IIFT Exam Analysis 2024

IIFT 2024 Exam Analysis: Pattern, Difficulty Level, Expected cut off for Delhi & Kolkata campuses

 

IIFT 2024 Expected Exam date is December 10, 2023. IIFT entrance exam for MBA IB admission 2024 will be conducted in a single slot in 68 Cities from 10 AM to 12 noon as computer based test by National Testing Agency. 40000+ candidates are expected to register and apply for IIFT 2024.

 

Immediately after the IIFT exam gets over, MBAUniverse.com will release the IIFT 2024 exam analysis based on the feed back received from test takers at different centers. The IIFT question paper duration is 2 hours. The exam is expected to have 110 total questions as were last year.  This change will help the test takers to maximise their score with fewer questions. MBAUniverse.com has been the first to release the IIFT analysis in previous years immediately after the exam was over and will release IIFT 2024 Exam Analysis from 12.15 AM onwards on the IIFT exam date.  

 

But before we go deep into details of IIFT 2024 Exam Analysis, it is important to know the IIFT 2024 Exam duration, expected time to publish IIFT Analysis, IIFT Exam Pattern and IIFT exam day guidelines so that you can appear in the exam stress free.

 

IIFT 2024 Exam: Total Questions & Duration

• IIFT 2024 Exam Date: December 10, 2023 (Expected)
• IIFT 2024 Total Questions and Test Duration: 110 Qs in 120 Minutes
• Section-1 VARC Questions: 35 MCQ type Questions
• Section-2: Quant Questions: 25 MCQ type questions
• Section-3: DILR Questions: 30 MCQ type questions
• Section-4: GK Questions: 20 MCQ type questions

IIFT 2024 Paper Analysis: Check Exam Pattern
IIFT 2024 will have following structure and pattern of IIFT Exam

IIFT 2024 Exam Components	IIFT 2024 Pattern
Test duration	2 hrs (120 Minutes)
Test sessions/Slots	1 (10 AM to 12 Noon)
Total questions	110
Total score	300
Number of Sections in IIFT question paper	4 (VARC; QA; DILR; GK)
Individual Sectional Time Limit	None; Any question from any section within overall time limit
Total questions in VARC Section	35
Total Questions in DILR section	30
Total Questions in QA section	25
Total Questions in GK Section	20

IIFT Paper 2024: Sectional composition & Scoring Pattern
IIFT paper analysis 2024 will be based on the sectional order from Section-1 to Section-4, number and type of questions in each section, marking scheme and total maximum marks available for each section as shown below:

Section	Total questions	Mark awarded for each correct answer	Max sectional marks out of 300
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	35	3	105
Quantitative Analysis	25	3	75
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	30	3	90
General Awareness (GK)	20	1.5	30
Total	110	--	300

What are the things to carry on IIFT exam day? Check Here
You must carry the following to IIFT exam centre to appear in the IIFT 2024 exam, else you may not be allowed to take the exam:

• Your IIFT Admit Card with photo affixed on it
• Covid Self Declaration form duly signed
• Mask & Gloves
• Personal hand sanitizer (50ml)
• Transparent water Bottle
• 2 simple pens  

IIFT 2024 Analysis by MBAUniverse.com: Key Features and Highlights
IIFT exam 2024 analysis by MBAUniverse.com will consist of following:

• IIFT Exam Analysis will be released on the exam day 
• IIFT Analysis will reflect upon key changes in exam pattern, type of questions, scoring pattern
• IIFT 2024 Analysis will also reflect upon overall and sectional difficulty level as compared to previous years
• The IIFT Analysis will also share expected cut off score for different percentile range say 80 to 99
• Apart from IIFT Analysis by MBAUniverse.com, the IIFT Analysis by top IIFT coaching institutes like IMS, CL, TIME will also be published with their take on cut offs

MBAUniverse.com IIFT 2024 Exam Analysis: Key Coverage Areas
MBAUniverse.com IIFT 2024 Analysis will be published immediately after the exam is over. It will cover the following:

1. IIFT Exam Pattern & key changes
2. Variation as compared to last year in Topics, Type of Questions for each section
3. Changes in questions  
4. Any Surprise elements in IIFT 2024 Exam paper
5. Exam Difficulty Level: Overall & Section wise Analysis by Experts
6. Required Good Attempts: Overall and Section wise
7. Sectional Cut off Predictions as per the difficulty level
8. Overall IIFT 2024 cut offs predictions by Experts for each of the three slots to help the aspirants to assess their performance and check their call chances by top B-schools
9. Percentile Predictions & Cut off IIFT score range

Watch for detailed Overall & Sectional IIFT 2024 Analysis at 12.15 PM on IIFT exam day by MBAUniverse.com 

 

IIFT 2023 Entrance Exam Analysis

IIFT entrance exam for MBA (IB) Admission 2023 is over. The exam was conducted on Sunday December 18, 2022 by NTA in total 68 exam cities from 10PM to 12 Noon. The computer based test was conducted in a single session of 2 hour duration.  NTA did not conduct the exam at any city/centre which was not opted by a minimum number of 200 candidates.

 

MBAUniverse.com is the first to release below the overall and sectional analysis for IIFT exam 2023 after the exam is over.  IIFT Exam analysis 2023 from top coaching institutes like IMS, CL, TIME will also be published with expected cut offs for the benefit of test takers to assess their chances of shortlisting. 

IIFT Percentile Predictor LIVE Now - Check your CAT Percentile Score in 5 mins now

IIFT Exam analysis 2023: Key Coverage Areas

• IIFT exam analysis covers following areas:
• Overall and sectional IIFT Exam pattern
• Exam difficulty level,
• Key changes in the exam
• Good attempts with  expected sectional and overall cut offs for IIFT campuses.

IIFT 2023 Exam Analysis: Key Highlights
IIFT exam pattern 2023 has been changed for MBA admission 2023. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducted IIFT MBA 2023 entrance exam has changed its number of sections, number of questions, scoring pattern among other changes. Following are the key highlights of IIFT 2023 MBA entrance test:

• IIFT 2023 exam timing is changed to 10 AM to 12 Noon from 3PM to 5 PM
• IIFT Entrance exam is now a computer based test and not a paper based test
• IIFT 2023 exam has 4 Major Sections instead of 6 earlier.
• Each section has different number of questions
• IIFT exam is now conducted by NTA and not by IIFT
• VARC, Quant, DILR had same scoring pattern while GK has different scoring pattern
• 4-5 RC Passages followed by 14-16 questions appeared in the exam. Passages are of moderate difficulty level
• IIFT has launched its new Kakinada campus with 5 year IPM program with 40 seats in 2022

IIFT exam pattern consists of multiple choice objective type questions. The computer based IIFT 2023 exam is of 2 hours duration. IIFT paper pattern 2023 is a single session test

IIFT Percentile Predictor LIVE Now - Check your CAT Percentile Score in 5 mins now

IIFT 2023 Overall Analysis: Exam Pattern
IIFT 2023 entrance test consists of multiple choice objective type questions (MCQs). IIFT 2023 pattern is divided into 4 sections comprising questions on Verbal Ability; English Reading Comprehension; General Knowledge & Awareness; Logical Reasoning; Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis. IIFT Exam pattern and scoring pattern is as under:

Section	Total questions	Mark awarded for each correct answer	Max sectional marks out of 300
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	35	3	105
Quantitative Analysis	25	3	75
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	30	3	90
General Awareness (GK)	20	1.5	30
Total	110	--	300

IIFT Cut offs for Admission 2023 & Good Attempts
The overall cut-off in IIFT entrance exam is more than the sum of all the sectional cut-offs. The section wise and overall IIFT cutoffs and good attempts to clear the cut offs are shared as below:

IIFT Paper Sections	Good Attempts	Likely Cut offs
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	18-20	30-32
Quantitative Analysis (QA)	10-11	12-14
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	10-12	18-20
General Awareness (GA)	12-14	8-9
Overall	50-57	122-124

 

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IMS IIFT Exam Analysis 2022

The entrance test for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) for the batch 2022-2024 was held on December 18, 2022. The test was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). There was no change in the pattern from last year. The paper  had 4 sections and a total of 110 questions. The number of questions in each section and the marking scheme also remained the same as IIFT-December-2021. The structure of the test, and IMS suggestion of time allocation along with expected cut-off are given below:

Section	No. of Questions	Marks per question**	Total marks	Suggested Time Allocation* (minutes)
Quantitative Ability	25	3	75	30-35
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension	35	3	105	30-35
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	30	3	90	35-40
General Awareness	20	1.5	30	5-10
Total	110		300

*Section Time Limit: None

**Negative Marks for incorrect answer: QA, VARC, and DILR -1 ;  Gen. Awareness  - 0.5

 

Verdict

Overall Score	Expected %ile
131	99%ile
94	95%ile
81	90%ile

In IIFT exam, the overall cut-off is significantly more than the sum of the sectional cut-offs. Therefore, since there is no sectional timing, a student should attempt a few questions in each section and devote more time and maximise the score in the sections of his/her strength.

