Management Aptitude Test (MAT) is an entrance exam conducted by All India Management Association (AIMA) to select candidates for admission to MBA or management programs. It is conducted 4 times in a year i.e. in the month of May, September, December and February on the 1st Sunday of the Month.
MAT exam is conducted in both offline and online mode. This increases the ease for students who get to choose their preference.
MAT Exam Pattern consists of objective type questions. There are 5 sections with 200 questions. The duration of MAT exam is 2 hours 30 minutes or 150 minutes and there is no sectional time limit.
The past trends in MAT exam signify that the Logical Reasoning section is moderate on the difficulty level. But for candidates who lack a little in Mathematics or English this section holds a lot of importance. As a result, candidates appearing for MAT make it a point to work harder for scoring well in this section.
Good news for students is that experts believe if anyone scores above 17 marks out of the total 40 marks allocated to this section. Their score in this section will be judged as fairly good. So, the goal for students should be to attain at least above 20 marks or 50% in logical reasoning section of MAT exam.
To achieve this a strategy or plan should be followed. First step of which should be to jot down the strong topics a candidate has and the second step, to practice and solve as many questions as possible in lesser time.
Logical Reasoning by Dr. R.S Aggarwal is the most popular book which can be consulted for studying logical reasoning of MAT 2017.
Preparation Strategy for Logical Reasoning in MAT 2017
As this section is taken to be less in difficulty level students should solve this section with precision while consuming lesser time. So that the time saved can be devoted to other sections of MAT exam.
Two keywords for formulating preparation strategy are
Rigorous Practice (for attaining accuracy), Time management (solving sample questions in limited time)
Before starting the rigorous practice or solving sample questions, it is mandatory that there should be clarity and certainty related to one’s strong points and weak points.
The Reasoning Section in MAT comprises two parts: Intelligence Reasoning &
Critical Reasoning. There are around 9 questions asked in Critical Reasoning and around 11 questions asked in Intelligence Reasoning.
If you are in the majority of people who find these topics confusing, read the tricks to solve such problems.
- Blood Relations
To solve tricky questions of this kind the best method is to chart down for eg:- write down the names and then the generation of all the members of family.
This way it is easier to understand who comes in the first to fourth generation of family.
- Cause and Effect
Let us consider some questions that appeared in previous year MAT papers.
In each of the following questions, there are two statements. Select:
A: If I is the cause and II is the effect
B: If II is the cause and I is the effect
C: If both A and B are effects of dissimilar causes
D: If both A and B are effects of the same cause
Statement I: A mobile phone, if kept switched on during flights may cause serious disruptions.
Statement II: A Boeing 747 experienced technical difficulty during take-off. After some looking around, the staff found 4 cellphones switched on and put them in flight mode. The plane then took off.
Fact/Opinion: Mobile phones cause some disruption in airplanes (Statement I); the effect here being Statement II, hence the answer is Option A.
- Assertion and Reason
Model question: Choose
- Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
- Both A and R are true but R is not the right explanation of A.
- A is true but R is false.
- A is false but R is true.
- Both A and R are false.
Assertion (A): Increase in carbon dioxide could melt glaciers
Reason (R): Global temperature would rise.
Assertion here is something that can be judged as True/False. Reason is the why of that particular True/False statement. In the above case, you are ascertaining that A is correct and B is the reason why A is correct.
- Series Completion
X24C3, V22E5, T20G7,?
- R16 I7
- R18 I9
- R14 I10
- R15 I10
The above is a really simple one for which the answer is B (Order of alphabets is the logic) It would be of immense help if you could remember the order of the alphabets. This is true at least for Series Completion. 3-5 questions are based on Series Completion.
- Analogy
River: Ocean
- Child: School
- Book: Library
- Lane: Road
- Cloth: Body
Here there might be a confusion between B and C. The answer, however, would be B. River is a small waterbody, Ocean is a bigger one. Book is a small source of knowledge and Library is a bigger one. Lane is a part of a road while the river is not a part of the ocean.
- Logical Matching
The best possible way to solve this is to draw a table. It might be old school but it still works. The table might look something like this:
Name of the person | Sport Played by the Person |
A | Cricket |
B | ? |
C | Hockey |
D | ? |
Logical Reasoning MAT Syllabus
This table helps in analyzing what type of questions are asked? What is the approx. marks assigned and its difficulty level.
Area | Topic | Marks | Difficulty Level |
Analytical Reasoning | Distribution (Puzzles) | 4 | Moderate |
Selection | 2 | ||
Blood Relations | 3 | ||
Direction Sense | 3 | ||
Coding Decoding | 2 | ||
Cubes / Dice | 4 | ||
Linear Arrangement | 3 | ||
Reasoning Set (Miscellaneous) | 4 | ||
Number and Letter Series | 3 | ||
Seating Arrangement ( Rectangular) | 3 | ||
Miscellaneous | 1 | ||
Critical Reasoning | Assertion and Reasons | 4 | Moderate |
Statement and Conclusions | 4 | ||
Overall |
Tips to Ace Reasoning in MAT
- MAT Reasoning is not intended to check a candidate’s knowledge bank. That means don’t answer the questions based on how much you know rather focus on what it is intended to ask you.
- Alternatives are given to confuse a person use your rationale while solving the questions.
- Concentration and presence of mind are required to solve the questions.
- First read the whole question along with alternatives before answering.
- Try to make a chart of information provided for ease of solving any question.
- Never make a mistake of jumping to conclusions very fast.