IIFT 2014: Take More Mocks; be more familiar with pattern

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
November 13, 2014
IIFT aspirants will have to practice more and more Mocks to understand the intricacies and problems that they may face while answering the questions
IIFT entrance exam is a paper pencil based test, the approach to a computer based test like CAT and to the paper pencil based test like IIFT is always different

IIFT 2014 the unique and the only one of its kinds of MBA entrance tests leading to admission in MBA(IB) batch 2015-17 in  Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) the highly ranked B school in the country will be held on November 23, 2014 in a single session across the country. No other B school except IIFT Delhi and Kolkata campuses will shortlist the candidates on the basis of the  IIFT 2014 entrance exam. 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 will be conducted in 20 cities across India in two hours duration from 10.00 A.M. to 12.00 Noon.

Exam pattern

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.

IIFT Mocks: More practice needed

Prof S K Agarwal expert on IIFT entrance test preparation shares the need and key tips to be observed while attempting the IIFT 2014 Mock tests. IIFT aspirants will have to practice more and more Mocks to understand the intricacies and problems that they may face while answering the questions. A small slip may result in the utter failure of the attempt, please remember.

How to mark the answer 

Since IIFT entrance exam is a paper pencil based test, the approach to a computer based test like CAT and to the paper pencil based test like IIFT is always different. While you need to understand how to handle the navigation tools in a computer based test, you have to practice well how to mark the answer in the relevant oval/column on the answer sheet in the paper-pen based test. A computer based test has no separate answer sheet whereas IIFT exam will have a separate serially numbered answer sheet with circles marked with answer options.

You are supposed to darken the relevant circle for each answer. In case you wish to change the answer you have to erase the earlier answer so that it may not be caught as marked and then mark the answer again by darkening the other circle you desire.

Be careful: Check the row

Please remember most of the times while answering a question after the gap of 2-3 questions, the serial of the relevant question gets misplaced. You will have to be careful that you are marking your answer by darkening the relevant circle. For example if you attempt question no 3 and then question no 7, leaving questions 4,5,6 in between, please make sure that you are marking your answer in the relevant answering row meant for question 7. Thus more practice of mocks is required for the conventional paper-pencil based examination.

Avoid using a pointed pencil

If you are using a pointed pencil, be careful. While darkening a circle it should not be used harshly as it may tear off the part. And by chance if you happen to change the answer the situation may get worse even. Keep a sharpener and more pencils with you, so that you may not need to waste your time in sharpening the pencil nor requiring to keep it too pointed.
Which section to attempt first

In fact this option to solve the mock as well as the actual test paper depends upon you. Choose the section which is most comfortable to you. If you wish to attempt weightage wise, you may attempt Quant followed by DI, English Comprehension, Logical reasoning and General Awareness.

You may also begin with General Awareness section as it is a percentile booster. You don’t have to spend too much time on it. If you know the answer, you will mark it; if not you don’t have to waste your time on recalling the answer indefinitely. Of course you may come back to the section again, if time permits. All the sections are important and so are the other sections probably even more important than this one  

Think of sectional cut off: Manage time

IIFT 2014 exam will have sectional cut off like CAT 2014. You may not afford spending too much time on one section. The time consuming sections are Quant, DI and LR. It is advisable to solve Quant in 40 minutes; DI in 20 minutes; LR in 20 minutes; English Comprehension in 30 minutes and General Awareness in 10 minutes. If you can follow this pattern, you will be able to go through all the sections with a fairly good attempt of questions in each section. 

Mocks are good tool to understand the strategy how to manage time in actual testing room. Sometimes you may enjoy solving only one section oblivious of the importance of time constraints for other sections. Once you attempt the mocks you will go on improving on this front and will come to know how much time should be spent across the sections. 

Avoid Negative marking

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

Remember the analysis of Mocks

It is necessary to get the attempted mocks analysed. The mistakes that we commit in mocks, if not corrected they will continue forever as we are not aware what wrong we have done. A good analysis of mock will not only carry you through this dilemma but also will keep you ready for better performance in future Mocks.

The only way to excel in IIFT entrance test is to attempt more mocks and practice on dummy answer sheets, keeping in view of above factors. Your preparation level may be very high but the right type of Mocks with good difficulty level will definitely be of great help to maximise the scores in actual IIFT entrance exam.

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Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more tips on IIFT Nov 2014 exam