The December dates are out. Plan around them now.
AIMA has announced the schedule for MAT December 2026, and registration is open on mat.aima.in. There are two modes this session. The paper-based test (PBT) is on Sunday, 20 December 2026. The computer-based test (CBT) is on Sunday, 27 December 2026. You can write one mode or both. This post puts every announced date, the fee and the registration steps in one place, and then shows what the weeks before the exam should look like.
One habit before anything else. Treat this page, and every page like it, as a summary. Dates can shift, and AIMA updates its portal first. The portal is the only final word.
The dates below are from AIMA’s announcement for the December 2026 session. Before you pay a fee or plan travel, open mat.aima.in once and check the same date there yourself.
MAT December 2026: key dates for both modes
Here is the announced calendar, mode by mode:
- PBT (paper mode): registration closes 14 December 2026. Admit card from 17 December. Exam on Sunday, 20 December 2026.
- CBT (computer mode): registration closes 21 December 2026. Admit card from 24 December. Exam on Sunday, 27 December 2026.
- Fee: ₹2,300 for one mode. ₹4,000 if you register for PBT and CBT together.
Notice how tight the gaps are. The PBT form closes only six days before the paper, and the admit card comes three days before it. So do not plan to “decide in December”. Pick your mode now, register early, and keep December free for revision, not paperwork.
PBT, CBT or both: how to pick
The syllabus, the question count and the scoring are the same in both modes. The real differences are the date and the room. PBT is the familiar paper-and-OMR format and comes first. CBT runs on a computer at a test centre and gives you one extra week of preparation. If computers make you slow, take PBT. If you want the extra week and you are comfortable reading on a screen, take CBT.
Writing both is allowed, and AIMA prices the pair together. Whether a second sitting is worth your money and energy depends on how stable your mock scores are. We broke this exact decision down when the September session offered the same choice, and the logic in our guide on writing both PBT and CBT applies to December the same way.
Already wrote MAT in September?
December is the classic second attempt. If your September score came in below what your target colleges ask for, a December retake can replace it. If the score is already good enough, another attempt mostly buys stress. Our post on whether to retake MAT in December walks through that call with your September scorecard in hand — read it before you pay another fee.
Who can apply
Any graduate, from any discipline, can apply. Final-year degree students can also apply, with admission subject to finishing the degree. Some colleges add their own conditions, like a minimum percentage in graduation, so check the admission page of each college you care about. The exact eligibility wording is on mat.aima.in.
How to register, step by step
The form is fully online, and it takes under an hour if your documents are ready. The flow is simple: create an account on mat.aima.in, fill in your personal and academic details, upload a photo and signature, choose your mode and preferred test cities, pay the fee online, and save the confirmation PDF. Keep the login details written down somewhere safe — you will need the same account for the admit card and, later, the scorecard.
Two small mistakes cost students real marks of stress every season. First, waiting for the last day — payment pages slow down when everyone pays together. Second, uploading a photo that does not match the specification on the form, which can hold your application. Register in the first half of October and both problems disappear.
Eleven weeks is enough — if they are honest weeks
From the first week of October to 20 December is about eleven weeks. MAT gives you 150 questions across five sections, and speed decides more ranks than difficulty does. A clean plan for this window has three blocks. Weeks one to four: finish concepts section by section. Weeks five to eight: timed sectional practice, one section a day. The last three weeks: full mock tests on alternate days, with the off days spent only on analysing mistakes.
If you want structure and someone to answer to, our MAT online coaching for a 600+ score runs live classes four evenings a week — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — and every class is recorded, so a missed class is never a lost class. E-books, mock tests and mentorship are included, and you can join from anywhere in India. For what that produces, see our student results: a MAT high of 771 out of 800, with 9 of 10 students crossing 600.
One more thing about the calendar. AIMA has not announced the December result date yet, so do not trust any page that gives you one. After the exam, watch mat.aima.in for the scorecard. And remember that every college sets its own application deadline on its own admission page — start listing those deadlines now, while you prepare, so the scorecard week is spent applying and not searching.
Where to go next
Do three things this week. Register on mat.aima.in and pick your mode. Write your eleven-week plan on one page. And start the first chapter today, not on Monday. The students who feel calm on 20 December are the ones who treated the announcement week — this week — as the start of the exam.
MAT books, e-books and mock tests
The MAT book set covers Logical, English, Mathematics and Data Interpretation, printed A4 and couriered across India. The e-book and the scored mock series are on the same store, so you can pick print, digital, or both.