It’s not the largest MBA entrance test nor it is the gateway to seek admission in a cluster of hundreds of B schools, still IIFT entrance test is taken by more aspirants than those who appear in many All India or State level MBA/PGDM entrance tests scores of which are accepted by many B schools as the shortlisting criteria for admission.
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is a highly ranked B school. The flagship programme at IIFT is its 2 years MBA programme in International Business. IIFT conducts its own entrance test on the conventional pattern of paper-pen mode. The entrance test for admission to MBA batch 2015-17 in IIFT Delhi and Kolkata campuses will be held in a single session on November 23, 2014. The entrance test will be conducted in 20 cities across India. The conventional paper pencil mode test will be of two hours duration from 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon on Sunday, November 23, 2014.
The written admission test to MBA Programme in IIFT consists of multiple choice objective type questions (in English). IIFT entrance comprises the questions covering English Comprehension, General Knowledge & Awareness, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Analysis. The candidate may attempt any question from any section during the time allotted to attempt the test in the examination.
The MBA(IB) programme is available at IIFT New Delhi and Kolkata campuses in India and at Dar-es-Salaam campus in Tanzania.
Exam Pattern is different
Following are the major differences, if you compare IIFT to any other top rated MBA/PGDM entrance exam
No fixed number of questions
IIFT entrance test will have no pre declared fixed number of questions either over all or section wise. Number of questions goes on varying every year in different sections as well as overall. The total number of questions in IIFT entrance test may go anywhere from 115 to 130
Varying marking pattern
Questions in different sections and sub sections in IIFT entrance exam carry different marking pattern. While overall maximum marks are 100, the maximum marks allotted to different questions vary from 0.5 to 1. Sectional cut offs also play an important role and a candidate has to clear them as well.
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
Quant & DI
Maximum weightage in IIFT entrance test is awarded to Quantitative ability and Data interpretation. Number of question in this section were 25 in 2013 and the approximately same number is expected in the forthcoming examination. Every question on quant is expected to have equal weightage of highest 1 mark.
On the same pattern Data Interpretation will have around 20 questions carrying 1 mark each in this section. IIFT asked 19 DI questions in different data forms like tables and bar diagrams in 2013. The information part is followed by 4-5 questions so it’s worth trying with patience. A little more practice can be of great help in this section
Important topics to prepare
Preparation for Quantitative Analysis should be carefully planned. Following topics are required to be covered in your preparation for IIFT 2014 Quant. You may find 2 to 4 questions on each topic.
| Probability |
|
Integers |
|
Time, distance, speed/Time & work |
|
Percentage |
|
Algebra |
|
Mensuration |
|
Log theory |
|
Geometry |
|
Permutation combination |
Logical Reasoning
Logical reasoning section may have 18-20 questions carrying 0.75 mark per question. Topics supposed to be covered are blood relations, seating arrangements, series, analogy, sets. IIFT covers almost all the topics in logical reasoning with 1 or 2 questions on each. Statements, arguments, conclusions are a few favourite topics which require more indepth study..
General Awareness
27-30 questions you may find to test the General Awareness. Each question is expected to carry 0.5 mark, hence the total weightage would come to 14-15 marks. GK section is a percentile booster, if you could focus on it properly.
General Awareness covers questions on conventional as well as current national and international affairs and relevant economic, business topics apart from major policy decisions.
Questions can also be based to test the aspirants’ awareness about ‘Who’s who’, work of famous personalities; Constitution of India.
English Comprehension
Number of questions on English comprehension could be in a range of 35-38. Each question is expected to carry a weightage of 0.75 mark. English comprehension section is composed of 2 parts. Part one has questions core verbal ability and part two has questions on Reading comprehension passages. There could be around 20 questions in part one and 16 questions in part two with equal weightage.
Important topics to prepare
Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability for IIFT entrance preparation shares that the following are the important topics with expected number of questions to prepare for IIFT entrance test 2014.
| Topic |
Expected No. of questions |
|
One word substitution |
2 |
|
Fill in the blanks |
2 |
|
Jumbled sentences |
2 |
|
Analogy |
2 |
|
Phrasal explanation |
4 |
|
Grammatically correct or incorrect sentences |
2 |
|
Figures of speech |
1 |
|
Spelling correction |
2 |
|
Antonyms |
2 |
|
Active-Passive |
1 |
|
Reading comprehension 4 passages |
16 |
Prof. S.K. Agarwal further shares that time management is the most important part to score high in the examination. Entrance test to IIFT requires consistent and planned study pattern. The examination covers wide variety of topics and questions in Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension are sometimes indirect and quite confusing also. All the four sections in the examination are equally important as you need to score a high percentile overall as well as sectional.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on IIFT Nov 2014 exam preparation
