by Tarun Malik

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Admission Test 2015 will be conducted November 23. The pattern of the paper is usually on expected lines. The number of questions and the marking scheme for each of the four sections has consistently been the same for the last few years. In fact, the overall difficulty level of the paper has also remained the same. Last year also, like in 2012, it was categorically mentioned in the instructions that there would be sectional cut-offs.

There were a total of 128 questions spread over four sections with a negative marking of 1/3^rd of the marks allotted to that question. The details of the sections in IIFT 2013 are as follows:

	Section	Total no. of questions	Marks per question	Total Marks	Cutoffs
Section 1	General Awareness	28	0.50	14	1.8
Section 2 - Part 1	English Usage	20	0.75	15	5.75
Section 2 - Part 2	Reading Comprehension	16	0.75	12
Section 3 - Part 1	Logical Reasoning	20	0.75	15	9.75
Section 3 - Part 2	Data Interpretation	19	1.00	19
Section 4	Quantitative Ability	25	1.00	25	6.34
	Total	128		100	47.5

 

General Awareness 

Questions in this section feature both from Static and Current G.K., with a majority of questions from different fields of Static G.K. A regular newspaper reading student shouldn’t find difficult to attempt questions on current Affairs. Look at the sectional details of IIFT 2013 to get an idea of what you could expect from this section:

Topic	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Static General Awareness	11	Moderate
Personality, Place and Awards	10	Easy
Business and Economy	4	Easy
Miscellaneous	3	Moderate
TOTAL	28	Moderate

 

English Usage  

This sub-section, is usually loaded with moderate-difficult Vocabulary based questions, but last year the paper took a different tide as both the vocabulary and the remaining question types were relatively easier.  It is the relatively close answer options that tend to make this section difficult at times. Generally, there are 20 questions in this sub-section. And as they say, for this section, “practice makes a man perfect” holds true. The following table gives you the details of this section in IIFT 2013:

Topic	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Grammar	3	Easy-Moderate
Vocabulary	10	Moderate
Fill in the Blanks	2	Easy
Figures of Speech	1	Easy
Spelling	2	Moderate
Para Jumble	2	Easy

 

Reading Comprehension 

In this sub-section, four-five passages (of approx. 600-900 words) followed by 4-5 questions each, appear every year. This section could be challenging owing to difficult language of the passage or the type of questions that follow or their close answer options. It is better to go through the questions before approaching the passage to get to know one’s point of focus. While one reads the passage, it is imperative to keep differentiating the main ideas from the secondary ideas to get the overall jist of the passage. Also, to improve one’s comprehension ability, one should read a lot and read variety.

Logical Reasoning

This section comprises of 20 questions. Last year, the difficulty level of this section was fairly easy. Barring one LR set that had 6 questions and a serious information load, the remaining questions did not pose much of a challenge. Questions came from a variety of areas such as Arrangements, Coding Decoding, Series, Verbal Reasoning, etc. A close look at last year’s paper pattern of this section would help you know which topics one needs to focus on. It is as follows:

Topic	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Arrangement	10	Easy-Moderate
Coding-Decoding	4	Easy
Series	3	Easy
Verbal Reasoning	2	Easy

Data Interpretation

Approximately 19 to 20 questions spread over 3-4 sets feature in this section. The questions under this head can be table-based or comprise of line or bar graphs. Enough understanding and practice of main concepts can make this section of the paper doable. This part of the paper specifically counts on the person’s speed because these type of questions can be time consuming as they demand assimilation of a lot of data.

Quantitative Ability

This section comprises 25 to 28 questions of the paper. Last year, around 7 questions could be said to be tough with the remaining being easy to moderate. Most of the questions were from Arithmetic and Modern Math. The breakup of this section in IIFT 2013 is as shown below:

Topic	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Arithmetic	8	Moderate-tough
Algebra	4	Easy-Moderate
Geometry & Mensuration	3	Moderate
Modern Math	7	Moderate-tough
Number Systems	3	Easy-Moderate

  

About the author

Tarun Malik is the Product Head - MBA at Career Launcher.