CF India Portal: MHCET is going to replace by CMAT 2013 AICTE going all guns to make CMAT a national exam

As per the notification released by Directorate of Technical education (DTE) Maharashtra, MHCET will be replaced by CMAT in 2013. The signs for the same were ominous as DTE delayed MHCET 2012 by two weeks to accommodate CMAT 2012.

We had predicted that MHCET and MAT might be the fall exams for CMAT to get wide acceptance. While AIMA is continuing with MAT by releasing the 2012 and 2013 examination dates. The MHCET exam which had 92,000 applicants in 2011 will be replaced in 2013 by CMAT. AICTE will get a large pool of applications from the MHCET pool who switch to CMAT. 

This might be a blessing in disguise for regional schools in Maharashtra as they will be accepting from a wider student pool and a more diverse pool too. Given that institutes like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) and Sydenham Institute of Management research and entrepreneurship (SIMSREE) used MHCET primarily for admissions (CAT scores were also accepted but the cut-off would be very high for admissions that very few students could get through) it will go a long way in increasing their national reach. Institutes like KJ Somaiya and Welingkar have already confirmed that they will be using the CMAT 2012 scores too. To update on 31st December 2011, DTE has announced that JBIMS and Sydenham will also accept CMAT 2012 scores.

One expects the regional quota to still be intact under CMAT scores as the MMS courses fall under the purview of Mumbai University. Students will be benefited as the MHCET test structure was quite different to other examinations. Visual Reasoning was a tough and tricky section and was not replicated in any other management exam. The CMAT structure is modeled around exams like SNAP and NMAT and students will be more familiar with the structure.

However on the flip-side, many students from interior Maharashtra appear for MHCET

and might not be very conversant with the use of computers. CMAT being a computer based test might be out of reach for such students. It will be interesting to see, How AICTE is able to cater to the needs of such students.

CMAT replacing MHCET in 2013 opens up new opportunities for aspirants and institutes but also new challenges for AICTE. How well the AICTE is able to cope with the same remains to be seen (hopefully better than first trial test)

Students can find resources on CF India Portal cmat portal general awareness and Strategy for CMAT and preparation material on CMAT.

For more information call on 7738364800 or visit www.cfindiaportal.com