IIFT-2015 saw a slight change in the pattern of the exam. In comparison to the 118 questions that featured in the 2014 exam, the exam this year had 124 questions. The significant change in the pattern was the clubbing of Data Interpretation with Analytical Reasoning. Last year, this section was clubbed with Quantitative Ability. The key challenge in the exam, as always, was manage the overall attempt and also the sectional cut-offs required for the different sections. The break-up of the exam was as follows:
The overall cut-off for IIFT
is expected to lie between 45 to 48 marks.
IIFT-2015 Exam Pattern
Another approach to understand
the IIFT test is to take a look at the previous year papers, and the areas from
which questions were asked. While it is not at all necessary that IIFT
examiners will repeat the pattern, however, it will give you an idea of their
preferred topics.
Section I: Quantitative Ability (QA)
The IIFT QA sections was along
expected lines. The section featured easy Arithmetic questions and algebra
questions which could be solved using the options. Ideally, you should have
been able to solve 12 to 15 questions in the section easily. The following
table provides an area-wise breakdown for the section.
Section II: Analytical and Logical Reasoning (Part-1)
In this section, there were
some extremely easy questions and you should have solved them for sure. Along
with these, there were a couple of ambiguous questions which might have led you
to waste time in the examination. Ideally, you should have scored 10 to 12
marks in this section.
Section II: Data Interpretation (Part-2)
This is a section that posed the maximum difficulty to candidates. The
questions in this section were difficult and accompanied with some
typographical errors. This made it a tough nut to crack and even an attempt to
5 to 6 questions is a good one in this area.
Overall, you could have scored around 15 marks in this section with the
major contribution from the logical reasoning portion.
Section III: Reading Comprehension (Part – 1) and Verbal Ability
(Part-2)
As always, this section saw extremely long RCs that posed a significant time
challenge. The good thing about the RCs was the fact that most of them featured
very easy factual questions and some students, in fact, chose to solve RCs in
place of DI sets.
The Verbal Ability section has mixture of questions and from this, you
could have easily solved 15 to 16 questions. Overall, in English, you could
have achieved a score of 15 marks and given your chances of selection a major
boost.
Section IV: General Awareness
In comparison to last year, the
GK section this year was difficult and featured questions from a wide variety
of Current and Static GK topics. Since the difficulty level of the questions
was fairly high, the cut-off is expected to be low for this year. The match the
following questions in the section was the once again the blessing in disguise.
This completes the analysis for IIFT 2015 and hopefully, you performed
to the best of your abilities. Best of luck for your results..:)