SNAP 2019 Analysis

The major highlight of SNAP 2019 was the introduction of a different marking scheme with more weightage given to General English and Reasoning sections. Unlike the expectations, the difficulty level of these two sections did not increase despite the increase in marks per question. This year’s SNAP was easier than the last edition with just the Quant section trying to stop the test takers with time-consuming questions. Section-wise SNAP 2019 Exam analysis is as follows:

Section	Normal Questions	Marks	Special Questions	Marks	Total qs	Total marks
General English: Reading Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Verbal Ability	34	1.5	0	0	34	51
Analytical & Logical Reasoning	36	1.5	0	0	36	54
Quantitative, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency	35	1	5	2	40	45
Total	105		5		110	150

General English

(Verbal Ability, Verbal Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension) (34 Qs, 51 marks)

The difficulty level of this section was similar to that of last year, despite the increase in marks per question. The questions were mostly straightforward and pretty much doable. The section consisted of a total of 34 questions out of which 26 questions were from Verbal Ability and 8 questions were based on Reading Comprehension.

Verbal Ability

The questions primarily tested vocabulary and grammar. 12 questions were Vocabulary based questions including synonyms, antonyms, spellings, the odd one out and confusing words, which were of easy to moderate difficulty level. There were 11 questions based on grammar. Continuing the trend of the last 2 years, most questions tested aspirants on topics like active-passive voice, tenses, modals, conditionals, and parts of speech. These were asked in the form of Fill in the Blanks, Match the Following and Sentence Correction. With three filling the blanks questions based on conjunction, preposition, and conditional tense, there were two match the following questions on word usages according to parts of speech. There were two questions on Figures of Speech and 1 Parajumble of 7 sentences.

Reading Comprehension

There were two passages with 3 and 5 questions respectively. One passage, based on Philosophy, was analytical and was an extract from Dalai Lama’s book, ‘The Art of Happiness’. This was lengthy with 700-800 words. This passage had 3 questions that required the test taker to make some inferences. The other passage was an article from The Economist and was very lengthy with over 1000 words followed by 8 questions. Even though this passage was descriptive and most questions were direct, it was very time consuming and the average test taker could have skipped this passage.

15 minutes would have been sufficient to attempt Verbal Ability questions and another 10 minutes should have been taken to attempt one out of the two RCs.

Overall, this section was of an Easy difficulty level.

Ideal Time: 25 minutes

Good Attempts: 29

Good Score: 34 to 36

Analytical & Logical Reasoning

(36 Qs, 54 marks)

Like every year, this year again there were 3 unconventional questions: the ones on unfolding of 3D shapes and completing the pattern. The question on all the walls facing north was a tricky one.

The section was still dominated by conventional AR/LR questions. There were 9 questions on Matrix Arrangement (one set of 3 questions and one of 6 questions), 3 on Clocks and Calendars, 4 on Blood Relations and 3 on Coding-Decoding, which were easy. There were 3 mathematics-based questions including one each on Progressions, Percentage and Time and Work which were easy. 1 question each on Truth and Lie teller, Analogies, Grid Completion, Coding-Decoding and Number of Triangles, can be considered of moderate difficulty level. There was 1 question on Series and 3 Miscellaneous type questions which were difficult.

Overall, this section was of Easy to Moderate difficulty level.

Ideal Time: 45 minutes

Good Attempts: 28

Good Score: 32 to 34

Quantitative, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency

(40 Qs, 45 Marks)

The difficulty level of this section was almost similar to that of last year. The special questions, except the one on time and work, were deceptive because they were calculation driven and time-consuming.

There were 2 questions each on Time and Work, Numbers and Algebra and 3 questions on Arithmetic, which were easy. There were 5 questions each on Time and Distance, Permutations/Combinations and Probability and Geometry, which were easy to moderate. There were 6 questions on Set Theory which were of moderate difficulty level. There were 5 difficult questions: 1 on Geometry, 1 on Algebra, 1 on Arithmetic and 2 on Set Theory. A smart test taker should have skipped these questions.

There were 6 questions on Data Interpretation with 3 questions each on Tables (rice production and percentage change from the previous year) and Pie Charts (company sales of laptops and mobile phones). The ones based on Tables were easy and the ones based on Pie Charts were calculative.

Overall, this section was of Moderate difficulty level.

Ideal Time: 50 minutes

Good Attempts: 30

Good Score: 24 to 26

Overall SNAP 2019 Exam Analysis

Section Title	Questions	Difficulty Level	Suggested Time Allocation	Good Score
General English	34	Easy	25 minutes	34 – 36
Quant + DI + DS	40	Moderate	50 minutes	24 – 26
Reasoning	36	Easy to Moderate	45 minutes	32 – 34