 

* The cut-off is for general category male students. Going by the trend of the previous years, we expect the cut-off for OBC candidates at 100-105 marks and that for SC-ST students at 80- 85 marks. Further, we expect the cut-off for female students to be lower by around 5-7 marks in each category than corresponding cut-offs for male students.

 

Quantitative Ability

This was the toughest section in this question paper. The correct selection of questions will decide the performance of a student. Several questions were lengthy and time-consuming in general. This section was dominated by questions on Geometry and Arithmetic. Out of 25 questions in the section, 8 were on Arithmetic, 8 on Geometry, followed by 5 on Modern Math, 2 on Algebra, 1 on Numbers and 1 on Calendar. One of the trigonometry questions was from advanced trigonometry.

Sr. No	Topic	No. of Questions	Topic & LOD
1	Modern Math	5	3 Medium (A.P., 3D Venn Diagram, Probability),  2 Difficult (Probability, PnC)
2	Arithmetic	8	1 Easy (Ratio), 7 Medium (Mixture & Alligation, Profit & Loss, TSD, Clocks, SI-CI, Work Pipes & Cisterns) 1 Difficult (SI-CI)
3	Geometry	8	1 Easy (Mensuration), 4 Medium (Triangles, Coordinate G., Rectangle, Circle) 3 Difficult (Circle, Trigonometry)
4	Algebra	2	1 Medium (Quadratic Equation),  1 Difficult (Simplifications)
5	Numbers	1	1 Easy (LCM)
6	Miscellaneous	1	1 Easy (Calendar)

A total attempt of about 8-9 questions with 80-85% accuracy in about 30-35 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability
The Section was of Medium difficulty level. The majority of the questions in VA were based on Vocabulary. There were 16 Reading Comprehension questions based on 4 passages and 19 Verbal Ability questions. The passages were all of almost the same length with around 600 words. The Verbal Ability part was dominated by Vocabulary. All 19 questions were vocabulary based questions. Overall, the VARC section was similar to last year in difficulty level. It is wiser to attempt the VA questions first. One could spend about 12 minutes and attempt about 11 or 12 questions in VA; then turn to RC and attempt 10 or 12 questions in the remaining time of about 15 -20 minutes. Overall one could attempt 20 to 22 questions in the Section.

Passage Topic	No. of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Positive Self image through self programming (Approx. 600 words))	4	Easy
Currency Manipulation (Approx. 550 words)	4	Difficult
Global Economic and Political imbalances (Approx. 600 words)	4	Medium
Extract from ‘The World is Flat”by Thomas Friedman (Approx. 600 words)	4	Easy

Verbal Ability

Crossword based questions	02	Difficult
Spelling based question - misspelled word	01	Easy
Cloze (Paragraph with 4 blanks)	01	Medium
Match the word with its meaning	01	Medium
Idioms	03	Easy
Identify the correct word - meaning given	02	Easy
Meaning of roots	02	Easy
Antonyms	02	Easy
Collective Nouns	02	Easy/difficult
One Word substitution	02	Easy
Identify the language of foreign words	01	Medium

An attempt of about 20 to 22 questions including RC with 80-85% accuracy in about 35 minutes would be considered a good attempt.

 

Data Interpretation-Logical Reasoning

Out of the 30 questions in the section, 16 questions were on Data Interpretation (Four sets with four questions each) and 14 questions were on Logical Reasoning. Overall, this section was medium to difficult. The Data Interpretation sets appeared more difficult than they actually were. Two out of four DI sets had multiple graphs. The questions were based on observation as well as calculations. The set based on Percentage Bar Graph was logical in nature. The DI set based on Pie chart and Line graph was fairly calculation intensive. However, the other sets involved relatively simpler calculations. Out of the 14 questions on Logical Reasoning, 13 were spread across five sets (one set with four questions, one set with three questions, and three sets having two questions each). There was only one standalone question in LR and it was based on Groups & Conditionalities (Team Selection). The LR set with four questions involved tournaments (Game of coin), the set with three questions involved circular arrangement (3 men from developed countries and 2 from developing countries representing WHO were sitting around a circular table), and the other 3 sets with 2 questions each were based on single-row arrangement (Office cabins), network diagram (Transportation) and puzzle (Quiz competition with positive and negative marking in three rounds, questions were based on maximum and minimum values). There was no question on Verbal Reasoning in the section this year in comparison to last year when there was a single question. Overall, the questions on DI were easier than that on LR. Moreover because DI and LR were combined in the same section, ideally students should have aimed at solving the majority of DI questions before attempting LR questions. One should not have missed the 8 easy DI questions and 2 easy LR questions

 

The following table shows the break-up of the sets in the section:

Set	Type of set	Number of questions	Difficulty Level
Data Interpretation
1	Two Pie Charts	4	Easy
2	Pie Chart + Line Graphs	4	Medium
3	Percentage Bar Graph	4	Medium-Difficult
4	Table (partially-filled )	4	Easy
Logical Reasoning- Set based
1	Tournaments	4	Difficult
2	Circular Arrangement	3	Medium
3	Linear Arrangement	2	Easy
4	Network Diagram	2	Medium
5	Puzzle  (Quiz Competition)		Difficult
Logical Reasoning- Standalone
1	Groups & Conditionalities (Team Selection)	1	Medium

An attempt of about 12-14 questions with 80-85% accuracy in 35-40 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

General Awareness
The General Awareness section had 20 questions. The section consisted of normal MCQs and match the column questions (2 column questions) typical of IIFT. The Section was predominantly on Current Affairs and none of the questions were typical Static GK. A majority of the questions - about 15 - were based on International Affairs and 5 or 6 questions on National Affairs. Overall the difficulty level of the GA Section was comparable to that of last year. Several questions were from IMS GK material, especially the Compendium. An attempt of about 10 to 12 questions with about 60-70% accuracy in about 6 to 8 minutes would be considered a good attempt

Previous Year IIFT Exam Analysis

Below is given the previous years IIFT Exam Analysis with exam pattern, difficulty level, cut offs and other important details  

IIFT 2022 Exam Analysis: Key Highlights
IIFT exam pattern 2022 has remained same for MBA admission 2022. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducted IIFT MBA 2022 entrance exam on December 5, 2021, has not changed its number of sections, number of questions, scoring pattern among others. Following are the key highlights of IIFT 2022 MBA entrance test:

• IIFT 2022 exam timing was changed again to 10 AM to 12 Noon from 3PM to 5 PM last year
• IIFT Entrance exam remained a computer based test and is no longer a paper based test
• IIFT 2022 exam had 4 Major Sections instead of 6 earlier.
• Each section had different number of questions
• VARC, Quant, DILR had same scoring pattern while GK had different scoring pattern
• 4 RC Passages followed by 16 questions appeared in the exam. Passages were of moderate difficulty level
• IIFT Questions paper for admission 2022 consisted of multiple choice objective type questions with negative marking.
• Overall Difficulty level is moderate as compared to last year

IIFT to Launch New Campus in 2022
IIFT entrance exam was conducted for admission to Delhi, Kolkata and proposed Kakinada campuses. IIFT proposes to launch its new Kakinada campus with 60 seats in 2022. Dar-es-Salaam campus of IIFT has also started operating. Number of seats for MBA(IB) 2022-24 batch has also gone up to 500+ in Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

 

7 Cities where IIFT Exam will be held Later
Out of the 68 test cities, NTA did not conduct IIFT entrance exam in following seven cities due to the cyclone which was expected to hit the coastal areas of Odisha on 04.12.2021 and the consequent disruption of normal  life in the coastal areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. It has been decided to postpone the exam scheduled to be held on 05.12.2021 at the exam centres in the following cities, to a later date - Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar, Sambalpur, Cuttack, Kolkata and Durgapur. Besides, NTA did not conduct the exam at any city/centre which was not opted by a minimum number of 200 candidates. 

