The National Entrance Test for admission to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS-NET), 2014 was conducted at 82 centres across India on 22 Dec' 13. TISS through its centres at Mumbai, Tuljapur (Rural Maharashtra), Guwahati and Hyderabad offers numerous Programmes in the areas of social work, health, management, development, etc. The main programme (MA in Human Resource Management) is widely regardrd as one of the best in the country.
The test had 3 sections: Math and Logical reasoning, Language Proficiency and General Awareness. The number of questions and marks were as follows:
Section
No of Qs
Total Marks
Math and Logical reasoning
35
35
Language Proficiency
30
35*
General Awareness
30
30
Total
95
100
*A set on reading comprehension had 5 questions of 2 marks each.
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.
The instructions did not mention if there will or will not be negative marking (last year there was no negative marking). At 100 min to answer 95 questions, there was ample time to analyse each question carefully. Accuracy is going to be the key in this exam.
The distribution of the questions in the Math and Logical reasoning area was as follows:
Area
No of Qs
Venn Diagrams
4
Numerical/word series
7
Permutation and Combination
6
Time and Work
3
Time and Distance
3
Geometry and Mensuration
4
Ratios and Proportions
4
Percentages
3
Deduction
1
Total
35
The Math and Logical reasoning section was easy and even an average student could have solved at least 25 of the given 35 questions. For a serious aspirant, answeing all 35 should be feasible. From a different perspective, this could be a dampener for students who are better in Math and Logical reasoning and hope to get an edge over competition in the area. Ideal time allocation for the section would be around 40 min.
The questions in the Language proficiency area were from the following areas
Area
No of Qs
Similar pair of words
5
Fill in the blank (one blank or two blanks)
10
Reading comprehension
5
Paragraph Formation
5
Inapropriate usage of words
5
Total
30
The questions in the RC area were of 2 marks each. The difficulty level of the questions was not high and a good student could attempt around 25-28 questions out of the 30. The inapropriate usage of words were different from the usual in the sense that they required one to know the meaning of a word in a sentence and then pick the word from from the answer choices that can not replace the given word. Ideal time allocation for the section would be around 30 min.
The questions related to General Awareness were from history (India and World),science, current affairs, social awareness etc. The questions covered areas such as –
Science: who is Douglas Engalbart, use of theodolite, speciality of Dead sea, name of the vaccine for Japanese Encephatitis, what is an archipelago, etc.
History: examples of Brahmin dynasty, India's ancient names, old name of Lucknow, lineage of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Chola king who made Madurai, name for the Russian revolution, Sultans of Delhi, author of America's declaration of Independence, English word for Nazism, the year in which Baba Saheb Ambedkar became a Buddhist, the meaning of freedom of speech in America's constitution, the head of the church of England, French Monarch Dynasty, author of Walden two etc.
Current affairs – NOTA, Women harassment bill, CHOGM, G-4, NTCC, NGRBA chief, Hamsa Damayanti etc.
Ideal time distribution for the section would be around 30 min.
Given the low-moderate difficulty level of the questions from the English Language and Mathematical Ability areas, the differentiator for a call would definitely be the questions from General Awareness. We expect the overall cutoff for the core HRM program to be in the range of 70-75 marks. TISS NET has traditionally not had any sectional cutoffs and even though there is no official word, the trend is likely to continue.
