Himachal Pradesh State Combined Management Aptitude Test (HP- CMAT) is conducted by the Institute of Management Studies, Himachal Pradesh University. The common entrance examination is conducted for admission to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in all the Institutions/ universities affiliated to Universities in Himachal Pradesh. Candidates who have completed their graduation in any discipline from a recognized university are eligible to apply for the entrance exam. Candidates should have obtained a minimum of 50% marks in the qualifying examination. Those appearing for the final year examination are also eligible to apply.

Reference books

Candidates appearing for Himachal Pradesh Combined Management Aptitude Test (HP-CAT) are required to prepare on different areas like Arithmetic, English Comprehension, Comprehension and Data Interpretation Reasoning, Business Environment etc. There will be 50 questions in each section. A number of reference books and materials are available which can be used for preparation.

• 40+ Solved Papers MBA Entrances by Arihant
• A Communicative Grammar of English by Geoffrey Leech
• A Complete Kit for MBA Entrance Examinations by S.Chand
• Business English and Communication by Clark
• Data Interpretation MBA Entrance by Jaiswal
• MBA Entrance Exam Guide by Abul Hashem
• MBA Entrance Guide by Career Launcher
• Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Exams by Abhijit Guha
• Quantitative Aptitude by Arun Sharma
• Quantitative Aptitude for CAT and other MBA Entrance Examination by Time
• Pearson Guide to MBA Entrance Examination by Edgar Thorpe
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT and other MBA Entrance Examinations by Time
• Logical and Analytical Reasoning by A.K.Gupta
• The Pearson Guide to Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations by Dinesh Khattar.
• 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary by Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis
• Verbal Ability by Arun Sharma
• Verbal Ability Guide for CAT and other MBA Entrance Exams by PT Education Ltd
• Verbal Reasoning by R. S. Agarwal

Candidates can also refer leading newspapers and magazines like The Hindu, Economics Times, The Statesman, Business Today, Business Line by The Hindu Group, Business World, Competition Success Review, etc.

Candidates who clear the written examination are required to attend the group discussion and interview rounds. The reference materials mentioned above can also be used to prepare for the group discussion and interview. The final merit list will be based on the marks secured by the candidates in the entrance exam, group discussion and the interview.