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 IIFT 2022 Overall Analysis: Exam Pattern
The computer based IIFT 2022 exam was of 2 hours duration

• IIFT paper pattern 2022 was a single session test and the exam was held in 61 test cities across India.
• IIFT 2022 entrance test consisted of multiple choice objective type questions (MCQs).
• IIFT 2022 pattern was divided into 4 sections comprising questions on Verbal Ability; English Reading Comprehension; General Knowledge & Awareness; Logical Reasoning; Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis.

IIFT Exam pattern and scoring pattern is as under:

Section	Total Questions	Mark awarded for each Correct Answer	Max sectional marks out of 300	Difficulty Level
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	35	3	105	Moderate
Quantitative Analysis	25	3	75	High
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	30	3	90	Moderate to High
General Awareness (GK)	20	1.5	30	Moderate
Total	110	--	300	Moderate to

IIFT Cut offs for Admission 2022 & Good Attempts
The overall cut-off in IIFT entrance exam is more than the sum of all the sectional cut-offs. The section wise and overall IIFT cutoffs and good attempts to clear the cut offs are shared as below:

IIFT Paper Sections	Good Attempts	Likely Cut offs
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	18-20	30-32
Quantitative Analysis (QA)	10-11	12-14
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	10-12	18-20
General Awareness (GA)	12-14	8-9
Overall	50-57	122-124

Category-Wise IIFT Cut offs

Category	Likely IIFT Cut offs for MBA (IB) Admission 2022
General Male	122-124
General Female	115-118
OBC Male	105-110
OBC Female	98-105
SC-ST Male	75-80
SC-ST Female	70-75

IIFT Exam Analysis by IMS

The entrance test for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) for the batch 2022-2024 was held on December 05, 2021. The test was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

 

There were no changes in the pattern from last year. The paper had 4 sections and a total of 110 questions. The number of questions in each section and the marking scheme also remained the same as IIFT-January-2021.

 

The structure of the test, and IMS suggestion of time allocation along with expected cut-off are given below:

Section	No. of Questions	Marks per question**	Total marks	Expected Cut-off (General Category Male)	Suggested Time Allocation* (minutes)
Quantitative Ability	25	3	75	10-12	30-35
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension	35	3	105	32-35	30-35
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	30	3	90	20-22	35-40
General Awareness	20	1.5	30	6-7	5-10
Total	110		300	123-127

*Section Time Limit: None **Negative Marks for incorrect answer: QA, VARC, and DILR -1; Gen. Awareness - 0.5

 

Verdict

Section	General Category (Male) Expected Cut-off
Quantitative Ability	10 – 12
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension	32 - 35
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	20 - 22
General Awareness	6 - 7
Overall	123 - 127

In IIFT exam, the overall cut-off is significantly more than the sum of the sectional cut-offs. Therefore, since there is no sectional timing, a student should attempt a few questions in each section and devote more time and maximise the score in the sections of his/her strength.

 

* The cut-off is for general category male students. Going by the trend of the previous years, we expect the cut-off for OBC candidates at 100-105 marks and that for SC-ST students at 80-85 marks. Further, we expect the cut-off for female students to be lower by around 5-7 marks in each category than corresponding cut-offs for male students.

 

Quantitative Ability

This was the toughest section in this question paper. Several questions were lengthy and timeconsuming in general. This section was dominated by questions on Modern Math and Arithmetic. Out of 25 questions in the section, 8 were on Arithmetic, followed by 7 on Arithmetic, 6 on Geometry and 3 on Algebra.

Sr. No	Topic	No. of Questions	LOD
1	Modern Maths	8	1 Easy, 2 Medium, 5 Difficult
2	Arithmetic	7	2 Easy, 3 Medium, 2 Difficult
3	Geometry	6	2 Easy, 2 Medium, 2 Difficult
4	Algebra	3	2 Easy, 1 Difficult
5	Numbers	1	Easy

A total attempt of about 9-10 questions with 80-85% accuracy in about 30-35 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability

Though the Section was overall of Medium difficulty level, the Reading Comprehension part was difficult. However, since the majority of the questions in VA (Vocabulary and Grammar) were Easy the section as a whole became easy to deal with. There were 16 Reading Comprehension questions based on 4 passages and 19 Verbal Ability questions. The passages were of varying lengths from 600 to 1000 words. The two longer passages had 5 questions each, and the two shorter passages had 3 questions each. Both the five-question passages were difficult and the shorter passages were easy. The Verbal Ability part was dominated by Vocabulary related questions with 12 questions on 19. And, there were 7 questions based on grammar. Overall, the VARC section was slightly easier than last year. It is wiser to attempt the VA questions first. One could spend 15 to 20 minutes and attempt about 12 or 13 questions in VA; then turn to RC and attempt 8 or 9 questions in the remaining time of about 15 minutes. Overall one could attempt 20 to 22 questions in the Section.

Passage Topic	No. of Questions	Level of Difficulty
On Theory, Conceptual framework, and Dustbowl Empiricism,(Approx. 1000 words)	5	Difficult
Low-context and high-context communication, (Approx. 750 words)	3	Easy
Religion, Morality and Social Order (Approx. 600 words)	3	Easy
Behavioural Science and Overexploitation of Natural Resources, (Approx. 1000 words)	5	Difficult

Verbal Ability

Verbal Ability	No. of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Identify the words with correct spellings	01	Easy
Identify Sentences with correct word usage	03	Easy
Identify the Language of the - Root Word	02	Easy
One word substitution - Meaning	02	Easy
Foreign phrases - Identify the language	02	Easy
Antonyms	01	Easy
Idioms	01	Medium
Identify the correct Sentences	03	Easy
Identify sentences with the appropriate usage of underlined words	02	Medium
Spot the error	02	Medium

An attempt of about 20 to 22 questions including RC with 80-85% accuracy in about 35 minutes would be considered a good attempt.

 

Data Interpretation-Logical Reasoning

Out of the 30 questions in the section, 16 questions were on Data Interpretation (Four sets with four questions each) and 14 questions were on Logical Reasoning. Overall, this section was medium to difficult.

 

The Data Interpretation sets appeared more difficult than they actually were. All the DI sets had multiple graphs. The questions were based on observation as well as calculations. One set was fairly calculation intensive. However, the other sets involved relatively simple calculations.

 

Out of the 14 questions on Logical Reasoning, 12 were spread across four sets (two sets having three questions each, one set having four questions and one set having two questions). There were four standalone questions. The standalone LR questions were relatively straightforward and should not have been missed. The three LR sets involved one set on tournaments and two sets on matrix arrangement. There was one set with two questions on family tree. There was no set on Sequential Output. Out of the two standalone questions, one question was on Verbal Reasoning. That was the only question on Verbal Reasoning in the section.

 

Overall, the questions on DI were easier than that on LR. Moreover because DI and LR were combined in the same section, ideally students should have aimed at solving the majority of DI questions before attempting LR questions.

 

The following table shows the break-up of the sets in the section:

Set	Type of set	Number of questions	Difficulty Level
Data Interpretation
1	Two pie charts	4	Easy-Medium
2	Four line graphs	4	Easy-Medium
3	Bar + Table	4	Difficult
4	Two bar graphs	4	Medium
Logical Reasoning- Set based
1	Tournaments	3	Medium-Difficult
2	Matrix Arrangement	4	Difficult
3	Matrix Arrangement	3	Medium-Difficult
4	Family Tree	2	Easy
Logical Reasoning- Standalone
1	Coding-Decoding	1	Easy
2	Verbal Reasoning	1	Easy

An attempt of about 12-14 questions with 80-85% accuracy in 35-40 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

General Awareness

The General Awareness section had 20 questions. The section consisted of normal MCQs and match the column questions (2 column questions) typical of IIFT. There were 5 static GK questions and 15 Current Affairs questions. Questions covered a wide range of areas including sports, geography, awards, brands & logos, government schemes, international organizations, national affairs, etc. and gave no special advantage to people who may be experts in a particular area.

