MAT, the Management Aptitude Test, is a national-level MBA and PGDM entrance exam conducted by the All India Management Association (AIMA), a non-profit apex management body, not a government testing agency. MAT has run since 1988 and has carried national-exam recognition from the Government of India since 2003. Its scores are accepted by more than 600 AICTE-approved business schools across the country, none of which run a shared, centralised admission process. The exam's defining structural feature is that AIMA conducts it four times a year, in February, May, September, and December, and offers a choice between a Paper-Based Test (PBT) and a Computer-Based Test (CBT) within the same testing window. The MAT September 2026 cycle is currently open for registration, with the PBT set for September 13, 2026 and the CBT for September 20, 2026.
| Date | Update | Source |
|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | MAT September 2026 registration opened for PBT and CBT modes across 54 test cities | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| June 14, 2026 | MAT May 2026 cycle's CBT conducted | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| May 31, 2026 | MAT May 2026 cycle's PBT conducted; first cycle run under the revised 150-question, 120-minute pattern | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| March 8, 2026 | MAT February 2026 cycle's CBT conducted | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| March 1, 2026 | MAT February 2026 cycle's PBT conducted | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| December 25, 2025 | MAT December 2025 result declared for both PBT and CBT | AIMA, mat.aima.in |
| Full name | Management Aptitude Test |
| Acronym | MAT |
| Conducting body | All India Management Association (AIMA) |
| Mode | Paper-Based Test (PBT) and Computer-Based Test (CBT); Internet-Based Test (IBT) discontinued after 2024 |
| Level | National |
| Frequency | Four sessions a year: February, May, September, December |
| Language | English |
| Total questions | 150 (5 sections of 30 questions each), reduced from 200 starting the May 2026 cycle |
| Duration | 120 minutes, reduced from 150 minutes starting the May 2026 cycle |
| Marking | +1 for a correct answer, -0.25 for an incorrect answer, 0 for unattempted |
| Composite score scale | Approximately 199 to 801; the Economic and Business Environment (GK) section is excluded from the composite score and percentile |
| Application fee (single mode) | ₹2,300 (September 2026 cycle; drifts slightly cycle to cycle) |
| Application fee (both modes) | ₹4,000 (September 2026 cycle; drifts slightly cycle to cycle) |
| Category-based fee concession | None; AIMA charges the same fee to every candidate regardless of category |
| Official website | mat.aima.in |
| Score validity | One year from the exam date |
| Institutes accepting MAT scores | 600+ AICTE-approved B-schools nationally, government recognition since 2003 |
| PBT exam date | December 13, 2025 |
| CBT exam date | December 21, 2025 |
| Result declared (both modes) | December 25, 2025 |
| Registration closes, PBT | February 23, 2026 |
| Registration closes, CBT | March 2, 2026 |
| Admit card release, PBT | February 26, 2026 |
| Admit card release, CBT | March 5, 2026 |
| PBT exam date | March 1, 2026 |
| CBT exam date | March 8, 2026 |
| Result declared | March 2026 |
| Registration closes, PBT | May 25, 2026 |
| Registration closes, CBT | June 8, 2026 |
| PBT exam date | May 31, 2026 |
| CBT exam date | June 14, 2026 |
| Registration closes, PBT | September 7, 2026 |
| Registration closes, CBT | September 14, 2026 |
| PBT exam date | September 13, 2026 |
| CBT exam date | September 20, 2026 |
| Registration opens | Expected around late October 2026 tentative |
| PBT exam date | Expected mid-December 2026 tentative |
| CBT exam date | Expected late December 2026 tentative |
| Apply directly to each target institute with the MAT scorecard | Rolling, institute-specific tentative |
| Institute-level shortlist announced | Rolling, institute-specific tentative |
| Institute-specific GD/WAT/PI round | Rolling, institute-specific tentative |
| Offer and admission confirmation | Rolling, institute-specific tentative |
MAT eligibility, as set by AIMA itself, requires only a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university, with no minimum aggregate percentage or CGPA specified by AIMA. Final-year and final-semester students awaiting their results are also eligible to register and appear. There is no age limit and no cap on the number of attempts, a candidate can sit all four sessions in a single year if they choose. Work experience is not a registration requirement, though some participating institutes weigh it during their own admission process.
