IIFT 2022 was conducted today, 18th December, by NTA in the online mode across the country. The test was conducted from 10 AM to 12 noon in the CBT (computer-based test) format. The duration of the exam was two hours with no sectional time limit. The pattern was similar to that of the last year while the difficulty level was ever so slightly lower.

SNAPSHOT OF THE EXAM

Area	No of Questions	Marks per question	Total	Negative marks per question
Quantitative Aptitude	25	3	75	1
Reading Comprehension & Verbal Ability	16 – RC 19 - VA	3	105	1
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	16 – DI 14 - LR	3	90	1
General Awareness	20	1.5	30	0.5
Total	110	--	300	--

A detailed analysis of the sections of the paper is given below:

Quantitative Aptitude

The section was almost at par with last year's paper on difficulty level. However, the questions this year were not as lengthy as they were last year. The section had a total of 25 questions from across topics. Majority of the questions were from Arithmetic and Pure Maths. As there were no straightforward integer answers for a good number of questions, one needed to spend more time on calculations. However, no question was uncrackable. The distribution of the questions is as given below:

Area	No. of Questions
Algebra	3
Pure Maths	6
Arithmetic	11
Geometry & Mensuration	4
Numbers	1
Total	25

The topic-wise split is as below

Topic	No. of questions	Dificulty Level
T&D	3	Moderate
T&W	1	Moderate
PPL	2	Moderate
AMA	1	Easy
SICI	2	Moderate
Quadratic Equations	2	Moderate - Difficult
Sequences	1	Difficult
Geometry & Mensuration	4	Moderate
Probability	2	Moderate
Coordinate Geometry	1	Moderate
P&C	1	Moderate
Trigonometry	2	Moderate-Difficult
Numbers	1	Moderate
Venn Diagrams	1	Moderate
Calendars	1	Easy

Reading Comprehension & Verbal Ability

This section was the same in structure, overall, as that of the last two years. Students who have prepared with us and took our mock IIFT exams would have found the paper on expected lines with no surprises. This section consisted of 16 questions on RCs and 19 on Verbal Ability, with a total of 35 questions.

There were four RC passages with four questions each, a slight variation from the last year where there were two passages with five questions each, and two passages with three questions each. However, the questions had no surprises. There were Inference based questions along with Specific Detail based questions.

The description of the RC passages is as below:

Passage No.	Passage Context	Approximate Word Count
Passage 1	Feeling/Self esteem	700
Passage 2	Currency manipulation	600
Passage 3	International economy	600
Passage 4	Movement of industry across countries	600

The passage on Feeling/Self esteem was clearly the lengthiest and the toughest. The passage was dense to read and the length only added to the toughness, eating away valuable time of the students. This passage should have been better left out initially, to be answered at the end if there is time left. Those who skipped this passage in the first pass of attempts would have been able to answer more Qs in the section and the paper too. The length should have been a big indicator for students to let this passage go initially.

The other passages were relatively shorter with around 600 words each and relatively much easier to comprehend. A good number of questions associated with these passages were straightforward and those with a good comprehension would not have needed another reading of the passage to answer them.

The questions in the Verbal Ability segment were predominantly on Vocabulary along with Idioms.

Here is a snapshot of the Verbal Ability part:

Question Type	No. of Questions
Idioms	3
Antonyms	2
Meanings of root words	2
Spelling	1
Match words with meanings	2
Cloze passage	1
One word substitution (Meaning)	4
Foreign terms	1
Crossword	1
Collective nouns	2

VA questions this year saw newer question types. Collective nouns, crossword were new question types while cloze passage made a re-entry after a few years. Students with a decent reading habit would have found these questions not so difficult. T.I.M.E. students would have an easy ride with these questions given the exposure provided on such questions in the material and classes.

Sentence correction questions were missing this year along with Para-formation questions that were absent last year too.

Overall, the VA part of the paper was a relief to the students, at an easy-moderate level.

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

This section had a total of 30 questions with 16 questions on DI and 14 on LR, the exact distribution that was there last year too. The distribution of the questions is as below:

Data Interpretation

Type of Set	Difficulty Level	No of Questions
Bar Graph (Indian states budget)	Moderate-Difficult	4
Pie charts (Olympics)	Easy-Moderate	4
Pie Chart + Line graph (Steel prices)	Moderate-Difficult	4
Covid 19 Hospitals	Moderate-Difficult	4

Similar to last year this year too a couple of DI sets needed both reasoning and calculation abilities. This pushed the difficulty level of these sets up.

The set on Pie charts (Olympics) was the must-attempt in this section as all the questions in it were straight forward, needing no additional reasoning from the students to crack them.The remaining sets were comparatively more time consuming due to the tougher reasoning along with complex calculations needed .

Logical Reasoning

The LR part of this section had five set-based questions and one standalone question. Three of the five sets were not so easy to solve. The data was not straightforward to comprehend, pushing the difficulty level of these sets up. The stand alone question on selections should have been surely attempted. The two sets, on WHO (Covid 19) and Harvard college, could have been attempted comfortably by students who have prepared well for the exam.

The overall difficulty level of this section can be classified as moderate-difficult.

Type of Set	Difficulty Level	No of Questions
Coins Game Puzzle	Moderate-Difficult	4
WHO Puzzle	Moderate	3
Harvard college puzzle	Moderate	2
Routes and Networks	Moderate-Difficult	2
Quiz competition puzzle	Moderate-Difficult	2
Selections	Easy	1

General Awareness

This year the GK section was of moderate level. There were two match-the-following type of questions along with the regular MCQ type questions..

The breakup of questions, topic-wise is as below.

History – 1
Brands and Logos – 2
Technology and Defence – 4 International Bodies & Events – 3
Literature – 1
Currency – 1
Awards – 2
Sports – 2
Economy-1
Miscellaneous - 3
All the questions but for one were from current affairs.

Overall

The difficulty level of the paper is expected to be slightly lower than that of last year, with not so lengthy questions in QA and slightly easier VA. The cut-offs are, hence, expected to be as below.

QA	VARC	DILR	GA
8-10	13-15	13-15	5-6

Note: These cut-offs are for General category students.

All the best!

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by T.I.M.E. based on student inputs about the exam. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.