The 100 percent placement record of students in MBA(IB) programme makes IIFT more fascinating than any other MBA/PGDM entrance exam. Despite the difficult and lengthy entrance examination, more and more aspirants have registered to crack it. Ratio of IIFT aspirants is growing much higher than the CAT aspirants. Approximately 2 lakh CAT takers compete for a few thousand MBA seats, whereas there are about 55 thousand test takers for appx. 220 seats in IIFT 2014, reflecting the importance of MBA(IB) at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
IIFT Exam date Announced: Prepare and Discuss
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) will conduct the entrance test for its Delhi and Kolkata campuses in 20 cities across India for admission session 2015-16 on Sunday, November 23, 2014. The conventional paper pencil mode test will be of two hours duration from 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon.
Moderate to high difficulty level
The written admission test to MBA Programme in IIFT 2014 is expected to have moderate to high difficulty level says Prof S K Agarwal, expert on IIFT test preparation. The test paper has variety of questions based on almost all the topics. What an aspirant misses in CAT may find prominent in IIFT 2014 entrance test. Interestingly, IIFT 2014 entrance test is going to be conducted just a day after CAT 2014 is over.
Test divided in 4 sections
IIFT 2014 MBA(IB) entrance test will be divided in 4 sections consisting of multiple choice objective type questions. The 4 sections comprise the questions covering English Comprehension, General Knowledge & Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis.
English Fundamentals: More question; clarity needed
According to Prof S K Agarwal, IIFT 2014 aspirants need clear and better understanding of concepts and are supposed to devote more time on practicing various topics of English Language Comprehension. IIFT 2014 entrance test is expected to have more questions based on English grammar including parts of speech and tenses in core form. The difficulty level of such questions may not be rated very high but still the IIFT 2014 aspirants should not only know the usage but also how differently they are used.
The English Language comprehension section in IIFT 2014 entrance test is expected to be divided in 2 parts – Verbal Ability usage and Reading Comprehension passages. The first section may have 20 questions while the second section may carry 15-16 questions based on RC passages.
English comprehension in IIFT 2014 may have 35-36 questions with a weightage of 0.75 mark per question. Although questions are not very difficult, the preparation strategy requires constant study and practice on different topics. Total weightage to this section with 35+ questions is expected to be around 26 to 28%.
Data Interpretation: Difficulty level is reasonably high; covers 20%
DI has 20% weightage in IIFT entrance test and requires a consistent preparation. Maximum questions are based on the information in tables, charts, graphs, bar diagrams. Candidates are required to study the same, understand it well and arrive at the right answer option. This can be done if they have studied and practiced such problems well.
Data Interpretation is one of the two parts of DI & LR section and is expected to carry maximum weghtage in IIFT entrance test. Expected number of questions on Data interpretation in IIFT 2014 entrance test is 20 with a weightage of 1 mark each. 20 marks out of 100 if scored will help you get a meritorious standing to get shortlisted in IIFT admission 2015.
Logical Reasoning: More practice needed; covers 15%
Difficulty level in Logical reasoning is fairly high. It may not be rated as rather difficult, questions are doable and IIFT 2014 aspirants, if prepare well, as they must be doing can crack this part with a little more practice. The best part of preparation is that most of the candidates who apply for IIFT are also the CAT 2014 aspirants. While CAT 2014 will be over on November 22, IIFT 2014 entrance exam will be on November 23, 2014. For most of the IIFT aspirants, no separate study and practice on LR will be required.
Logical Reasoning may have 20 questions with a weighatge of 0.75 mark per question in IIFT 2014. The total score comes to 15. LR is the second part of DILR section in IIFT entrance exam. Topics on Logical Reasoning can be prepared well with more practice and natural human instincts. More and more practice can get you through this part of the section. Major topics to be prepared are blood relations, seating arrangements, series, analogy, sets, statements, arguments, conclusions are a few IIFT favourites which require more in depth study and logical thought process to solve.
Quant: High LOD; fewer questions; higher weightage
25 questions on Quantitative Analysis are expected in IIFT 2014 exam. The difficulty level of questions in this section is high and aspirants are advised to practice specific IIFT type of questions. It’s a good opportunity for the IIFT 2014 test takers that CAT and IIFT exam dates are falling on consecutive days. This will accelerate the preparation pace with less efforts for both the tests.
Quant questions are expected to carry a weightage of 1 mark each. 1 mark in IIFT entrance is the highest mark awarded to any question. The 25 questions on Quant therefore carry 25 marks out of total 100 marks meaning that ‘Quant’ covers one fourth part of the entire test. Hence the importance is more in the test.
According to IIFT Quant prep expert following topics should be covered while preparing for IIFT 2014 test Permutation combination, Geometry, Log theory, Mensuration, Algebra, Arithmatic questions on Percentage, Interest, Time, distance, speed/Time & work. Aspirants may also find questions on Integers and Probability in IIFT 2014 exam.
IIFT GK: Instrumental to improve the scores
IIFT 2014 aspirants can expect 28 to 30 questions on General Knowledge with a weightage of 0.50 mark per question. It is supposed to cover 14 to 15 percent of total weightage in IIFT 2014 entrance test. The good amount of weightage to questions on General Knowledge can improve your scores with a regular reading of news papers and periodicals.
According to Prof S K Agarwal, expert on IIFT preparation, the difficulty level is not high except for the fact that aspirants should keep themselves updated about the current affairs.
IIFT aspirants are advised to go for conventional reading of General Knowledge as well as current affairs. While the conventional GK can be learned from Books, year books and other sources, focused reading of news papers, periodicals is required to have the up-to-date knowledge of current affairs. More GK questions on Business, economics and international trade can be expected in IIFT 2014 exam.
Number of Questions & marking pattern
Number of questions in IIFT, total or sectionwise are not fixed. While total number of questions could be anywhere in a range of 120 to 130, sectionwise pattern could go anywhere from 25 to 40 questions in each section.
IIFT entrance test is the only highly reputed management entrance test which has varying marking pattern for every question. The marking weightage in IIFT 2014 may vary from question to question or from section to section in the range of 0.5 to 1 mark per question.
Penalty of one third marks will be awarded for every wrong answer. The candidates therefore have to be careful to avoid this negative marking by choosing the answer options with well calculated thought process.
Prof S K Agarwal, expert and mentor on IIFT 2014 preparation shares that the varying weightage in each section of IIFT 2014 entrance test can guide IIFT aspirants to plan their preparation strategy during next 2 months. Since IIFT 2014 aspirants have to clear the sectional merit along with overall merit, Prof S K Agarwal, advises the aspirants to focus on balanced sectional scores while aiming for good scores across sections.
IIFT MBA(IB) is the only specialized MBA programme, admission to which is sought after in such a big way. Ratio of applicants per seat is higher in IIFT than any other MBA/PGDM entrance test. The competition therefore can be rated as tougher than any other. The need is to focus on preparation strategy for IIFT 2014 in a concerted manner.
Related Link
IIFT Topper: Sunny Pandey gives tips and guidance to IIFT 2014 Aspirants
IIFT 2014: Tricky scoring pattern; Focus more on Reading Comprehension
IIFT 2015: Quant, DI, LR to have maximum weightage; English and GK to follow
How important is General Awareness in IIFT 2014: Know what and how to prepare
Will IIFT 2015 have changed face like CAT 2014: History and experts say 'No'
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on IIFT 2014 preparation
