Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) conducted the Admission Test 2017-2019 for admission into its two-year program in International Business, on Sunday, November 27, 2016. The test was conducted across various centers in the country between 10 am and 12 noon.
This time IIFT didn’t shy away from throwing up surprises. Starting with convoluted LR sets and EU questions, doable DI sets and RCs and even providing students with a cross words puzzle in the middle of the exam. Strategy, as always, was the key. Those who followed the "No RC + No DI = an IIFT Call" would most probably be taking IIFT again next year. Spending time on DI and RC rather than EU and LR would have been very beneficial. As it turns out, the sub-sections that students shy away from were the keys to one’s success in this paper.
There was a total of 123 questions spread over four sections with a negative marking of 1/3rd of the maximum marks allotted to that question. The details of the sections are given below:
|
Section |
Total no. of questions |
Marks per question |
Total Marks |
Good Attempts |
Achievable Score |
Sectional Cutoff |
Ideal Time (in minutes) |
Section 1 |
General Awareness |
25 |
0.50 |
12.5 |
10 to 12 |
3.5 to 5 |
2 |
10-12 |
Section 2 - Part 1 |
Reading Comprehension |
16 |
1.00 |
16 |
24 to 27 |
15 to 17 |
6.5 |
30-35 |
Section 2 - Part 2 |
English Usage |
20 |
0.75 |
15 |
||||
Section 3 |
Quantitative Ability |
20 |
1.00 |
20 |
14 to 16 |
10 to 12 |
6.25 |
30-35 |
Section 4 - Part 1 |
Logical Reasoning |
22 |
0.75 |
16.5 |
22 to 24 |
12.5 to 14.5 |
7.25 |
35-40 |
Section 4 - Part 2 |
Data Interpretation |
20 |
1.00 |
20 |
||||
|
Overall |
123 |
|
100 |
|
|
|
|
*Cutoff for General category students is most likely to be in the range of 42-45 marks. The corresponding figures for NC/OBC and SC/ST/PWD should be around 37-40 and 32-35 marks respectively.
GK section of this year's IIFT test was on expected lines. Questions were from static Business & Economy and current affairs as well as miscellaneous GK. There were questions from history, geography, polity, science, books, and sports. As many as 10 - 12 questions were from CL's mock & compendium as well as Gyandhara. The difficulty level remains almost same as last year, and the expected cut-off of GK should be around 2.00 marks. An attempt of 10 - 15 questions with an effective score of 4 - 5 could be considered as a good one.
The sectional details are as given below:
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Current Affairs |
6 |
Easy to Moderate |
Business and Economy |
7 |
Moderate to Difficult |
Miscellaneous |
5 |
Moderate to Difficult |
History |
1 |
Difficult |
Geography |
1 |
Difficult |
Polity |
1 |
Easy |
Science |
1 |
Moderate |
Sports |
2 |
Easy to Moderate |
Books |
1 |
Difficult |
TOTAL |
25 |
Moderate |
Reading Comprehension is going to make the difference this year. Students should have attempted this section. The passages were not lengthy by IIFT standards. The last passage was surprisingly concise. The students should have judiciously chosen at least three passages to attempt. The passages came from familiar areas. Most of the questions were factual in nature. As the passages were of manageable length, the students could have optimized their score in this section. Students strong in RC would have attempted all 4 passages in about 20 minutes. An attempt of around 12-14 questions with 9-10 correct answers in 20 minutes is ideal.
English Usage was a moderate to difficult section this year. The vocabulary questions were slightly unusual in nature as three questions were etymology-based. The idioms were also colloquial in nature which made them difficult. The crossword questions were easy as the answers could have been derived by the rule of elimination. Grammar was the surprise omission. An attempt of 15 questions with 12 correct in 15 minutes is ideal.
A detailed breakup of the section is given below:
Part |
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Part 1: Reading Comprehension |
Passage 1: Manufacturing sector vs. Service sector |
4 |
Easy |
Passage 2: Reverse innovation by PepsiCo. |
4 |
Easy |
|
Passage 3: Female participation in labour force |
4 |
Easy |
|
Passage 4: SLAM in robotics |
4 |
Easy |
|
Part 2: English Usage |
Word meaning |
4 |
Moderate |
Antonyms |
2 |
Easy |
|
Etymology |
3 |
Difficult |
|
Spelling |
2 |
Moderate |
|
Cloze Test |
4 |
Moderate |
|
|
Sentence Jumble |
2 |
Easy |
|
Idioms |
3 |
Moderate |
Realization that DI was going to be the game changer here was imperative. The section starts with LR and previous year bias towards Reasoning would have enticed you to spend time on Reasoning, however that would be fraught with risk. The Star figure question tested you on length/area and clockwise/anticlockwise logic. The tribes question was doable but would have taken a little time. The hexagon seating arrangement set and the Doctors set would be time consuming. The first question in the Logistic/Finance/Administration question was incorrect since Finance was a clear-cut answer (Finance or Logistics was the next best). The singlets were doable and students should have attempted them first. 14-16 attempts with 80% accuracy would be a good score
DI portion of this section wasn’t too difficult. The two sets on tables should surely have been attempted. The DI-DI set had two questions with None of These as options which would have forced you to calculate a lot. Thus, these two questions could have been left alone. The bar charts on A,B,C Ltd. Were doable and approximation would have helped. 10 questions with 70% accuracy would have been good.
Overall 22-23 attempts with a score of 13-14 would be a good score.
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Grouping and arrangement |
10 (4 +3 + 3) |
Easy-Moderate |
Analogy |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Series |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Blood relation |
4 |
Easy |
Syllogism |
2 |
Easy |
Table (calculation based) |
10 (5 + 5) |
Moderate |
Bar Graph |
10 (5 + 5) |
Moderate |
Total |
42 |
|
Difficulty level of this section was similar to last year. Focus shifted from Arithmetic to Algebra and Modern Math. A couple of questions from P&C and Probability were slightly difficult and the language of the right circular cylinder questions was slightly misleading. Most of the other questions were. 14-16 attempts in 30 minutes with an accuracy of 80% would be good.
Part |
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Quantitative Ability |
Arithmetic |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Algebra |
7 |
Easy |
|
Geometry, Mensuration and Trigonometry |
3 |
Easy |
|
P&C and Probability |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Set theory |
1 |
Easy |
|
|
Numbers |
1 |
Easy |
Total |
|
20 |
|
All the best! Keep working hard for the forthcoming examinations.
Team CL
The aim of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is to professionalize the country's foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analyzing and disseminating data; and conducting research.
The Institute's portfolio of long-term programmes is diverse, catering to the requirements of aspiring International Business executives and mid-career professionals alike. These are:
IIFT has, over the years, undertaken path-breaking research studies with organisations like WTO, World Bank, UNCTAD and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India
CL extends its best wishes to all IIFT aspirants.