 

The GA section this year was Easy and less difficult than last year. Several questions were from IMS GK material An attempt of about 11 to 12 questions with about 60-70% accuracy in about 8 to 9 minutes would be considered a good attempt. Interface Overall conduct of the test was smooth and no major glitches were reported. The test layout was similar to that of CMAT. There were tabs for different sections and a question palette to navigate through the questions to the right. A number of questions required vertical as well as horizontal scrolling. Hiding the question palette would have helped students to see the whole question at one go.

 

Like in CAT, students could also view PDF of the question paper PDF. Students could have used this feature effectively, especially for DI 

IIFT Exam 2021 Analysis

Below is shared the IIFT 2021 exam analysis –overall and sectional with good attempts and cut offs 

 

IIFT Exam 2021 Overall Analysis: Exam Pattern
IIFT exam consisted of multiple choice objective type questions. The computer based IIFT 2021exam was of 2 hours duration. IIFT paper pattern 2021 was a single session test and the exam was held in 68 test cities across India on January 24, 2021. 

 

IIFT Exam 2021 Overall Question Paper, Total Questions, Scoring Pattern
IIFT 2021 entrance test consisted of multiple choice objective type questions (MCQs). The exam was divided into 4 sections comprising questions on Verbal Ability; English Reading Comprehension; General Knowledge & Awareness; Logical Reasoning; Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis. IIFT Exam pattern and scoring pattern is as under:

Section	Total questions	Mark awarded for each correct answer	Max sectional marks out of 300
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	35	3	105
Quantitative Analysis	25	3	75
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	30	3	90
General Awareness (GK)	20	1.5	30
Total	110	--	300

IIFT 2021 Sectional Analysis
IIFT 2021 exam analysis for all the four sections with good attempts and overall expected cut off is shared below:

 

Section: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
Key highlights of the section are:

• Total Questions: 35
• Total Maximum Marks: 105

Verbal Ability

• Total Questions based on VA: 19
• Vocabulary Based Questions : 11
• Type of Vocabulary based questions: Synonyms, Cross-word table sets
• Grammar Based Questions: 5-6
• Jumbled Paragraphs: 3
• Difficulty level: Moderate to Difficult

Reading Comprehension

• RC Passages: 4
• Each RC passage followed by 4 questions
• Total Questions based on Reading Comprehension: 16
• Length of RC Passages: Two passages of around 550 words and two passages around 800 words
• Long passages consumed more time to answer the questions
• Difficulty level of RC passages: Moderate to Difficult

Overall Sectional Difficulty level as compared to last year: Slightly higher

 

Good Attempts
17 to 19 questions out of 35 with 85% accuracy in 32-35 minutes could fetch a high percentile

 

Section: Quantitative Analysis
Key highlights of the section are:

Total questions: 25

Total Maximum Marks: 75

• 11 Questions based on Arithmetic
• 5 Questions were on Geometry
• 5 Questions Based on Algebra
• 4 Questions were based on Modern Maths
• Lengthy & Time consuming questions
• Difficulty level was higher than last year
• Good Attempts: 8-9 Questions with 85% accuracy in 30-35 minutes would fetch a good percentile suitable for cut offs

Section: Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning
Key highlights of the section are:

 

Total questions: 30

Total Maximum Marks: 90

• Data Interpretation Part had 16 Questions
• 4 Sets of questions; each set was followed by 4 questions
• Calculation based questions
• Answer options were very close
• No option like None of these
• Logical Reasoning (LR) had 14 questions
• Standalone LR questions: 4
• Questions based on Sets: 10 questions based on three sets. Two sets with 4 questions each and 1 set with 2 questions
• Type of LR Sets: 1 set based on tournaments; 1 set on circular arrangement
• LR was easier than DI
• Difficulty level: Moderate to difficult
• Good Attempts: An attempt of 11-13 questions with 85% accuracy in 40 minutes would fetch required cut off percentile for IIFT Delhi and Kolkata campuses

Section: General Awareness
Key highlights of the section are:

 

Total questions: 20

 

Total Maximum Marks: 30

• Two column match the answer questions 
• Static GK Questions: 9
• Current Affairs Questions: 11
• Questions based on wide range of areas
• Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult
• Good Attempts:  An attempt of 8-9 questions with 70-75% accuracy in about 8-10 minutes can fetch required sectional cut off percentile

IIFT 2021 Cut offs for Shortlisting
Overall and sectional IIFT 2021 expected cut offs are as under:

Section	Expected Cut off  Marks
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension	32-34
Quantitative Analysis	12-14
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	17-19
General Awareness	8-10
Overall Cut off  Marks	116-120

IIFT Exam 2021 Analysis by IMS

Below is the IIFT 2021 analysis as shared by IMS Learning with difficulty level, sectional and overall cut offs and other details about the exam:

 

IIFT- January 2021 Analysis
The entrance test for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) for the batch 2021-2023 was held ONLINE, on January 24, 2021. The test was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). 

 

There were no major changes in the pattern from the last year. Like IIFT-2020, the question paper of IIFT-2021 also had four sections and a total of 110 questions. The number of questions in each section and the marking scheme also remained the same like that in IIFT-2020. 

 

The structure of the test, the number of questions in each section, suggested time allocation along with expected cut-off was as shown below:

Section	No. of Questions	Marks  per question	Total marks	Negative Marks/ incorrect response	Expected Cut-off*	Suggested time allocation  (minutes)
Quantitative Ability	25	3	75	-1	10-12	30-35
Verbal Ability  and Reading Comprehension	35	3	105	-1	33-36	30-35
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning	30	3	90	-1	18-20	35-40
General Awareness	20	1.5	30	-0.5	6-7	5-10
Total	110		300		125-130

(Note: In IIFT exam, the overall cut-off is significantly more than the sum of the individual sectional cut-offs. Therefore, ideally, a student should have attempted a few questions in each section and devoted more time and attempted maximum questions from the sections from his/her strength. The time allotment and ideal attempt in each section have beenmentioned from the point of view of a student who wants to maximize his/her score inthat section.)

 

* The cut-off shown in the table pertains to the cut-off for general category  students. Going by the trend of the previous years, we expect the cut-off for OBC  candidates at 100-105 marks and that for SC-ST students at 80-85 marks. 

 

Data Interpretation-Logical Reasoning
Out of the 30 questions in the section, 16 questions were on Data Interpretation (Four sets with four questions each) and 14 questions were on Logical Reasoning. Overall, this section was medium to difficult. 

 

Data Interpretation sets were fairly calculation intensive. Some questions asked in the DI sets involved complex calculations. There were questions such as ‘Which of the following is third highest’ etc, which have been traditionally asked in IIFT exam. Similarly the options to questions were also not very close and did not have too many ‘None of these’ or ‘Cannot be determined’ options. 

 

Out of the 14 questions on Logical Reasoning, 10 were spread across three sets (two sets having four questions each and one set having two questions) and there were four standalone questions. The standalone LR questions were relatively straightforward and should not have been missed. The three LR sets involved one set on tournaments and one set on circular arrangement. There was no set on Sequential Output or family tree.

 

Overall, the questions on LR were easier than that on DI. Moreover because DI and LR were combined in the same section, ideally students should have aimed at solving the majority of LR questions before attempting DI questions.    

 

The following table shows the break-up of the sets in the section:

Set	Type of set	Number of questions	Difficulty Level
Data Interpretation
1	Line graph + Bar (on Average sales)	4	Line graph + Bar (on Average sales)
2	Bar graph + Line	4	Difficult
3	Table	4	Medium
4	Pie chart + Table	4	Easy-Medium
Logical Reasoning- Set based
1	Circular Arrangement	4	Medium-Difficult
2	Tournaments	4	Medium
3	Scheduling	2	Medium
Logical Reasoning- Standalone
1	Linear arrangement	1	Easy
2	Coding	1	Easy
3	Puzzle	2	1 Easy + 1 Medium

An attempt of about 12-14 questions with 80-85% accuracy in 35-40 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability

This year as well Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability were combined into a single section. However, the overall question pattern did not deviate much from last year with 16 Reading Comprehension Questions and 19 VA Questions. The 16 Reading Comprehension questions were distributed equally among 4 passages. Two of these passages had lengths between 500 & 600 words and the remaining two passages were longer with 800 - 900 words each.  Each passage had 4 questions to be answered.  Because of the increased length, the two longer passages were more challenging to comprehend and attempt. Most of the questions were in the moderate to difficult range. One observation was that passages needed to be horizontally scrolled as well as vertically which made it more time-consuming to read.

