CMAT is a popularly known entrance exam for MBA aspirants. This exam is known to give opportunities to thousands of students all over the country. An entrance exam is what most students desire to crack in order to see their dreams being fulfilled. Every educational degree these days demands for students to clear an entrance exam. Hence, the importance of the CMAT entrance exam is also a lot. Once students clear it with good scores, they can see themselves in the best business colleges of the country.

CMAT Exam Pattern

The CMAT exam is 3 hours long. In the CMAT exam, each question is of 4 marks, and there is a negative marking of 1 mark for incorrect answers. The exam has 5 sections as follows:

What are CMAT Previous Year Papers?

CMAT previous papers are the question papers for the CMAT exam that have come in the last few years. These are actual question papers of the CMAT exam. Students make it a point to go through these previous-year CMAT papers. This becomes important because with this, students can actually get to know about the real exam pattern of the CMAT exam. When students see the CMAT paper from last year, it will automatically help them to feel like they are familiar with the exam's pattern. These papers are a great way for students to get the latest version of the exam pattern.

When should students solve CMAT previous year papers?

Students should ideally begin solving the CMAT previous year papers after they are done with their syllabus preparation. This is simply because without having a good grasp of all the topics of the syllabus, students won't be able to solve the previous year papers well. Students will first be required to have conceptual clarity of all the topics in the syllabus. If this is not done, then when students come across questions which they won't be able to answer, they will feel underconfident. This will dull the spirit of the students. Rather, the right way to go about it would be to complete the entire syllabus first and then move on to solving CMAT previous year papers. Students should also try to solve these in the last few months so that they can stay in touch with the practice of questions put in the recent few years of the CMAT exam.

Few Benefits Of Solving CMAT Previous Year Papers?

1. Improves students' problem-solving skills: When students solve the CMAT previous year question papers, they get to experience many new kinds of questions. Solving these questions helps the students to enhance their problem-solving skills in the best way possible. Students get to brainstorm on the different ways in which a question can be solved. Then, students can learn the most effective methods for solving exam questions. Students need to learn how to be calm while solving questions. Only then will students be able to think rationally.

2. Improved time management: As CMAT is a time-sensitive exam, hence it has to be solved in a certain time limit. Students need to practise a lot for this. CMAT previous year papers help the students with learning time management skills. Students can know how to solve questions quickly and accurately so that they can finish the CMAT exam in time. If students don't work hard on this aspect of the exam preparation, they will face challenges while solving the CMAT exam. Students may not be able to complete their exam in time, which might result in lower CMAT percentile scores. To avoid any such kind of problem students should try and work on their time management skills.

3. Helps to track progress: When students solve the CMAT previous year papers, they learn how to analyse their performance with each paper. Students can keep track of how well they are doing in the CMAT exam. Students get to know about their weak and strong points while they solve the CMAT last year papers. In this way students can work on their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. Students can get to know topics that they are not doing well at. This gives students a heads up in which direction they need to go. All the topics that students were weak in, they can start working on again. In this way, students will be able to improve their performance.

4. Helps curate a preparation plan: When students solve many previous year question papers, they get to know where they are lacking and where they are doing well. This clear picture of their preparation helps them to make a good study plan for the future. Students can keep the topics they are doing badly at on the top of their priority list. The revision of these topics should also be in a way that students can recall all the important concepts in a clear way. A preparation plan is very essential for students to have while preparing for any exam. Students need to be able to know the entire syllabus on their tips and have a clear image of how much more they need to work for the exam's preparation. Solving CMAT previous year papers gives students this start that helps them to have a good preparation plan in place. 

Conclusion

Students' preparation is completely their own. Even if students are taking any coaching for the preparation of the CMAT exam, they still have to prepare on their own. Nobody will help the students with their preparation journey. Yes, there are tools available on the internet in excess, and there are coaching centres that provide a lot of material to the students. But if the students don't want to prepare, they will never be able to clear the exam. CMAT previous year papers will also only come of good use for the students when they themselves want to prepare for the exam. If students have a good intent towards the preparation, they can make anything happen for themselves. Students just need to be sincere and focused. The rest will be achieved by the students on their own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can students only rely on previous year papers as practice material for the exam preparation?

No, students should not rely on only one source for their preparation. Yes, the CMAT previous year question papers are helpful to the students, but students should also solve mock tests, sample papers, practice tests, etc.

Where are previous year papers available to the students?

The CMAT previous year papers are available to the students on the official website of CMAT. There are other online websites also that offer the CMAT material to the students.