Choosing the right entrance exam for management is very essential for the aspiring candidates. It helps them crack the right exam to get admissions to their desired college.
If you’re planning to pursue an MBA, choosing the right entrance exam is one of the most essential steps. If you want to study in India, you can opt for various national or state-level entrance exams like CAT, XAT, and many more according to your preferred B-schools.
However, if you want to move abroad for further studies, you can look forward to the international exams, which are accepted in elite global universities like IELTS, TOEFL, etc.
Entrance Exams for Admissions to MBA Colleges in India
If you’re planning to study in the top management colleges in India, then you must prepare for national-level entrance exams, which are widely accepted in most of the institutions in India. However, if you want to apply to some specific state or university, you can check for the state-level and university-level entrance exams for the same. The tables given below give the details of the exams that might be required by the candidate while preparing for management exams for admissions to MBA colleges in India.
National-Level Entrance Exams
Some of the common entrance exams for admission to MBA colleges in India at the national level are given below.
1. CAT Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Common Admission Test |
| Application Fee | General/EWS/NC-OBC-INR 2500 |
| SC/ST/PWD- INR 1250 | |
| Expected Exam Date | Nov 30, 2025 |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | IIM Kozhikode |
| IIM Lucknow | |
| IIM Calcutta | |
| IIM Bangalore | |
| IIM Ahmedabad | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
2. XAT Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Xavier Aptitude Test |
| Application Fee | INR 2200 for all |
| Exam Date | January 4, 2026 |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | BITS Pilani |
| XLRI Xavier School of Management | |
| St. Joseph's Institute of Management | |
| Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier University | |
| Xavier Institute of Development Action and Sciences (XIDAS) | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
3. MAT Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Management Aptitude Test |
| Application Fee | For Remote Proctored Internet Based Test (IBT) or Paper Based Test (PBT) or Computer Based Test (CBT- INR 2100 |
| For Double IBT + IBT or PBT + IBT or PBT + CBT or CBT + IBT: INR 3300/- | |
| Expected Exam Date | February, May, September, and December 2025 |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | Christ University |
| Ansal University | |
| Asia Pacific Institute of Management | |
| Birla Institute of Management Technology | |
| Galgotias University | |
| Mode of Examination | Paper Based Test (PBT), Computer Based Test (CBT) and Internet Based Test (IBT) mode |
4. SNAP Exam
|
Topic |
Details |
|
Full Form |
Symbiosis National Aptitude Test |
|
Application Fee |
INR 2250/- for each attempt of SNAP 2024. The programme/college fee and (INR 1000/ per programme/college) is to be paid only once. |
|
Expected Exam Date |
Dec 2025 |
|
Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score |
|
| SIMS, Pune | |
| SIMC, Pune | |
| SIOM, Nashik | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
5. CMAT Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Common Management Admission Test |
| Application Fee | Male: INR 2000 |
| Female, Reserved Category, Transgender: INR 1000 | |
| Expected Exam Date | May 2025 |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai |
| Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi | |
| Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai | |
| KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai | |
| Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Goa | |
| Mode of Examination | Online, i.e., Computer-based Test (CBT) |
Also Read: MBA after B.Ed: Is It A Good Choice?
6. State-Level Entrance Exams
The details for the state-level entrance exam for admission to MBA College in 2025 are provided in the table given below.
