CAT

Part I was divided into 3 sections.

Section wise details are as described below:

Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability (27 Questions)

The section comprised of 17 questions of Quant, 8 questions of Data Interpretation and 2 questions of Caselet with Data Sufficiency.

With just 17 questions of Quant, it was not possible to do justice to all the areas of Quant. It was unusual to see that there was just one question on Numbers. Two questions on Algebra and one question on Profit and Loss were there from the arithmetic section. Ratio related chapters had a limited share of just two questions with 1-1 each from Time and Work and Time Speed Distance. Geometry and Trigonometry had a usual share of 4 questions, most of which were difficult. Apart from some random questions, there was one question each on Probability, Progression and Set Theory. Overall, Quant was easy to moderate.

There were two sets of DI of four questions each. One of them was a typical table chart and another was a yearly doze of a typical ‘XAT’ type DI set, which was difficult to comprehend. Overall, DI was Moderate to Difficult.

Suggested time for this section would be 60 minutes. Approximately 20 attempts with a score of 14 can be a 98%ile equivalent score.

Verbal and Logical Ability (24 Questions)

The section comprised of two parts: 12 questions of Reading Comprehension and 12 questions of other verbal ability based questions.

The biggest passage of approx 550 words was followed by 3 questions. There were two passages with an approximate length of 450 words with 3 or 4 questions at the end. A small paragraph of 250 words was the fourth RC having 2 questions at the end. Overall the RCs were moderate to difficult because most of the questions were inference based.

Interestingly, there were two Poem-based questions in this test paper, both of which needed a test taker to identify the gist of the poems. Two Parajumbles, One Analogy, Two Grammar based questions and two Fill in the Blanks discussing usages of words were also there in the test. Remaining three questions were from Critical Reasoning.

Overall, the section was of moderate difficulty level. In a suggested time of 55 minutes, 18 attempts and a score of 11 can be called a 98%ile equivalent performance.

Decision Making (21 Questions)

This section was a mix of 6 Logical Reasoning based questions, 4 business decision related questions, 3 questions testing ethics of a test taker and 8 questions on random decision making.

Logical Reasoning part was divided into two sets of 3-3 questions each. They were moderate to difficult. Decision Making portion was made of many caselets of 1 or 2 or 3 questions.

Overall, this section was of moderate difficulty level. In a suggested time of 55 minutes, 17 attempts and a score of 10 can be called a 98%ile equivalent performance.

Part II comprised of 25 General Knowledge Questions and an Essay.

General Knowledge (25 Questions)

This section was a good mix of Geography, TV, Movies, Business, History, Personalities and current affair based GK questions. A score of 8-10 can be termed as a Good Score.

Essay

Topic: Globalization and Jingoism always coexist!

Although this was a very good topic to check an aspirant’s thought process, many aspirants could not attempt it because they could not understand the meaning of ‘Jingoism’.

Good Score/Cut Off

Estimated Cut off for:

XLRI – 34

XIM-B – 29

IMT-G – 29

GIM – 24

LIBA – 20

Section wise details are as below:

Quantitative Ability + Data Interpretation (40 Questions)

The section consisted of 6 questions of Data Interpretation and 34 questions of Quantitative Ability.

Data Interpretation was spread in two sets of 3-3 questions each. Both were standard DI sets of Table and Pie Chart with one of them easy and the other one needing some time to solve.

Quant part of the section was again dominated by Numbers with 5-6 questions having direct applications of Numbers and 2-3 more questions which can be categorized as Number related puzzles. 6 questions were asked from Ratio related chapters (Time and Work, Partnership, Time Speed Distance, Mixtures etc.) Share of geometry was limited to 3 questions only. A couple of questions from each of the Profit and Loss, Progression, Surds, Basic Algebra and 1-1 question from Probability, Set Theory etc and some miscellaneous ones created rest of the section.

Overall, this section was slightly time consuming.

Allocating 40 minutes to this section, 19-22 can be termed as Good Attempts and the same with 90% accuracy can be considered a Good Score.

Logical Reasoning (40 Questions)

The biggest surprise in SNAP 2016 was the change in the question mix of this section.  A sizeable chunk of questions (9-10 in number) were of Math based puzzles. The typical tabular data arrangement questions were missing. There were 6 questions based on sequence & series, 4 questions based on an input-output prediction, 3 questions of visual reasoning, 2 on blood relations, 1 each on clock & calendars etc. Rest of the questions were largely random logical puzzles.

Overall, this section was reasonably time consuming as well. Absence of standard variety of LR made this section more challenging for aspirants.

Allocating 40 minutes to this section, 18-21 can be termed as Good Attempts and the same with 90% accuracy can be considered a Good Score.

Verbal Ability (40 Questions)

Vocabulary – That’s the one word summary of this section. 6 questions of direct Synonym-Antonyms, 4 FIBs on confusing words, 3-4 Analogies and 3-4 more FIBs testing Vocabulary were asked. Adding to these questions, there were 2 questions on idioms & 1 on foreign words.

Apart from Vocabulary, 2 Reading Comprehensions (6+5 questions) were asked to test the comprehension skills of the test takers. Both were easy to attempt. The section also had 3 parajumbles and a couple of verbal reasoning questions.

Overall, this section was easy and was a morale booster.

Allocating 30 minutes to this section, 32-34 can be termed as Good Attempts and the same with 90% accuracy can be termed a Good Score.

