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Have you missed a chance to get into a good management institute?
You need not be worried, you still have a genuine chance to crack a few premier institutes to pursue your management course through MAH CET, also known as the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test.
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The MAH CET/MBA CET is an entrance exam for management programs administered by the State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra.
Following the MAH CET/MBA CET, candidates will be assigned MBA seats in CET-participating colleges based on their MH CET scores in a process known as the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) on Counselling. Your prime focus should be on Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Abstract Reasoning (AR), Quantitative Aptitude (QA), and Logical Reasoning (LR). If you have a valid score of CAT/GMAT/CMAT/MAT/XAT/ATMA can participate in CET counselling directly, for admission to CET participating colleges. Read the complete article to know everything about the MAH CET exam pattern, etc.
Before diving deeper, you must know the pattern of the MAH CET exam, where Quantitative Aptitude is placed inside the combined section of Logical & Abstract Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude.
The MAH CET exam is conducted twice a year. In 2026, it is expected to be held on 6-8 April (Exam 1) and on May 9 (Exam 2). Here are the key highlights of the exam.
Particulars | Details |
Key Sections | Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Abstract Reasoning, Logical Reasoning (LR), Quantitative Aptitude (QA) |
Number of Questions | 200 |
Time Duration | 150 minutes |
Total Candidates (Expected) | 75000 to 80000 |
Marking Scheme | 1 mark for correct answer (No negative marking) |
Language | English |
Why is strategy more important than depth in MAH CET?
The questions asked in MAH CET vary from extremely easy-to-moderate Quant questions with no sectional time limits. It gives you the flexibility to switch over across the sections as per your strength. Speed will be a factor as it is heavily emphasised on speed. You have less than a minute for a question, so you must prioritise short approaches, direct formulas, approximation and estimation, substitution of values, etc.
No negative marking allows you make calculative guesses to save time.
The questions in this exam, especially in the VARC section and abstract reasoning, test your ability to spot errors. No deep theoretical knowledge is required.
If we talk about MAH CET quantitative aptitude; The exam is not testing advanced math—it is testing how quickly you can process familiar ideas under pressure.
Concept repetition across years makes you familiar with the types of questions.
If we talk about particularly quant section, a common thinking is that “more accuracy reflects into a more percentile”, but in MAH CET, this assumption can be disastrous if you rely on accuracy alone.
Analysis shows that to get among the top scorers, aspirants should follow a MAH CET high attempts strategy, to
Attempt a large number of easy questions in less time (doing 10 easy questions in just 2 to 3 minutes) and easy-to-moderate and doable questions in a reasonable time (doing 10 questions in 6 to 7 minutes).
Accept a controlled drop in accuracy due to a quick attempt.
Maximise net MAH MBA CET score by attempting more and fearing less.
Attempting questions with straightforward calculations (skipping solvable, easy questions in search of perfection and accuracy) may lead you to a lower percentile.
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It makes the MAH CET Quant strategy focus on attempt selection (which question needs to be attempted first) rather than question elimination.
A smart and effective MAH MBA CET preparation plan first analyses the previous years’ trend and prioritises topics that are:
Frequent
Having light Calculation
Having a standard form of questions
Speed-friendly (Having short tricks)
We need to focus on the following topics matched with the criteria discussed.
Topics to Focus | Key Characteristics |
Percentage and Its Application | Focus on solving percentages with the help of fractions and the successive change formula. |
Profit and Loss | Solve using fractions, use a direct formula to find the successive discount, and have a few direct tricks. |
Simple Interest and Compound Interest | To solve with similar approaches as the percentages and profit and loss. |
Approximation-based Arithmetic | These questions can be solved very quickly and will save a lot of time. |
Time and Work | Questions are repetitive on similar pattern. |
Ratio and Proportion | This topic itself is a trick. Will be very helpful in Time and Work, TSD. |
These 5 to 6 topics alone are sufficient for 60–70% of your Quant attempts if prepared well. Advanced maths and algebra topics like logarithms, functions, or complex algebra can be ignored at the initial level of MAH MBA CET preparation.
Time management is very crucial in exams like MAH CET, where speed is very important. To solve questions quickly is a skill.
How will you improve speed?
Yes, of course, by a rigorous practice on the questions that are being repeatedly asked in MAH CET. Also, learn some useful tricks, and the most important thing is the selection of appropriate questions during the exam.
