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Conducted on November 25, 2007, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) reverted to the one correct answer per question format. Overall, the test was not very time-consuming and there was a fair sprinkling of questions that were easy to answer compared to last year.
Institutes accepting this exam score | IIFT |
Total Duration of the exam (minutes) | 120 |
Total number of questions | 150 |
Number of sections | 4 ( 3 sections had 2 sub-sections) |
Number of choices per question | 4 |
Negative marking | 1/3rd of the allotted mark |
Mode of marking the ovals | HB Pencil |
Overall test structure
Here's a look at what each section had in store and the expected cut-offs.
~ Section Wise Test Structure
Sections | Part | Area | No. of questions | Marks/question | Total marks |
A | I | Problem Solving | 25 | 0.90 | 22.50 |
II | Data Interpretation | 26 | 0.79 | 20.54 | |
B | I | Reading Comprehension | 12 | 0.60 | 7.20 |
II | Verbal Ability | 22 | 0.60 | 13.20 | |
C | | General Knowledge | 29 | 0.38 | 11.02 |
D | I | Logical and Analytical Reasoning | 25 | 0.74 | 18.50 |
II | Business Judgement | 11 | 0.64 | 7.04 | |
| | Total | 150 | | 100.00 |
Section A- 1: Problem solving
In Problem Solving section simple questions were scattered among the difficult ones and some of the questions were simple but time consuming. The set based on "average age" could be solved by observation.
| | Level of difficulty | ||
Topics | Number | Easy | Medium | Difficult |
Arithmetic [Numbers, BODMAS, Surds, LCM, Averages, SI/CI, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Mixture, Work and TSD] | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
Geometry | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Modern Math [Venn Diagram, Probability, Permutations] | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Advance Math [Maxima/Minima, Complex Number, Determinants, Statistics] | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Total | 25 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
Ideally one should have attempted 10-12 questions in Problem Solving sub-section with a possible accuracy of 8-11 questions.
A good score in this sub-section would be 8+.
SECTION A � II: Data Interpretation
There were 25 questions based on Data interpretation. Except the single correct option for every question, section was more or less similar to IIFT 2006.
There were 5 sets that had data in table format. 2 sets were based on observation and simple calculations. These sets should have been the first in preference in the order of attempt.
Remaining 3 sets involved lengthy calculation. Majority of the questions had the format "which of following is not false/not true/true/false". So, one had to actually work out each and every option to arrive at the correct answer.
Approximation techniques would have helped students to increase the number of attempts in this section.
Ideally one should have attempted 8-10 questions in Data Interpretation sub-section with a possible accuracy of 6-9 questions.
A good score in this sub-section would be 5+.
SECTION B � I: Reading Comprehension
There were 3 passages, which were fairly long but the style was lucid; so understanding them was not a problem. 2 passages were on business aspects and one on medical experiment. All the questions were simple and direct ones and required the students to locate the answers in the passage. A student with a good reading speed and one who is comfortable scanning the text could have located the answers very easily in the text.
SECTION B � II: Verbal Ability
The verbal ability section was fairly easy. The focus was mainly on vocabulary; so out of 22 questions, 14 questions tested one on word usage, word meaning and correct spellings of words. ]
Identify Grammatically Correct/Incorrect Sentences
There were 5 questions of this variety. The questions tested one on basic concepts of grammar like tense, modifier, parallel construction, etc. A student with a conceptual knowledge would have found the questions quite simple.
Contextual Usage of Words
There was one set where two words were used in different contexts and one had to identify the sentence where it was used incorrectly. This was slightly tricky because one has to know the subtle difference between the words.
Fill in the Blanks (paired)
This set of 4 questions again tested one's vocabulary and contextual interpretation. Some of the words in the options were not very familiar ones like 'brusque', 'impudent', etc, but arriving at the correct option was not very difficult if one understood the context properly.
Analogy
2 out of 3 analogy questions required the student to know the meanings of the stem words. The relations were easy to identify and the options were not very close.
Antonym
The words were of medium level of difficulty. A student comfortable with the language and who has been regularly solving word-based questions would not have found this set very difficult.
Jumbled Sentence
There were 2 questions where a sentence was broken up into four parts and one had to arrange them in order. Here one has to carefully consider the flow of ideas and the connectives used in the parts to arrive at the answer.
Ideally one should have attempted 20-23 questions in Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability section with a possible accuracy of 15-20 questions.
A good score in this section would be 10+.
SECTION C: General Knowledge
There were 29 questions, which covered areas like literature, geography, economics, history, sports, etc. There were also questions on current affairs, awards and prizes. The set was a mix of questions on static as well as dynamic information. A well-read student could have solved most of the questions in this section.
Ideally one should have attempted 15-17 questions in General Knowledge section with a possible accuracy of 12-14 questions.
A good score in this section would be 5+.
SECTION D � I: Logical and Analytical Reasoning
The LR section had a good blend of different types of questions. Some questions were quite simple while a few others were time consuming. A wise selection of questions could have helped to get a good score.
Level of difficulty Topics Number of Questions Easy Medium Difficult Family tree 1 0 1 0 Matrix Arrangement 3 3 0 0 Symbol based relations 3 3 0 0 Logical Puzzle (2 sets) 5 4 1 0 Numerical Puzzle 4 0 4 0 Groups and conditionality 1 0 0 1 Selection criteria 4 2 2 0 Syllogism 4 3 1 0 Total 25 15 9 1
Ideally one should have attempted 11-14 questions in Logical and Analytical Reasoning sub-section with a possible accuracy of 8-10 questions.
A good score in this sub-section would be 7+.
SECTION D � II: Business Judgment
There were 2 passages on which 11 questions were based. One had to read the passages very carefully because the questions required one to put himself/herself in the shoes of the decision maker or manager and analyse the situation. Instead of coming up with subjective decisions, one had to restrict oneself to the options given. This set was time consuming.
Ideally one should have attempted 5-6 questions in Business Judgment sub-section with possible accuracy of 4 questions.
A good score in this sub-section would be 3+.
OVERALL, a good score could be 35+ marks.
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