 4 minutes per set, it makes sense to be fluid throughout the section and only allot time to a set if you feel that you will be able to crack it within 3 odd minutes. The focus is not so much on remembering mathematical concepts and formulas but in reading data quickly, understanding it and arriving at the required conclusion. Polish your ratios and percentages comparison techniques before you take this section. Logical Reasoning Test This is probably the only section for which you can prepare mentally and in terms of content. The section has 15 visual reasoning questions to be solved in 18 minutes. The questions are based on which diagram would come next in a series and has a set of 5 question figures in a pre-decided order. The questions have five options and again, the impulse would be the key in this section. The faster you are at eliminating options, the better off you would be in terms of attempts. Clockwise or anti-clockwise rotation, addition or deletion of images/parts of images and mirror reflection/water reflection are the concepts you would need to be thorough with. As is the case with the other two sections, you cannot afford to not see the last question of the section and so, need to plan your time accordingly. Final thoughts The test is certainly different from what you have been preparing for and would reveal your aptitude level fairly. The ideal attempt in the Verbal Reasoning section would be around 25 questions, in the Quantitative Reasoning section would be around 10 questions and in the Logical Reasoning section would be around 15 questions. So, a score of around 40-45 out of 72 should be a good representation of your aptitude. Not getting stuck or surprised by the test (which would lead to a lot of students giving up because it is out of their comfort zone) is the key and if you keep the above things in mind, you should be able to perform well. [Update] 21st September, 2018 SDA Bocconi Asia Center, formerly known as MISB Bocconi, is a prominent pan-Asian hub located in Mumbai, providing top-tier executive education and postgraduate programs designed by the SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy since 2012. SDA Bocconi is a leading business school in Europe and is distinguished by its triple accreditation—EQUIS, AMBA, and AACSB—which places it among the elite business schools worldwide. The programs offered by SDA Bocconi Asia Center are recognized as being on par with other top business schools in Mumbai. Like
How to manage time effectively at the NMAT?
As would have been obvious by now, the NMAT is more a function of speed than of content. While a few candidates are pretty natural when it comes to speed tests, a lot of aspirants end up getting confused and too worked up in an attempt to solve questions quickly. Order of sections I would suggest you take your strongest section at the very beginning, your weakest section post that and the section you are okayish with at the end. This is primarily to ensure that you don’t face any issues when you are starting the test and are pretty much in full flow when it comes to your weakest section. The confidence would get carried forward and you would be able to finish the test well. Take a few mocks before the actual test to make sure that you are used to the order of sections and it is not a surprise come the actual test. The 15-second rule Simply put, if you cannot read a question in 15 seconds, it is not worth solving (except of course in the LS section). Candidates who are good at speed tests will tell you that they have a Spidey sense when it comes to skipping difficult questions. Of course, it depends completely on a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses as to which questions will be easy and difficult but generally, if there is a big story attached to the question, it doesn’t make sense to attempt it in the first round. A few topics that could be blindly left in round 1 will be: Allegations, interest rates, series, input-output, data interpretation, logical reasoning caselets, and reading comprehension passages Remember the Pareto principle 80% of your score will be from 20% of the topics that you would have prepared. Of course, you would need that 20 % to gain an advantage over the test-taking population but you also need a base score to clear the cutoffs. Remember this bit and back yourself to be able to solve around 80% of the test. As had been mentioned in the previous article, if you prepare your topics well, you should not face any issue in clearing the cutoffs. Even if it means that you are not solving even 4-5 questions at a stretch, it won’t matter much in the final tally. So, instead of getting desperate during the test, keep your calm and you should be fine. Using the timer wisely Make sure that you are fluent throughout the section and are not getting stuck anywhere. Unless you have the range and the speed to make a comeback it will prove fatal. Even a 5-minute idle time is enough to push you from a 200+ score to a low 190s score and so, be extremely fluid throughout the test. If you can subconsciously figure out the time spent on a question, it would be brilliant. However, you can keep track of time and always try to stay ahead of the per question time limit (i.e. say for example you are at question 20 in QS. Ideally, you should be somewhere around the 15th minute. If you are falling behind by a bit, you need to pick it up) Understanding E + (M/2) If you are not sure of the cutoffs or of how good your performance has been, you can simply do a quick count of the Easy + half of the Moderate questions. If you are at that level, chances are that you will clear the cut-offs. Typically the split will be approximately 40% Easy – 30% Moderate – 30% Difficult and so, the cutoff will be around 55-60% of the total marks. So, if you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and can be fluent without losing hope/confidence, you should do fairly well at the test. All the best! This article has been written by Dr. Shashank Prabhu, who has been a CAT 100 percentiler, CET Rank 1, and IIFT 100 percentiler. He had a scaled score of 249/360 in NMAT 2016 and 99 percentile in each of the sections and overall score. This article is written by our Guest Writer Shashank Prabhu CAT 100%iler, 5 times AIR 1, Director, learningroots.in, Ex ITC, Pagalguy, TAS. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not MISB Bocconi.
