CMAT Score Normalization Process

CMAT score normalization process is employed to make the merit list. The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is conducted by NTA (National Testing Agency). It is a national level test arranged for candidates who are enthusiastic in pursuing management courses approved by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).

Further, the CMAT exam is held for 3 hours, online. The paper ideally consists of four sections: English language comprehension, General Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude. Each section consists of 25 questions. 

What is the CMAT Score Normalization Process?

Due to the difficulty level of the CMAT exam and multiple sessions of the exam, there may be differences in the marks. Therefore, to avoid any misconception and to deliver justice, the CMAT Normalization process is adapted. For normalization across sections, the NTA will use a percentile balance.

Furthermore, in the CMAT normalization process, the score of the candidates facing the challenging question paper will be increased and the score of the candidates facing the easy question paper will be reduced. There is three processes involved in the CMAT normalization process:

1. Distribution of Students

In this process, candidates will be divided into different shifts to avoid any sort of favouritism. Moreover, the shifts can be held on the same day or on different days. It will entirely depend upon the conducting body.  

For example, here is the exam conducted for two days in two different shifts:

CMAT Distribution of Students

Sessions	Day/Shifts	No. of Candidates			Marks
		Appeared	Absent	Total	Highest	Lowest
Session - 1	Day 1 Shift - 1	28012	3974	31986	335	-39
Session - 2	Day 1 Shift - 2	32541	6189	38730	346	-38
Session - 3	Day 2 Shift - 1	41326	6036	47362	331	-44
Session - 4	Day 2 Shift - 2	40603	9074	49677	332	-44
Total		142482	25273	167755	346	-49

2. Preparing of CMAT Result 2022

NTA will arrange for the CMAT results for each session. However, the CMAT results will be based on the following two factors:

• Raw Scores
• Percentile score of the total raw score. 

CMAT Percentile Calculation

The CMAT result is released by the conducting authority in the form of a merit list. It contains each candidate’s sectional marks, overall marks, sectional percentiles and overall percentile. Moreover, to understand the CMAT Normalization Process candidates must first try to understand the CMAT percentile calculation.

CMAT Percentile Score

The CMAT percentile is calculated based on the candidate's score. The percentage is based on candidates' relative performance in the CMAT exam. The marks scored are transformed into a range of 100 to 0 for each session.

Procedure to Calculate CMAT Percentile Score

The following process is used to calculate the total CMAT percentile score:

100 x number of candidates that appeared in the session and scored either equal to or lesser than the candidate/ total number of candidates in the session

Example 1:

The highest raw score and percentile score of CMAT will be converted into a normalized percentile score of 100 for their respective session. Let us now understand this with the help of an example:

Example Demonstrating CMAT Highest Raw Score and Percentile Score

Session	Total Number of Candidates (present)	Highest Raw Score	Total Number of candidates who Scored Equal to or Less than the highest raw score of a candidate	Applying the above formula
Session 1	28012	335	28012	(28012/28012) X 100 = 100
Session 2	32541	346	32541	(32541/32541) X 100 = 100
Session 3	41326	331	41326	(41326/41326) X 100 = 100
Session 4	40603	332	40603	(40603/40603) X 100 = 100

Example 2:

The lowest raw score and percentile score of the CMAT will be calculated from the lowest raw scores and will depend on the total number of candidates who have taken the exam for the respective session.

Example Demonstrating CMAT Lowest Raw Score and Percentile Score

Session	Total Number of Candidates (present)	Lowest Raw Score	Total Number of candidates who Scored Equal to or Less than the lowest raw score of a candidate	Applying the above formula
Session 1	28012	-39	1	(1/28012) X 100 = 0.0035699
Session 2	32541	-38	1	(1/32541) X 100 = 0.0030730
Session 3	41326	-49	1	(1/41326) X 100 = 0.0024198
Session 4	40603	-44	1	(1/40603) X 100 = 0.0024629

3. Compilation of NTA CMAT Score

In this step, the percentile scores of all the sessions are compiled together to determine the score. It is known as NTA scores. 

How is the CMAT Result Prepared using the Normalization Process?

The preparation of CMAT results by using the CMAT score normalization process, the conducting authority will distribute the candidates into two sessions. 

CMAT Exam Shift 1 and Shift 2

Shift 1 and shift 2 will act as an assurance that there is no bias. Moreover, CMAT results will be prepared in form of:

• Raw Scores
• Percentiles Scores of Total raw scores

Preparation of CMAT Result and Merit List

CMAT percentile scores for total raw scores for all shifts (Shift 1 and Shift 2) will be combined and called NTA scores to be used for the preparation of the merit list. In case, CMAT percentiles for the multi-shifts (shift 1 and shift 2) are uneven, the lowest will be the eligibility cutoff for that category for all students across all exam sessions.

For Example:

If 40 percent marks are equivalent to 79 percentile in Shift 1 and 80 percentile in Shift 2, those with or equal to 79 percentiles in both shifts (100 to 79 percentile scores) will be eligible in the general category.