ICFAI Business School Aptitude Test (IBSAT) is a national-level entrance examination conducted by ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad for admission to the MBA/PGPM programs offered at its affiliated colleges. The exam is conducted once a year in online mode. IBSAT is a computer-based test that evaluates the candidate’s ability in areas like verbal ability, reading comprehension, quantitative aptitude, and data adequacy. The exam is of two hours duration and consists of 140 multiple choice questions.

ICFAI Business School is one of the Top Business schools in India known for its well recognised MBA as well as PhD programs. It was established in the year of 1995 and has been constantly providing the best quality of education to students. The institute is located in various states of the country i.e. Bangalore, Dehradun, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.

One thing that attracts a lot of students towards the institutes is its infrastructure that caters to the needs of each and every student and helps in the overall academic development. Students will also get exposure in a wide range of perspectives because of its collaboration with several national and international firms. It also assists students in job opportunities. Apart from it, the institute also has a very good record in terms of its placements. All of these advantages at a very low fees structure, however the fees vary from one campus to another.

Admission to ICFAI business school is done through an entrance examination named IBSAT. The examination is conducted by ICFAI foundation in an offline mode. This is a deemed university that is recognised under section 3 of University Grants Commission Act, 1956. The examination is conducted on a national level across 95 different centers. This ensures every student can give their entrance examination without any difficulty.

Key Features of IBSAT 2024:

• Exam mode of IBSAT is remote-proctored test mode.
• The registration fee for IBSAT 2024 is Rs. 1800/-.
• The duration of the exam is 120 Minutes.
• There will be a total of 4 sections: Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, and Data Interpretation.

IBSAT 2024 Exam Date

Candidates must qualify in three different stages of the exam to get admission to ICFAI Business School. The first stage consists of an objective type of questions that is of 140 different questions. After qualifying in the first stage, students will be selected for the next group discussion and an interview round. The final list of the qualified students will be prepared on the basis of these three stages of the test. The dates of the exam have been announced prior to the time of application.

It is a general tendency of students to not know the exact dates of the examination at the time of preparation. This must be avoided as forgetting the exact exam date can cost you to lose a seat in the college. All the hard work becomes ruined once you miss the exam deadline. However, there are some chances that the date of the exam may get changed because of an emergency. Therefore, it is recommended to check the exam dates, whenever required.

It is beneficial for students to keep a track on their course of events as it can help you in planning your exam preparation strategy without any stress. This also assists you in filling up the application form with a lot of attention. Filling up the exam application form at last time may lead to a lot of errors that cannot be rectified after submission.

The registration of an IBSAT 2024 exam started from the July 1, 2024 and last date till 3rd week of December-2024.

IBSAT Exam 2024 Dates:

The following table presents the important dates for the IBSAT 2024 Exam:

Eligibility Criteria for IBSAT 2024

• Graduation (any discipline) with 50% and above marks with medium of instruction as English.
• All applicants should have completed a minimum of 15 years of education (on 10+2+3 or 10+2+4 basis).
• Candidates not meeting the eligibility criteria of English medium in graduation have to submit the TOEFL/ NELT/ IELTS score by May 31, 2025.
• Applicants in their final year bachelor’s degree course are also eligible to apply, provided they complete their graduation requirements (including practical examinations / viva / assignments) before May 31, 2025. The admission will remain provisional until they produce marks sheets and degree certificates establishing their eligibility. The last date for submission of proof of graduation is November 01, 2025.
• Eligibility criteria will be checked from August, 2025 onwards. Hence, the onus of ensuring that they satisfy the eligibility criteria rests solely with the candidates.

Registration for IBSAT 2024

The first step in the registration procedure is filling the application form. Candidates should prioritise it by filling it as soon as possible with due care. Usually filling of the application form is very much affected by the last minute rush. So to avoid any difficulty, it is suggested to submit the form very much earlier than the deadline.

The application form for the IBSAT 2024 issued on the official website of the ICFAI. Aspirants have two methods of registration for the test: Online and Offline.

Online mode: Application process

The steps for submitting the application form through online mode is discussed below.

• Go to the official website of IBS. Click on the Apply to IBS section given on the website. The application form consists of personal details and educational qualifications. It must be noted that details once filled and submitted could not be changed later.
• Submitting the first step generates a registration id and password. Save them for future references. The registration id and password is required for all further processes of the application form.
• After these steps, login again using the credentials to fill the application form for IBSAT 2024.
• In the next step, fill in all the details like the name, gender, date of birth and address. This step also includes selecting the exam centres situated closest to the hometown of the applicant. It ensures minimum difficulties to reach the examination centre on the specific date.
• After filling all the details it is important to check it once before submitting. Once the applicant has cross checked and verified all the details, click on the submit button.

