What is CMAT Score Normalization Process 2025?

Senior Manager - Content

Updated on Jan 31, 2025 23:05 IST

CMAT Normalization is a practice for comparing scores of the candidates across multi session papers to arrive at CMAT percentiles. Check here how the CMAT exam scores will be normalized for preparation of CMAT 2025 result and merit list.

CMAT Score Normalization - CMAT exam is usually held in 2 sessions - morning and evening. The question paper of both CMAT sessions are different from each. In such a scenario, it may happen that candidates of one exam slot might get the easier set of questions as compared to candidates of another slot.

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CMAT 2025 exam was held on January 25, 2025 in two sessions. Candidates who will got comparatively tougher question paper in CMAT 2025 stand the risk of scoring lower than those who will get a relatively easier question paper. To negate this possibility, there is a need to judge the performance of all the candidates on the same scale.

Q: When will CMAT 2025 be conducted?

CMAT 2025 was on January 25, 2025, almost four months ahead of previous years. The CMAT exam is usually held in March-April, but in 2023 and 2024, it was held in May. The last time CMAT was held in January was in the year 2019.

The NTA announced registration dates via an official circular, which has been released online at the NTA website on November 14, 2024. The CMAT 2025 exam schedule includes registration window open and close dates and form correction dates. CMAT 2025 registration has started, and the last date to apply was December 13, 2024, and the admit card was released on January 20, 2025.

Q: How will I know the address of my CMAT exam centre?

The address of CMAT exam centre will be mentioned in the admit card only, which means candidates will know the address of the CMAT test centre allotted to them only after they download their CMAT admit card. The exam authorities will not share the details of any exam centre before the release of CMAT admit card. The NTA however, releases city intimation slip before the admit card which contains the name of the city in which the test centre has been allotted. The city intimation slip is issued a week before the exam to allow candidates to make arrangements for the exam day. If any student belongs to a rural area and their test centre falls in a city, they can make arrangements beforehand if they know which city they have to go to for appearing in the exam.

Q: Which are the cities where CMAT exam is held?

CMAT exam is held in over 100 cities across India. They are Port Blair, Hamirpur, Mumbai, Guntur, Jammu, Nashik, Nellore, Bokaro, Satara, Vijayawada, Dhanbad, Palghar, Kakinada, Hazaribagh, Ulhasnagar, Rajahmundry, Jamshedpur, Shillong, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Aizawl, Kurnool, Belagavi (Belgaum), Kohima, Tirupati, Bengaluru, Balasore, Vizianagaram, Hubballi (Hubli), Cuttack, Itanagar, Mysuru (Mysore), Sambalpur, Dibrugarh, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga), Berhampur, Silchar, Shivamogga (Shimoga), Dhenkanal, Guwahati, Dharwad, Bhubaneswar, Tezpur, Mangaluru (Bangalore), Rourkela, Jorhat, Udupi, Puducherry, Aurangabad-Bihar, Kannur, Pathankot, Darbhanga, Ernakulam, Ludhiana, Arrah, Kollam, Amritsar, Muzaffarpur, Kottayam, Bhatinda, Bhagalpur, Kozhikode, Patiala, Patna, Thrissur, Jalandhar, Mohali, Trivandrum, Sangrur, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Ajmer, Bhilai Nagar, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Bilaspur, Ujjain, Sikar, Raipur, Gwalior, Alwar, Delhi, Sagar, Jodhpur, Faridabad, Indore, Udaipur, Gurugram, Satna, Bikaner, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Kotak, New Delhi, Jabalpur, Madurai, Greater Noida, Ujjain, Chennai, Noida, Gwalior, Salem, Meerut, Sagar, Trichy, Panaji, Indore, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Satna, Vellore, Mehsana, Amravati, Tirunelveli, Vadodara, Jalgaon, Hyderabad, Anand, Nagpur, Karimnagar, Rajkot, Pune, Warangal, Gandhinagar, Solapur, Allahabad, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Bareilly, Ambala, Ahmednagar, Kanpur, Hisar, Kolhapur, Muzaffarnagar, Karnal, Nanded, Agra, Kurushetra, Raigad, Gorakhpur, Panipat, Thane, Lucknow, Rohtak, Vasai, Varanasi, Shimla, Aurangabad, Aligarh, Jhansi, Moradabad, Dehradun, Haldwani, Roorkee, Asansol, Durgapur, Bankura, Burdwan, Kolkata, Hooghly, Kalyani, Siliguri, Srinagar and Imphal.

