What is MICAT?

The pattern of MICAT along with the MICAT syllabus is different from other MBA Entrance Exams. Most of the MBA Entrance exams are made up entirely of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). However, MICAT has a paper pattern that asks objective, as well as subjective questions.

The marking scheme for each section isn’t usually disclosed. Although negative marking applies only to the objective questions (except Psychometric) and will not be applicable to any of the subjective questions.

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MICAT Eligibility Criteria

• The candidates who appeared/appearing in CAT/XAT/GMAT
• The candidates having Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification in any discipline recognized by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
• Candidates appearing for final year Bachelor’s degree examinations are also eligible to apply

Despite the pattern changing regularly, the preparation strategy for all the common sections is given below.

MICAT Syllabus and pattern

What are the sections in MICAT?

There are 3 main sections in MICAT namely:

• SECTION-A: Psychometric test
• SECTION-B: Descriptive Test
• SECTION-C: This includes 4 parts namely Verbal ability, Quantitative ability & Data Interpretation, General Awareness, and Convergent thinking.

Section Wise MICAT Exam Pattern

This year (2024) MICA has made a change in MICAT Paper Pattern. The duration of MICAT has been reduced from 2 hours 45 Minutes to 2 Hours 15 Minutes for the current year. Refer Table below for the Section Wise Breakup

SECTION-A: How does one go about the Psychometric Test?

Also read: All you need to know about MICA

• The Psychometric section is a compelling feature of the MICAT. Students are given 35 questions (MCQs) to comprehend their Aspirations, Motivations, and Behavior.
• The purpose of this section is basically to understand your thought process and views, and especially the stability in your thoughts.
• You will be given small instances and asked how you would react to them, or what do you think of such instances to check how consistent you are in your thoughts and reasoning.
• This section has no right or wrong answers which also makes it devoid of any negative marking whatsoever. This test evaluates your psychology/personality. Your answers to the questions reflect your aspirations, motivations, inclinations along with your behavior and ethics.
• There is no right or wrong in this section. And you shouldn’t prepare for this section as this section does not test you on anything. It merely analyzes and pinpoints your personality.

How to crack this section?

• The best way to crack this section is through honesty and early introspection. Students should practice writing 20 good and bad things about themselves and take a firm stand while attempting this section in the exam.
• Try avoiding neutral as the choice. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers, and this test in only to understand how you think.
• Try not to manipulate your answers or be diplomatic for every answer. They don’t want you to tick the ‘right’ option for everything, but how much you know yourself and accept it.

*Just be careful while attempting your psychometric test; if you do not clear this, you are automatically rejected. They wouldn’t even consider your other scores/credentials. A lot of free psychometric tests are available online, so you can give it a try before the final exam day.

SECTION-B: How to prepare for the four sections?

If you are preparing for other MBA Entrance Exams like CAT, SNAP, NMAT, etc., then your preparation for this section will be taken care of. The aptitude section in MICAT doesn’t have any exclusive topic or area which isn’t covered by other exams.

Quantitative ability:

Also check: Preparation strategy for MICAT

• If you are preparing for CAT/XAT, the Quant portion becomes easy, especially relevant is the fact, the Quant paper in MICAT is easier than CAT.
• The Quantitative Ability section has a total of 25 questions, with a 0.25 negative marking for wrong answers.
• The section mostly includes Arithmetic related topics including Time and Speed, Time and Work, Average, Allegations, and Mixtures.
• Other topics include Profit and Loss, Numbers, Venn Diagrams, Functions, Probability, Mensuration, and Equations.
• Try to go through the basics thoroughly, as most questions would be very basic in nature and to maximize your attempts for this section, as it is very scoring.
• Your basics should be strong. You can focus on Arithmetic, followed by other topics like Probability, Mensuration, Numbers, Equations, Venn Diagrams, and Functions.

Verbal Ability:

• The verbal section of the paper has 25 questions on topics like para jumbles, reading comprehension, statement-assumption, statement- conclusion, etc., there is a negative marking of 0.25 marks on every wrong attempt.
• Again, if you prepare for CAT and other exams, you should be able to solve these. These are usually of moderate level difficulty, so try to increase your accuracy in this section.
• Focus on studying fill in the blanks, para jumbles, and para-completion.

*In addition to this, one important hack for verbal is to prepare well for ‘statement assumption and conclusion’. Most of the students lack preparation for it. There are games available online that can help you test your word power and make it enjoyable too.

