3 months of preparation for IIFT 2015 entrance test on English Comprehension can get you admission to MBA (IB) at IIFT Delhi or Kolkata depending upon your performance. IIFT Entrance examination to flagship MBA programme in International business, to be held on Nov 22, 2015, is around 90 days away and you can’t say that there is ample time nor you can excuse yourself by saying that time is too short to prepare for IIFT 2015. 1-2 hours dedicated preparation on 5 key areas in Verbal Ability (English Comprehension as IIFT names it) can do wonders.
Learn the key areas where your preparation will need more attention, from expert and seasoned trainer Prof. S.K. Agarwal, who shares the tips to get success in the tricky domain of English Comprehension in the preparation journey to IIFT.
The best part about IIFT entrance is that it is only a week ahead of CAT 2015. MBA aspirants who are preparing for CAT 2015 definitely will be on winning edge as their preparation of English for IIFT 2015 can go well along with that of CAT 2015.
There is not the slightest doubt that getting into MBA (IB) 2016 at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is definitely more difficult than getting into any of more than 120 B schools accepting CAT 2015 scores and offering numerous management programmes since per seat ratio of IIFT aspirants is much more than CAT aspirants. Apart from this IIFT is a paper pencil mode entrance test and has General Awareness as an added section, so the aspirants have to prepare and practice accordingly.
IIFT 2015 test pattern
Entrance test to MBA programme in IIFT session 2016 will be held in a single day across the country on November 22, 2015. It will be a multiple choice question (MCQ) type examination. The test is supposed to have 4 parts - English comprehension in two sections; Quantitative Ability; Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation and General Awareness.
Any section can be clubbed with other section but the aspirants are required to qualify each one of them. Unlike CAT 2015, number of questions in IIFT are not fixed and may vary anywhere between120 to 130. IIFT has a unique feature of varying marking system in the range of 0.5 to 1. Penalty of one fourth negative marking is also very important to remember before going to finalise your answer option.
5 Key areas in English to prepare
Making a guess on what could be the expected types and number of questions on each topic in English Comprehension in IIFT 2015 entrance test is definitely a tricky question, answer to which is difficult to anticipate. However, going by the past pattern we can anticipate following number of questions on 5 important topics. Out of total 128-130 questions in IIFT 2015, English Comprehension is expected to have 36-38 questions based on various topics in English Grammar and comprehension.
Questions based on Grammatical errors
Ceonceptual clarity on fundamentals of grammar and tenses in IIFT entrance exam is very important. There may be questions on error corrections like rewriting of sentences and/or paragraphs as per the correct sequence; identifying the grammatically correct sentences with right sequence of words. These questions could be based on core grammar usage like Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives and Adverbs, Tenses, Subject verb agreement, Usage on conditionals, Reported speech, Active passive, modifiers.
Types of questions could be- fill in the blanks; correction in wrong usage in sentences; Incorrect usage of phrasal verbs; misplaced mofifiers. You should first understand the concept and then practice more such questions to get a high score in IIFT.
There could be 4 to 6 questions based on fundamentals in English comprehension section in IIFT 2015 test.
Questions on Jumbled sentences
Jumbled paragraphs also form the part of English comprehension and 2-4 questions may be found in the examination. The aspirants should practice more on random type of sentences. When you proceed to practice them, please remember to find out the connectors among the sentences like ‘It’ ‘those’, ‘these’, ‘this’, ‘who’, ‘as’ – giving the clue to connect them with other sentences. Such words as connectors to the earlier sentences make the task of forming a coherent paragraph easy as they are used in place of certain nouns which form the beginning of paragraph and sentences.
You may expect 2-3 questions in IIFT 2015 exam on this topic.
Questions on Reading Comprehension
IIFT 2015 is expected to have 16 questions based on 4 passages of 800 words each. When you practice the RC do read the passage/article fairly quickly to get the general idea. Read again, if possible, a little slowly so as to understand the details.
Write a summary in your own words neatly and precisely. Make a chart on time consumed in reading and writing the summary of the passage. Check whether the time is getting reduced day by day. Go for versatile reading on different topics since you may or may not get the passages of your interest in the examination. Regular reading of important articles by eminent writers, editorials in news papers and periodicals definitely be a great help in preparation for this module.
Questions on Vocabulary usage
Aspirants should remember that IIFT entrance test is a mix of CAT and XAT. There can be more than 5 questions on core vocabulary usage like similar relationship of words (analogy); one word substitution; fill in the blanks in 4-5 sentences with correct words/phrasal verbs/vocabulary words; synonyms / antonyms. While CAT places questions on contextual usage, IIFT may ask you the questions in basic language form. The need therefore is to learn, recall the words and practice them, read more and write correctly spelt words. Fill in the blanks are based on rich vocabulary words, more practice on such type of questions will definitely help.
IIFT 2015 is expected to have 4-6 questions based on Vocabulary usage.
Figures of speech; important area
IIFT never forgets to ask questions on usage of Figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, apostrophe. Question types, most likely to appear in the forthcoming IIFT entrance test are expected to contain the Figures of speech in sentences and aspirants have to name them. It is advisable to practice around 20-25 important figures of speech, understand their key words that help to identify them.
Besides, the IIFT aspirants are expected to have fair knowledge of phrasal verbs, idioms, similar sounding and confusing words. Aspirants must pronounce them and write them to have the practice beforehand. A few minutes a day from now on will empower you with good amount of learning on them.
Time Management: An important factor
You may have less than one minute per question as against in CAT 2015 where you have approximately more than 2 minutes per question, so you should carry forward your preparation and practice keeping in view of this factor. Number of questions in IIFT 2015 could be more than 125 while the time allotted to solve the entire question paper is 120 minutes. You have to solve, choose the right answer option and mark the same on OMR sheet by darkening the circle. Any slip in selecting the circle or losing on time may be disastrous to your score.
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