NMAT 2018 (12th December, 2:00 p.m.) mostly stuck to a predictable pattern. There were hardly any surprises. There were three sections with no negative marking. A student had the choice of deciding the sequence of sections. There were no technical glitches and the experience was quite pleasant. Compared to last year, the one major change in the Language Skills section was the fewer number of vocabulary questions. There were only three easy vocabulary questions. The Reading Comprehension passages were lengthy and even the options were tedious to read. However, a student with a good habit of reading can attempt the reading comprehension passages with ease.
The Verbal reasoning questions were easy and could have easily been tackled.
The Quantitative Skills section was of a similar level of difficulty as that of last year. Most of the questions were conceptual and less calculative. Although the DI section contains more questions this time as compared to last years and required calculation in a pair of set.
Based on our experience, one should have solved close to 83-92 questions (across the sections) in 120 minutes. The remaining questions should have been calculated attempts (educated guess) because of the marking scheme. Just like last year, the paper pattern varied for different candidates in the same slot. However, the difficulty level didn't vary drastically. Anyone with a weak reading speed would have faced a tough challenge due to the strict sectional time constraint. A solid strategy was the need of the hour.
If this paper is taken as a good indicator of this year's NMAT exam, the cut-off will likely remain in the same range (206-218 for Mumbai Campus) as that of last year.
The paper pattern was as follows:
| S. no | Section | No. of Questions | Time (in Minutes) | Difficulty Level | Possible Attempts |
| 1 | Language Skills | 32 | 22 | Moderate | 25-27 |
| 2 | Quantitative Skills | 48 | 60 | Easy-Moderate | 34-37 |
| 3 | Logical Reasoning | 40 | 38 | Easy-Moderate | 24-28 |
| Total | 120 | 120 | Easy-Moderate | 83-92 |
The Logical Reasoning section was easy-moderate. There were 25 questions based on Analytical and logical reasoning. Most of the questions were from predictable areas. There were two LR sets in total. The singlets were pretty easy. Questions based on machine input output were tricky as some numeric values were given for letter based input and then these numbers were coded in further steps. The blood relation questions were very easy though. Questions based on coding-decoding had varieties as all three questions were on different pattern, out of which one was very tricky.
There were 15 questions from the area of Verbal Logic. There were seven critical reasoning questions. The paragraphs were short and easy to read. So, the difficulty level was moderate. The options were not very close. Any student, with a basic understanding of the fundamentals of verbal logic, could have answered these easily. The two decision making paragraphs required one to use the basic of ethics and integrity. The remaining questions in verbal logic ranged from easy to moderate level of difficulty.
Overall, as compared to last year, this section was easy. An attempt of 24-28 with 88% accuracy was achievable.
| Topic | No. of Questions |
| Coding | 3 |
| Blood Relation | 2 |
| Critical Reasoning | 7 |
| Statement-Argument | 2 |
| Statement Conclusion | 2 |
| Course of Action / Decision making | 2 |
| Statement-Assumption | 1 |
| Syllogism | 1 |
| Logical Reasoning(arrangement and puzzle) | 8 (2 sets, 4 questions each) |
| Input/output | 4 |
| Missing number and visual reasoning | 3 |
| Mathematical Puzzles | 2 |
| Singlets (Contained Venn diagram, set theory and series based) | 3 |
| Total | 40 |
The Quantitative Aptitude section was of easy-moderate level. Arithmetic dominated the section. Number system, too, made its presence felt. The Data Sufficiency questions were from diverse topics such as Number system, Profit and loss, and Average. These questions were of moderate level. One could have solved these by just using the basic concepts. The Time and Work questions were easy. The Arithmetic Progression questions were time consuming.
There were 5 DI sets which included pie-chart, line graph, mixed graphs, and tables, each containing 4 questions. Questions from mixed graph were very calculative whereas questions from Pie chart were time consuming. The remaining 3 sets were easy and less calculative. A well prepared student would not have had much difficulty in going through this section. 34-37 proper attempts were certainly possible.
| Topic | No. of Questions |
| SI & CI | 2 |
| Time and work | 1 |
| Ratio & Proportion | 2 |
| Profit and Loss | 3 |
| Averages | 1 |
| Percentage | 1 |
| Number System( HCF/LCM and units digit based) | 3 |
| Progression | 2 |
| Logarithm | 2 |
| Geometry | 1 |
| Mensuration | 1 |
| Probability | 2 |
| Permutation and Combination | 2 |
| Data Sufficiency | 5 |
| DI | 20 (5 sets, 4 questions each) |
| Total | 48 |
Coming to the vocab questions of NMAT, there were only three synonym/antonym based questions. The questions were from words of everyday use. The analogy questions were simple too. Overall, the vocabulary based questions were easy. The cloze test passage was easy as well.
The two Reading Comprehension passages made all the difference in this section. Out of 8 questions, four questions were fact based and the rest were inferential questions. The first passage was a little complicated and the options were tedious to read. However, with a bit of common sense, a student could have attempted these questions. The second passage was easy to read and even the questions were of moderate difficulty level. A student who wishes to score well in this section must have a sound reading habit.
There were a total of four para-jumble questions. These were not difficult. Only one question was confusing. The other three were easy. The sentences of the paragraphs were short too.
The remaining questions in the section were based on grammar. The preposition based Fill-in-the-blank questions were quite easy. The sentence correct questions were easy too and the questions were based on subject verb agreement and parallelism errors.
The pattern of this section remained on predictable lines. Overall, the section was of moderate level of difficulty keeping in mind the time constraint. An overall attempt of 26-28 with 95% accuracy is realistic. The other questions could have been educated guesswork.
| Topic | No. of Questions |
| Reading Comprehension Passages | 8 (2 passages of 4 questions each) |
| Para Jumble | 4( 4 sentence) |
| Error Spotting | 3 |
| FIBs (Prepositions) | 2 (1 blank each – 3 sentences) |
| FIB (Preposition based) | 1 (2 blanks) |
| FIBs (Common Confusables) | 2 (2 blanks each) |
| FIBs (Vocabulary) | 1 (2 blanks) |
| Synonyms | 2 |
| Antonym | 1 |
| Analogy | 4 |
| Cloze Test | 4 |
| Total | 32 |
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