 

The Verbal Ability part was dominated by vocabulary related questions with around 10 to 11 vocabularyrelated questions. The vocabulary table question sets (crosswords and synonyms) were particularly time-consuming with only two questions to answer and hence should have been avoided or attempted towards the end. Apart from these, some typical IIFT-style questions (match the synonyms/meanings) made their presence felt. Grammar (5 questions) and Jumbled Paragraph (3 questions) also had questions that should not have been missed.

 

Overall, the VARC section was slightly more difficult than last year’s VARC section in IIFT considering the two lengthier RC passages.   Since time constraint is severe in IIFT, attempts in RC are often moderate. The two shorter passages should have been attempted (14 – 15 minutes). These should have been attempted after VA questions had been attempted (for around 18 - 20 minutes) in order to maximize overall VARC attempts. 

Passage Topic	No. of Questions	Type of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Jonestown: Effects of social influences on human (Approx. 800 words)	4	2 Specific Detail 1 Application 1 Main Idea	3 Medium, 1 Difficult
Influence of culture on the economy (Approx. 500 words)	4	2 Specific Detail 1 Inferential 1 Main Idea	1 Easy, 3 Medium
Obama and the Liberals Vs Conservative Divide (Approx. 800 words)	4	3 Specific Detail 1 Inferential	4 Medium
Plastic Packaging: Pollution and Economic Costs of Replacing Plastic Packaging (Approx. 500 words)	4	4 Specific Detail	4 Easy

Verbal Ability

Verbal Ability	No. of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Table of Words (Crossword and Synonyms)	02	2 Medium
Match the Synonyms	02	2 Easy
Identify the Synonym - Root Word	04	4 Easy
Identify Grammatically Correct Sentence (s)	03	3 Medium
Identify Grammatically Incorrect Sentence (Question Tag)	02	2 Easy
One-Word Substitution	03	3 Easy
Jumbled Paragraphs	03	2 Medium, 1 Easy

An attempt of about 18 to 20  questions including RC with 80-85% accuracy in about 35 minutes would be considered a good attempt.

 

General Awareness
The GA section this year was of Medium difficulty level, similar to last year. The General Awareness section had 20 questions. The section consisted of normal MCQs and match the column questions (2 column questions) typical of IIFT.

 

There were 9 static GK questions and 11 Current Affairs questions.  Static GK questions were slightly more in number as compared to last year.  Questions covered a wide range of areas and gave no special advantage to people who may be experts in a particular area.

 

An attempt of about 8 to 10 questions with about 60-70% accuracy in about 7-8 minutes would be considered a good attempt.  

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Quantitative Ability
This was the toughest section in this question paper. Several questions were lengthy and timeconsuming in general. This section was dominated by questions on Arithmetic. Out of 25 questions in the section, 11 were on Arithmetic, followed by 5 on Geometry and 4 on Algebra and 4 on Modern Maths. 

Sr. No	Topic	Easy	Medium	Difficult	Total
1	Arithmetic	7	2	2	11
2	Geometry	1	4		5
3	Algebra	2	1	1	4
4	Modern Mathematics	2	2		4
5	Numbers		1		1
	Total	12	10	3	25

A total attempt of about 9-10 questions with 80-85% accuracy in about 30-35 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

Overall

Overall conduct of the test was smooth and no major glitches were reported. The test layout was similar to that of CMAT. There were tabs for different sections and a question palette to navigate through the questions to the right. A number of questions required vertical as well as horizontal scrolling. Hiding the question palette would have helped students to see the whole question at one go. 

 

Like in CAT, students could also view PDF of the question paper PDF. Students could have used this feature effectively, especially for DI.

IIFT Exam 2020 Analysis

IIFT 2020 Exam was conducted from 10AM to 12 noon on December 1 by NTA as computer based test. IIFT MBA (IB) 2020 entrance exam conducted as computer based test for the first time threw many surprises. Number of sections were reduced to four, Varying scoring pattern scrapped for VARC, Quant, DILR; maximum score has gone up at 300. IIFT 2020 has remained on moderate difficulty level. The likely cut offs for IIFT Delhi and Kolkata campuses may remain between 115 to 120

 

39572 candidates have registered and applied for IIFT MBA (IB) 2020 admission and it is reported that about 35000 candidates have taken IIFT MBA 2020 entrance test vying for 420 total seats in IIFT Delhi Kolkata and Kakinada campuses. 

 

National Testing Agency (NTA) was assigned the task of conducting IIFT 2020 MBA entrance exam for the first time. On December 1, 2019, National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted first computer based IIFT MBA entrance exam in more than 225 test cities. However, NTA did not conduct IIFT MBA 2020 entrance exam at any city/centre which was not opted by a minimum number of 200 candidates.

 

IIFT 2020 Analysis: Exam Pattern Overhauled
Apart from converting IIFT MBA entrance exam a computer based test, IIFT has changed its exam pattern by varying the number of sections and questions this year. The questions were not straight forward and were of varying difficulty level and of twisted type.

 

IIFT 2020 Analysis: Exam Highlights

• Exam pattern: Computer Based
• Type of Questions: MCQs
• Total maximum marks: 300
• Total Questions: 110
• Total Sections: 4 (VARC, Quant, DILR, GK)
• Individual Sectional Time Limit: No
• Overall IIFT Exam Time Duration: 2  Hours ( 10 AM to 12 Noon)
• Scoring Pattern: 3 Marks for each correct answer for VARC, Quant, DILR
• GK Section Scoring Pattern: +1.5 for each correct answer,-0.5 for each wrong answer
• Negative Marks: -1 for each wrong answer (For GK -0.5 for each wrong answer)
• RC passages rated lengthier
• DI More calculation intensive
• LR Moderate
• GK more finance & international events based
• Overall Difficulty level: Moderate
• Likely Cut off: 120 to 125 out of 300 for Delhi/Kolkata campuses
• IIFT Kakinada campus yet to take off

On the basis of IIFT 2020 entrance exam merit, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade will shortlist the candidates for 420 seats in MBA (IB) 2020-22 batch at its Delhi, Kolkata and the Kakinada campuses.

 

IIFT 2020 MBA entrance exam was the first computer based test as against the earlier paper based test. IIFT 2020 Exam was conducted in a single session of 2 hours duration from 10 A.M. to 12 Noon. MBAUniverse.com is the first to publish the IIFT exam analysis – overall and sectional, immediately after the IIFT exam has got over.

 

The IIFT Computer Based Online Test consisted of multiple choice objective type questions (MCQs) to be solved in 120 minutes. The major sections consisted of English Grammar, Vocabulary and Comprehension; General Knowledge & Current Affairs; Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis. There was no sectional time constraint.

 

IIFT 2020 Analysis in Detail
The  IIFT exam timing was from 10 morning to 12 noon while the IIFT exam 2020 reporting time was 8 AM. No candidate was permitted to enter the CAT test centre after 9.30 AM. The pre exam activities at IIFT exam centre, like Entry in the Examination Centre/Hall/Room, physical frisking, document verification, Invigilators recording manual attendance and Biometric registration at registration desk, Cross checking of admit card, signature and photo match, was completed by the invigilator latest by 9:30 A.M.. After this the invigilators in the IIFT testing hall started issuing the instructions to the candidates.

