DFS 2010 Analysis

 Exam Snapshot

DFS 2010 was a very lengthy paper, consisting of 200 questions to be answered in 120 minutes. There were no sections in the paper, but fortunately, the questions in multiple areas were not jumbled. General Awareness was very difficult, with questions on Finance, Commerce, Securities markets and Corporate Affairs. Students with a good knowledge of economic affairs would have benefited from this paper. There were many questions in Probability, P & C, Limits and Integration in the Quant area which would have demoralized many students.

As with most lengthy papers, the key to scoring well in DFS 2010 was to scan the whole paper initially and not wasting time on any question. Questions on LR, DS and DI were easy and students who attempted more questions in these areas would have scored well.

Snapshot of the paper

The break-up of the DFS paper and an optimum time allocation strategy are given in the table below.

Verbal Ability

The Verbal section of DFS had 50 Qs which focused mainly on vocabulary and usage (idiomatic expression, figures of speech). There was a lone RC, on “Feminist Literary Criticism” with 7 questions. The RC was tough and was better avoided. There were lots of questions on vocabulary, including Synonyms, Antonyms, Identifying similar pair of words, single word substitute for a phrase, meaning of idiom. There were five questions on “correct arrangement” which were not difficult conceptually, but would have taken a lot of time. There were 11 questions on grammar, including “Choose the inappropriate word” and “Correct the underlined phrase”. Overall, the questions on grammar were slightly easier than the questions on vocabulary.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 25-30 minutes and attempts in the range of 26-30 with an accuracy of around 70% should be considered to be very good.

Quantitative Ability

This section would have shocked many students, with the emphasis on probability. There were almost 16 Qs on probability, most of them based on a roll of dice. However, these Qs and the 5 Qs on P&C were not too difficult conceptually and a student well versed in these areas would have attempted many of them. There were a few questions on limits and integration, which were better avoided. There were almost 12 Qs on “what is the best we can say about” and “what can we deduce about”, based on modulus and inequalities. These questions would have initially confused many students, but once the Qs were understood, they were not difficult to solve. The 10 Qs on Arithmetic and 4 Qs on geometry were much simpler and should have been attempted.

The key to scoring well in this section was not to panic or spend too much time on a Q. The ideal way would have been to look at a Q, decide whether it can be solved or not and if not, quickly move on to the next Q.

A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 30-35 minutes and attempts in the range of 13-18 with an accuracy of around 60% should be considered to be very good.

Logical Reasoning, Data Sufficiency and Data Interpretation

This was the simplest area and would be the key to achieving a high score. The DI sets on “Delhi University” and “Petroleum Products” were absolute sitters and the sets “Sales of companies A,B,C” and “Nuclear Weapons” were of medium difficulty level. There were a few easy Qs in DS and should contributed to a good number of attempts. The LR questions on “Seven airline flights”, “Three on-off switches” and “Five educational films” were again sitters and should have definitely been attempted. A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 25-30 minutes and attempts in the range of 21-25 with an accuracy of around 75% should be considered to be very good.

General Awareness

The questions on GA would have confounded even the most well-read of students. Qs like “Nobel prize winner”, “Problems in calculating National Income”, and “Clause in Corporate Governance” would have led students to wonder if this was an entrance paper or a Question paper for MBA grads. The number of attempts in this section is expected to be on the lower side and students should not have wasted much time on this section. A good time allocation strategy for this section would be around 20-25 minutes and attempts in the range of 12-16 with an accuracy of around 50% should be considered to be very good.

Estimated Cut-Offs

DFS has not clearly specified whether or not there would be sectional cut-offs. In case there are sectional cut-offs they would be in the following range:

*We have estimated these cut-offs at the 50 percentile mark

Expected Overall Cut-off