What are B-schools?
B-schools are university-level educational institutions, which confer degrees in business management or administration. These institutions are referred to as schools of business, schools of management, business schools, or schools of business administration.
Major subjects in these schools are administration, accounting, strategy, entrepreneurship, economics, finance, information systems, human resource management, marketing, logistics, organizational behavior, organizational psychology, research methods, public relations, and real estate among others. Students need to pass an entrance exam in order to get admission in a B-School. Here are some of the B-school exams that assist students to gain entry into these B-schools.
CAT, which is the acronym for Common Admission Test, is the entrance examination to get admission in over 160 management institutes, as well as in the 19 Indian Institute of Management across India. This is an online test, which is conducted once a year, usually during the month of November on two particular dates. The group discussion-personal interview round will usually be conducted from January to April every year. The scholarly sessions will start during the months of July and August.
The intensive focus of the CAT exam is on checking the students’ general aptitude in English, Data Interpretation, Maths and Logical Reasoning, which are considered key areas for a management course. The specialty of this entrance test is the quality of opportunities it offers to the students and then, the nature of the contest. This examination includes studies in SNAP, XAT, MAT, CMAT, etc., and for Institute explicit examinations, such as NMAT, IRMA, TISSNET, and IIFT, as well.
XAT is one of the most popular management entrance exams next to CAT. The Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, conducts this exam for the Xavier Association of Management Institutes, which is one among the leading five B-schools in the country. More than 100 management institutes located in India are considering the scores attained from this exam. This exam is conducted every year, usually during the first week of January.
SNAP, which is the short form of the Symbiosis National Aptitude Test, an aptitude test to gain entry into a B-school. The Symbiosis society conducts this exam and it is considered as a primary entry condition for all the three General management institutes, 12 B-schools, and other institutes, which come under the control of the Symbiosis International University. The SNAP examination is measured as a must test for MBA candidates due to this eclectic blend of colleges using its score as a part of their admission processes.
CMAT stands for the Common Management Admissions Test, and it is a one-stop examination for entry into all the B-schools, which are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, in the country. The examination is usually conducted two times in a year, generally during the months of February and September.
MAT, which refers to the All India Management Association conducts, is a management entrance test conducted four times a year during the months of February, May, September, and December. This exam will be conducted in two formats, such paper-pencil format, and the computer-based format.
- B-school entrance examinations conducted by private institutes
A number of private management institutes in India conduct entrance exams for B-Schools. However, these are stand-alone examinations, which are conducted by a range of B-schools for admission of applicants into their various MBA programs. The private institutes and the exams conducted by them include:
- IIFT: IIFT, which refers to the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, is an MBA program conducted for students who would like to pursue the MBA course on Foreign Trade at the management institutes in Kolkata and Delhi.
- TISSNET: This refers to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences- National Entrance Test, conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. This management institute offers a variety of management specialization programs in areas, ranging from Human Resources Management and Industrial Relationships to Social Entrepreneurship to Women empowerment. Similar to the MAT exam, the TISSNET exam is conducted in paper-pencil format and computer-based format. Usually, the examination is conducted during the month of January every year.
- NMAT: This stands for a kind of management entrance exam conducted to get admission for programs in General MBA, Capital Markets, Banking, and HRM program in the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, located in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bangalore. This entrance exam is conducted in the online format and each student is restricted to attend it for a maximum of three attempts. The short-listed students are then qualified for the Group Discussion- Personal Interview rounds.
- IRMA: It stands for the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, and it is a pioneering educational institution, specializing in rural management research and education. It offers several separate programs of business development and management in India. To gain entry into this management institute, students have to come out successfully from the IRMA entrance test conducted by this institute. The two-year Post-Graduate Program in Rural Management offered by IRMA leads the qualifying students to a Postgraduate Diploma Program in Rural Management, which is an AICTE-approved course. This course is considered equivalent to the MBA degree in Rural Management
