IIFT 2009 Analysis

IIFT 2009 was different in many respects from previous year papers.

• The total number of questions reduced from 150 to 122, though maximum marks of the paper remained the same.
• The differential weightage scheme of the various sections became more uniform than previous years.
• RC and VA questions were clubbed in one section, though with two parts. Similarly, DI and LR merged into one section.
• The negative marking was 1/3rd this year instead of 1/4th of the marks last year.
• The uncertainty regarding ‘sectional cutoff” was quelled by the announcement that there will be sectional cutoff in the test.
• The number of sections this time was 4 compared to 6 last year.

A brief snapshot of the various sections and marking scheme is presented below:

Data Interpretation and Analytical Reasoning

DI portion comprised of 19 questions and AR portion 15 questions. In DI, the questions were easy to understand but highly calculation intensive which leads to lot of time requirement per question. However, DI this time was still close to half as time consuming as has been in the previous years. Since the only time consumed in DI portion was in doing the question, the best strategy for DI is to avoid the questions which involve too lengthy calculations and do only those questions across all the sets which demand relatively less calculation intensity. Spending approximately 20 minutes in this section would suffice to lead to number of attempts to be 8 – 9 questions.

In the Logical/Analytical Reasoning portion, input-output based questions, 3 in number, should have been avoided altogether given the kind of weird logic usually involved in such questions. Further, the set involving pay scales of Government Department should have been avoided given the amount of time required to be spent in logically understanding the set. There is another question involving Prime Minister and expansion of the cabinet, which requires high time input but only 1 question is asked. Out of rest of the 7 questions, 5 could have been easily done by the students in another 15 minutes.

So, in total of 35 minutes, students can attempt minimum 13 – 14 questions. The net score of 9 – 10 in this section for IIFT Delhi, whereas 7 marks for IIFT Kolkata should suffice to clear the cutoff.

General  Awareness

Unlike previous years, this time the section strung a pleasant surprise to the students. Rather than sticking to grueling questions, this time the section could be more logically solved if one has been regularly reading newspapers, business magazines (like Business World) etc.

The maximum time allocation to this section should not exceed 10 minutes in which the attempts on the highest side could be 15. But, optimal attempt in this section could be easily 10 – 11. Even if a student attempt 10 questions with 1 or 2 wrong attempts, he/she could have a score of at least 3, which seems to be a likely cutoff for IIFT Delhi and 2 – 2.5 for IIFT Kolkata. However, a score in the range of 4.5 – 5 was not unachievable for the high performers.

Quantitative Aptitude

In this section, very few questions can be considered to belong to “Higher Math” ones. Some of the questions were time consuming to read and hence should have been avoided. The maximum time to be allocated to this section should be 40 minutes. Instead of rushing to do too many questions, maintain a slightly lower attempt with focus on accuracy. So, an attempt of 12 – 13 should suffice with reasonable accuracy, thereby attaining a score of 9 – 10. Cutoff for IIFT Delhi should be in the range of 7 whereas same for IIFT Kolkata should be 5.

Reading Comprehension and Verbal  Ability

A total time allocation to this section is 35 minutes, spending close to 15 minutes to RC and 20 minutes to VA portion.

In RC section, out of 4 passages, 2 passages were relatively smaller ones and one could have attempted these 2 passages, i.e. 6 questions with high accuracy. The remaining time should be spent on Verbal Ability portion, which is usually a very scoring section. The attempts should be high also because its weightage is low, so that one scores above cutoff.

In verbal ability, there were questions from ‘sentence correction’, synonyms, antonyms, fill in the blanks and parajumbles. None of these areas could be attempted completely, given the time constraints and also that a few questions are wrong. So, ideal strategy is to attempt 2 – 3 questions from each area, thereby ensuring an attempt of 12 – 15 questions, i.e. attempt of 7 – 9 marks.

In all, in this section we have a total attempt of 18 – 20 questions or 13 – 15 marks. Given a good level of accuracy, one can hope to achieve a score of 7 – 8, which should be the possible cutoff for IIFT Delhi, whereas a score of 5 – 6 for IIFT Kolkata. Below is presented the summary of the above analysis:

All the Best, Team MBAGuru

Disclaimer: The above cutoffs are only suggestive in nature and may differ from the actual cutoffs. Roots Education cannot be held responsible for any decision taken by the candidate on the basis of the above information.

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