Strategies to crack a perfect 99 on the NMAT by GMAC Test
NMAT by GMAC is primarily an important test for more reasons than one. It is the kick-start to a long season for most serious aspirants and the one test from which, aspirants can either derive a lot of confidence or get so scared that the entire season that follows is a blur. As someone who had scored a perfect 99 on the NMAT by GMAC (99th percentile across all sectionals and overall), I would be sharing a few strategies and tips that would be immensely helpful if you are taking the test. Understand the test Unlike most of the other entrance tests, NMAT by GMAC is a fine balance of knowing a huge range of question types and switching between those at breakneck speed. While the test does not have negative marking, it does have timed sectionals and a ratio of a minute per question on an average. You are expected to read the question, understand it, represent it on your rough sheet, solve it and mark it in that minute. Even if you decide to let go of the question in the first round, you would need to make that decision within 30 odd seconds of seeing the question. So, your knowledge of yourself as a candidate becomes crucial especially in these tests wherein a lean patch of 5-10 minutes during the test can result in your downfall. If you know at a question-level whether you should spend time attempting it or not, you will do extremely well on the NMAT by GMAC. SDA Bocconi Asia Center is accepting NMAT Scores. Like other top B schools in India offering postgraduate programs, SDA Bocconi AC offers International Master in Business. Admission requirement – http://sdabocconiasiacenter.com/international-master-in-business/admission-requirement Preparation before the test terms of content Language Skills: The main challenge in this section would be to read faster than you normally do. 32 questions in 22 minutes would be a blur and solve two around 500-word Reading Comprehension passages (with 4 questions each) would take a big chunk of your time. The best strategy would be to focus on vocabulary based questions (synonyms, antonyms, fill in the blanks, cloze passages, etc.) and grammar based questions at the start which will take lesser time. With regard to preparation, keeping track of common word roots and a few expressions should be enough in addition to basic reading comprehension practice and understanding the basic grammar rules (parallelism and subject verb agreement are the ones that will be tested most often). Quantitative Skills: Arithmetic, linear equations and numbers would be the important topics here. There were a few questions that were of the apply-the-formula-directly type, especially from co-ordinate geometry and numbers and so, even if you do not have a thorough understanding of a topic, at least remember the formulas that you would come across. The data interpretation sets are generally of a moderate-difficult level and will be useful only once you have cleared the cut-off. Ideally, you should be done with the quantitative part before you jump to the data interpretation part of the section. Logical Reasoning: Arrangements and input-output can be pretty challenging at times, and unless you crack it within the first few seconds, it would be prudent to let go of these. Coding decoding, almost all of the series based questions, verbal logic (assumptions, inferences, conclusions) would be ones that will boost your score. Test taking strategies: Which window to choose? Doesn’t matter to be very frank. Ideally, it would be best if you could plan for an additional attempt in case you are not satisfied with how things went the first time around. Considering that CAT, IIFT, and SNAP will be the ones that you would need to word around, you can go for an attempt around the last week of October and then take a call. Multiple attempts vs. single attempts: Again, it is completely up to you. You can of course plan a bit ahead and have a window to be safe just in case you need it. Order of sections: If you are someone who faces fatigue issues, keep your best section for the end. That way, you won’t run out of steam throughout the test. Also, try not taking reasoning right at the start (unless of course, you are exceptionally good at it) as it would include a lot of surprise elements which might throw you off guard.QS-LR-LS or LS-LR-QS are both fine. Also, the speed at which the sections pass should be enough to keep you on your toes throughout. Leaked questions, stay away from rumours Almost every year since the test went computer-based, there have been leaked questions that are floated by the takers. A few of them are genuinely right and would have appeared, but a lot of them are half baked, without options and perpetuated by quite a few shady elements to entice people rather than help them with prep. Also, if you look at these questions, they are pretty much manageable the first time around (except may be vocabulary based questions) and so, do not deserve undue attention. You will also find people claiming that 50-60 percent of the paper was from the circulated leaked questions which would be ridiculous. So, stay away from these things and focus on your prep. End of the day, leaked questions are available to everyone and so, solving them would not give you any edge. What score to expect? Typically, anything above 205 should be the bare minimum target. To put it in context, I had attempted almost the entire paper genuinely (except a DI set which was too long and a couple of logic based questions; I had expected to get around 24-25 questions right in LS) which got me a QS (89) + LS (75) + LR (85). So, the score is not scaled heavily as far as my knowledge goes although it would completely depend on your performance in comparison to that of your slot-mates and the performance of your slot vis – vis
NMAT by GMAC Retake?
