The NCHMCT
The National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) is an independent body which has been created under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. It is the body tasked with conducting the Joint Entrance Exam (NCHMCT JEE) which allows the candidate to take admission in any of the 58 Institutes of Hotel Management which are affiliated with the Council. There are four kinds of participating hotel management institutes affiliated with the Council. There are national institutes, state government institutes, public sector undertaking institutes and private institutes of hotel management.Basic eligibility for admission required is a pass in 10 + 2 senior secondary examination or its equivalent with English as one of the subjects. The upper age limit is 22 years for General and OBC categories, whereas for SC and ST the upper age limit is 25 years as per the last updated notifications.
The exam is usually held in the last week of April and the NCHMCT results are announced during the third week of May. An application form can be filled online with additional information which is available on the council's website www.nchm.nic.in. The application portal opens during the last week of December.
NCHMCT Exam Pattern
The NCHMCT exam pattern consists of 5 sections with a total of 200 questions with a duration of 3 hours.- Numerical Ability and Analytical Aptitude - 30 Questions
- Reasoning and Logical Deduction - 30 Questions
- General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 30 Questions
- English Language - 60 Questions
- Aptitude For Service Sector - 50 Questions
The marking scheme for the NCHMCT exam entails 1 mark for correct answers and a negative marking of 0.25 marks for wrong answers in the Numerical Ability and Analytical Aptitude, Reasoning and Logical Deduction, General Knowledge and Current Affairs and English Language sections. For the Aptitude for Service Sector section the marking scheme is different as more marks are awarded for a more appropriate answer. Here, the most appropriate answer carries one mark, the next one carries 0.75, next to next carries 0.5 and the inappropriate answer carries a negative mark of 0.25.
NCHMCT Admit Card
Once the candidate has successfully registered for the test, the NCHMCT admit card for the JEE is issued during the month of April. The NCHMCT admit card should be checked carefully for all the entries and details made therein since any discrepancy would lead to unnecessary confusion and delay during the actual examination. Impersonation during the examination is considered a cognizable offence which is why the candidate must check all the relevant details and download the NCHMCT admit card and hall ticket before the test and be ready with it to deposit with the invigilator.The Prep
It is important to strategize and plan your preparation in such a way that you get the most out of whatever limited time you have till your examination. Once you decide that this is what you want to pursue, you should start with a couple of basic things.Study plan: The first and foremost thing important is that you come up with a study plan. Now a study plan is something similar to a guide which helps you organise your study schedule for the JEE. This sets your goals for the examination prep after you have gone through the exam syllabus and structure in detail. It is important to analyse your understanding of the course before starting. You should have timely targets which may be in the form of daily or weekly goals which can act as milestones to your preparation. Such a regime will bring a sense of disciple and also reduce the workload and stress.
It is important to make sure that your study plan includes a strict regimen for regular reading. It is extremely important that you read regularly and as much as you can, be it a newspaper or a novel that you like. It is important that you read something on a daily basis so that you can develop excellent reading skills which will help you not only in the English section but during the other sections of the exam too as by increasing your reading speed you will be able to save time in the paper which can be utilised in the sections that you are not so smooth with. Reading the newspaper will also keep you apprised with the current affairs and news there by helping you in the GK section of the paper as well.
The English section is an extremely important section since it has the most number of questions and more importantly it is the first section which is looked at in case of a tie breaker. That means that when two people have the same score, the higher rank will be decided on the basis of a higher English score which can translate into the candidate making the cut - off for his/ her choice of IHM. Hence it is important that you master your English as this section is extremely scoring. Inculcating a reading habit will help you ace this section since you will automatically brush up on your grammar concepts and be introduced you to new vocabulary which will help you decipher the questions without wasting much time.