• Date of IIFT Examination: Sunday 01.12.2019
• Mode of IIFT MBA 2020 Entrance Examination: “Computer Based Test (CBT)” mode only
• IIFT 2020 Exam Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
• Reporting time at IIFT Exam Centre: 8 A.M.
• Security Check Time: 8 AM to 9.30 AM
• Entry to Exam Centre officially allowed: 9 A.M.
• IIFT Exam Centre Gate Closed: 9.30 AM
• Instructions by the Invigilators: 9:30 a.m. to 9:50 a.m.
• Candidates Login Started (only to read instructions): 9.50 A.M.
• IIFT Entrance Test Commenced: 10:00 A.M.
• IIFT 2020 Entrance test Over: 12.00 Noon

IIFT 2020 Exam Analysis: Test Pattern
IIFT Exam pattern and sectional score weightage in shortlisting remain as under:

Section	Total questions	Mark awarded for each correct answer	Max marks 100	Expected attempts
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension	35	3	105	24+
Quantitative Analysis	25	3	75	11+
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning	30	3	90	13+
General Awareness (GK)	20	1.5	30	10+
Total	110	--	300

IIFT 2020 Exam Analysis: Key changes
IIFT Exam Analysis reflects many changes as compared to last year, although the overall IIFT 2020 exam remained on the moderate difficulty level:

• IIFT 2020 exam had 4 Major Sections instead of 6 with variable number of questions
• IIFT Exam format changed to Computer based test
• First IIFT exam conducted by NTA
• VARC, Quant, DILR had same scoring pattern while GK had different scoring pattern
• 5 RC Passages followed by 16 questions appeared in the exam. Passages were considered lengthier
• Data Interpretation questions were more calculation intensive
• Quant was moderate
• More Arithmetic intensive questions appeared in IIFT 2020 MBA entrance exam

IIFT 2020 Exam Analysis: Overall Cut Offs
It is expected that the IIFT 2020 cut offs for MBA (IB) admission 2020 will be somewhere between 115-120 marks out of 300. However, the shortlisting by IIFT will depend upon the sectional cut offs also. If a candidate does not clear the sectional cut off, he/she will not be considered for shortlisting by IIFT for any of its three campuses

 

Although IIFT does not shortlist the candidates campus wise, the expected overall cut offs for each of the three IIFT campuses may remain as under:

IIFT Campus	IIFT Delhi	IIFT Kolkata	IIFT Kakinada
Expected Cut off	118-120	115-118	110-115

IIFT 2020 Exam Sectional Analysis
IIFT 2020 was divided into four sections and the section wise analysis is shared below:

 

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) 
The VARC section in IIFT 2020 on December 1 was not very difficult. Following are the sectional highlights:

 

IIFT 2020 Exam VARC Analysis: Highlights

• Easier than last year
• VARC section had 35 questions
• Maximum score available was 105 marks
• RC Based questions were 16
• Varbal Ability consisted of 19 MCQs
• Good Attempts: All 16 RC Based questions were doable. 10-12 questions in Verbal Ability were doable and could be solved without deploying too much efforts.
• Grammar based 3 questions were on easier side. Parajumbles were doable and the questions on Fill in the Blanks were also not difficult. 
• 25+ questions with 90 percent accuracy could fetch you 55-60 marks.
• Expected Sectional Cutoff: 30-34 marks

IIFT 2020 Exam Quantitative Aptitude Analysis
The Quant section in IIFT 2020 on December 1 was a bit lengthy as per the past trends of IIFT exam. Following are the sectional highlights:

IIFT 2020 Exam Quant Analysis: Highlights

• QA section in IIFT 2020 had 25 questions (All MCQs)
• Maximum available score was 75 marks
• More Arithmetic based questions were in this section
• Section was lengthy demanded more time
• Estimated time to solve the 12-14 questions was 32-35 minutes with 85% accuracy
• 12-13 questions could be considered good attempt to fetch 30 marks
• Expected cut off: 10-12 marks out of 75

IIFT Exam 2020 DILR Analysis
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) in IIFT 2020 was on different pattern. LR was found more difficult than DI although DI was considered more calculation intensive.

 

IIFT 2020 Exam DILR Analysis: Highlights

• DILR Section had 30 questions (All MCQs)
• Maximum available score was 90 marks out of 300
• LR was more difficult than DI
• 3 DI problem sets out of four sets were moderate and could be solved
• In Logical Reasoning, the questions based on Missing number, set theory, input-output were easier than the question sets on circular arrangement and mirror
• Candidates could attempt 9-10 questions from DI and 5-6 from LR  
• An attempt of 13-14 questions with 90% accuracy could fetch 30-32 marks
• Expected Sectional cut off could be 14-15 marks out of 90
• It is expected that an overall IIFT score cut off  could go in the range of 115 to 120 marks out of 300. 

IIFT 2020 Exam Analysis: 7 Key Changes & Components
IIFT exam analysis 2020 on December 1, 2019 by MBAUniverse.com will cover following 5 important areas:

1. IIFT 2020 MBA entrance exam is conducted by NTA for the first time
2. IIFT Exam in December 1, 2019 is a computer based test as against paper based test till last year
3. Important firsts and key changes in IIFT 2020 Exam Pattern, Scoring Pattern, Number of Questions
4. IIFT Exam Difficulty Level overall and section wise
5. Overall and section wise division of questions with best attempts
6. Expected IIFT exam cut offs for MBA (IB) 2020 – overall & sectionwise
7. IIFT MBA (IB) 2020 exam analysis by T.I.M.E., CL, IMS among other top preparation institutes 

IIFT 2018 Exam Analysis

IIFT 2018 exam has got over at 12 Noon on December 2, 2018 as a computer based test. Candidates found the IIFT exam at higher difficulty level than last year. The expected cut offs for shortlisting by IIFT may go down to 34-36 marks out of the 100 total marks. The IIFT 2018 exam analysis reflects the IIFT exam pattern, key changes and ideal attempts to improve your scores. Since last year, IIFT has changed its exam pattern by increasing the number of sections to 6 while the overall weightage to sections remains the same. 

 

IIFT 2017 exam had more surprises than expected. The exam had 6 sections instead of earlier 4.  Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Quant and General Awareness were separated this year.

 

The Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension had to be attempted separately. RC questions and English usage (Verbal Ability) questions could not be compensated by each other. The Verbal Ability was rated as very tough. The focus was more on English Usage, Grammar, vocabulary, idioms, phrases.

 

Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning are segregated now. Candidates could not attempt and compensate DI questions to LR questions.

 

General Awareness (GK) also remained as a difficult section and most of the candidates could not perform very well in GK and Verbal Ability sections in IIFT 2017 exam. 

 

Overall Analysis

• Total questions were reduced to 114
• IIFT 2017 had 6 sections, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation, Verbal Ability based on English usage, Reading Comprehension, General Awareness
• The 120 minutes test was found to contain very difficult questions in Verbal Ability section. Most of the candidates couldn’t solve more than 30 to 40% questions.
• Candidates scoring low in IIFT 2017 can expect a high percentile
• Candidates found it difficult to crack more questions in GK section with good attempts.
• Cut-off in the GK and Verbal Ability sections is expected to go down as compared to last year.
• GK is expected to have cut off below 1 mark 

Sectional Analysis

 

Logical Reasoning (LR)

• Total questions: 20
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Format of questions: In sets as well as individual questions

Topics of LR problems:
Question were based on:

• Team based questions
• Statements-conclusions
• Problem on 5 MBA students
• 5 Players
• Coding machine generating pass codes

Quantitative Aptitude

• Total questions: 20
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Format of questions: Individual questions

Topics of Quant questions:
Question were based on:

Arithmetic

• Simple Interest
• Man Days and work
• Ratio
• Cost
• Percentage
• Filling of overhead tank

Geometry, Algebra, Log

• Triangles
• Rectangular Plank
• Diagonal  distance
• Circumference
• Probability

Data Interpretation

• Total questions: 20
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Format of questions: In sets of 2 to 5 questions

Topics of DI questions:
Question were based on:

• Data on Import-Export-Tables
• Wholesale price and inflation trends-Table
• Company’s production and average output data –Table
• Monthly prices on commodities in US dollar - Table
• Traffic handled by Ports – data table

Verbal Ability

• Total questions: 20
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Format of questions: Individual questions

Topics of questions: All questions on English Language usage Question were based on:

• Identify type of phrases-5 questions
• Inserting punctuation marks-3 questions
• Correction of underlined parts of sentences in passage – 5 questions
• Analogy
• Placement of words at appropriate places
• Matching the prefix and suffix

General Awareness (GK)
General Awareness questions were a mix of questions on currencies, appointments, personalities, business and economy among others.

• Total questions: 18
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Format of questions: Individual questions

Topics of questions: All questions on English Language usage Question were based on:

• Matching the logos of Airlines
• Make in India
• Ease of doing business
• Personalities – Cricketers
• Matching the stock markets to countries
• Currency of the country
• Port being built by India in Iran
• Which product not endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador

Reading Comprehension

• Total RC passages: 4
• Total questions: 16
• Type of questions: MCQs
• Each RC passage followed by 4 questions

Topics of RC passages:   
All the 4 RC passages were of moderate difficulty level

• Competitors and the analytics
• Groupon as the fastest growing company
• Transformation in reading
• Crisis on Currency

IIFT 2017 exam Analysis by Career Launcher (CL)
This year’s paper was designed to literally test the endurance of the students. Unlike last year, IIFT did not prove to be easy or moderate. The paper was excruciatingly lengthy and some of the questions were agonizingly tricky. Questions in English came from unfamiliar areas. Hence, the overall difficulty level of the paper went a few notches higher. The total number of questions went down to 114. 