Aim for at least 25 points Improvement With NMAT 2017 results out of the bag, some of you must be wondering whether to take the test again or not. In this article, we will go through the key aspects you must consider before taking that decision. If we look at the cutoffs of the last few year, a score of 215+ with balanced sectional performance can be considered a safe score. If you have cracked more than 215, give yourself a pat on the back and be assured of a call. Needless to say, one can take a retake even with such a good score to increase one’s percentile. You will end up paying a little extra but considering the stakes, it’s pretty insignificant. If you are serious about some of the top B-schools accepting NMAT score, taking a retake just to increase your chance makes complete sense. But yes, 215+ is a good score and you should definitely get a call. A score above 205 but less than 215 should take another shot. The improvement required is marginal and additional 3-4 right questions can improve your chance of getting in significantly. Do check your sectional split. If there is a section which pulled you down, make sure that you give attention to this section before your NMAT retake and improve your performance. Getting a few extra questions right won’t be that difficult if you understand your mistakes. A 205+ score shows that you’re there. But will it guarantee a call and a convert? Not really. But a good score like that should drive you to cross the 215-220 level which will take the tension off. The next bracket is 190 to 205 which generally has a lot of students. From here, again, it is easy to say that one needs 10 questions right to crack it, in the time available to aspirants, it’s difficult. Content wise, one is at a fair level if one gets a 190+ but question selection needs to get better and the overall speed has to improve. More genuine attempts = more marks. Those falling under this so-near-yet-so-far bracket should start preparing for NMAT retake and should aim for at least 25 points improvement. Preparing exclusively through mocks can work for such candidates who know the stuff but falter during the test or for those who are concerned about their speed and strategy. Sectional performance should be closely looked at as a weak section, if kept unattended, will reduce one’s chance of increasing one’s scores. If you’ve scored less than 190, time to introspect. What went wrong? Are you done with all the concepts? Were there questions where you spent time but didn’t get returns? What’s the gap between your sectional scores and sectional cutoffs? What needs to be done in the next few weeks to bridge that gap? A Strategy can make a huge difference for test takers who are not able to increase their attempts. Identify the issue and fix it. You might need to work on your content so be ready to slog it out in the next couple Also Read : NMAT By GMAC : Preparation Strategy | Three Reasons Why MISB Bocconi Is NOT the B-School for You Score Possible issues Retake with reason Strategy 215+ Not applicable Yes – Just to increase score and percentile No – Because it’s not necessary Don’t get over-confident. 205-215 Speed Yes – May or may not get a call at this score No – If you want to take a chance Increase your speed. Target 5 additional right questions. 190-205 Speed + Content Yes – If you are targeting top institutes No – If you are fine with some of the other institutes Fix content issues. Increase speed. Target 10 additional right questions. <190 Speed + Content Yes – If you want to get a better institute No – If you think that it’s not possible to improve your score Work on your content and question selection. Target 15 additional right questions. A lot of students raise concerns over the cost of taking NMAT. Valid point. But if one decides not to take it again purely for cost reasons, one’s thinking is short-term. Though there is always a chance of no improvement or worse performance, there is also a chance of superior performance. And considering the number of institutes accepting NMAT scores, NMAT retake makes a lot of sense. Do keep in mind the date to register for the retake. Registration for retake began on the 8th of October and the last day to register for NMAT retake is 15th of December, 2016. With some of the other tests just around the corner, you might be in two minds as to which test(s) should be given a priority. As the preparation is more or less the same (except the tests where you’ve GK section) this question shouldn’t really bother you. If you are finding yourself confused, tackle things as they come along and prepare accordingly. In most of the entrance tests, your fate gets sealed in one attempt and could-have-been and should-have-been thoughts are your only consolation in case you mess up. Fortunately, NMAT offers an opportunity to increase your score and improve your chance of getting into a good institute. Grab that chance before it vanishes. This Article is written by our guest author Prasad Sawant An MBA from JBIMS, Mumbai with a 99.99 percentile in CET, 99.99 percentile in MAT, and 99.9+ percentile in CAT (Quant), Prasad is currently putting his entrepreneurial skills gained through the SYB programme from S. P. Jain Institute to good use by combining it with his lifelong passion for teaching and mentoring. Post-MBA, He worked as a Senior Consultant with Great Place to Work and is certified in Behavioral Event Interviewing and the Strong Interest Inventory®. Currently Co-founder at http://learningroots.in/ Update – MISB Bocconi is now SDA Bocconi Asia Center. SDA Bocconi Asia Center accepts NMAT Scores. If you are serious about some of
NMAT by GMAC – Preparation Strategies