Divergent and Convergent reasoning:

• This section consists of 30 questions, again with a 0.25 negative marking for wrong attempts where it tries to judge the logical and analytical abilities of the candidates.
• These are usually tricky questions, so ensure you read the question thoroughly and attempt them. Verbal reasoning and word association form an important part of the Logical Reasoning part.
• There is one hack to Word association hack: you must know a lot of proverbs and phrases like a Pride of Lions, a Pack of Wolves, etc.
• Data Sufficiency, Statement and Conclusion, Visual Reasoning, Word Association, Statements & Conclusions, and other similar topics.

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GK (General Knowledge):

• The GK section consists of 25 questions with a 0.25 negative mark for wrong answers. Questions cover current affairs to business news to advertising agency trivia to global brand awareness, etc. This is where one can beat the crowd and score, as most of the students fail to prepare for this one.
• General Knowledge is a thing that does not come all of a sudden, and even if you know something, it does not mean that you will remember it.
• This section tests your knowledge on Business, Marketing, Current Affairs, Brands (both national & international), Advertising Agencies, Companies and taglines, Celebrity Endorsers, Start-ups, critically acclaimed/social films, and others.
• Remember, General Awareness isn’t done in a day and you will have to read and keep revising what you’ve read, on a daily basis.
• Also, start reading magazines/online blogs/newsletters pertaining to Advertising and Media. You will then get a good idea about the world of media and communications.
• Keep an eye for all major events and happenings in the marketing domain as well. If you have been up to date with the current affairs for the entire year, you should be able to score well in this section.
• You can read up more on Campaign India, AFAQs, Bizquizzard, and Exchange4Media.

SECTION-C: How does one prepare for the Descriptive test in MICAT?

What is the descriptive test?

7 things a CAT aspirant is doing wrong

• A fascinating section of MICAT is Essay Writing and Story Writing, which includes 4 questions with a duration of 35 minutes.
• This section is especially important since MICA wants to check your creativity, which can be showcased in plenty through this section.

This section is difficult to predict and, tests you on your creative skills.

• Essay Writing:

  This question asks students to write on topics that are directly or indirectly based on daily happenings and issues. The topics usually refer to current affairs and social issues. Sometimes, the topic may be a combination of two or three issues as well. Therefore, make sure that you are well-read on a variety of different topics.

• Story Writing:

  This question usually asks the candidate to form a story based on a given set of images. The story writing question tests your creativity.

Now there is no specific method to prepare for it but read creative short stories. Reading different stories will give you an understanding of how different topics can be connected and weaved into a story.

Once you have an idea, start practicing writing small stories. Ask your friend/classmate to give you random words/topics/images, from which you can then write a story. You can then evaluate your story and keep practicing in the same manner.

• Arguments (in favor & against):

  In this question, one has to give merits (points in favor) and demerits (points against) on the given topic. The question usually asks students to write 5 points for each part.

Again, the only way to prepare for this is to have awareness about recent and current issues. Therefore, keep reading stuff. Also, while reading, make sure that you consider every aspect and viewpoint on a particular topic. Having an idea about different/opposing viewpoints will help you to generate the for and against points for this section.

*Practice Writing articles/viewpoints/stories every day.

Tips for this test

• You can follow simple instructions to ensure that you excel in this section. First, note down your points briefly to decide on a flow for your essay.
• Once that is established, go ahead and write the paragraphs. secondly, stick to an argument that you have chosen, do go about shifting between your views because inconsistency in thought is highly frowned upon by them.
• Finally, build a tempo to your writing, a good writing piece is when you follow the AIDA model. It should capture the reader’s attention and maintain it until the end.
• In order to do all this and excel in this section, you have to practice writing at least 2 to 3 months before the exam.
• Even though you think you’re good at it, keep reading some short stories to get inspired. The portion of essay writing is to test your thought process, your perspective, and your craft on topics based on you.

Remember, along with your aptitude, MICAT also tests you on your creative skills. It is one of the few entrance tests that engages your brain in an off-beat way. Also, MICAT is known to throw in surprises, with respect to the paper pattern, every year. Changes are usually in the number of questions and/or in the duration of a section. So, be prepared for any such changes.

All the Best!!

Related Links:

General Awareness for MICAT | Rashi’s journey from nothing to a Mican | MICAT  Analysis

 | Residential Courses @MICA