It is very important to know how much time to spend on a question. Which question is to be selected first?
We suggest a strategy during the exam:
Time Allocation: Spend 30–40 seconds on easy arithmetic questions.
Skipping: Skip immediately if the calculation looks long.
Revisiting: Do not re-check answers unless necessary.
Effective MAH CET time management will certainly boost your attempts by 20 to 30% with no extra effort.
Why tare he Mocks important?
Yes, Mocks are very important for topic-wise preparation as well as to check your common mistakes. Mocks are not just for practice—they are checking post for strategy validation.
For Mocks, first you need to create exam like environment at your place and during mocks focus on the following parameters:
Track your attempts along with your score
Identify the areas where time sinks
Do experiments aggressively to increase attempts
Maintain balance between attempts and Accuracy
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MAH MBA CET Mock Test 2026 |
Aspirants who are serious about “How to maximise MAH CET percentile” usually take 20–30 full-length MAH MBA CET mock tests at regular intervals to refine their risk-taking approach and to maintain a balance between accuracy and attempts.
Case Study 1: Average Student, 99.2 Percentile
Student Background: Average Maths skills (Non-engineer background)
Quant Attempts: 58
Accuracy: 57%
Score: 33.06
Result: 99.2 percentile
What goes in Favour: The student focused on the MAH CET Quant strategy rather than mastering every topic.
Case Study 2: High Accuracy Trap
Quant Attempts: 32
Accuracy: 88%
Result: 90 percentile
What goes against: Despite having strong accuracy, this candidate could not boost his score because of poor attempts. It is an extremely common MAH CET mistake made by students.
Here, we are giving a brief discussion on MAH MBA CET Preparation Tips.
Mental Maths: Practice mental math daily (At least 40 to 50 calculations)
Perfection or Attempts: Do not aim for perfection. Look for more attempts. (Skip fear for attempts)
Train your brain: Through previous years’ analysis, train your brain for repetitive questions to increase speed.
Weekly Revision: Revise formulas weekly.
Mock Tests Analysis: Important to check your errors and to see what percentage of the target is achieving during mocks.
These MAH MBA CET preparation tips align perfectly with the exam’s reward structure.
Let us suppose that if you attempted only 20 questions, then even 100% accuracy will give 20 marks. If you have attempted 40 questions with 70% accuracy, your score would be 2,8 which is far better than 20. So, accuracy matters but only after a minimum attempt. Once you reach 45–50 attempts, incremental accuracy improvements can boost your percentile sharply. Before that, increasing attempts give higher returns.
1. Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal (Comprehensive coverage).
2. How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma.
3. Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma.
4. MH-CET (MBA/ MMS) Entrance Guide by Disha Publications (Exam-specific).
5. Previous Year Papers: Solving the last 3-4 years' MAH MBA CET previous year papers is crucial for understanding the high-speed, 200-question format.
On Question asked by student community
With a 91.16 percentile in MAH MBA CET 2025, you have a good chance of securing admission in decent MBA colleges in Maharashtra. While top institutes like JBIMS or Sydenham may be out of reach, colleges such as PUMBA, SIES, Chetana’s, MET, and DY Patil are realistic options. Among these,
With 91.16 percentile, you can target top-tier MBA colleges like PUMBA (Pune University), MET Mumbai, SIESCOMS Navi Mumbai, and NL Dalmia. Welingkar and K J Somaiya may be slightly out of reach but possible under lower cutoffs or spot round.
With 42 percentile in MAH MBA CET, it is very difficult to get admission in good or top MBA colleges through CAP rounds. Most of the well-known colleges in Maharashtra like JBIMS, SIMSREE, Welingkar, and PUMBA usually take students who score more than 90 or 99 percentile. Even average colleges
Dear Aspirant,
If you have scored 80 out of 200 in the MAH MBA CET 2025, your expected percentile is likely to be in the range of 60 to 70, depending on the overall performance of candidates and the difficulty level of the exam this year. Based on previous years’
Congratulations on your score! To estimate your percentile for the MAH MBA CET 2025, it depends on the overall difficulty of the exam, the number of students appearing, and how others perform in the exam.
However, based on trends from previous years, here is a rough estimate:
94 marks in
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