Examination pattern for IBSAT 2024

The mode of the IBSAT entrance test is online. A total of 140 questions are asked in the entrance test. 1 mark will be awarded for each right answer whereas no marks is deducted for wrong answers. The exam consists of MCQ questions in which examinees have to select the most appropriate answer for the specific questions. The examination is conducted in English medium. For a better overview of the IBSAT test, students must observe and analyse the previous year exam papers. It helps in understanding the most important areas from which questions generally come in the examination. Upon analysing the previous years papers, the number of questions asked for each subject or section is listed below.

Only those applicants who managed to clear the required cut off would be called for the next rounds of entrance tests. The next rounds include the Personal Interview and Group Discussion. The marks of the Personal Interview as well as group discussion are used for shortlisting the candidates for final selection.

Preparation tips for the aspirants

The one who starts early wins. This is the concept usually used to crack any exam. This may be used to crack the IBSAT examination too.

The preparations can be started on the basis of their level of understanding of the subjects mentioned for IBSAT entrance test. The most important step prescribed by the toppers is analysing the syllabus and pattern well before the examination. This also tells the students about their strengths and weaknesses which in turn can be shorted out if focused accordingly. The toppers say to first do a proper revision of their strong subjects and then strengthen their weak subjects accordingly. Grasping the concepts properly will help the examinee to solve all the questions despite the difficulty level. It is necessary to thoroughly analyse all the concepts rather than going for superficial studies of the subjects.

Practicing as many questions can help to maximise the speed to solve the problems of the entrance test. It also familiarises the candidate with the pattern of the examination.

Syllabus for IBSAT 2024

The specific syllabus for the IBSAT examination is not issued by the conducting authority, ICFAI. However, that’s not the ultimate problem as the experts at PaGaLGuY have analysed the previous year papers to make an educated guess to understand the specific syllabus for the entrance. A student, after knowing the exam pattern, can also prepare and do well in the test. Moreover, the examination resembles that of the CAT examination. So, the strategy followed to prepare for CAT can also be utilised for IBSAT. Hence, the candidates who wish to give IBSAT can also give the CAT exam. The syllabus of the entrance test is given below.

Admit Card for IBSAT 2024

The admit card or hall ticket for the entrance test is scheduled to be released on the official website of IBS by the ICFAI foundation. The admit card is usually issued a week prior to the examination date. There is no provision of sending the admit card to the respective student’s address by the conducting authority. Admit cards can be downloaded only through the official website using the login credentials used for registration. Those candidates only who have successfully submitted the application form are eligible to download their hall ticket. One can download the admit card using the date of birth and the registration id or application number.

Admit cards for the IBSAT 2024 will be released on the official website probably in the third week of December. The entrance test is conducted within two days across 94 examination centres pan India. The details of the examination centre are given below.

IBSAT 2024 Result

The result of IBSAT is usually declared within 15 days of the exam date. The results of the IBSAT 2024 exam will be announced on 1st week of January, 2025, with candidate selection commencing from February/March 2025. The conducting authority will release the result of the IBSAT exam on its official website. This is important for you to Know your application number and the password to get the results. After logging into the website, a list of selected candidates will appear on the website. Kindly download the list as it is used in future.

The selection of the qualified candidates is generally done on the basis of marks they got in the exam and the merit list will be prepared on the basis of it. It is required by the candidates that they must score above the cut-off to get qualified in the examination. The qualified candidates will have to appear in a group discussion and the interview round for their final selection.

Once the result is declared, qualified candidates will be called for the selection briefings. The selection briefings will be conducted from 10th to 19th January 2025. Under these briefings, the examination authority of the exam will give candidates a flair idea about the exam and the activities carried out by the institute. These selection briefings are conducted in more than 40 different locations of the country.

IBSAT Cutoff

The final selection of the qualified candidates for group discussion and interview round is generally based on their cut-off marks in the exam. These cut-offs are different from one business school to another. So, the candidates appearing in the entrance examination must work hard to secure a seat in the college. The cut-off marks of the exam is decided on various factors of the exam such as the lowest and average marks scored in the exam, total number of appeared candidates, reservations policy, previous year cutoff marks, the difficulty level of exam and many more.

The cut-off marks for a particular year can be checked in the official website of the authority. A link ” IBSAT Cut-offs’ is given on the website, click on it. Now login the page by giving your application number and password and the date of birth. A page will be open where you can get the cutoff list of the respective colleges. Now check the marks and apply to your selected college for admission.