The All-India Management Association (AIMA, esb 1957), a nonprofit national apex body of the management profession in India, which conducts the popular standardized management aptitude test (MAT) in India for management programs, is working on re-designing and repositioning its yet another popular test known as Undergraduate Aptitude Test (UGAT).
UGAT, which is again a standardized aptitude test for screening the candidates for various undergraduate programs such as Integrated MBA (IMBA), BBA, BCA, BHM, B.Com, etc. in its current format and administered annually, is being turned into a guidance test as well. While this year’s UGAT scheduled for June this remains unchanged, the planning is underway to turn it into a diagnostic cum aptitude test and introduce at senior secondary school level from next year, that is somewhere between class 10 and 12. UGAT has an aim to prepare future managers and start guiding them from an early age as they aspire to pursue their professional journey.
“Today there are new, emerging and fascinating careers around, but students don’t know fully their strengths and interests and can’t make a choice easily. This confuses them in seeking more information and advice. We want to help them by adding diagnostic elements to our test, which will enable student to understand what his or her core strengths are, where lies his or interest and based on that he or she can start shortlist. After this test, instead of blinding following others or listening to family and friends, he or she will be able to map a better choice while entering higher education after class 12,” says Daljeet Singh, Director Centre for Management Services & IT (AIMA) adding that with proven track record and a leader in Management Development Movement, AIMA brings with it the wherewithal and credibility of rolling out such an important scientific diagnostic tool, which will be helpful in career counseling more so in case of hinterland students.
According to Singh, the horizon of the test is being widened to include more components and parameters that will test the scientific aptitude and also service aptitude, creativity, acumen, flair for specialization such as finance, customer services etc. “This will make UGAT more appealing and become a test of large scale as we are anticipating a large participation once it is positioned within schooling years,” he adds. So far, it is positioned for candidates to have completed 10+2, but after current cycle gets over in June’24, we will position this as the test that can be taken by the candidates who have passed 10th class to understand their strength areas (diagnostic element) and for 10+2 passed candidates (diagnostic as well as guidance element) to help them select higher education stream & later, professional career, as per their strength areas.
While we’ll get to hear about UGAT 2.0 in due course, here’s a quick summary of this year’s UGAT:
What is being tested?
In its current form, UGAT will consist of questions on English language, Quantitative aptitude, Logical reasoning, General knowledge, Scientific aptitude, and Service aptitude. Also, questions will be included to check candidates’ flair / understanding / inclination on other aspects like creative skills, number crunching (basic financial literacy), vocational skills etc
How many colleges recognize UGAT?
More than 100 b-schools and universities (click here for list) have accepted UGAT scores for admission to UG courses such as Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), Bachelor of Hotel Management (BHM), Integrated MBA, B. Com. etc. UGAT caters to admission in more than 2000 seats annually, with these institutions.
Does UGAT certification give you some preference?
Before the candidate registration process, interested b-schools, colleges / universities give their consent to accept candidates’ score of the UGAT exam for their admissions. However, there is no weightage / preference given to the UGAT score bearing candidates by the participating institutes. It is upto them and their policies but UGAT certification certainly makes a statement about the candidate. UGAT Question paper setting is done by AIMA & no participating institute has any role to play in this activity. This ensures that AIMA conducts complete exam process in fairness and has no influence on the final admission of the candidates. Also, participating institues do not have any bias towards these candidates, who have come out of a fair & transparent exam process under which their skills / competencies have been assessed on the set parameters by professional & reliable exam body, AIMA.
Nature of test and datelines
UGAT is conducted in PBT (paper-based test) mode as an offline (OMR answer sheet based) test. For 2024, registration of candidate applications is open till 9th June. Exam is scheduled to be conducted on 16th June.
How To Apply?
Candidate can choose any ONE of the following modes to apply:
Register online at website link with Credit Card or Debit Card (ATM Card), Net Banking payment of 750/-. (OR)
Register online at website link along with a Demand Draft of 750/- in favour of ‘All India Management Association’ payable at Delhi.