| Age limit | None. AIMA places no age restriction on MAT candidates. |
| Educational qualification | A bachelor's degree in any discipline from a university recognised by the UGC, AICTE, or an equivalent statutory body. AIMA does not require a specific stream. |
| AIMA's own minimum aggregate for registration | None specified. This is distinct from the admission-stage minimum individual institutes commonly apply. |
| Common institute-level minimum at the admission stage | Around 50% general category, 45% SC/ST/PwD, though this varies by institute and is not uniform or AIMA-mandated. |
| Final-year and final-semester students | Eligible to register and appear, provided they can furnish proof of completion meeting whatever minimum the admitting institute requires, by that institute's own deadline. |
| Number of attempts | Unrestricted across a lifetime; a candidate can sit all four sessions offered within a single calendar year. |
| Nationality and domicile | Open to Indian citizens; participating institutes handle international and NRI applicants under their own separate policies. No domicile-based quota system applies, since admission sits entirely with each institute. |
MAT registration is fully online at mat.aima.in and typically opens six to eight weeks before each session's exam date. A candidate registering for the September 2026 cycle, for example, can register for the PBT mode, the CBT mode, or both within the same registration window, with a fee discount for choosing both.
| Document | Format | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the session notification | Recent, plain background, clearly visible face |
| Signature | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the session notification | Handwritten, scanned on plain paper |
| Category certificate (if claimed at the institute stage) | As specified in the session notification | Not required for MAT registration itself, since AIMA applies no category-based fee concession; kept ready for the later institute application stage |
| Category | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Single mode (PBT or CBT) | ₹2,300 | ₹2,300 |
| Both modes (PBT and CBT) | ₹4,000 | ₹4,000 |
MAT has 150 questions split evenly across five sections of 30 questions each: Language Comprehension, Mathematical Skills, Data Analysis and Sufficiency, Intelligence and Critical Reasoning, and Economic and Business Environment. The exam runs for 120 minutes with no fixed sectional time limit, unlike CAT's strict 40-minutes-per-section structure. Each correct answer earns 1 mark, with a 0.25-mark penalty for an incorrect answer and no penalty for a skipped question. The Economic and Business Environment section is scored and reported on the scorecard but excluded from the composite score and percentile calculation that participating institutes actually use for shortlisting.
| Modes | Paper-Based Test (PBT) and Computer-Based Test (CBT) |
| Duration | 120 minutes, no fixed sectional time limit |
| Sections | Language Comprehension, Mathematical Skills, Data Analysis and Sufficiency, Intelligence and Critical Reasoning, Economic and Business Environment |
| Questions per section | 30 each, 150 total |
| Marks per correct answer | +1 |
| Negative marking | -0.25 per incorrect answer |
| Unattempted | 0, no penalty |
| Question type | Multiple-choice, single correct option |
| Composite score scale | Approximately 199 to 801, excludes the Economic and Business Environment section |
| Sessions per year | 4 (February, May, September, December) |
| Language | English |
Through the December 2025 cycle, MAT ran as a 200-question exam completed in 150 minutes. Starting with the May 2026 cycle, AIMA reduced the exam to 150 questions in 120 minutes, keeping the same five-section, 30-questions-per-section structure and the same +1/-0.25 marking scheme. The practical effect is a slightly faster pace per question, roughly 48 seconds per question under the revised format versus roughly 45 seconds under the older one. The September 2026 cycle continues under this revised pattern.
Under MAT's +1/-0.25 marking, the break-even point for a blind guess on a four-option question sits at exactly 25%: a random guess carries an expected value of zero (a 1-in-4 chance of +1, a 3-in-4 chance of -0.25, netting to zero). This is a gentler penalty structure than CAT's +3/-1 MCQ marking, where the same 25% break-even applies but a wrong guess costs proportionally more relative to the reward. Eliminating even one of four options before guessing on MAT pushes the expected value clearly positive, making calculated guessing a more forgiving strategy on MAT than on CAT.
AIMA does not publish a granular, unit-level official syllabus document the way NTA does for JEE Main. The topic breakdown below reflects the standard five-section structure AIMA itself names in its exam pattern notifications, read alongside independent analysis of recent MAT papers for weightage patterns within each section.
Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability split the section roughly evenly, with passages generally shorter and less dense than CAT-style RC.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 40-50% | Passages typically drawn from current affairs, business, and general-interest writing |
| Verbal Ability | 50-60% | Error correction, jumbled paragraphs, synonyms and antonyms, idioms, fill-in-the-blanks |
Arithmetic is the single most repeated topic group, with the remaining questions spread across Algebra, Geometry, and Number Systems.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Arithmetic | 25-30% | Percentages, ratio and proportion, time-speed-distance, profit and loss |
| Algebra | 15-20% | Linear and quadratic equations, simple inequalities |
| Geometry and Mensuration | 10-15% | Basic triangles, circles, area and volume |
| Number Systems and Modern Math | 10-15% | Divisibility, HCF-LCM, basic permutations and probability |
Table- and graph-reading questions outnumber pure data-sufficiency logic questions.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Tables, caselets, and graphs | 30-35% | Bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, short data-driven caselets |
| Data sufficiency | 20-25% | Determining whether given statements are enough to answer a question |
Verbal and analytical reasoning formats recur more often than complex arrangement puzzles, which tend to be shorter than CAT-style DILR sets.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal and analytical reasoning | Majority of the section | Blood relations, coding-decoding, syllogisms, statement-conclusion, direction sense |
| Puzzles and arrangements | Remainder of the section | Seating arrangements, ranking, and sequencing puzzles |
General awareness of economic and business events and terminology. Excluded from the composite score and percentile, though it decides ties between candidates with an identical composite score.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Economic and business current affairs | 100% of the section | Recent economic policy, business news, basic economic concepts and terminology |
MAT rewards broad, moderate-difficulty coverage across five sections more than deep specialisation in any one, and its four-times-a-year cadence means a candidate does not need to build an entire preparation cycle around a single fixed date. The plans below assume a candidate targeting the next available session roughly three months out.
12-month plan
Months 1-4: Foundation. Across all five sections. For Mathematical Skills, rebuild Class 10 arithmetic and algebra fluency, one topic at a time with 20-25 problems each. For Language Comprehension, read one short article daily from a general-interest or business publication and practise timed comprehension alongside grammar drills. For Intelligence and Critical Reasoning, work through puzzle types systematically, since MAT's reasoning sets repeat a fairly narrow set of formats.
Months 5-8: Layer in speed and sectional timing. Begin one sectional mock per week, expanding to one full-length mock per week by month 8. Track accuracy separately from attempts, since MAT's gentler -0.25 penalty still punishes careless guessing across 150 questions in 120 minutes. Build a running error log noting why each question was missed.
Months 9-12: Mock-heavy phase. Two to three full-length mocks per week, tapering in the final week. Because MAT offers another session roughly ten to thirteen weeks later, a candidate who falls short in this cycle can treat the next session as a genuine second attempt rather than a full year's wait, and should plan their study calendar with that safety net in mind rather than over-cramming the final week.
6-month plan
Months 1-2: Combine concept and practice. Cover one Mathematical Skills topic and one reasoning set type per day, testing each with 15-20 problems immediately after covering it. Read comprehension passages daily for speed rather than treating vocabulary building as a separate task.
Months 3-4: Begin one full mock per week. Start with an older MAT-style paper before moving to the most recent pattern. Identify the two or three weakest topics across Mathematical Skills and Data Analysis and Sufficiency, and drill those specifically.
Months 5-6: Mock-heavy. Two mocks per week rising in the final three weeks. Since the Economic and Business Environment section carries no composite-score weight, a time-pressured candidate in this window can reasonably deprioritise heavy current-affairs revision in favour of the four sections that actually move the composite score.
90-day plan
Days 1-30: Triage hard. Identify the highest-yield, lowest-effort topics in each of the four composite-scored sections (typically Arithmetic, Reading Comprehension, tables and graphs, and verbal reasoning sets) and concentrate study time there.
Days 31-60: Mock-heavy. One mock every alternate day, reviewing every wrong answer's reasoning rather than just the correct option. This window is also where a candidate should deliberately calibrate their own guessing threshold, since MAT's marking penalty is milder than CAT's.
Days 61-90: Stamina and review. Mocks three times a week, tapering in the final ten days to review only. Because a fresh MAT session sits roughly ten to thirteen weeks out even if this attempt underperforms, the final week should prioritise rest over new content.
MAT's underlying content sits closer to Class 10 and Class 12 level than CAT's, and most candidates who have already worked through a standard aptitude book do not need a full-year classroom programme. A dedicated MAT-focused coaching package with IMS, TIME, or Career Launcher, when purchased on its own, typically runs several thousand rupees less than the same institutes' full-year CAT programmes, since MAT prep is a shorter, less content-intensive commitment. Self-study built on a general aptitude book covering all five sections, plus a handful of purchased or freely available mocks, is a realistic path for most MAT candidates.
