NMAT 2026: Registration Extended to 25 October, Fees, Slot Booking and Retakes

Updated 12 October 2026 · Registration now closes Sunday 25 October (extended from 10 October)

Registering is not the same as booking a slot

This is where applicants slip. Registration means creating your account, filling in the application and paying. Slot booking is a separate step you do afterwards: choosing a date, time and test centre. Until you’ve booked, you don’t have an exam. One report on the process puts it bluntly: candidates who miss a required step may not be able to take the test at all.

Before the extension the two deadlines were twelve days apart (10 October for registration, 22 October for booking). Reports now put both at 25 October, so there is no gap between them any more: if you register on the last day, you also have to book on the last day. Dates and centres are subject to availability, so book as soon as you have registered.

What it costs

Use all three attempts and you’ve spent ₹10,620. The fee is non-refundable for most applicants, so pay only once you’re sure NMAT belongs in your plan.

Using all three attempts: the date arithmetic

You can take NMAT up to three times in this cycle, with at least 15 days between valid attempts (24 hours if an attempt was a no-show or wasn’t completed). The test window closes on 20 December, and retake registration runs from 3 November to 17 December. Work backwards from the end of the window and the latest dates that still leave room for every attempt are:

In practice: if you want retakes to work as a real safety net, book your first attempt in the first half of November. A first attempt in the last week of the window leaves no second chance. The 15-day figure is as reported by MBAUniverse; check NMAT’s own candidate pages before you plan to the day.

Is NMAT worth it if your CAT percentile may be low?

It depends on where you want to end up, and our college directory shows why. Counting the colleges that name each test as one they accept: 30 name NMAT, against 131 for CMAT, 130 for XAT and 113 for MAT. NMAT is best known as the route into NMIMS; beyond that, its reach is narrower than the other fallback tests.

So the honest advice is this. If an NMAT-accepting college is already on your shortlist, register. If you simply want a second-chance exam that opens the most doors, CMAT and MAT cover far more colleges. Your NMAT score is valid for one year within the testing cycle.

Colleges in our directory that accept NMAT, cheapest first

Apply or skip: a quick test

NMAT is worth the ₹3,540 only in some situations. Be honest about which one you’re in.

A sensible plan before the 25 October deadline

1. Decide now whether NMAT belongs on your list. If your shortlist has no NMAT college, stop here and look at the other open exams.
2. Register this week rather than on 25 October. Centres and early-November slots fill first.
3. Book your slot straight after registering, aiming for an early-to-mid November first attempt.
4. Keep ₹3,540 aside for a retake. You probably won’t need it, but the window to use it is short.

Questions people ask