SNAP 2016: Exam Analysis - Easy but lengthy paper; expected cut off at SIBM Pune - 60 marks

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
December 18, 2016
SNAP 2016 was easy but lengthy, although candidates got stuck in the Logical Ability area in the paper, the Quant was easy
Expected cut off at SIBM Pune could be 60 marks, while it could be 58 for SCMHRD and 50 for SIBM Bangalore

Latest Update: SNAP 2017 Analysis: Lengthy Reasoning, difficult Quant to bring down cut offs at SIBM Pune

SNAP 2016, gateway to 15 Symbiosis B-schools was held today on December 18 in paper pen mode in 2 hour testing window in a single session from 2PM to 4PM in 32 exam cities across the country.

The first reactions after the paper was over was unanimous. The paper was easy but lengthy. Though people were stuck in the Logical Ability area in the paper, the Quant was pleasantly & not so surprisingly, easy.
The General Awareness section also was not difficult and hence the feeling was good once students came out of the exam hall.

Latest Update: SNAP Cutoff 2017

Highlights of SNAP 2016

  • The SNAP 2016 paper had 150 questions and 150 marks. With the number of questions in GK section getting reduced to 30 (from 40 as the authorities would have realized that it is futile to check the non-existent GK aptitude of students!)
  • The no of questions in LA section increased to 40 (from 30), but the marks allotted came down. The SNAP paper had 2 marks for each LA question till last year.
  • As is its wont, SNAP test had emphasis on Arithmetic in the QA section. In the Verbal Section and the QA section, it was a bit of a surprise to get two sets each of RC and DI respectively.
  • The overall paper was similar in difficulty to that of the previous year. However, since the total marks in the overall paper have reduced, the overall cutoff will also go down proportionately.

SNAP 2016 Paper Pattern

Duration of the paper
120 min
No of Questions
150
No of Sections
4
Marking pattern
+ 1
Negative marking
1/4th of the allotted mark
Total Marks allotted
150

 

S.no
Sections
Total Marks
No of Questions
1
General English
40
40
2
Quantitative Ability
40
40
3
General Awareness: General Knowledge, Current Affairs, Business Scenario
30
30
4
Analytical & Logical Reasoning
40
40
 
Total
150
150

SNAP 2016 Analysis & Cutoffs
Sharing the expert analysis Prof Arks Srinivas, CEO VistaMind Education says that SNAP is an exam that requires the student to keep moving on and not waste time on any question that he/she is not able to answer. Solving 150 questions in 120 minutes requires presence of mind and tremendous speed! That is less than a minute per question.  Considering that there are 30 questions of General Knowledge, it is still required a different mindset and speed (a la T20 match in Cricket) to be able to ace the SNAP exam.

Ideal Time Break-up
The ideal time break-up should have been as below with the number of attempts that a good student should have made to ensure a call from the top Symbiosis Institutes

S.no
Sections
Expected time for the section in minutes
Expected number of attempts
Expected Marks
1
General English
30
30 - 32
22 – 24
2
Quantitative Ability
40
20 - 22
18 – 20
3
General Awareness:
8 -10
8 - 10
3 - 4
4
Analytical & Logical Reasoning
40
16 - 18
14 – 16
 
Total
120
74 – 82
57 – 64

General English
The English section had no surprises except that there were 2 passages of Reading Comprehension for a total of 11 marks. The two RCs, though long, had very simple and easy questions. Any student who had given time to attempt the RC passages would have got full marks in the same.

There were almost 10 Fill-in-the-blank (FIB) questions with various types. Four of which were of single blank and single word, two of them with a similar word meaning words to be selected for a single blank and 4 others which required one to understand the usage of homonyms (similar sounding words but with different meanings) to answer the FIBs.

The English section had liberal dose of Vocabulary with Synonyms, Antonyms, Analogies and Idioms and Phrases accounting for 14 marks.

There were 3 Para-jumble questions (not very difficult) and 2 Critical Reasoning questions, which were easily doable.