Honest take: because MAT gates entry mainly into tier-2, tier-3, and select tier-1 B-schools rather than a small, highly competitive pool the way CAT gates the IIMs, the marginal value of expensive, brand-name coaching is lower for MAT than for CAT. A candidate with reasonably strong Class 10-12 fundamentals in maths and English, paired with a disciplined mock routine, can realistically hit a competitive MAT composite score without a full paid programme.
Topper insight (pending)
Verified MAT topper from a 2025 or 2026 cycle, composite score and percentile scorecard-verified, willing to be quoted by name. Without this, the page reads like every other generic prep article. Format to be used once sourced: "[Name], [composite score/percentile] in MAT [session] [year], recommends [specific tactic]. '[direct quote in their own words],' they say."
| Book | Subject | Price (₹) | One-line take |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT, Arun Sharma | Mathematical Skills | 500 | Deeper than MAT actually requires, but the easier chapters map well onto MAT's Arithmetic and Algebra weightage; skip the hardest problem sets. |
| Word Power Made Easy, Norman Lewis | Language Comprehension | 250 | A slow-burn vocabulary builder rather than an exam-specific book, best started well before the target session rather than crammed in the final weeks. |
| A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning, R.S. Aggarwal | Intelligence and Critical Reasoning | 350 | Comprehensive and inexpensive, though some chapters go beyond MAT's actual difficulty ceiling; use it selectively rather than cover to cover. |
MAT-specific standalone mock packages are sold by most major coaching institutes (IMS, TIME, Career Launcher) at a lower price point than their CAT-focused equivalents, since MAT's shorter, less sectional-time-pressured format needs less elaborate mock infrastructure. A candidate who has already prepared for CAT, XAT, or CMAT and is adding MAT as an additional attempt typically needs only a handful of MAT-pattern-specific mocks to adjust to the format, not a full separate test series.
The activity with the highest score-to-effort ratio in exam prep is mock-test analysis. Solving a mock takes hours; analysing it correctly takes longer. Most candidates skip the analysis. The candidates who score well do not.
| Year | Difficulty | Hardest section | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Easy to moderate | Data Analysis and Sufficiency | May 2026 was the first cycle under the revised 150-question, 120-minute format; test-takers reported the shorter duration changed pacing more than question difficulty |
| 2026 | Moderate | Mathematical Skills | February 2026 cycle reported as calculation-heavy relative to recent cycles |
| 2025 | Easy to moderate | Data Analysis and Sufficiency | December 2025 cycle, consistent with MAT's general reputation for a milder difficulty ceiling than CAT or XAT |
Language Comprehension leans on shorter Reading Comprehension passages from current-affairs and business writing, paired with recurring grammar formats like error correction and jumbled paragraphs. Mathematical Skills draws most heavily and consistently from Arithmetic, particularly Percentages and Ratio-Proportion. Data Analysis and Sufficiency favours table- and graph-reading over pure data-sufficiency logic. Intelligence and Critical Reasoning recurs around blood relations, coding-decoding, and syllogisms more than complex arrangement puzzles. Note: AIMA does not publish an official, downloadable archive of past MAT papers; reconstructed past papers on coaching sites are based on candidate recall, not an official release.
| Year | General | OBC-NCL | EWS | SC | ST | PwD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 650+ composite (approx. 90+ percentile) | Competitive for stronger MAT-accepting institutes (TAPMI, Great Lakes, similar tier-1-adjacent B-schools) | — | — | — | — | — |
| 550-650 composite (approx. 75-90 percentile) | A workable range for a large majority of mid-tier AICTE-approved B-schools accepting MAT | — | — | — | — | — |
| 400-550 composite (approx. 50-75 percentile) | Commonly cited as the basic viable threshold for admission consideration at a broad range of participating institutes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Below 400 composite (below 50 percentile) | Access narrows to a smaller subset of institutes with lighter admission criteria | — | — | — | — | — |
| College | General (HS) | General (OS) | OBC (OS) | SC (OS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAPMI Manipal and similar tier-1-adjacent MAT-accepting institutes | — | Composite score of roughly 650+ (approx. 90+ percentile) commonly cited as competitive | — | — |
| Broad range of mid-tier AICTE-approved MAT-accepting institutes | — | Composite score of roughly 400-550 (approx. 50-75 percentile) commonly cited as the basic viable threshold | — | — |
Our composite-score benchmark projection for the September 2026 cycle uses the May 2026 and February 2026 cycles' reported institute-level thresholds as the anchor, since both ran recently enough to reflect current registration volumes and the revised 150-question pattern. This has not been recalibrated against confirmed September 2026 results, since the exam itself has not yet been conducted as of this review; treat any September-2026-specific figure as provisional until individual institutes publish their own post-result criteria. These bands are aggregated from publicly stated admission criteria across multiple MAT-accepting institutes rather than a single unified AIMA cutoff bulletin, since no such single bulletin exists.