 

Sectional Analysis

Section	Difficulty level	Analysis
General Awareness	Difficult	General Awareness (GA) was on the tougher side Questions were based on Business, economy, brands, personalities, sports, Geography and others
English Usage	Difficult	The Verbal Ability section of IIFT threw in major surprises. Questions required some technical knowledge of semantics and sentence structure. No guess work was logically possible Out of 20, a good student could have attempted 12 questions
Reading Comprehension	Moderate	Reading Comprehension went back to its usual lengthy self. Three out of the four passages belonged to the area of Business and Economics. The questions were not difficult. Out of 16 questions, around 12 were fact based. A student, who has a good reading speed, could have easily attempted 12-14
Quantitative Ability	Moderate	Difficulty level of this section increased significantly compared to last year. The section was evenly distributed between Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. Few questions required knowledge of Trigonometry A well-prepared candidate could have attempted 11-12 questions in 28-30 mins.
Logical Reasoning	Moderate	Apart from the 5 questions on matrix (MBA students), which was lengthy, and one of the sets between input-output and football the rest of the questions were easy to moderate. All other sets were easy in nature and could have been attempted. All singlets were very easy and must have been attempted all in order to maximize. A good candidate could have attempted 12-13 questions in 25-30 min.
Data Interpretation	Difficult	An attempt of 5-6 would be very good and students who had attempted just about 2-3 questions with 100% accuracy should sail through the cutoff

Expected cut offs by CL
Cut-off for General category students is most likely to be in the range of 38-40 marks. The corresponding figures for NC/OBC and SC/ST/PWD should be around 33-35 and 28-30 marks respectively. The cutoff for ST might go lower if number of applicants are lesser.

 

Sectional cut offs

	Section	Total Max.Marks	Expected Cut-off
Section 1	General Awareness	09	0.83-1
Section 2	English Usage	20	3
Section 3	Reading Comprehension	16	4.5
Section 4	Quantitative Ability	20	3.5
Section 5	Logical Reasoning	20	4
Section 6	Data Interpretation	15	1.5
	Overall	100	38 - 40

IIFT 2017 exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.
The total number of questions that appeared in IIFT this year was 114 as compared to 123 last year. The reduced number of questions, however, was offset by the increase in the number of sections, from 4 to 6.   With there being 6 sections this time, VA and RC as separate sections along with LR and DI, students needed to manage their time across sections extremely deftly to ensure that they go past the sectional cut-offs. 

 

Sectional Analysis

Section	Difficulty level	Analysis
General Awareness	Difficult	Students needed to be extremely well prepared to get a good score in this section to help their overall cut-off. The questions were very wordy and going through this text ate away into the test time. The 2 RC type questions were to be left out straight away, especially considering the fact that the mark per question is only 0.5. Out of a total of 18 questions, four questions could be classified as easy ones and another four as moderate ones. 8-9 questions could be considered to be a good number of attempts in this section!
Verbal Ability	Difficult	The questions in this section were mostly based on English Grammar viz., identifying various phrases/ clauses in the given sentences, Punctuation, and Prefix/Suffix. There were questions based on Analogies, creating a word out of jumbled letters and identifying its meaning, and replacing a part of a given sentence by the correct one. The questions on adverb/adjective/noun phrases/clauses made this section appear like a test for the English language rather than an aptitude test. The entire section was difficult barring a couple of punctuation questions. 8-10 would be a good number of attempts in this section.
Reading Comprehension	Moderate	The RC passages, though fairly lengthy, were definitely readable. Most of the questions that followed the passages were difficult in nature requiring involved reading, multiple times.  There were 4 passages, with 4 questions each. The passages were from diverse areas. While one was on ‘Entrepreneurship, & Business (Groupon)’, another one was on ‘Literature’, whereas the remaining two were on ‘Financial crisis’, and ‘Business Management’.  8-10 attempts can be considered to be good in this section.
Quantitative Ability	Moderate to difficult	The difficulty level of this section was higher as compared to that from last year. Questions were lengthier, though mostly moderate to difficult. This section had a good mix of questions from diverse topics. There were only about three questions which could be classified as relatively easy ones - one from Sequence & Series, one from Co-ordinate Geometry, and another from Functions. The remaining questions were either moderate or difficult to handle during the test. A good candidate would have been able to attempt around 10-12 questions in QA.
Logical Reasoning	Easy to Moderate	This section can be said to the sole easier section, relatively, in this paper, supplying much-needed relief to the students. The overall difficulty level of this section was moderate. A good number of attempts in this section can be considered to be 8-10 questions The questions on Input-output were time-consuming and would have needed a good amount of concentration. One of the questions in this set required the students to pay attention to detail (input to be mentioned in reverse order). The questions based on ‘distribution’ in the first set, though not very difficult, were time-consuming, whereas the second set of ‘distribution’ was relatively easier. The games and tournament questions might have seemed slightly trickier in the first glance, however, they were actually pretty easy. The question on logical deductions was pretty much straightforward for somebody who has gone through the basic concepts pertaining to this topic. The data sufficiency questions were based on coding-decoding and arrangement and were on the easier side.
Data Interpretation	Difficult	DI was a definite tough nut to crack. With large amounts, if data/graphs to work with, there was no relief to the students. Add to this, the ambiguity in a couple of questions (growth to indicate absolute growth or percentage growth??), we sure have a recipe to brew trouble. The calculations were huge in some sets (Merchandise imports/exports). There were a total of three sets of five questions each, one set of three questions, and one with two. All the sets were based on Tables and/or Line Graph. Almost all the questions were calculation intensive and were very lengthy. 5-8 could be a good number of attempts in section

Expected cut offs by T.I.M.E
The overall cut-offs are bound to move south to be around 40±2 marks. The sectional cut-offs are expected to be as below

 

Sectional cut offs

	Section	Total Max.Marks	Good attempts to clear  sectional Cut-off
Section 1	General Awareness	09	0.75-1.5
Section 2	Verbal Ability	20	2-3
Section 3	Reading Comprehension	16	3-4
Section 4	Quantitative Ability	20	3-4
Section 5	Logical Reasoning	20	4-5
Section 6	Data Interpretation	15	2-3

 

Sectional Analysis

Section	Difficulty level	Analysis
General Awareness	Difficult	Students found GK this year a bit tougher than last year.  A few of the GK questions were in paragraph form and a few were based on match the column. Only 5 questions were direct MCQ type. There were mixtures of topics checking general awareness of the candidate across the all areas. Attempt by Good Student: 8 – 10
Verbal Ability	Difficult	The Verbal Ability portion of the exam had an extremely strong emphasis on Vocabulary and grammar based questions. Vocabulary was also a very dominant part of this section The words given belong to the moderate to tough category making the attempt in this part less. Attempt by Good Student: 9 – 11
Reading Comprehension	Moderate to difficult	The RC section was relatively difficult and featured long RCs as compared to last year’s RCs. There were four passages with 4 questions each. The level of RCs varied from moderate to difficult Overall a student could have easily solved at least two passages in given time. The questions were more of inference based rather than facts based, which made this section challenging. Attempt by Good Student: 11 – 12
Quantitative Ability	Moderate to difficult	Some of the questions were calculation intensive. Questions related to Number System, SI, Ratio & Allegation can be easily doable. Question based on Logarithm was very lengthy. Attempt by Good Student: 10 – 12
Logical Reasoning	Moderate	There were four AR blocks. One AR block on (MBA Students) was moderate while other three AR blocks (ISL, Swarna Shatabdi Express & Sports related) were easy to moderate. There were two questions on directions which were easy and two questions were on DS and they were also doable. There were four questions on Input Output and they were moderate. Attempt by Good Student: 16 – 18
Data Interpretation	Moderate to Difficult	There were four sets on Tables and one set on Mixed Graph. Set on mixed graph and set on wholesale price index were very calculation intensive Sets on commodity prices and port traffic were of moderate level and doable. The set on moving averages was very difficult and should not have been attempted. Attempt by Good Student: 7 – 9

 

Expected cut offs by Bulls Eye
To maintain the cutoff, in all the six sections, was really a difficult task and a lot of student will end up in not clearing cutoffs in one or two sections.