| Exam Name | State | Application Fees | Top Colleges |
| MAH MBA/MMS CET | Maharashtra | General: INR 1000, Reserved: INR 800 | Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) |
| Sydenham Institute of Management Studies (SIMSREE) | |||
| Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management (WeSchool) | |||
| Karnataka PGCET | Karnataka | General and OBC: 650SC/ ST/ Category, I-Karnataka Candidates: 500 | University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) |
| PES University | |||
| RV Institute of Management | |||
| Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test (TANCET) | Tamil Nadu | INR 1,000 for unreserved categories and INR 500 for reserved categories | Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras |
| Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) | |||
| PSG Institute of Management | |||
| Andhra Pradesh ICET (AP ICET) | Andhra Pradesh | INR 650 for OC, INR RS.600 for BC, and INR 550 for SC/ST candidates | Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Visakhapatnam |
| KL University | |||
| GITAM Institute of Management (GITAM) | |||
| Telangana ICET (TS ICET) | Telangana | General and NC-OBC: INR 750, SC, ST and PWD: INR 550 | Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad |
| Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad | |||
| Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Hyderabad | |||
| West Bengal Joint Entrance Management Aptitude Test (WBJEMAT) | West Bengal | 600 Rs [Online] | Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), Kolkata |
| Calcutta Business School | |||
| Army Institute of Management | |||
| Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET) | Gujarat | INR 350 | Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA), Ahmedabad |
| Institute of Management, Nirma University | |||
| Gujarat University | |||
| Uttar Pradesh State Entrance Exam (UPSEE) | Uttar Pradesh | Starts at INR 500 for different categories and courses. | Institute of Management Studies (IMS), Ghaziabad |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow | |||
| ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad | |||
| Madhya Pradesh Management Entrance Test (MP MET) | Madhya Pradesh | INR 1300 for MET and INR 1500 for both MCA and MET | Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal |
| Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore | |||
| Institute of Management Studies, DAVV, Indore | |||
| Rajasthan Management Admission Test (RMAT) | Rajasthan | INR 1000 | Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Udaipur |
| R.A. Podar Institute of Management, Jaipur | |||
| Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur |
University-Level Entrance Exams
Although most universities accept common entrance exams, some have their own listed below.
| University | Exam Name |
| Symbiosis International (Deemed) University | SNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test) |
| Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies | NMAT (NMIMS Management Aptitude Test) |
| Indian School of Business (ISB) | ISB Admission Test (ISBAT) |
| Christ University, Bangalore | Christ University Entrance Test (CUET) |
| Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur | XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) |
| Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani | BITSAT (BITS Admission Test) for MBA |
| Alliance University, Bangalore | Alliance Management Aptitude Test (AMAT) |
| Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) | MET (Manipal Entrance Test) |
| University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun | UPES MET (UPES Management Entrance Test) |
| Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) | TISSNET (Tata Institute of Social Sciences National Entrance Test) |
| ICFAI Business School (IBS) | IBSAT (ICFAI Business School Aptitude Test) |
| Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi | JMI Entrance Exam |
| Delhi University (Faculty of Management Studies) | DU JAT (Delhi University Joint Admission Test) |
| Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) | AMU MBA Entrance Exam |
| Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) | VITMEE (VIT Master’s Entrance Exam) |
Also Read: Online MBA vs Regular MBA
Entrance Exams for Admissions to MBA Colleges Abroad
To pursue MBA abroad, aspiring candidates must prepare for Entrance exams for admissions to MBA Colleges Abroad. The
GMAT Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Graduate Management Admission Test |
| Application Fee | INR 22,000 |
| Expected Exam Date | No fixed date (Multiple times a year) |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | Harvard University |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | |
| Columbia University | |
| University of Pennsylvania | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
GRE Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Graduate Record Examination |
| Application Fee | GRE General Test: INR 22,500 |
| GRE Subject Test: INR 14,500 | |
| Expected Exam Date | No fixed date (Multiple times a year) |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | University of Cambridge |
| University of Oxford | |
| Harvard University | |
| Stanford University | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
TOEFL Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | Test of English as a Foreign Language |
| Application Fee | ₹16,900 INR |
| Expected Exam Date | No fixed date (Multiple times a year) |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | Harvard University |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | |
| Columbia University | |
| University of Pennsylvania | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
IELTS Exam
| Topic | Details |
| Full Form | International English Language Testing System |
| Application Fee | ₹17,000 |
| Expected Exam Date | Between August and October 2025 |
| Top Colleges Accepting Exam Score | Australian National University |
| University College London | |
| Carnegie Mellon University | |
| University of Amsterdam | |
| University of Notre Dam | |
| Mode of Examination | Online |
Also Read: CMAT vs CAT
