CMI entrance exam

Entrance exam for class XI and XII students who wish to pursue B.Sc. at Chennai Mathematical Institute in India.

Table of contents

1. CMI Results 2024
2. CMI UG 2024 Solutions
3. About the programme
4. Syllabus
   1. Schedule your preparation
5. Examination pattern update
6. Preparation strategies
   1. Books
   2. Supporting books for theory
   3. Additional books
   4. Online resources
7. Previous year questions
   1. Question papers & Solutions
8. Mock tests
9. CMI entrance exam cutoff
   1. 2021 cutoff marks
   2. 2020 cutoff marks
   3. Previous year cutoffs
10. Admission rate

CMI offers two programmes at the undergraduate level, BSc. Mathematics & Computer science and BSc. Mathematics & Physics. Entrance to both of these programmes are through CMI UG entrance exam.

CMI Results 2024

CMI UG 2023 Results are out! Check it out here official website.

CMI UG 2024 Solutions

Detailed solutions for CMI UG 2023 are now available. CMI UG 2024 Solutions (draft)

About the programme

Brochure 2022

Syllabus

UG Syllabus & guidlines

Schedule your preparation

CMI entrance exam this year is scheduled on

Here is the schedule for applications for the session starting in August, 2023 (academic year 2023–2024).

• Applications were open: 1 March–9 April, 2023
• Admit Cards were available online: Sunday, 30 April, 2023.
• Date of the Entrance Examination: Sunday, 7 May, 2023.
• Date of announcement of results: Approximately one month from the date of the entrance examination.

Interviews:

• PhD Maths : 26-28 June 2023 (in CMI).
• MSc Maths : It will be held online within 10-14 days after the results of the MSc/PhD Maths examination are announced.

• Dates of the other interviews will be announced later.

• Academic session starts: Monday, 7 August, 2023..

Examination pattern update

As in recent years, the exam is being conducted using the TCS iON platform. For security reasons, the question paper will be distributed in electronic form to all centres. Each candidate will be seated at a separate computer and will be able to read the questions on the screen.

In all the exams, Part A consists of objective questions that have to be answered directly on the computer.

An answer booklet will be provided to write your answers on paper for the remaining parts, as usual.

The format of each type of answer booklet is given below. Designated space is provided for each answer. There are blank sheets for rough work at the end. Please familiarize yourself with the format of the answer booklet for the exam you are going to write.

BSc exam answer booklet, 22 May

• This year the subjective part will have 6 question worth 80 points.
• The timing of the paper is increased by half an hour.

Read these instructions carefull (official instructions from CMI) CMI 2023 BSc Instructions

Preparation strategies

For both ISI & CMI, follow these books thoroughly and the books numbered from 1 to 6 should be completed before the exams. This course material covers understanding of theory, previous year problems, some recreational problems (asked especially in CMI exam) & a methods to write your proofs effectively. Try convering as many chapters as you can and prepare like your are going to become a mathematician!

Books

1. IMO compendium (theory only)
2. Art & craft of problem solving
3. ISI TOMATO book
4. CMI previous year question
5. Mathematical proofs - A transition to advanced mathematics
6. Mathematical circles (russian experience)
7. USAMO book series by titu andreescu (optional)

Supporting books for theory

• Challenge & thrill of pre-college mathematics
• Excursion in mathematics
• Stewart’s Calculus
• Principles & techniques in Combinatorics
• David burton number theory
• AOPS online

Additional books

• Putnam & beyond
• Problem solving strategies

You can buy these books from the CMI page on the resources page of this website.

Online resources

• AOPS Online

Previous year questions

You can find all previous year questions here (from the official website):

Question papers & Solutions

Alternatively, you can also buy paperback version CMI TOMATO by M Balasundar on amazon.

Mock tests

These mock tests are modeled along the lines of previous years’ questions and are great way to check your preparation.

• 2021
• 2022

credit: cmientranceexam.in

CMI entrance exam cutoff

The cutoff has been around 40% for the objective section and 40-50% overall. The objective section is used for screening.

CMI does not publish the cutoff marks but they have responded to individual requests in the past. The scores shown below were shared by former students who were privy to this data.

2021 cutoff marks

In 2021, CMI used an unconventional criteria for admission. The cut-off for Part A was 17/40 for everyone. More weightage was given to Part B marks. In the general category with scholarship, students were admitted if they had >=61 marks in total or if they had 39 or more marks in Part B. So, a student who got 17 marks in Part A and 39 marks in Part B was still admitted with scholarship. But a student with 22 marks in Part A and 38 marks in Part B was NOT admitted in that category.

There was no waiting list.

2020 cutoff marks

The cutoff marks for the year 2020 are given below. The marks are out of 94 instead of 100 since one question had a mistake.

Previous year cutoffs

The cutoff marks for the previous years are given below.

Admission rate

Acceptance offers are sent to around 90 candidates and about half of them enroll. This is the reason why the number varies from year to year. Approximate numbers are given below.

For more updates regarding the exam schedule and registration, check out the official CMI website.