Exam facts verified 23 August 2026 against g.a.s.t. (d-mat.de) and APS India (aps-india.de). Answer formats checked against the official dMAT demo exam. The dMAT is a first-year exam and its rules move — confirm anything date-sensitive at the official source before you act on it.
Verified 23 August 2026 against g.a.s.t. and APS India.
The dMAT is computer-based at an authorised centre. It runs about three and a half hours in total: a 70-minute Core Module, a 30-minute break, then a 90-minute Subject Module.
Most of what is written online about the dMAT concerns eligibility and dates. Comparatively little describes the sitting itself, which is what you actually have to survive on 26 September 2026.
Take a free full-length dMAT mock test. Mock 1 is the complete 56-question Core Module paper — 20 Figure Sequences, 20 Mathematical Equations, 16 Latin Squares — with enforced per-subtest timers and a worked solution on every item. Free account, no card. Start Mock 1 free · See all five mocks.
| Subtest | Questions | Time | Per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure Sequences | 20 | 25 min | 75 s |
| Mathematical Equations | 20 | 25 min | 75 s |
| Latin Squares | 16 | 20 min | 75 s |
| Core Module total | 56 | 70 min | — |
After the Core Module there is a 30-minute break, then the General Academic Module for 90 minutes. Every Indian APS candidate sits the same General Academic Module regardless of degree field — there is no engineering paper and no commerce paper on this route.
This is the structural fact that catches people out. Each subtest has its own clock, and when that clock expires the subtest closes. Twenty-five minutes for 20 Figure Sequences works out at 75 seconds an item, and finishing in twenty does not give you five extra minutes for Latin Squares.
Two consequences worth internalising before you sit down. There is no point rationing effort across the whole paper — each section is its own self-contained race. And an item you cannot crack is costing you marks within its own section only, so the discipline is to abandon it, bank a guess and move to the next item in that same subtest.
You may not take notes at any point in the dMAT. No rough paper, no calculator, nothing to write with. This is not a formality enforced loosely; it is the central constraint of the exam, and it is why practising on printed PDFs is actively counterproductive — a PDF cannot stop you writing, so it trains the habit the exam forbids.
In practice this shapes each subtest differently. Mathematical Equations requires you to hold intermediate values in your head while you substitute: solve the most constrained equation first, carry that number, and do not try to track four variables at once. Latin Squares wants elimination against a single row and column rather than mentally completing the whole grid. Figure Sequences wants you to isolate one figure at a time and follow only its rule.
This is worth stating precisely, because several widely-read pages get it wrong. The three Core subtests do not share an answer format.
| Subtest | How you answer |
|---|---|
| Figure Sequences | Single-choice. Each option is a complete pair — matrix 5 and matrix 6 together |
| Mathematical Equations | Not multiple choice. You type a value for every letter on an on-screen keypad |
| Latin Squares | A fixed answer column, A to E, in order — five choices, not four shuffled ones |
We verified these against the official g.a.s.t. demo exam on 23 August 2026. If you have been preparing on material that presents all three as four-option multiple choice, you have been practising a strategy — testing options against one equation instead of solving the system — that the real Mathematical Equations subtest does not permit.
Practise the real thing, free. Mock 1 is a full 56-question dMAT Core Module test with enforced timers and a worked solution for every question. Free account, no card. Attempt the free mock test.
There is no negative marking on any subtest. The official guidance is explicit: if you do not know, guess. A blank and a wrong answer score the same, so a blank is a strictly worse choice than a guess in every situation.
Before the clock on each subtest runs out, make sure every item has something in it.
Thirty minutes between the Core Module and the General Academic Module. Stand up, look away from the screen, and eat something if you brought it. The General Academic Module is 90 minutes of reading unfamiliar academic material closely, which is the hardest thing on the paper to do tired, and it comes last.
Two things, honestly. The scoring model is not published, so nobody can tell you what raw score maps to what band on the 0–200 scale — anyone quoting you a conversion is guessing. And centre-level procedure, ID checks and what you may leave in the room vary; the official portal is the only reliable source for that, and it is worth re-reading close to the date.
About three and a half hours: a 70-minute Core Module, a 30-minute break, then a 90-minute Subject Module. For Indian APS candidates the Subject Module is the General Academic Module.
No. Figure Sequences is single-choice with each option a complete pair of matrices; Latin Squares uses a fixed A to E answer column; Mathematical Equations is not multiple choice at all — you type a value for every letter. Verified against the official demo exam on 23 August 2026.
No. Notes are not permitted at any point and no calculator is provided. This is the central constraint of the exam and the reason practising on printed PDFs is counterproductive.
No. Each subtest is timed separately and closes when its own clock expires. Finishing Figure Sequences early does not give you longer on Latin Squares.
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