Two exam days, one simple job
The September 2026 MAT runs in two modes. The paper-based test (PBT) is on 13 September 2026, and the computer-based test (CBT) is on 20 September 2026, as per the current AIMA schedule. If you are reading this in August, your syllabus work is done or on its last lap. What is left to protect is the day itself.
Here is the honest truth about exam day: most students lose more marks to confusion and panic than to any single weak chapter. A late start, a wrongly filled OMR sheet, ten minutes sunk into one stubborn question — these cost more than a forgotten formula. This guide walks through the whole day, from admit card to the last minute, so nothing on 13 or 20 September surprises you.
Registration closes on 7 September for PBT and 14 September for CBT. The exams follow on 13 and 20 September. Treat these as planning anchors, and confirm each one on mat.aima.in before you act on them — AIMA can shift windows, and your admit card is the final word on your reporting time.
Step one: the admit card
Your admit card comes from your account on mat.aima.in, released a few days before your exam date. Download it the moment it appears. Print two copies and keep the PDF on your phone as a backup. Then read it slowly, line by line, once.
Check five things: your name, your photograph, your roll number, the centre address, and the reporting time. If anything is wrong, write to AIMA through the portal immediately — not on the morning of the exam. If everything is correct, open the centre address on a map the same day. Note how long the journey takes at that hour, then add a buffer of thirty to forty-five minutes. Students who reach early sit down calm. Students who reach on the bell pay for it in the first section.
What to carry, what to leave behind
| Carry | Why |
|---|---|
| Printed admit card | Entry is not possible without it. Carry both copies. |
| Photo ID | Carry a valid original photo ID. Ideally the same one whose details you used in the application form, so the names match. |
| Passport photos | Keep one or two, the same photo you uploaded in the form. |
| Simple stationery | For the PBT, a couple of good ballpoint pens and pencils. For the CBT, the centre gives you rough sheets. |
Leave behind the phone if you can, or plan where it will stay, because it will not go in with you. Calculators, smart watches, notes, and chits stay out too.
Your admit card lists the exact reporting rules and the items allowed at your centre. That list is final. If this guide and your admit card ever disagree on any detail, follow the admit card.
The night before
Do not open a new topic. Nothing you learn tonight will earn marks tomorrow, and the anxiety will cost you some. Keep the evening light: your formula sheet, your error log from mocks, one easy revision pass, and then stop.
Put the admit card, ID, and photos in one folder before you sleep, not in the morning. Set two alarms. Eat a normal dinner. Sleep at your usual time or slightly earlier. A rested brain solving 130 questions beats a tired brain attempting 150.
Inside the hall: PBT and CBT are different days
PBT — 13 September
The paper test gives you a question booklet and an OMR answer sheet. The single biggest PBT mistake is saving all the bubbling for the end. Do not do it. Transfer answers to the OMR after every block of eight or ten questions. If time runs out, an answer solved in the booklet but not bubbled earns you nothing. Fill your details on the OMR carefully in the first minutes, exactly as the invigilator instructs.
CBT — 20 September
The computer test puts everything on screen. Use the review and mark features instead of holding questions in your head. The centre gives rough sheets for working. Before the test starts, read the instruction screens properly, even if you have seen them in mocks. They tell you the exact rules of that day, including the marking scheme, and reading them costs you nothing from your 120 minutes.
The 120-minute plan
MAT gives you 150 questions in 120 minutes, spread over five sections of 30 questions each. As per the current pattern, a correct answer earns one mark, a wrong answer cuts a quarter mark, and a blank costs nothing. The composite score is reported out of 800, and the Economic and Business Environment section does not feed into the percentile the way the other four sections do. Plan your time accordingly: give your four scoring sections the bulk of the clock, and keep Economic and Business Environment quick — it rewards knowledge you either have or do not.
Run two passes. In the first pass, take each section and answer only what you can solve with confidence in under a minute or so. Mark the rest and move. In the second pass, return to the marked ones and pick your battles. No single question deserves more than about ninety seconds of your life on exam day. And because wrong answers cut marks, do not blind-guess just to finish the paper. Guess only when you can remove two options first.
Whatever order and timing you practised in your mocks is your exam-day strategy. The hall is the wrong place to try a new section order because a topper on the internet swears by it. If you have not done full mocks yet, the recorded MAT course at publications.learncrew.org/MAT includes scored mocks — even two or three before the 13th will settle your plan.
Five exam-day mistakes that cost real marks
- Reaching with no buffer. Traffic, a wrong gate, a long queue at document check — any one of these turns a calm morning into a panicked one. Leave early enough that all three could happen and you would still be fine.
- Solving in question order, stubbornly. The paper does not reward you for finishing a hard question before an easy one. Skim, pick, and return.
- Sinking time into one DI set. Data sets can swallow ten minutes quietly. If a set is not opening up in two or three minutes, mark it and go.
- Blind guessing to complete the paper. With negative marking, an attempted paper is not the goal. A maximised score is.
- Bubbling the OMR at the end. In PBT, this one habit has cost students entire sections. Transfer as you go.
After the paper
Walk out and let it be. Long answer discussions outside the hall change nothing. Your scorecard will come through your account on mat.aima.in, and the score stays valid for one year.
If you registered for both modes, remember your CBT attempt on 20 September is still ahead — treat the PBT as the best mock you ever took, spend the week between fixing what it exposed, and go again. And if September does not go your way at all, the December session exists. One paper is never the whole story.
Where to go next
If you want your preparation for December or the next cycle run with structure — live evening classes, mentorship, scored mocks, and every class recorded — see our MAT online coaching for 600+. For proof that the method works, our results are here, including a MAT high of 771 out of 800, with 9 of 10 students crossing 600.
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.