Overall the paper was doable and a student who gives about 30 minutes in this section would have easily attempted close to 30/32 questions (or even more) and a get a comfortable score of 20+

Sub Area
# Of Questions
Difficulty Level
Fill-in-the-Blanks (Single Blank)
4
Easy
Fill-in the-Blanks (Single blank, with same meaning)
2
Easy
Fill-in-the-Blanks (Homonyms)
4
Easy to Moderate
Vocab
3
Moderate
Synonyms
3
Difficult
Antonyms
3
Difficulty
Idioms and Phrases
2
Easy
Analogies
3
Moderate
Para Jumbles
3
Easy to Moderate
Critical Reasoning
2
Easy to Moderate
READING COMPREHENSION
11
Easy
TOTAL
40
Easy to Moderate

Quantitative Aptitude
The Quant section was very much on the lines of the previous SNAP papers. There was a heavy tilt towards Arithmetic with about 9 questions in the same. Algebra (if we include Numbers in this) would be the highest weightage area in the SNAP paper as there were 12 questions in this (of which 6 questions were from Numbers area itself).

The surprise, however, was that there were 7 questions in Geometry and Mensuration.

A good student should have spent about 40 minutes in this section and he/she could have identified at least 22 to 25 questions that were easy.

However, having said the above, it is normal that most students always find the Quant area either tough or lengthy! Hence, a good score in this section would be any thing more than 18!

Area
Topic
No of Questions
Arithmetic
 
9
Algebra
 
6
Numbers
Number Theory
6
Pure Math
 
4
Geometry
 
7
Miscellaeneous
Venn Diagram and Others
2
DATA Interpretation
Tables (3) + PIE Charts (3)
6

Analytical and Logical Reasoning (LR)
This section was a nightmare for a lot of students. The fact that they have increased the number of questions and reduced the marks (instead of 2 marks per questions, in SNAP 2016, each logic had only 1 mark for the correct answer) made it difficult for students to score more in this section.

Except for a few questions on Series and Input/Output type, most of the questions in LR were either difficult or time consuming.

There were questions on Clocks, Calendars, Blood Relations, Coding-Decoding type among others. Some of the questions resembled the question types that come in MENSA puzzles!

Overall this section was difficult. Ideally, the student should have spent about 30 odd minutes and attempted around 15 to 20 questions.

The extra time (that could have been allotted to this section) should have been allotted to either English or the QA area to maximize scores. A good score in this section would be 14+

General Awareness
The SNAP people were true to their word. The questions were from the current affairs and general knowledge areas and that too from the past two years.

A student who follows news would have found this section actually easy (for a change!). A good attempt in this section would be around 10+ questions and getting a positive score of 4 or more.

Top Institute cut offs
Expected cut off at SIBM Pune could be 60 marks, while it could be 58 for SCMHRD and 50 for SIBM Bangalore. The anticipated cut offs in top B-schools is shared below

Institute
Expected cutoff mark
SIBM Pune
60 – 62
SCMHRD
58 – 60
SIIB
52 – 53
SIBM Bangalore
50 – 52
SIMS
44 - 45
SITM/SIOM
40 - 42

 
15 Symbiosis Institutes to offer admission
Candidates will be shortlisted for 15 Symbiosis Institutes affiliated to Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune on the basis of scores obtained in SNAP 2016 for admission to the flagship MBA 2017-19 programme

 

Sl No.
Name of the B School
MBA Programme offered
1
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM-Pune)
MBA and MBA (Innovation and Intrapreneurship)
2
Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research (SICSR)
MBA (Information Technology)
M.Sc (Computer Applications)
3
Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resources Development (SCMHRD)
MBA and MBA (Infrastructure Management)
4
Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB)
MBA (International Business)
MBA (Agri Business)
MBA (Energy & Environment)
5
Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management (SITM)
MBA (Telecom Management)
6
Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS)
MBA
7
Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune 
(SIMC- Pune)
MBA (Communication Management)
8
Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management (SIOM- Nashik)
MBA (Operations Management)
9
Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT)
MBA (Information Technology Business Management)
10
Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS)
MBA (Hospital & Healthcare Management)
11
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru 
(SIBM - Bengaluru)
MBA
12
Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Bengaluru (SIMC - Bengaluru)
MBA (Communication Management)
13
Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance (SSBF) (Formerly Symbiosis School of Banking Management)
MBA (Banking and Finance)
14
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Hyderabad (SIBM, Hyderabad)
MBA
15
Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences (SSSS)
MBA (Sports Management)

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