NMAT 10th December 2006

Executive Summary
This year’
s paper appeared to be quite a balanced paper with questions from different areas
evenly spread out. The basic structure of the paper was quite similar to last year’
s test, with a bit
more of variety.

Total Questions: 200

Time: 150 minutes
Negative Marking: 0.25
Number of sections: 5 with 200 questions and each question carried 1 mark.

Possible
Number of Time Possible Scores and
S. No. Section
questions (Minutes) Attempts Overall Cut-
off

1 Language Skills 40 30 25 22

2 Numerical Skills 40 35 20 - 23 15

Data Analysis and

3 40 35 23 - 25 18
Sufficiency

Intelligence and Logical

4 40 35 22 - 25 18
Reasoning

Indian and Global

5 40 15 20+ 16
Environment

Total 200 150 108 - 115 90+

Section 1: Language Skills

Topic Number of Questions Level of Difficulty

Analogies 2 Easy
Antonyms/Synonyms 5 Easy – Medium
Para jumbles 5 Easy
Fill in the Blanks 5 Easy – Medium
Error Correction 10 Easy – Medium
RC (3 passages) 13 Easy – Medium
Total 40

Here the best strategy would have been to begin the paper with the grammar and vocabulary
section and to then move on to para-jumbles and RC. Then one could have gone to the reasoning
questions. The level of the questions was very easy vis-à-vis the tests so far. The test required
minimum preparation students with a basic knowledge of the fundamentals, will go on to score
28+. And if English is your forte, you may easily manage 35+.

RC passages

Passage 1: From Physics [945 words, 6 questions]

The questions were direct and factual . The difficulty level was good as far as proper
comprehension is concerned— especially because the structure of the text was “descriptive”.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key, solutions and scores are based on
independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for
any decision that might be taken, based on this information.
Passage 2: From Classical music [1100 words, 6 questions]
The text discussed a comparison of Indian and Western classical music and was analytical in
nature. The questions were however direct and attemptable.

Passage 3: Ecology [400 words, 4 questions]

Although the passage was short, it was a bit more analytical in nature and discussed about the
responsibilities of official and corporate India in preserving the environment as well as the global
outlook towards ecological preservation.

Section 2: Numerical Skills

Topic No. of questions Difficulty

Number System 3 Easy
SI/CI and Profit/Loss 13 Moderate
Ratio Proportion 3 Easy/Moderate
Mixtures/ Solutions 4 Moderate
TSD 2 Easy
Time & Work 4 Easy/Moderate
Geometry 2 Easy
Mensuration 5 Easy
P&C 3 Easy
Sets 1 Easy
Total 40

This section had some very easy questions. In fact, with proper selectivity and round approach,
one could have attempted a good 12 questions in the first 10 minutes. Later on, the questions
that were three-four liners could have been cracked with a little patience. Even the options were
set to help you out, because the options were not close.

An attempt of about 20 in 30 minutes was possible for an average aspirant and if QA is your area,
you must have got tempted to attempt 28+, and that too with the super accuracy of 90% and
above.

Section 3: Data Analysis and Sufficiency

DI was more or less calculation based and had caselets, bar charts and tabular charts. Level of
questions was quite parallel to numerical skills section with easy and moderate level questions
seamlessly interspersed with each other.

No. of
Topic Difficulty Remarks
questions
Expenditure-Income graph for two
individuals A and B (Line Graph)
Single Graphs 18 Easy/Moderate Car Sales and Total Volumes (Bar Chart)
And one Tabular Chart which was
calculation intensive
Caselet 3 Moderate
Data was easy to comprehend
Consumer Goods with expenditure of 4-5
brands on various products (Pie and Line
Combination Graphs 9 Easy
Graph)
And one set was based upon Bar and Line
Graph

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key, solutions and scores are based on
independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for
any decision that might be taken, based on this information.
Data Redundancy 2 Easy Straight forward
5 - questions were of three statement
DS 8 Easy/Moderate type and 3 - questions were of two
statement type

The DS part should definitely have been attempted because it had 8 relatively easy questions.

Section 4: Intelligence and Logical Reasoning

Most of the questions in this section were caselet based and were pretty straightforward with the
exception of Matrix based and code based questions.

Number of
Topic Difficulty Remarks
Questions
5 questions were from critical reasoning—
- 2 talked about weakening the argument;
- 1 talked about strengthening the argument;
- 1 talked about the assumption; and
Critical Reasoning 6 Easy/Moderate - 1 talked about inference.
And 1 question was based on deductive logic. It
was like— all the German philosophers are
idealists except Marx. Then which of the
following sentences is valid (logical necessity)
5 - Sets, with number of questions per set
varying from 2 to 4
Some Sets were:
Book Shelves: 3 - moderate level questions
Set Based 14 Easy Password Based: Seven-word password which
changed every hour. 3 - questions and all were
easy.
In most of the questions generally two options
could have easily been eliminated.
Intelligence
3 Moderate Situational based. Course of action type
Reasoning
Bar Graph: based upon sales target’ s
achievability, 1- question (easy)
Tabular Chart: Consumption of gas supply by
Graph Based
5 Easy/Moderate two burners (easy/moderate)
Reasoning
Tabular Chart: Reduction in STD tariff, peak
time and non-peak time. 2 – questions
(Moderate)
Matrix based and Code based were time
Codes/Series/Misc. 12 Moderate
consuming

Though the section was not very difficult the onus was on the candidate to have been selective in
terms of which set to start with. Also high mobility between the sets was required as most of the
questions were observational type, which should have been attempted first, if you wanted to score
high in this section.

Section 5: Indian and Global Environment

Once you saw the options, the scene became very clear— rather than confusing you, the options
actually helped you reach the answer. Generally two options could have been easily being
eliminated, and then one answer could be reasoned out. Risk, hence, could be taken.

Around 14 questions came from business and economics. If you saw the business news and the
advertisements properly, you are in. The general static and current affair questions (even sports)
were also taken in balance. A person with a little brush with the General and Business Awareness
could easily score 22-25. An average student should also get 16-18 correct. The beauty of this
section was that you took barely 15 minutes to finish it off.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key, solutions and scores are based on
independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for
any decision that might be taken, based on this information.