IBSAT–2010 Analysis

Exam Snapshot

IBSAT2010 was quite similar to IBSAT2009 in that the number of sections, number of questions and the number of choices were the same. Overall the paper was of moderate level difficulty. However, after writing CAT,IIFT, JMET and SNAP, ISBAT would not have posed too much of a challenge and those with a higher speed would have found the exam to their liking.

Since there was NO negative marking it would make a lot of sense to have attempted all questions.

Sectional Snapshot

Section 1: Verbal Ability

No. of Qs: 50 (50 marks)

The Verbal Ability section of IBSAT maintained its usual pattern. The questions were a good mix of Grammar and Vocabulary based questions. Questions on Idioms/Phrases and One word substitution were tricky and would have required a good amount of thought.The questions based on Cloze passage,fill in the blanks and para jumbled should have been attempted.Analogy based questions and Synonyms were of moderate difficulty level.

However, as there was NO negative marking, one should have attempted all questions by making intelligent guesses where ever needed.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 30-35 minutes. A score of 36+ should be considered excellent.

Section 2 : Reading Comprehension

No. of Qs : 25 (25 Marks)

The Reading Comprehension section of IBSAT-2010 had three passages,the size of these passages varied from 600 words to 1000 words. The passage on “President Pratibha Patil's Intervew” was a tricky one and wold have required a careful reading,where as the passages on Climate change and ‘’life of Mariam Makeba” should have been attempted without fail.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 20-25 minutes. A score of 20+ should be considered excellent.

Section 3 : Quantitative Ability

No. of Qs : 25

The Quantitative Ability section of IBSAT 2010 was definitely a time consuming affair, in the sense that, the questions were lengthy and at the same time, most of them were calculation intensive. Like last year this year too, most of the questions were from areas like Equations, Numbers, Permuations & Combinations, Probability, Functions, Logarithms, Time & Work, Time & Distance, Geometry and Mensuration. A student needed to put lot of effort in identifying the easy questions as they were mixed well with the difficult ones.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 30-35 minutes. A score of 12+ should be considered excellent. The following table gives the break up of the difficulty level of the questions from different areas.

Section 4 : Data Adequacy & Data Interpretation

No. of Qs : 25 (25 Marks)

This section had the same mix as last year with 15 Questions on Data Sufficiency and 10 Questions on Data Interpretation. Most of the Data Sufficiency questions were straightforward and did not involve much calculations. The question on matches was much easier, when compared to the other set which was calculation intensive and should have been attempted. Overall students with a knack for speed would not have faced problems in selelcting the right questions and answering them.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 25-30 minutes. A score of 16+ should be considered excellent.

Overall Cut-Off

The overall cut-off is expected to be in the range of around 70-75.