SNAP 2016, the mandatory entrance exam for admission to MBA in 14 Symbiosis institutes will be a traditional paper-pen based exam. SNAP 2016 will be held in a single day single session on Sunday December 18, 2016. You will be able to register and apply for SNAP 2016 with effect from August 22.
SNAP 2016 will be conducted by Symbiosis International University, Pune and all the Symbiosis institutes are affiliated to this University.
SNAP 2016 will be of 2 hours duration exam from 2PM to 4PM and will contain Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) divided in 4 sections. Total number of questions will be 150. Less than 1 minute per question will be available to the test taker to attempt. There will be 30 test cities where SNAP 2016 is proposed to be conducted. The registration and application process for SNAP 2016 is online and will close on Nov 22, 2016.
With about 4 months left for SNAP 2016, the past experience of the exam indicates that despite not being a difficult exam, SNAP requires a consistent practice and synchronization between the test booklet and OMR sheet where answers to the questions are to be marked.
Learn from Past experience
Past SNAP exams were on the same pattern as SNAP 2016 is going to have. You can learn a lot from past experience and pattern of SNAP tests.
SNAP 2014 and SNAP 2015 had 150 questions each with maximum score of 180. The paper pen based exam had total time duration of 2 hours emphasizing that less than 1 minute per question to solve was available. The same pattern will be repeated in SNAP 2016 also.
The 4 sections in SNAP 2016: Prepare well
The 4 sections in SNAP 2016 exam will consist of MCQs only and you will also not find any change in the test structure or content. Out of total 180 maximum marks, the section wise distribution of marks will be as under –
Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension – 40 MCQs with 40 maximum marks
General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 40 MCQs with 40 maximum marks
Quantitative Ability and data interpretation - 40 MCQs with 40 maximum marks
Analytical and logical Ability – 30 MCQs with 60 maximum marks
The distribution of marks and questions clearly indicates that it is the Alanytical and Logical Ability (reasoning) section which is awarded highest weightage in SNAP test. Accordingly candidates need to prepare it well viewing its highest weightage area.
The 3 sections other than Analytical & Logical Ability have uniform marking scheme of awarding 1 mark each for every correct answer. The total maximum score for these 3 sections remain at 120. The Analytical & Logical Ability section is the most scoring section with 30 questions carrying maximum 2 marks for each correct answer making it the only section that could award 60 marks for 30 questions.
Although candidates will be allowed to attempt any section in any order, sectional cut off will be there. One shall have to score at least a minimum cut off score in each of the four sections.
GK in SNAP is tricky: Be a regular on it
The test takers coming out of the exam hall after every SNAP test are categorically unanimous on the fact that GK questions are found more difficult in comparison to other questions. GK in SNAP is more based on in-depth study of Business and economics. Out of the 40 questions on General Knowledge and current affairs a large number in SNAP is found to be more difficult.
Candidates usually are not able to answer more than 15-16 questions in this section, although GK is considered a good scoring section. In fact the 110 questions in sections of Quantitative Ability & data Interpretation; Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension; Analytical & Logical Ability are not found so difficult.
Make a good study Plan
Candidates should now gear up for the next 4 months strategy to prepare the more important topics. In view of Prof. S.K. Agarwal, expert on SNAP 2016 entrance examination preparation, candidates should focus on key topics to score more apart from concentrating on their strong areas and improving the weak ones. Getting a good score in this test may get the aspirant into one of the top 14 Symbiosis B-schools.
Sectional composition of SNAP 2016
Quantitative Ability
This section has 3 parts with 40 questions in all, namely Quantitative Ability, Data sufficiency and Data Interpretation. The section is expected to be moderate. It is therefore, advisable to improve your weak areas as there is time enough to do this exercise and work consistently on your strong areas. Questions based on DI and DS may be solved with the support of available information. Candidates should revise and practice more to score much.
Analytical Ability
It would constitute 33% part of SNAP 2016 in terms of marks. There are 30 questions of 2 marks each. Hence despite fewer number of questions, the weightage to this section is more. The topics are limited one may organise the studies systematically by placing more focus on following topics.
Seating Arrangements; Matching puzzles; Constraint based arrangements; Blood Relations – family tree; Syllogism; Proposition based followed by either deductive or inductive argument; Assumptions; Statements; Sets; Binary logic; Venn Diagrams; Clocks and Calendars; team formation; Analogy.
Problems on Analytical and logical Ability are based on natural human logics, so they can be understood and solved fairly easily, if proper attention is paid to this section. It serves as an aid to facilitate your entry to the top B-schools since it improves your percentile with a little logical understanding of the reasoning based questions.
Verbal Ability & Reading comprehension
6 to 8 questions on error corrections based on grammar, tenses, and correct application of fundamentals, are expected in SNAP 2016 besides 6-8 questions on Reading comprehension. There are 40 questions of 1 mark each in this section and if these two parts are duly taken care of one third of Verbal Ability module is done.
Reading comprehension passage is about a length of 500 words followed by 5-6 questions. The passage is not very difficult but a regular reading practice is required to understand and crack the same. Types of questions are like tone of the passage, title of the passage, main idea of the passage, explaining the phrases and words and one or two questions on the information given in the passage.
Error corrections in Phrasal verbs, syntax, passive voice, conditional sentences, reported speech, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles must be covered to score more in this section. The shape may be finding out the correct/incorrect sentences, fill in the blanks or spotting out the usage in different forms. It is an important part of Verbal Ability section and SNAP 2016 would give more weightage to correct contextual usage
General Awareness
Candidates must have been preparing this section by regularly reading the newspapers, periodicals and visiting the stock of General Awareness question bank. Now, it is time that you should split this section in 3 parts and focus on individual preparation – i) Current Affairs-National & International ii)Business & Economics iii) Conventional (currency, capital, personalities, inventions & discoveries, books etc.). You should refer to the material backwards beginning from the first week of December 2016 as the test paper must have been prepared by that time.
Don’t forget the Negative Marking
Each wrong answer in SNAP 2016 will attract 1/4 negative marks. Please remember you have to use only blue or black ball point pen while answering the questions.
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