NMAT 2026

NMAT by GMAC is one of India's most widely written MBA entrance exams, used for admission to NMIMS and a growing list of other B-schools. It's conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the body that also administers the GMAT. GMAC took over the exam from NMIMS some years ago and has since expanded it well beyond that one institute, a single NMAT score can now be used to apply to several B-schools rather than just one. Unlike a single-day exam, NMAT runs over an extended testing window (typically early November to late December). Candidates register once, then pick a date and slot within that window that suits their preparation timeline. NMAT is also computer-adaptive: GMAC calibrates question difficulty to a candidate's ongoing performance rather than giving everyone an identical paper, though it hasn't published the exact question-by-question mechanics. Candidates can attempt NMAT up to three times in a testing cycle, one original attempt plus two retakes. GMAC's own support documentation is explicit that the best score isn't automatically considered by every accepting school; score-selection policy is set by each institute. NMIMS in particular currently counts only a candidate's first valid score, which makes retake planning a genuinely strategic decision rather than a safe default.