Current Affairs (30 Questions)

This year, SNAP changed the title and the scope of this section. As per the communication shared by SNAP, it was supposed to be a section made of only current affairs of the last two years. SNAP creators have successfully delivered such a section.

There was a good spread of questions, with 6 questions on Sports and Business each, 5 questions of the who’s who (Business as well as Government), 3 questions on Awards and 3 questions on Tech related news.

A test taker who has been following news regularly should get a nice edge over others.

An ideal allocation can be 10 minutes for this particular section and a score of 14-16 can be termed as a good score.

Expected Cut offs:

SIBM-P: 73+

SCMHRD: 68+

SIBM-B: 58+

SIIB: 56+

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (48 Questions, 60 minutes):

This section can be broadly classified into two parts: Quant, which had a share of 28 questions and Data Interpretation, which had 5 sets of 4 questions each. Apart from half a dozen speed-breakers, all the questions of Quant were appropriate for this type of speed test as most of them were simple application based questions. With 6 questions of Numbers and 6 of Geometry, the paper had a good mixture of ratio based questions (Time-Speed-Distance, Time & Work, Alligation Mixture, Averages) and higher arithmetic questions (P & C, Progression, Logarithm).

Data Interpretation part of the section was calculative. There were 2 sets Tables and one set of Pie Charts, Bar Charts and Mixed Charts each, primarily testing aspirants’ approximation and calculation skills.

Overall, the section can be termed as easy to moderate and attempting 34-36 questions with 90%+ accuracy can be termed as a good score.

Analytical Reasoning (40 Questions, 38 Minutes):

This section was a mixture of 30 Logical Reasoning questions and 10 Verbal Reasoning questions. There were questions of blood relationship, arrangements, table based arrangements, data structure, series and coding-decoding in the section. Approximately 10 random but logic based questions improved variety in the test paper. 6 questions of strengthen-weaken arguments and 4 questions of statement-conclusion questions formed the part of verbal reasoning. Except 5 speed breakers, section was easy and manageable.

The section was easy but the sheer variety of the questions makes us rate it as Moderate and reaching around 28-30 attempts with 90%+ accuracy can be considered as a good score.

Verbal Ability (32 Questions, 22 minutes):

This is a section in which students have to attempt questions at a rate of 40 seconds per question. A good count of grammar based Fill-in-the-blanks (precisely 10) and 5 synonyms/antonyms made the task possible for test takers. This was further supported by 4 questions of parajumbles and 4 questions of spotting the errors. Only ‘time-consuming’ part of the paper was 2 Reading Comprehensions with 4 questions each. Most of the questions of RCs were direct and easy. The section can be termed as easy and around 24-28 attempts with 90%+ accuracy can be termed as a good score.

Section Wise Analysis

Section 1: Analytical Reasoning (22 Questions, each of 0.75 marks)

This section had 5 sets and 4 independent questions. The set on pattern identification based on the figure was a relatively tricky one and the one based on eight doctors was time consuming, considering it had just 3 questions in this set. All in all, it was a manageable section wherein approximately 18 good attempts with a score of 10 can be called a Good Score and an ideal time allotment can be 25 minutes for this section.

Section 2: Data Interpretation (20 Questions, each of 1 mark)

There were 4 sets of Data Interpretation having 5 questions each. With two table-based DI sets and two bar chart based DI sets, IIFT once again produced a calculation intensive section. Leaving a question or two from all the sets was the key strategy of maintaining pace and optimising selections.

Due to its time consuming nature, approximately 11 attempts can be termed good. A score of 8 can be called a Good Score considering an allotment of 26 minutes for this section.

Section 3: Quantitative Aptitude (20 Questions, each of 1 mark)

The section had usually large portion of modern mathematics. There were 8 questions of Progression, Permutation and Combination, Probability, Set Theory, Logarithm, Inequalities. This reduced the share of Arithmetic based chapters. 8 to 9 questions were from Numbers, Linear Equation, Profit and Loss, Surd, Time Work and Time Distance. Rest of the questions were from Geometry.

Most of the questions were manageable. This should result into a Good Score of 12-13 with good attempts of up to 17 questions in 27 minutes.

Section 4: Reading Comprehension (16 Questions, each of 1 mark)

4 RCs with 4 questions each created this section. All of them, with an exception of a couple of nicely created questions, can be solved easily by an aspirant having decent control over reading.

Since this section was easy, 13 can be called good attempts and a score of 10 can be called a Good Score in 20 minutes. Because majority of the questions were direct, it can be considered a rather easy section to solve.

Section 5: Verbal Ability (20 Questions, each of 0.75 marks)

With no questions on Grammar or Verbal Logic (apart from the 2 reasonably easy parajumble questions), the whole section had a heavy bias towards vocabulary. The questions were tricky as well as time consuming and there was a lot of application of elimination rather than selection. Allocating 12 minutes to the section would fetch 14 attempts and 6 marks in this section can be considered a good score in this section.

Section 6 : General Knowledge

There were a total of 14 static questions and the rest were from Current Affairs.

All in all, 10 minutes spent in this section can fetch up to 16 attempts and a score of 6 can be considered to be a good score in this section.

Overall:

A total score of 48.2 can be considered good enough to get a call from IIFT. A table for the synopsis:

IIFT 2016 Analysis Snapshot