 

Sectional cut offs

	Section	Total Max.Marks	Good attempts to clear  sectional Cut-off
Section 1	General Awareness	09	8-10
Section 2	Verbal Ability	20	9-11
Section 3	Reading Comprehension	16	11-12
Section 4	Quantitative Ability	20	10-12
Section 5	Logical Reasoning	20	16-18
Section 6	Data Interpretation	15	7-9

The expected overall score at which one can expect a call from IIFT will be around 40+.

 

IIFT 2017 exam Analysis by IMS
The overall structure of the IIFT 2017 was markedly different from that of 2016. The difficulty level also went much further. IIFT 2017 had SIX sections instead of the four Sections that we found in 2016 and 2015. The total number of questions in the test was 114 which was down from 123 in 2016.

Another surprise was the weightage given to each DI question (0.75 marks) was lower than that for each question in the LR Section (1 mark). IIFT-2017 was, in short, fewer questions, more difficult and a greater number of cut offs to cover!

Like in the previous years, each question had 4 options and carried negative marks of 1/3rd of the allotted marks for each question.

 

Sectional Analysis

Section	Difficulty level	Analysis
General Awareness	Difficult	The GA section this year was difficult. With 18 questions in all with 0.5 marks for each and 1/3rd (0.17) negative, the questions were long with a lot to read. Many questions tested knowledge of several things in one question itself using the match the columns format. Only 5 out of the 18 questions were of the simple MCQ types that we generally anticipate in a test. The short and long questions were a mix of general awareness in the true sense covering all the areas. The GA Section was thus a good leveller, giving no special advantage to people well-aware in a particular area.  Questions on business awareness dominated. However, there were questions on Music, Sports, Government Policy, International relations. Media etc. Serious candidates who are well prepared for general awareness ought to be able to attempt about 10 questions in about 10 minutes.
Verbal Ability	Difficult	The Verbal Ability Section of IIFT 2017 was difficult and technical. All the questions in this section were based on the English Language as a subject rather than on reasoning or analysis. The questions tested the principles of grammar like “adverbial phrase” etc. as options, and Vocabulary. The vocabulary questions asked about prefixes, suffixes, anagrams etc. They were also technical. All the question types in this section were unlike what are generally found in competitive examinations.  None of the anticipated question types like synonym, antonyms, etc., were present. If last year the test carried questions based on crossword, this year there were anagrams questions. Error spotting was also in an unfamiliar format of a paragraph with several sentences underlined. A serious candidate with fairly good awareness of grammatical principles and vocabulary will be able attempt about 12 to 14 questions with 80 per cent accuracy in about 15 minutes.
Reading Comprehension	Moderate	IIFT 2017 Reading Comprehension kept to the general IIFT norm with 4 passages and 4 questions on each passage. The length and the difficulty level were as one expected in IIFT. The passages were lengthy but readable and the questions were direct and easy. Since time constraint is severe in IIFT, attempts in RC are often moderate. A serious candidate should be able to attempt about 10 questions with 80 per cent accuracy in about 20 minutes.
Quantitative Ability	Moderate to difficult	This section was dominated by Geometry and Arithmetic. Some questions in this section were rather difficult. In fact, one question on infinite series involving logarithms was way too difficult and it required understanding of Taylor series, which is usually not expected in MBA entrance exams. Selection of the right questions to attempt was very important. Students who worked with options and eliminated options that were incorrect would have been able to save significant time. A total attempt of about 14-15 questions with 80-85% accuracy in about 35-40 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.
Logical Reasoning	Moderate	This section was dominated by sets on arrangements. An attempt of about 11-13 questions in 30-35 minutes at about 80-85% accuracy would be considered a good attempt.
Data Interpretation	Difficult	Usually DI sets in IIFT are fairly calculation intensive. DI sets in IIFT-2017 were one (or rather two) notch above the DI sets in recent IIFT exams. There were 5 sets with 3 sets with 5 questions, one set with 2 questions and one set with 3 questions. Most of the sets were data heavy. As a result, interpretation of the data and understanding the question were time-consuming. The selection of sets to attempt was very important. The set with two questions was the easiest of the lot and must not have been missed. An attempt of about 7-9 questions in 25-30 minutes would be considered a good attempt in this section.

 

Expected cut offs by IMS
We expect the overall cut-off for the next round of admissions for IIFT-Delhi, IIFT-Kolkata and IIFT-Kakinada to be around 37.5-39.5 marks for General Category of students. For SC/ST/PH category of students, it is expected to be around 30 marks while for OBC (NCL) category of students, it is expected to be around 35.5 marks.

Sectional cut offs

	Section	Total Max. Marks	Expected Cut-off
Section 1	General Awareness	09	1.15
Section 2	Verbal Ability	20	3.67
Section 3	Reading Comprehension	16	2.66
Section 4	Quantitative Ability	20	3.66
Section 5	Logical Reasoning	20	3.5
Section 6	Data Interpretation	15	1.75

 

IIFT 2016:  Appeared similar to last year but much different

The IIFT 2016 appeared very similar to the IIFT 2015 and IIFT 2013 papers. However, though on first look IIFT 2016 test paper appeared easier than the last year’s paper, on careful analysis, it looks as if the paper is bit difficult than the paper of 2015.

 

Unlike the previous years, the RC wasn't as lengthy and the DI wasn't as calculation intensive.

 

The Verbal areas, surprisingly was not easy. Given the fact there that were 20 questions with quite a few vocabulary intensive ones, though they appeared easy, there was good chance that students would make a lot of mistakes in this area. The cut-off for this section may be lower than that of last year. The RC section, however, was easy though there were two longer passages.

 

The General Knowledge section, as usual, was difficult for many students. The cut-offs are expected to be very low.

 

LRDI: Section with errors

Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation section with 42 Questions had highest weightage of  36.5 Marks out of maximum overall 100 marks for the IIFT 2016 exam. The difficulty level was considered moderate although Logical Reasoning was a bit more tough.

 

Area	Total Qns	Marks/Qns	Total Marks	Negative Marks
Logical Reasoning	22	0.75	16.5	0.25
Data Interpretation	20	1	20	0.33

 

Overall, the LR and DI section together commanded the highest marks in the paper. One expects that a good student would have spent the maximum time in this section and attempted close to 30 questions and probably 25 worth of marks.

 

The accuracy level in this section is usually higher and hence a potential score of 18 to 20 can be obtained if one uses the time judiciously and picks the right sets to solve.

 

Logical Reasoning

The logical reasoning section with 22 questions is definitely doable if one avoids getting stuck in one set or the other. The overall level of difficulty can be termed as moderate. Of these 22 questions, there were 5 sets of questions (3 or 4 questions each) and 5 individual questions.

 

Among the Individual (stand alone) question, there were 3 number or letter series questions, one Venn diagram question and one question on syllogism.

 

The questions in this area can be categorized under the following types of questions.

Relationship between Letters (given in a STAR form) and Analogies	-4 qns
Blood Relations & relationships among tribes	-3 qns
Circular (hexagon) Arrangement	-4 qns
Arrangement and Order sequencing	-3 qns
Distribution among Doctors, Specialty, Timings	-3 qns

Of these, the sets on Relationships and Analogies among Alphabets, Blood Relations and relationship and Circular Arrangement were doable and any student giving about 15 minutes to these sets would have been able to solve them easily.

 

Data Interpretation

The DI area had TWO sets on Bar charts (Normal and Stacked) and two sets of Tables. Surprisingly, the questions were straightforward and if one had given 20 to 25 odd minutes in this area, they could have cracked more than 15 questions in this.

 

The set on revenue and expenses is the easiest one. The Set on Foreign Investment (FI) and Domestic Investment (DI) also was easily doable. Incidentally, even the one on T-Shirt Manufacturing across 5 stores was also direct and easy. The only set, which had some calculations, though easy ones, was the table on Students in Five Kingdoms and their Pass Percentages across 5 years.

 

Overall as given above, the DI and LR section was slightly more easier than that of last year, However, since LR was more difficult and the tendency of students to attempt less of DI (at least most students!), the cutoff may not be higher than 8.5.

 

Errors spotted in question sets