Click here for IIFT 2015 key

Click here for IIFT 2015 Solutions

EXAM ANALYSIS - IIFT 2015

EXAM SNAPSHOT

Exam Duration: 2 hours with no sectional time limit; sectional cut-offs apply

Negative Marking: One third of the allotted mark.

The overall number of questions increased to 124 this year, compared to 118 last year. The Quantitative Ability (QA) section has been made a stand-alone section this year, with Logical Reasoning (LR) and Data Interpretation (DI) together comprising another section, this is in contrast to the last year's paper when LR was a stand-alone section, with QA and DI together forming a section. A detailed analysis of the sections of the paper is given below -

QUANTITATIVE ABILITY (22 Q - 1 mark each)

Quantitative Ability section had a decent mix of questions from various topics. There were only around 2-3 questions which could be classified as difficult (the inlet and outlet pipes question, ladder against the wall question because of the calculations involved). While the questions were not too difficult to solve, around half the questions were on the lengthier side. The possibility of the candidate losing out on some time in trying to comprehend the questions was high. If the candidate did not spend too much time in trying to solve the lengthier questions, he/she could have attempted the remaining questions in around thirty minutes. A good candidate would have been able to attempt around 12-14 questions in QA.

LOGICAL REASONING (20 Q – 0.75 mark each) AND DATA INTERPRETATION (18 Q – 1 mark each)

The Logical Reasoning part was among the easier sections in the paper and had a mix of questions based on Distribution, Networks and Selections. While a few questions were ambiguous (a couple of questions in the Countries selections set), the rest of the questions were pretty straight forward. A good candidate would have been able to solve 11-13 questions.

The Data Interpretation part had four sets, one of which was very calculation intensive. Among the remaining sets, two sets required the candidates to read the data from the charts and calculate the answer while the other set involved a little bit of reasoning (Average Sales set). The candidate would have been able to save precious time, if he did not spend too much time trying to solve the set involving heavy calculations (Air Conditioner set). The questions in this part were not framed very well, and left scope for multiple interpretations. 6-7 questions can be considered a decent attempt in this part.

Overall, a good candidate would have been able to solve around 17-18 questions in this section.

READING COMPREHENSION (4 Passages: 16 Q - 1 mark each) AND VERBAL ABILITY (20 Q - 0.75 mark each)

The Reading Comprehension part contained passages which were easy reads. While the passages might have taken a bit of time to go through, this would have been time well-spent as the questions did not require a lot of mulling over. A few questions could be solved by just spotting the relevant content in the passage. A good candidate would have been able to attempt 10-12 of these questions without much of a problem.

The emphasis in the Verbal Ability part was on vocabulary questions, as has been the trend. There were a few questions on Oxymorons as well this year. The other questions were Grammar-based, PFQs and Idiom questions. A good candidate would have been able to attempt 13-15 of these questions in under 10 minutes.

Overall, around 24 questions in the section could be considered a decent number of attempts.

GENERAL AWARENESS (28 Q - 0.5 mark each)

The section had a good mix of current affairs and static GK questions. There were around 13 questions relating to trade – a stock topic for IIFT GK preparation. The Match the following questions were easier to attempt, given that one could arrive at the answer by knowing 1-2 of those 4 pairs. Around 8-10 can be considered decent attempts in this section.

Our verdict - Overall, a good strategy would have been to see off the DI section without letting it waste a lot of the 120 min. Spending around half an hour for QA, 25 min for DI, around 22-23 min each for LR, RC and around 10 min each for VA and GA would have been ideal. The overall cut-off was in the late 30s last year, it is likely to be in the mid 40s this year.

Note - The second-stage shortlist for IIFT is common for both the campuses. Also, IIFT usually declares the written exam results in under a month of the written test. In the meantime, students are advised to focus on preparing for CAT and the other tests. T.I.M.E. wishes you the best for the remainder of the exam season!