MBA Entrance Exam Dates 2026 — The Complete Calendar for CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, CMAT, MAH MBA CET & SRCC GBO

Seven exams, seven notification windows, seven separate application deadlines — and most MBA aspirants only track the one or two they’re prioritising, until a smaller exam’s deadline sneaks past unnoticed. Here’s the complete MBA exam dates 2026 calendar for CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, CMAT, MAH MBA CET, and SRCC GBO in one place, with a direct official link for every single exam, from the Quantifiers team.

Quick answer: The MBA entrance exam dates 2026 calendar, for the 2027–29 intake, runs like this: expect CAT in late November 2026, XAT on 3rd January 2027, NMAT across an October–December 2026 testing window, SNAP across three dates in December 2026, CMAT in January 2027, MAH MBA CET across April–May 2027, and SRCC GBO in February 2027. Notifications for most of these begin rolling out from July 2026 onward, with application deadlines typically falling 1–2 months before each exam date.

Contents

1. Why Tracking All Seven Exams Matters, Even If You’re Focused on One

Most aspirants pick a primary exam — usually CAT — and treat everything else as an afterthought. That’s a reasonable prioritisation for study hours, but it’s a risky approach to the MBA exam dates 2026 calendar as a whole. NMAT registration, for instance, opens as early as August and its window closes well before CAT results are even out. SNAP’s application deadline falls in late November, squarely inside CAT’s own final prep stretch, when it’s easiest to lose track of anything that isn’t the exam directly in front of you.

Missing a smaller exam’s window doesn’t just cost you that exam — it removes an entire set of backup institutes from your options before you even know whether you’ll need them. Keeping all seven dates visible from July onward costs you nothing and protects every door you might want open in February.

2. MBA Exam Dates 2026 — The Master Calendar

Here’s every major national MBA entrance exam relevant to the 2027–29 intake, side by side, with a direct link to each exam’s own official registration portal. This is the complete MBA exam dates 2026 table worth bookmarking as your single reference point.

Table 1 — MBA Exam Dates 2026–27, All Exams at a Glance

Exam	Conducting Body	Expected Notification	Application Deadline	Exam Date (Tentative)	Official Site
CAT 2026	IIMs (rotating host)	Late July 2026	Mid-September 2026	29th November 2026	iimcat.ac.in
XAT 2027	XLRI Jamshedpur	Mid-July 2026	6th December 2026	3rd January 2027	xatonline.in
NMAT by GMAC 2026–27	GMAC	August 2026	Mid-October 2026	October – December 2026 (window)	nmat.gmac.com
SNAP 2026	Symbiosis International (Deemed University)	August 2026	Late November 2026	December 2026 (3 dates)	snaptest.org
CMAT 2027	National Testing Agency (NTA)	November 2026	Mid-January 2027	January 2027	exams.nta.ac.in/CMAT
MAH MBA CET 2027	Maharashtra State CET Cell	December 2026	Mid-to-late February 2027	April – May 2027 (multiple dates)	cetcell.mahacet.org
SRCC GBO 2027	Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University	December 2026	Mid-January 2027	February 2027	srcc.edu

All dates beyond CAT’s confirmed pattern are projections based on how each exam has trended over the last two to three cycles — treat them as planning estimates until each conducting body releases its own official notification. Bookmark each official site directly rather than relying on any third-party aggregator, since registration deadlines and slot availability can shift with very little advance notice.

3. CAT 2026 — Dates & Official Link

CAT remains the exam every IIM and over a thousand affiliated institutes rely on, and it anchors the entire MBA application season — most other exam calendars are effectively built around it.

Notification: Expected last week of July 2026
Registration window: Early August to mid-September 2026
Exam date: 29th November 2026 (Sunday)
Result: Late December 2026 / early January 2027
Official site: iimcat.ac.in

The conducting IIM rotates each year and is confirmed only with the official notification — do not rely on assumptions about which IIM is hosting until iimcat.ac.in confirms it.

4. XAT 2027 — Dates & Official Link

XAT is the gateway to XLRI and roughly 150+ other MBA institutes, and it’s one of the few major exams with dates already confirmed well in advance for this cycle.

Notification & registration opened: 15th July 2026
Registration closes: 6th December 2026
Exam date: 3rd January 2027, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Result: Expected third week of January 2027
Official site: xatonline.in

5. NMAT 2026–27 — Dates & Official Link

NMAT stands apart from every other exam on this list in one important way — it’s the only one that lets you attempt the test more than once within a single testing window and use your best score. This makes it a genuinely different strategic exercise from a single-shot exam like CAT or XAT.