So, in order to ensure that no candidate has an advantage or disadvantage due to varied difficulty levels of the CMAT 2025 question papers, the NTA will apply the CMAT score normalization procedure for preparing the CMAT 2025 result and merit list. So,, let's understand the CMAT score normalisation process.

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What is CMAT Normalization Process?

Q: What are the important dos of CMAT exam day?

On the CMAT exam day, candidates have to follow certain guidelines which include reaching on time, cooperating with the exam centre staff, following instructions of the test invigilator and following the test navigation for solving the CMAT questions. There are some key dos and don'ts that candidates should follow on the CMAT exam day, which have been listed below: CMAT exam day dos: 1. Reach the examination centre at the reporting time mentioned on your CMAT admit card. 2. Carry two copies of the CMAT admit card, one photo ID card and passport size photos 3. PwD candidates should carry the relevant certificates and documents as prescribed by the examination authorities. 4. Carry a blue/black ball point pen for signing the attendance sheet 5. Carry personal drinking water, hand sanitizer, face masks and gloves 6. Cooperate with the test centre staff and follow instructions during entry 7. Use only the computer mouse to lock your answers. Do not touch the keyboard as it will lead to screen locking.

Q: What are the items prohibited at the CMAT exam centre?

No, any electronic item including the watch, mobile phone, ipad, calculator, watch, smartwatch, etc. Is not allowed inside the CMAT examination centre. Any candidate found carrying such an item inside the exam hall will be disqualified. Candidates can check time on the onscreen timer on their computer systems during the CMAT exam. Apart from electronic items, stationary other than a blue/black ball point pen, metal accessories or metal jewellery and eatables are not allowed. Caps & headgear, goggles, hoodies, shirt with pockets, pants with pockets and closed shoes are also not allowed inside the test centre. Any candidate found carrying any such item or pieces of paper will be disqualified from the exam. Candidates must not carry bags and other valuables, as CMAT exam centres do not have any provision of bag deposit.

Q: Will I be allowed to enter the CMAT exam centre if I reach after reporting time?

Candidates will not be allowed to enter the CMAT exam centre after 7:30 AM in first slot and after 1:30 PM in second slot. Thus, candidates must ensure they reach their exam centre on time. Candidates cannot change their CMAT exam centre or slot if they are late. They will have to take the test at the allotted CMAT exam centre only which is why, it is important to download the CMAT admit card as soon as it releases. Candidates get ample time to make arrangements for the exam day, if their test centre is far off. CMAT 2023 exam was conducted in two slots - 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Reporting time for first slot was 7:00 AM and for second slot, it was 1:00 PM. However, the reporting time will be mentioned in every candidate's admit card. Candidates must also note that they can take the exam only at the centre mentioned on their CMAT admit card. They will not be allowed to enter the exam centre at any other exam venue. Thus, they must check the location of their exam centre before the exam day so that they know the requirements to reach the location on time on the exam day.

Q: For how long is CMAT city intimation slip available for download?

CMAT city intimation slip is available for download for 2-3 days only. Once the CMAT admit card is released, the city intimation slip is not required as the hall ticket carries complete details of test centre. However, registered candidates must download the city intimation slip once it is released to know the test city and make arrangements for exam day before hand. City intimation is very useful specifically for students from rural and far off areas, who have to come to cities to appear for entrance exams.

Q: What are important don'ts for CMAT exam day?