Use the College Predictor with full methodology disclosure →MAT results are typically declared within one to two weeks of each session's exam date, faster than CAT's roughly three-to-four-week turnaround, since MAT is a shorter, purely computer-scored test with no manual answer-sheet component even in its PBT mode (PBT answer sheets are scanned and machine-scored via OMR). MAT December 2025 results, for example, were declared on December 25, 2025, just four days after the CBT sitting.
A MAT scorecard is valid for one year from the exam date. Because AIMA runs four sessions a year, this one-year window in practice spans three to four subsequent sessions, meaning a single MAT attempt and fee can realistically support applications across several admission cycles at different institutes without needing to reappear, a practical advantage the once-a-year exams do not offer even when their own nominal validity window is similar in length.
Because MAT runs multiple sessions and, within some sessions, multiple modes on different dates, AIMA applies a normalisation process to adjust raw scores from each specific test administration onto a common scaled-score distribution before computing composite scores and percentiles. AIMA does not publish the exact statistical formula behind this normalisation in public documentation.
AIMA has not published a formal rechecking or re-evaluation policy for MAT scores in its public session notifications. Candidates with a specific grievance about their result are directed to AIMA's own MAT helpdesk contact channels rather than a documented re-evaluation procedure.
MAT has no central counselling body. There is no JoSAA-style seat-allotment portal, no shared choice-filling round, and no single coordinated interview calendar the way even CAT's 21 IIMs loosely align around a WAT-PI convention. Instead, each of the 600-plus AICTE-approved institutes that accept MAT scores runs its own entirely separate admission process, and a candidate typically has to apply directly to each institute of interest, often paying a separate institute-level application fee on top of the MAT registration fee already paid to AIMA.
Register for both PBT and CBT within a session if the fee difference is affordable. A dual-mode registration effectively gives two attempts inside a single session's window, and MAT reports the better of the two scores on request from most institutes, though this varies by institute and should be confirmed directly.
Do not wait for a single "ideal" session. Because MAT runs four times a year, a candidate targeting a specific institute's admission cycle should identify which MAT session's result timeline actually lands before that institute's own application deadline, rather than defaulting to whichever session feels most convenient to prepare for.
Apply to a spread of institutes across the composite-score bands, not just the top of your expected range. Since there is no shared cutoff and no centralised shortlist, a candidate's actual outcome depends entirely on each institute's individual criteria that year, which can shift from what aggregator pages report. Applying across a spread hedges against any single institute tightening its threshold unexpectedly.
Treat the Economic and Business Environment section as a genuine tiebreaker, not dead weight. Because it decides ties on an otherwise identical composite score, a candidate hovering near a specific institute's cutoff band should not skip it entirely even though it carries no direct composite-score weight.
Verify each institute's own admission-stage percentage requirement before applying. Since AIMA sets no minimum aggregate to sit MAT, but most institutes apply their own 45-50% aggregate floor at the admission stage, confirm this directly with each target institute rather than assuming MAT eligibility alone guarantees admission eligibility everywhere.
Because admission decisions sit entirely with individual institutes, there is no single, predictable national timeline the way JoSAA publishes one for JEE Main. Some MAT-accepting institutes run rolling admissions that can close well before a later MAT session's result is even declared, which is the practical reason a candidate targeting a specific institute should check that institute's own deadline before choosing which MAT session to sit.
