Exam Analysis - TISS NET 2015

 

The National Entrance Test for admission to the Master of Arts programme of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS-NET), 2015 was conducted across India on 10 Jan, 2015. Besides the main programme, MA in Human Resource Management, which is widely regarded as one of the best in the country, TISS offers numerous programmes in the areas of social work, health, management, development, etc. through its centres at Mumbai, Tuljapur (Rural Maharashtra), Guwahati and Hyderabad.

Test pattern

The test had 3 sections: Math and Logical reasoning, English Proficiency and General Awareness. The number of questions and marks were as follows:

The overall time for answering the test was 100 min. There was no sectional time limit and the candidates could move freely across the sections within the time limit. Students who wrote CAT earlier in November, 2014 would have been struck by the similarity of the test interface (look, menu options, directions etc.).

The test clearly specified that there would be no negative marking. Moreover, with 100 min to answer 100 questions of low-medium level of difficulty, there was ample time to analyse each question carefully. Accuracy is going to be the key in this exam.

We expect the overall cutoff for the core HRM program to be in the range of 85-87 marks. TISS NET has traditionally not had any sectional cutoffs and even though there is no official word, the trend is likely to continue.

Math and Logical reasoning

The distribution of the questions in the Math and Logical reasoning area was as follows: 

The Math and Logical reasoning section was easy and even an average student could have solved at least 25 of the given 35 questions. From a different perspective, this could  have been  a dampener for students who are better in Math and Logical reasoning and hoped to get an edge over competition in the area.

A few questions were difficult to understand/wrong and may have lead to one not being able to attempt all 35 questions correctly:

1.      33 Cubic centimetres of silver is drawn into a wire of 2 mm diametre. What will be the length of the wire? - (The answer choices did not match the correct answer.)

2.      Pick the odd one out in the following series: 30, 45, 36, 77 (There can be various answers – 77 is divisible by 7 or 11; 36 is divisible by 6; etc.)

3.      Count of 4 digit numbers divisible by 15 using digits 2, 3, 9 and 5 when the repetition of digits is not allowed. (No 4 digit number formed using the given digits without repeting can be divisible by 15.)

4.      Two equal amounts are invested in two different banks – one under simple interest and the other at compound interest. Which would give better return at the end of 5 years? (Nothing is said about the rate of interest or the frequency of compounding. A rather simple logic.)

Ideal time allocation for the section would be around 40 min.

 English Proficiency

The questions in the English Proficiency area were from the following areas:

The questions in the English Proficiency section were of a moderate-high level of difficulty and maintaining high accuracy would have been difficult. In particular:

1.      The 5 questions on Paragraph formation were difficult.

2.      The Reading Comprehension based questions were inferential in nature and required a good understanding of the context in which the statements were presented.

3.      A few of the vocabulary based questions used difficult/infrequent words: Culpable vs Accountable; Timorous vs Vapid; Subversion vs Complaisance; Praxis vs Abstention etc.

Overall, a good student could have attempted all 30 questions and can expect to get around 25 of them right in about 30 min.

General Awareness

The questions related to General Awareness were from History (India and World),Science, Current Affairs,Social awareness etc. The questions covered areas such as –

Area	No. of questions	Nature of questions
Movies	1	First movie to win the filmfare best movie award
Arts	5	Meaning of 'Tamasha', who is Tejan Bai, origin of Madhubani painting style, the painter of 'the Courtesan', the name of the all girl band from Kashmir
History	8	Monument known as the replica of Taj Mahal, Contribution of T.B. Macaulay, river bank where the battle of plassey was fought, the location of bronze age civilization, military action causing the entry of US into World War II, the immediate cause of the second World War, the political party of B. A. Mussolini, the cause of the French Revolution
Books and authors	4	Author of the Argumentative Indian, Author of Toba Tek Singh, Author of Indica and name of the book written by Sachin Tendulkar
Civics	7	Which of the following is not a fundamental right, first transgender mayor in India, the application of the Gujarat Local Authorities (laws) Act, Sachar Committee, Vishakha guidelines, biggest cattle fair in India, reason for the resignation of B.R. Ambedkar from the Nehru government
Sports	5	Name of the Indian motor racing circuit, the year and winner of the first cricket world cup, sport related to Anju Bobby George, sport related to “Fosbury Flop”, winner of the most number of Men's singles Grand slam tennis titles

 

If we compare the questions in the GA section with the pattern from earlier years, the questions this year were more generic in nature – a trend started by TISS last year. Earlier the questions used to be predominantly from the field of Social Sciences only while they cover concepts from a wider range of topics now. Also, this year the questions were not as intricate as last year's were.

Ideal time distribution for the section would be around 30 min.