All the key information and instructions mentioned in the CMAT admit card is to be followed by each candidate. To avoid any hassle at the exam centre, candidates must note the following: 1. Do not carry prohibited items such as bags, purses, pencil box, beepers, wrist watch, calculators, mobile phones, electronic devices, scanners, cameras, wireless/Bluetooth transmission or any such communication devices. 2. Don't wear jewellery made of metal, jackets, clothes with pockets, mehendi on palms and closed shoes. Socks are allowed inside it. 3. Don't wear goggles, caps & head gears, hoodies or jackets/shirts with pockets 4. Don't be late for the exam. The entry gates will be closed 15 minutes before the commencement of exam. So, reach the exam centre as per the reporting time mentioned on the CMAT admit card. 5. Don't cheat or indulge in mal practices. You will be disqualified if caught indulging in any such ACT. 6. Don't create a ruckus inside the test lab or disturb other candidates 7. Don't leave your seat until the exam duration gets over and the invigilator announces exit.

CMAT Normalization is a practice for comparing performance of the candidates across multi-session papers. The CMAT normalization process is similar to those being adopted in other national level entrance tests conducted in India. For normalization across sections, NTA shall use the percentile equivalence. To understand CMAT Normalization Process let’s first understand CMAT percentile calculation.

CMAT Percentile Calculation

CMAT result is prepared in the form of a merit list which contains each candidate’s sectional marks, overall marks, sectional percentiles and overall percentile. Check the image below for example:

CMAT Percentile Scores

From the image above, you can figure out that CMAT Percentile scores are scores based on the relative performance of all the test takers across exam sessions. Basically, the marks obtained by each candidate are transformed into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each session of examinees.

The CMAT Percentile Score indicates the percentage of candidates that have scored EQUAL TO OR BELOW (raw scores) than a particular Percentile in CMAT exam. Therefore, the topper (highest scorers) of each session will get 100 percentile. The marks obtained in between the highest and lowest scores are also converted to appropriate percentiles. The formula of CMAT percentile calculation is:

Number of candidates (in the ‘Session’ with raw score EQUAL TO OR LESS than the candidate) X 100
Total number of the candidates who appeared in the ’Session’

The CMAT percentile calculation as explained by the NTA is presented below:

Highest Raw Score and Percentile Score: All the highest raw scores will have a normalized Percentile Score of 100 for their respective session.

Lowest Raw Score and Percentile Score: Percentile Score of all the lowest raw scores will depend on the total number of candidates who have taken the Examination for their respective session.

CMAT Normalization: How CMAT Result 2025 will be Prepared?

For preparing CMAT 2025 result by Normalization Process, the examination authority will divide all the test takers equally into fours sessions. This will ensure that there is no bias in the distribution of candidates who shall take the examination. Further, with a large population of examinees spread over the entire country the possibility of such bias becomes remote.

CMAT results for each session would be prepared in the form of:

Raw Scores
Percentiles Scores of Total raw scores

The percentiles would be calculated for each candidate by the formula given below:

Total Percentile (TP1):

100 X No. of candidates appeared from the session with raw score EQUAL TO OR LESS than T1 score
Total No. of candidates appeared in the session

CMAT Marking Scheme and Number of Good Attempts

CMAT question paper has five sections and each section has got equal weightage. Every question carries 4 marks for correct attempt and -1 mark for incorrect attempt. Candidates are marked 0 for unanswered questions. Check the table below for total number of questions and number of good attempts.

CMAT Sections	Number of questions	Number of good attempts
Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation	20	16-17
Logical Reasoning	20	16-17
Language Comprehension	20	16-17
General Awareness	20	8-10
Innovation & Entrepreneurship	20	7-9

Preparation of CMAT Result and Merit List 2025

The CMAT percentile scores for the Total Raw Score for all the shifts would be merged and shall be called the NTA-CMAT scores to be used for preparation of merit list.

In case, CMAT percentiles for the multi-shifts being unequal, the lowest will be the eligibility cut-off for that category for all candidates across all exam sessions.

For Example: If 40 per cent marks correspond to 78 percentile in Shift 1 and 79 in Shift 2, then all those equal to or above 78 percentiles (Percentile score of 100 to 78) in both shifts will become eligible in General Category.

Check CMAT Cut offs and predict calls from colleges accepting CMAT score for admission. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and Eligibility of all CMAT participating colleges by clicking the link below:

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About the Author

Vipra Shrivastava

Senior Manager - Content

Vipra is a massive Breaking Bad fan. When not watching crime drama series, she spends time in updating the list of places she wants to visit and people she wants to meet, but she is happiest in the company of dogs. ... Read Full Bio

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