Talk to a counsellor about your strategy →Top 7 MAT-accepting institutes by NIRF Engineering rank. Each links to the full college page with placements, fees, hostel, and student reviews.
| NIRF rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #11 | Symbiosis International (Deemed University) | Pune, Maharashtra |
| #24 | NMIMS (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies) | Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| #30 | IMT Ghaziabad | Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh |
| #37 | Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| #39 | TAPMI (T.A. Pai Management Institute), Manipal | Manipal, Karnataka |
| #57 | Christ University | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| #68 | KIIT School of Management | Bhubaneswar, Odisha |
| Comparison | Mode | Conducting body | Frequency | College scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAT vs CAT | PBT/CBT vs CBT only | AIMA vs Rotating IIM | 4x a year vs Annual, single day | 600+ AICTE-approved B-schools vs 21 IIMs plus 1,200+ B-schools |
| MAT vs XAT | PBT/CBT vs CBT only | AIMA vs XLRI Jamshedpur | 4x a year vs Annual | 600+ AICTE-approved B-schools vs XLRI plus 160+ institutes |
| MAT vs CMAT | PBT/CBT vs CBT only | AIMA vs National Testing Agency | 4x a year vs Annual | 600+ AICTE-approved B-schools vs 1,000+ AICTE-approved institutes |
Pending verified contributors
6 to 8 verified test-taker reviews required. Curation mix: one recent high-scorer (90-plus percentile), one average admitted candidate, one candidate who used a dual PBT-plus-CBT registration and can speak to whether the better-score policy worked as expected, one repeat test-taker who sat more than one session in the same year, one first-attempt test-taker, and one candidate who applied to multiple institutes with the same MAT score and can speak to how differently those institutes actually treated an identical score. All must be scorecard-verified and year-stamped. Without these the page cannot meet the experiential E-E-A-T moat requirement.
Registration for the PBT mode closes September 7, 2026, and for the CBT mode September 14, 2026. The PBT exam itself is scheduled for September 13, 2026 and the CBT for September 20, 2026.
Four times: February, May, September, and December. A candidate can sit any or all of these sessions in a single calendar year, since AIMA places no cap on the number of attempts.
PBT is the traditional pen-and-paper mode, and CBT is a computer-based test taken at a designated centre. IBT, a remote-proctored mode that let candidates sit the exam from a personal laptop at home, was introduced during the pandemic and discontinued after 2024; PBT and CBT are the only two modes offered in the 2026 cycles.
A bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university. AIMA itself sets no minimum aggregate percentage to register; the commonly quoted 50% general / 45% SC-ST-PwD figure is typically an admission-stage requirement individual participating institutes apply, not an AIMA registration rule.
150 questions across five sections of 30 each, completed in 120 minutes. This is a change from the 200-question, 150-minute format that applied through the December 2025 cycle.
+1 for a correct answer, -0.25 for an incorrect answer, and no penalty for an unattempted question.
A composite score of 650 or higher, roughly 90th percentile, is competitive for the stronger MAT-accepting institutes such as TAPMI and Great Lakes. A composite score between 400 and 550 is commonly cited as the basic viable threshold for admission consideration at a broad range of AICTE-approved institutes.
Yes, in one specific way: AIMA uses it as the published tie-breaker when two candidates land on the same composite score, so a candidate hovering near a target institute's cutoff should not ignore it entirely.
One year from the exam date. Because MAT runs four sessions a year, this window in practice spans several subsequent sessions and admission cycles.
No. MAT has no central counselling body. Each of the 600-plus participating institutes runs its own entirely separate application, shortlist, and interview process, and a candidate typically applies directly to each institute of interest with their MAT scorecard.
Yes. Since MAT runs four times a year with no attempt cap, a candidate can register for the very next session, typically ten to thirteen weeks later, rather than waiting a full year the way a CAT candidate would.
MAT is generally regarded as a more moderate-difficulty, broader-access exam than CAT or XAT, both in content difficulty and in the tier of institutes its scores primarily open. CMAT sits closest to MAT in institute-acceptance breadth, though MAT's four-sessions-a-year structure gives it a flexibility advantage CMAT, run once a year, does not have.
Yes. There is no centralised application step. A candidate submits their MAT scorecard along with a separate application form and fee directly to each institute they want to be considered by.
The admit card (printed, for PBT; downloaded or printed for CBT), one valid government-issued photo ID matching the application details, and a recent passport-size photograph matching the one uploaded during registration. Check the admit card's exact accepted-ID list before travelling to the centre.
No. AIMA applies the same MAT application fee to every candidate regardless of category. The only fee reduction available is for registering for both PBT and CBT within the same session rather than one mode alone.
Yes. Final-year and final-semester students awaiting their degree results are eligible to register and appear, provided they can later furnish proof of completion meeting whatever minimum requirement their target institute applies.
The December 2026 session, with exact dates expected to be announced by AIMA in the weeks following the September 2026 result, based on AIMA's typical pattern of opening each session's registration six to eight weeks ahead of its exam date.
Sources