NMAT is all about playing the game of speed and accuracy well. This article is written by Guest Writer Shashank Prabhu CAT 100%iler, 5 times AIR 1, Director, learningroots.com , Ex ITC, Pagalguy, TAS NMAT conducted by GMAC is accepted by leading b-schools in India and the number of institutes accepting NMAT scores is on the rise. Given the fact that it is conducted by GMAC which also conducts the GMAT, the test has credibility, reliability, and offers B-schools a platform on which candidates can be assessed. At a point of time, NMAT used to be a paper-pencil based test. It later became a Computer Based Test (CBT) and finally, the test is now conducted by GMAC. Even in its earlier versions, NMAT was a speed based test with moderate difficulty and less time per question, making it a preferred choice for a lot of aspirants. It has now transitioned into a test which can be taken three times in a given admissions cycle, and has eliminated negative marking altogether. Before we get into the intricacies of strategy and preparation for NMAT, let us have a quick look at the structure of the test. TEST STRUCTURE NMAT is a Computer Based Test (CBT) and gives each candidate a randomly generated test from a pool of questions. GMAC ensures that the difficulty level of the questions, the overall difficulty of the test and individual sections, remains the same regardless of when and where the test is administered. What makes NMAT by GMAC unique is the timed sections format, no negative marking, and the option to choose the section order while attempting the test. There are three sections Language Skills, Quantitative Skills, and Logical Reasoning. Each of these sections has a time limit. As there is no negative marking, students can mark all the answers in a section within allotted time. It is crucial to review your answers before to another section of the test as once the section is closed, the answers are considered as final answers. Sections Questions Time Language Skills 32 questions 22 minutes Quantitative Skills 48 questions 60 minutes Logical Reasoning 40 questions 38 minutes Total 120 questions 120 minutes Every right answer is worth 3 marks and there is no negative marking. Because of this, students are advised to mark all the answers. Every question has 5 answer choices. Let us have a look at the individual sections and the strategies that can be employed for each of the sections. LANGUAGE SKILLS As there are 32 questions to be attempted in 22 minutes, one needs to be extremely fast when it comes to the Language Skills section. If we look at the split of the questions, we will find that one can expect 8-12 questions on RC (2-3 RCs with 4 questions each). Vocabulary questions are synonyms and antonyms and are quite straight forward. As these questions fall under the you-know-it-or-you-don’t category, there is no point spending a lot of time on these questions and 20 seconds per question, should be good enough to crack these. 4-5 error spotting questions (a toned down version of sentence correction questions) appear on the NMAT. Considering one would be more careful while attempting these questions, 30-45 seconds per question should work well. Para jumbles question may have 4 or 5 sentences to be arranged and the difficulty is easy to moderate. Not more than a minute per question should be spent on these. Fill in the blanks are comparatively easier and one can breeze through these. Preposition based questions wouldn’t take much time and can be managed in about 4 minutes. That will leave one with about 5 minutes for Reading Comprehension. It may not be possible to attempt both the passages. So, quickly decide which RC you wish to attempt and answer all the questions well. Spending a lot of time on RC in the beginning of the section may not appear a sound strategy as one will find one pressured if any extra time is invested without significant results. Question Type Number of questions Suggested time (in minutes) Analogy 1 0.5 Error spotting 4 3 Fill in the blanks 6 4 Para jumbles 4 4 Prepositions 4 4 Reading Comprehension 8 5 Vocabulary 5 1.5 Grand Total 32 22 minutes To do well in this section, one must concentrate on studying prepositions, rules of grammar, sentence correction as these will take lesser time per question and push attempts and score. Time-consuming questions in this section are Para jumbles and RC selection makes a huge difference in the attempt accuracy dynamic. LOGICAL REASONING This section has 40 questions and 38 minutes, giving candidates almost a minute per question. There are 2-3 LR caselets with 4 questions each and these are of moderate difficulty level. If you are attempting a set, it makes sense to get all 4 questions under it right. Coding-decoding, standalone puzzles, cryptomath questions also appear on the NMAT. If you aren’t used to solving cryptomath questions, don’t spend time during the test. Number series and number based puzzles are quite easy to manage and one should not spend more than 30 seconds to crack the logic. The challenging part of this section is Critical Reasoning. Assumptions, Conclusions, Strengthen-weaken argument, Fact Inference Judgement can make or break the case in the Logical Reasoning section. As there can be 10-12 questions based on these, one cannot simply ignore the importance of getting these sorted early. Input Output and Visual reasoning questions do appear on the NMAT and a little bit of practice should help crack these. MISB Bocconi Accepts NMAT Scores DOWNLOAD PGPB BROCHURE The section split will typically look like this: Question Type Number of questions Argument type identification 1 Assumption 1 Blood relations/Family tree 1 BODMAS 1 LR Caselets 8 Coding-Decoding 3 Conclusion 2 Course of Action 2 Cryptomath 2 Inference 2 Input Output 4 Number puzzle 1 Number Series 2 Odd man out 1 Set Theory/Venn Diagram 3 Solo Logic based question 3 Strengthen