Tribhuvan University (TU)offers various Management courses in Bachelor’s and Master’s level. To be eligible for admission in some of those courses, students need to clear the Central Management Admission Test (CMAT) and School of Management Admission Test (SOMAT). These tests determine whether a student is able to understand the course or not. But after passing these tests, students from any stream can join the management courses at Bachelor’s and Master’s level.
CMAT, SOMAT
Students can get admission in BBA, BIM, BHM, BTTM, BBM and BPA in Bachelor’s level only after passing the CMAT. Hari Dahal, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Management, TU shared, “In order to get admission in BBA, BIM, BHM, BTTM, BBM and BPA courses, students who have cleared their +2 level from any stream with at least 50 per cent marks can sit for the CMAT. The CMAT helps to guage a student’s ability to understand the management subjects — only after passing the CMAT, can they get admission in these courses.”
CMAT tests the student’s knowledge in logical reasoning, quantitative quality, verbal quality and general awareness, as per Dahal. Nonetheless, this test is also important as there are limited seats in each course at TU and the colleges affiliated to it. The CMAT and SOMAT help educational institutions to be fair while admitting the students.
A total of 7,620 students had applied for CMAT to study BBA and BIM last year. But only 6,079 were able to pass the test. Meanwhile, out of 1,383 applicants to CMAT for BHM and BTTM, a total of 1,091 succeeded in the test, as per Dahal.
“There are many students who want to study those courses but the seats are limited. So, tests like CMAT help to maintain the quality,” Nisamma Subba, a +2 graduate from Pentagon International College, Tinkune shared. Subba is one of the students preparing for her upcoming CMAT.
But students have already taken SOMAT — test one needs to take to join MBA — for this year and Malika Bataju is one of them. Like CMAT, SOMAT is also important as it “makes the admission process fair as only deserving candidates get admission to MBA” as per Bataju.
There are only 35 seats for MBA course, as per Dr Bhoj Raj Aryal, Deputy Director of School of Management, TU. But last year some 800 students had sat for SOMAT — “ the scientific way of selecting students for MBA course” — and TU had selected the most eligible students on the basis of their performance at SOMAT.
Bimochan Basnet, who also took the SOMAT, explained, “Every college wants to admit smart students with the ability of logical thinking and who can think out of the box. SOMAT helps colleges by measuring the creativity and problem solving ability of students.”
Preparing for admission test
The CMAT is approaching and many students have been attending the preparation classes for the same while some are preparing for the exams at home. You may prepare for the test in your own way but Dahal informed that the questions in CMAT are based on things students have studied in their +2 level and general mathematics.
And to pass the test, students “should know current issues, should have the ability to analyse a situation and should be creative” says Dahal adding, “If you have these qualities, then there is no need to go to the preparation classes.”
But +2 graduates Bikram Kumar Shahi from Radiant Higher Secondary School, Mahendranagar and Susandhya Sharma from Dang Valley Higher Secondary School, Dang are taking the preparation classes. And the reason as per Sharma is the “tough competition”. Sharma opined, “The competition is tough as there are many students like me who want to get admission. And these classes help to clear your confusion on what kind of questions will come in the test.” Echoing a similar view, Shahi remarked, “You get to learn the techniques on how to study for CMAT but it’s up to the students to succeed in the test.”
Meanwhile in SOMAT, the question patterns are equivalent to Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) that include verbal ability, quantitative ability, issue-based essay and case analysis skill, as per Aryal. “Students need to give genuine answers thinking critically and creatively to tricky questions,” shared Aryal.
That is why both Bataju and Basnet attened GMAT preparation classes and found it useful to get through SOMAT.
Ashish Shrestha, MBA IIIrd Semester student at School of Management, TU (SOMTU), Kirtipur argued, “Those who are giving SOMAT are mature enough to have the skills to sit for any test and there are various websites like www.mba.com where they can get model questions and techniques to prepare for SOMAT.”
To boost the confidence of students preparing for SOMAT, MBA students of SOMTU also conduct mock tests on the college premises.
More info
Students can download CMAT form from www.fomecd.edu.np, fill it up and submit it to any TU affiliated college with management course at undergraduate level. They can also get information about the exam centres from the same college or from the official website of Faculty of Management. After passing CMAT, students can apply to any college despite submitting form at a particular college.
