Master of Computer Applications (MCA) is one of the most challenging,booming and fully career oriented course being run by most of the universities inside India. It is a three year full time Post Graduate programme opted by most of the eligible bachelor degree holders in the areas of Computer Science,Mathematics etc. This course is totally targeted towards providing the eligible youths of the country to make their particular positions confirmed in the widespread sky of Computer Science and Information Technology. Emphasis of this course is totally laid on building the perfect and rewarding career in the of the students in the field of Education including Lectureship, Software Engineering, Database Administration, Banking and Insurance, Designing up of Information systems for various organizations, Management Information Systems, System Analysis and Design,Quality Management,E-Business,ERP,Web Enabled Services,Animations, etc. This programme rotates around providing the students a sound knowledge in the basic concepts of computer technology including higher levels of computer applications with specialization and finally the industrial project so that the students can utilize all the essential gained knowledge to develop a well prepared and real time software applications in the form of a software project.

Most of the universities and colleges in India provide admission to the students on the basis of the marks secured by them in the MCA entrance test, apart from the marks secured by them in their degree course. Most of these universities conduct their own entrance test or some even select the students on the basis of the marks secured by them in the common entrance test (AIMCET) conducted by the IIT, Roorkee.

Most of the MCA entrance test questions are objective type questions and some even include fill in the blanks, true or false, etc... Normally, MCA entrance exams comprise questions from statistics, basics of computers, and mathematics. Some universities even test the reasoning ability, general knowledge, quantitative and verbal ability of the students. Under the subject mathematics, most of the universities cover the topics like algebra, trigonometry, geometry, differential equations, mechanics, linear programming, numeric analysis, probability and statistics. Under the category of reasoning ability test, some of the areas covered are dissimilar test, alphabet test, analogy test, statement and its conclusion, question based on passage (i.e.) comprehension and syllogism are covered.

A) MATHEMATICS:

Algebra

Fundamental operations in Algebra, Expansion, Factorization, Simultaneous linear / quadratic equations, indices, Logarithms, Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic progressions, Binomial theorem, Permutations and Combinations, Surds, Determinants, Matrices and application to solution of simultaneous linear equations.

Co-ordinate Geometry

Rectangular Cartesian co-ordinates, Equations of a line, Mid point ,Intersections etc., Equations of a circle, Distance formulae, Pair of straight lines, Parabola, Ellipse and Hyperbola, Simple geometric transformations such as translation, rotation, scaling.

Calculus

Limit of functions, Continuous functions, Differentiation of functions(s),Tangents and normal, Simple examples of Maxima and Minima, Integration of function by parts by substitution and by partial fraction, Definite integral application to volumes and surfaces of frustums of a sphere, cone, cylinder, Taylor Series.

Differential Equations

Differential equations of first order and their solutions, Linear differential equations with constant coefficients, Homogenous linear differential equations.

Vector

Position vector, Additions and Subtraction of vectors,Scalar and vector products and their applications to simple geometrical problems and mechanics.

Trigonometry

Simple identities, Trigonometric equations, Properties of triangles, Solution of triangles, Height and Distance, Inverse function.

Probability and Statics

Basic concepts of probability theory, Averages, Dependent and independent events, Frequency distributions, and measures of dispersions, Skewness and Kurtosis, Random variable and distribution functions, Mathematical expectations, Binomial, Poisson, Normal distributions, Curve fitting and Principle of least squares, Correlation and regression.

Linear Programming

Formulation of simple linear programming problems, Basic concepts of graphical and simplex methods.

COMPUTER AWARENESS:

Computer Fundamentals

Organization of a computer, Central Processing Unit (CPU), Structure of instructions in CPU, Input / output devices, Computer memory, Memory organization, Back-up devices.

Data Representation

Representation of Characters, Integers and Fractions, Binary and Hexadecimal representations, Binary Arithmetic: Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplication, Single arithmetic and two complement arithmetic, Floating point representation of numbers, Normalized floating point representation, Boolean Algebra, Truth tables, Venn diagrams.

Computer Architecture

Block structure of computers, Communication between processor and I / O devices, Interrupts.

Computer Language

Assembly language and High level language, Multiprogramming and Time sharing operating systems, Computer Programming in C.

Flow chart and Algorithms etc

Pattern and Schedule

The written test is on the pattern of Objective Type questions. Most often,few of the colleges and universities in India shortlist the candidates for admission through only the written test.However,in most of the cases,the universities such as Delhi University,Pune University,Ranchi University,BIT etc shortlists the aspirants on the basis of their individual performances in the final interview conducted after written tests.
The tests are generally of 2-3 hours in duration. Marking scheme i.e. the negative marking and its amount is subjective to the individual test pattern.

Common Entrance Tests conducted for MCA admission

There are several combined entrance tests for admission to the certain institutions in MCA course. The combined MCA entrance tests held in India may be listed as follows:--

MCA Combined Entrance Tests and Related Admissions to Institutions

NIMCET -- All the 9 NITs (National Institute of Technology)

CET Maharashtra -- All colleges in Maharashtra

MP-Pre MCA Test -- All colleges in MP

UPMCAT -- Most colleges in UP

Andhra Pradesh CET -- All colleges in AP

Kerala MCA Test -- All colleges in Kerala

Orissa State MCA Test -- All colleges in Orissa

However, some renowned names such as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Pune University, Roorkee University, Punjab University etc. conduct entrance tests of their own for admission to this course.

Schedule for MCA entrance examinations

MCA entrance examinations of various universities are held almost in the time between January
to June. The information regarding the availability of the application form etc. is available from the newspaper advertisements released by the universities or through the respective web sites.

To cap it all, it can be made clear that after keeping in view the above listed points and details, any of the targeted aspirants preparing for this entrance test will definitely be encouraged and motivated for cracking the entrance examinations conducted by various universities and will be successful in building up a rewarding,challenging and royal career in the filed of Computer Science and Applications.

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