MAT EXAM SYLLABUS AND REFERENCE BOOK

MAT (Management Aptitude Test) is one of the most essential entrance tests for admission in PGDM. Students of all streams - arts, commerce, science, engineering, medicine and architecture can pursue a career in Management after clearing MAT entrance exam. 

Clearing MAT entrance exam is not at all effortless and you need to put in a lot of efforts. And for that you should be aware of the pattern and syllabus and make your strategy to manage your time and endeavor. We will now try to shed some light on the syllabus of MAT entrance exam and how to prepare for it?


Pattern of MAT entrance Exam 
Total number of Questions: 200
Total Time allocated: 150 minutes

Marks allocation
Correct attempt: 1 mark
Incorrect attempt: Negative marking not specified

Sections with Questions
MAT entrance exam covers five sections in all. Scores of first four sections compose the final scores. However, institutions might choose to consider the score of the General Awareness section.

Section No.	Section	No. of Questions	Time Suggested(Minutes)
1.	Language Comprehension	40	30
2.	Mathematical Skills	40	40
3.	Data Analysis and Sufficiency	40	35
4.	Intelligence and Critical Reasoning	40	30
5.	Indian and Global Environment	40	15
	Total	200	150

MAT is the test conducted by All India Management Testing Service for entering into MBA or equivalent post graduate programs. The five sections mentioned above are basically comprised of the following five papers:

• Paper 1 : Language Comprehension
• Paper 2 : Mathematical Skills
• Paper 3 : Data Analysis
• Paper 4 : Intelligence & Critical Reasoning
• Paper 5 : Indian & Global Environment Section

Detailed Syllabus
Quantitative Ability for MAT:

Geometry, (Lines, angles, Triangles, Spheres, Rectangles, Cube, Cone etc) Ratios and Proportion, Percentages, In-equations Quadratic and linear equations Algebra, Profit & Loss, Averages, Partnership (Accounts), Time-Speed-Distance, Work and time, Number system, HCF & LCM, Geometric Progression,

Arithmetic progression, Arithmetic mean, Geometric mean, Harmonic mean, Median, Mode, Number Base System, BODMAS, Mensuration, Alligation & Mixtures, Work, Pipes and Cisterns, Simple Interest & Compound Interest, Set Theory, Venn diagram,

Installment Payments, Clocks, Probability, Permutations Combinations, Trigonometry, Vectors, Binomial Expansion, Co-ordinate geometry, Logarithm, Calendar, Maxima & Minima Progression, Surds & Indices Complex numbers Etc.

DI And Reasoning for MAT:

Data Interpretation based on text, Data Interpretation based on graphs and tables.

Graphs can be Column graphs, Bar Graphs, Line charts, Pie Chart, Graphs representing Area, Venn diagram, etc. Critical reasoning, Visual reasoning, Assumption-Premise-Conclusion, Assertion and reasons, Statements and assumptions, identifying valid inferences , identifying Strong arguments and Weak arguments, Statements and conclusions, Cause and Effect, Identifying Probably true, Probably false, definitely true, definitely false kind of statement, Linear arrangements, Matrix arrangements. Puzzles, Syllogisms, Functions, Family tree - identifying relationship among group of people, Symbol Based problems, Coding and decoding , Sequencing , identifying next number in series, etc.


Verbal Abilit for MAT:

Comprehension of passage (Poems can also come).

Verbal Reasoning, Syllogisms , Contextual usage, Analogies, Antonyms, Fill In the Blanks, Jumbled paragraphs with 4 or 5 sentences, Jumbled paragraphs (6 sentences with first and last fixed), Sentence Correction, Foreign language words used in English, Sentence completion, Sentence correction, odd man out, idioms, one word substitution, Different usage of same word etc.


General Awareness for MAT:

Current Affairs, Business, Punch line of companies, Top officials of big companies, Major corporate events

Famous award and prizes

World Records

Books and authors

Science, History, Geography, International organizations

Important quotations

Social issues, Sports, Finance, Automobiles, Entertainment, Politics, etc. 

NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list of syllabus but an indicative list observed over the pattern of MAT entrance exam till date.

Few important reference books are:

R. S. Aggarwal - Math's - XI & XII

R.S. Agarwal - Reasoning

R.S.Aggarwal - Quantitative Aptitude 

R.D Sharma - Quantitative Aptitude 

S.L. Loni - Plane Trigonometry (Part I)

S.L. Loni - Co-ordinate Geometry

Hall & Knight - Higher Algebra

Arihant Publication books for competitive exams

Master the Mat

Mat Secrets

501 Word Analogy Questions

Kaplan

Magical Book on Quicker Maths M. Tyra

Practice Book on quicker Maths M. Tyra & K. Kundan

Analytical Reasoning by M. K. Pendy

Problem solving (Puzzles) by K. Kundan


As above, we tried to list the detailed syllabus for all the sections of MAT entrance exam. Be it Quantitative Aptitude or Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning or Comprehension, we attempted to spot and suggest reference books on each of them. But just buying the book or newspapers will not help. You will have to draft a complete strategy and implement it accordingly as well. Here, we will try to suggest some important tricks and techniques for preparation of MAT entrance exam.