B-school cut-offs in Maharashtra to rise as more aspirants score better this year

Out of 98,606 students who gave CET for MBA and MMS exams, 4,920 (5%) scored more than 50% marks

Management aspirants have performed better at the state common entrance test (CET) for Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Management Studies (MMS).

This year, the state had received 1.06 lakh applications (the highest ever)for MBA/MMS CET, of which 92.6% student appeared for the exams. (HT File Photo/ Pic for representational purpose)

Out of 98,606 students who gave CET for MBA and MMS exams, 4,920 (5%) scored more than 50% marks. Last year, only 1,680 out of 88,226 (1.9%) students scored in this bracket. The highest score also increased from 145 to 165 out of 200.

This year, the state had received 1.06 lakh applications (the highest ever) for MBA/MMS CET, of which 92.6% student appeared for the exams. The state has 329 institutes with a combined intake of 34,863 seats for post-graduation management courses.

The number of seats available to students may vary slightly at the time of admissions, due to closing down of existing courses and divisions and the addition of the new ones.

While there were more students taking the test this year, according to Kalim Khan, director, Rizvi Institute of Management Studies and Research, Bandra, the spike in high scorers indicates that the paper was relatively easier this year.

“The only factor for higher scores this year is toughness of the paper, although it's a subjective parameter. Last year, students had complained that the paper was difficult to attempt,” he said.

“The easier question paper leading to higher scores as compared to last year would mean an increase in cutoffs by around 14 or 15 marks for top institutes this year. The aspirants should wait for category-wise ranks as they are better indicators. This is because irrespective of the difficulty level of the exams each year, cut-off ranks for the various categories are identical every year,” said Ashutosh Paibhale, founder, eSquareMC, an educational and management consulting firm.

According to experts, higher scores will likely be a boon for management colleges, as many students are expected to enrol for the upcoming admission process.