Rashmi Sonthalia, product manager (MBA-India), IMS Learning Resources
Today’s Symbiosis National Aptitude (SNAP) Test 2012 had a very simple quant section, a moderately easy but lengthy analytical and logical reasoning section and relatively tougher verbal and general knowledge Sections. A total of 150 questions were asked in the exam.
English
The verbal ability section was moderate to tough in difficulty level. In a durationof 30 minutes, 25-30 attempts could have been made with 80% accuracy. Since question papers were retained by tne examiners after the test, we only have a rough memory-based recollection of the question types.
There were quite a few grammar questions (about 16). Many of them required conceptual and technical knowledge of topics such as types of sentences, functions of pronouns, punctuation and active-passive voice. There were 4-5 questions where a sentence was given and one had to spot the error in the sentence. There were 4-5 grammar-related fill in the blank questions testing the students’ knowledge of articles and prepositions. There weren’t any questions where one had to pick the grammatically correct option. There was only one comprehension passage (of about 100 words) which was an easy passage with direct questions (one was vocabulary based).
There were 8-10 vocabulary questions – 1 question asked for the most suitable word, 3 questions italicised a word in the sentence and asked its meaning and 2 questions required finding out those two words out of four which shared an antonymous/synonymous relationship. There was also a question about the correct allocation of a word. There was also one critical reasoning question where test takers were asked to weaken an argument.
Alongwith that, test takers had to contend with two jumbled paragraphs (divided into 6 sentences) that had to be rearranged. There was one ‘jumbled sentence’ question where the sentence was divided into 8 parts and had to be arranged properly.
General awareness
Out of the 40 GK questions, few were based on current affairs. Most students found GK to be tough as the questions covered a wide variety of topics. In 10-15 minutes, one could have attempted 20-25 questions. The accuracy in this section would be low (50-60%) for most people.
Quant
This was by far the easiest section of the paper and candidates could maximise their scores here. 30-35 minutes should have been spent on this section. Quite a few students left the quant section to solve for the end and did not have enough time to attempt adequate number of questions. The section was dominated by arithmetic-based questions and saw topics such as percentages, ratios, averages and time-speed-distance. Very few questions were based on geometry, modern math, numbers and algebra. One of the questions in geometry based on triangles and circles was on the tougher side.
In modern math, there were a couple of questions on probability and logarithms. Most questions in mathematics could have been solved in less than a minute. There were no questions based on data sufficiency. One caselet in data interpretation based on expenditure, base salary + PF allowances had an error according to the students and left a lot of students confused. In the suggested time, one could have easily attempted 30 -35 questions with 90% accuracy. Some students are reported to have solved the entire section in this time.
Analytical and logical reasoning
The overall difficulty level of this section varied from easy to moderate, the toughest set being the set on circular arrangements. Questions based on cubes, arrangement of houses in rows, family tree, Venn Diagrams, odd man out were among the easier questions. One set of three questions based on rearrangement of numbers in a particular sequence was time consuming. There were 3 questions based on verbal reasoning (fact–inference judgment and analogy). Candidates should have given this section 40-45 minutes. Around 23-25 questions with 85-90% accuracy could have been attempted in this section.
Overall the cut-offs are estimated to go slightly higher compared to last year. The cut-off for SIBM Pune may be around 100-105 whereas for SCMHRD Pune it might be in the 95-100 range.
Rashmi Sonthalia is a product manager (MBA-India) at IMS, a management entrance training institute. She is an Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad alumnus with varied experience in the education industry.
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Following additional inputs on today’s SNAP 2012 by Shashank Venkat.
Keep in mind the percentile factor: Lalit Kathpalia of Symbiosis Test Secretariat
While all the students and coaching classes are speculating that cut-offs might go higher this year, Lalit Kathpalia, head, Symbiosis Test Secretariat said that aspirants should keep in mind that results will be declared in the percentile format. Mr Kathpalia said, “It is too early to say whether cut-offs will increase this year. I am happy if students found the exam easy. However, this year the results will be declared in percentiles, so one should also keep that in mind.”
Test takers found the exam easy
PaGaLGuY spoke to some aspirants who took the SNAP exam today. Most of them found the exam easy, especially the Quantitative Ability and Analytical & Logical Reasoning sections. Sumona Shetty, who took the exam at the IES New English Secondary School at Mumbai said, “The verbal section was quite tricky but overall the paper was easy.” Another test taker from the same centre said, “I found the verbal section very tough as there was a lot of stress on synonyms.”
At the same centre, there was some confusion before the start of the exam as the students had been allotted same seat numbers from two different classrooms, of primary and secondary school, with no clear guideline on the same. This resulted in many students vying for the same seat on the fourth floor at the venue. This led to a lot of confusion before the exam and the students argued about their seats. The matter was finally resolved when an official from the school intervened and directed students to their correct floors. This was confirmed to us by Soumitra Bengeri, a test taker at the same centre who had to go through the entire ordeal.
A student who did not wish to be named and took the exam at Gyan Bharati Model School, New Delhi, stated that aspirants were allowed to come in till as late as 2.15 pm. He also added that a couple of questions on variance in the quantitative ability section were wrong. Another aspirant, Shriyansh Agarwal, who took the exam in St Fidellis College in Lucknow said, “The invigilators were fewer compared to the strength of the students in the auditorium we took our exam in. Because of this, some students could take a look at the questions 10 minutes before the exam began.”