Hi! I hope things are great at your end and your preparation for the upcoming interviews and the remaining two tests of the season (CMAT and CET) is on track. As expected, CMAT has made the Innovation and Entrepreneurship section mandatory for all and that has created anxiety in the minds of test takers who have not seen it earlier. Having scored a 100 percentile in this section last year, I am sharing some of the lessons and ideas for preparation in this post.

A video version of this post is available on our YouTube channel so just in case you don’t get time to read the entire post, watching the video should be sufficient.

CMAT 2021 Innovation and Entrepreneurship experience

Last year, there were 25 questions in this section and it was optional whereas this year, it’s going to be mandatory for all and will have 20 questions. In terms of composition, there are broadly three areas that are tested in this section:

1. Reading Comprehension: The topic of the passage was ethnic minorities and financial institutions. So, one can expect to have a passage related to business/management/innovation/entrepreneurship, etc.

2. Business GK/Current affairs: These involved direct questions related to business GK (organizations, founders, etc.) and current affairs (esp. focusing on Indian business).

3. Management/Innovation/Entrepreneurship questions: These are direct questions related to management concepts/fundamentals.

I was able to breeze through most of the questions except some tough business GK/Current affairs questions and found the RC to be the area where one could have maximized the score. Not only because students are have already prepared for the verbal section but also because it is a level playing field and everyone starts with the same information. The questions related to management or innovation and entrepreneurship awareness are the trickiest to prepare for, esp. for students who have not studied it in any form during their graduation curriculum. Students who are from Commerce/BBA/BMS/BAF or allied backgrounds might have a slight advantage here.

Preparation and sectional strategy:

Because the questions don’t need a lot of critical thinking, devoting around 20-25 minutes for this section in the first round should be sufficient. If time permits, you can always revisit the section in the second round. Also, avoid taking unnecessary risks if your overall attempts are on the lower side, but if your attempts are very high, it won’t hurt to take a few chances. Be careful and think of how many questions you’ve attempted correctly and use your judgement before taking any risks.

In terms of preparation, for the first area, your regular verbal and RC preparation should be sufficient and no extra preparation is required. For the business GK and current affairs, you can use the GK zone and compendium available in myIMS dashboard. For the management specific questions, we have a 5-parts compilation of notes (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5) which collectively have 125 important pointers that you can refer. In the video above, I have also shared a good free source MIT Open Courseware where you can search for a particular topic and get concise notes. Skimming through these should be sufficient and you need not spend too much time on studying extremely technical concepts. I’ve suggested some courses below that are worth checking out:

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Hope this helps! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Do share with your friends and co-aspirants. Happy prepping! 🙂