Registration: Expected to open August 2026
Registration closes: Expected mid-October 2026
Testing window: October 2026 – December 2026 (candidates schedule their own slot within this window, with up to three attempts)
Result: Typically released within 48 hours of each individual attempt
Official site: nmat.gmac.com

💡 NMAT’s Multiple-Attempt Format Changes How You Should Prepare

Because you can retake NMAT and keep your best score, treat your first attempt as useful data rather than a make-or-break event. A candidate who uses attempt one primarily to identify weak areas, then targets those specifically before attempt two or three, often ends up with a stronger final score than someone who treats every attempt with equal, undifferentiated intensity.

6. SNAP 2026 — Dates & Official Link

SNAP is the primary gateway to Symbiosis institutes, including SIBM Pune and SCMHRD, and it runs across three separate test dates — candidates can register for multiple attempts and are scored on their best performance.

Registration: Expected to open August 2026
Registration closes: Late November 2026
Test dates: Three dates in December 2026, roughly a week apart
Result: Expected second week of January 2027
Official site: snaptest.org

7. CMAT 2027 — Dates & Official Link

CMAT is conducted by the National Testing Agency and accepted by more than a thousand AICTE-approved B-schools, making it one of the widest-reaching MBA entrance exams on this list even though it’s often treated as a backup option.

Notification: Expected November 2026
Registration closes: Expected mid-January 2027
Exam date: January 2027
Result: Expected February–March 2027
Official site: exams.nta.ac.in/CMAT

8. MAH MBA CET 2027 — Dates & Official Link

MAH MBA CET is the entry point to Maharashtra’s state MBA institutes, including JBIMS and SIMSREE, and it carries a strong domicile-quota emphasis that makes it especially relevant for Maharashtra-based candidates.

Registration: Expected to open December 2026
Registration closes: Expected mid-to-late February 2027, often extended given high application volume
Exam dates: Multiple dates across April–May 2027
Result: Expected June 2027, feeding into the state’s Centralized Admission Process (CAP)
Official site: cetcell.mahacet.org

9. SRCC GBO 2027 — Dates & Official Link

SRCC’s Global Business Operations programme runs its own dedicated entrance test — a niche but well-regarded route for commerce graduates specifically, run under Delhi University.

Registration: Expected to open December 2026
Registration closes: Expected mid-January 2027
Exam date: February 2027
Official site: srcc.edu

SRCC typically follows its written test with a GD-PI round — check the official site directly for the current cycle’s specific process, as the exact test structure has seen small revisions in past years.

10. How These Exams Differ — A Quick Comparison

Beyond dates, the exams themselves test genuinely different skills and follow different formats — worth knowing before you decide how many to actually attempt.

Table 2 — Format Comparison Across MBA Entrance Exams

Exam	Duration	Format	Distinct Feature
CAT	120 minutes	Single attempt, fixed date	Three independently-timed sections
XAT	180 minutes	Single attempt, fixed date	Unique Decision Making section; skip-penalty scoring
NMAT	~120 minutes per attempt	Up to 3 attempts within a window; best score counts	Candidate-scheduled testing slot
SNAP	60 minutes per attempt	Up to 3 attempts across 3 fixed dates; best score counts	Shortest test duration of the major exams
CMAT	180 minutes	Single attempt, fixed date	Includes a dedicated Innovation & Entrepreneurship section
MAH MBA CET	150 minutes	Single attempt (occasionally two sittings offered)	Heavily speed-based, 200 questions
SRCC GBO	Varies by cycle	Single attempt, fixed date	Followed directly by GD-PI; commerce-graduate focus

NMAT and SNAP’s multi-attempt structure makes them meaningfully lower-pressure than a single-shot exam like CAT or XAT — worth factoring in if exam-day anxiety is something you’re actively managing in your prep.

11. Building Your Own Timeline Around the MBA Exam Dates 2026

Rather than tracking each exam in isolation, lay the MBA exam dates 2026 out against your own calendar the moment July’s notifications start arriving.

List every exam you’re considering, even backups, and note each one’s expected registration open and close date the day its notification drops — not weeks later.
Flag overlapping windows early. SNAP’s registration deadline (late November) and CAT’s final prep stretch (also November) collide every year — plan to complete SNAP’s registration well before your CAT prep intensifies, not during it.
Treat NMAT and SNAP’s multi-attempt structure as a scheduling advantage, not just a scoring one — you can deliberately space your attempts around your CAT and XAT prep calendar rather than around a single fixed date.
Set a personal deadline a few days before each exam’s actual registration close. Payment gateway issues, document uploads, and last-minute corrections all take longer than expected in the final 24 hours of any registration window.

💡 Bookmark the Official Sites, Not a Search Result

Every exam listed here has one authoritative source for dates: its own official website. Bookmark iimcat.ac.in, xatonline.in, nmat.gmac.com, snaptest.org, and the others directly rather than relying on a saved search result or a screenshot from months ago — registration windows and slot details get updated on these sites first, sometimes with very little advance notice elsewhere.