The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade conducted the IIFT exam in the month of November 2014. The pattern of the IIFT 2014 paper was quite different from 2013. The IIFT 2014 paper had 118 questions with differential marking scheme. One major change, which was overlooked by a lot of students, was that the DI section was clubbed with Quant section and there was a separate section on LR. You can download the PDF of IIFT 2014 paper and its answer key here:
| IIFT 2014 Question Paper | |
| IIFT 2014 Answer Key |
Following is an overview of the IIFT 2014 paper format:
| Section | Sections | No. of Questions | Marks per Questions | Total-Marks |
| (A) | (B) | (C) | (D) | (E)=(C)*(D) |
| Section -1 | (Part-1)Reading Comprehension | 17 | 1.00 | 17 |
| (Part -2) English Usage | 20 | 0.75 | 15 | |
| Section -2 | Analytical & Logical Reasoning | 20 | 1.00 | 20 |
| Section -3 | (Part -1) Data Interpretation | 15 | 1.00 | 15 |
| (Part -2) Quantitative Ability | 20 | 1.00 | 20 | |
| Section -4 | General Awareness | 26 | 0.50 | 13 |
| Total | 118 | 100.00 |
An effective approach to prepare for an exam is to understand the exam pattern in the previous years and same is the case with IIFT. A look at IIFT previous year papers will help you understand the nature of the exam and the areas from which questions were asked. While it is not at all necessary that IIFT examiners will repeat the pattern, however, it will give you an idea of their preferred topics. In this article, we analyze IIFT-2014.
Last Year's IIFT paper was of 100 marks and there were 4 sections in the paper. Reading Comprehension was a sub-section of English Usage and Data interpretation was a sub-section of the Quant section. In it, maximum marks were allocated to the quantitative ability section, i.e. 35, and least were allocated to the general awareness section, i.e. 13.
Let's explore areas tested and marks allocated to each of them in the last year's IIFT Exam.
General Awareness
English Usage
Reading Comprehension
logical Reasoning
Data Interpretation
Quantitative Ability| Sr. No. | Description | No. of Question | Mark Allotted |
| 1 | Relation between money and success in football | 5 | 5x1 |
| 2 | Fictional Account of Judge Life Style | 4 | 4x1 |
| 3 | A piece of History on Some European War | 5 | 5x1 |
| 4 | Reduced Capitals with public sector banks for extending Loans | 3 | 3x1 |
| Total | 17 | 17 |
Evaluation: There were 4 long RCs that in the starting might have looked intimidating but a close look at the questions before reading the questions could have given a hint towards solving the RCs. Though lengthy, the RCs were of moderate difficulty level.
Comfortable Attempt: 7-9 questions.
Achievable Score: Around 6 marks.
| Sr. No. | Description | No. of Question | Mark Allotted |
| 1 | Sentence Completion | 2 | 0.75x2 |
| 2 | Analogies | 2 | 0.75x2 |
| 3 | Sentence Rearrangement | 6 | 0.75x6 |
| 4 | Sentence Correction & Grammar | 6 | 0.75x6 |
| 5 | Spell- Check | 2 | 0.75x2 |
| 6 | Vocabulary Base | 2 | 0.75x2 |
| Total | 20 | 15 |
Evaluation: Verbal Ability Section was a mixture of vocabulary, grammar and sentence rearrangement based questions. The sentence completions were tricky and two other vocab questions were of moderate difficulty level. The Sentence Correction and grammar questions were easy to moderate. Sentence rearrangement questions were again of moderate difficulty level. Overall this section was of level of difficulty.
Comfortable Attempt:12-15 questions.
Achievable Score: Around 6 marks.
Evaluation: This section was of Moderate difficulty level. AR block on (Federation of Indian chamber) was easy while block on (Single office-Five windows) was moderate. AR block on (students in engineering college) was lengthy and time consuming.Rest of the paper was of moderate difficulty level.
Comfortable Attempt:9-11 questions.
Achievable Score:Around 8 marks.
| Area Tested | Description | No. of Question | Mark Allotted |
| Data Interpretation | Multiple Graph | 5 | 5x1 |
| Tables | 10 | 10x1 | |
| Total | 15 | 15 |
Evaluation: Most of the DI questions were calculative in nature. One could have increased the attempt with approximation and proper usage of choices
Comfortable Attempt:8-10 questions.
Achievable Score:Around 7 marks.
| Area Tested | Description | No. of Question | Mark Allotted |
| Quant | Algebra & Equations | 1 | 1x1 |
| P&C Probabilit | 3 | 3x1 | |
| Time & Work | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Geometry | 4 | 4x1 | |
| Number System | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Logs | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Profit & Loss | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Time Speed & Distance | 2 | 2x1 | |
| Sets | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Percentage | 1 | 1x1 | |
| Progression | 2 | 2x1 | |
| Alligation & Mixture | 2 | 2x1 | |
| Total | 20 | 20 |
Evaluation: The Quant Section was Moderate to Tough. Right selection of questions was important to find out the simpler questions.
Comfortable Attempt: 10-12 questions.
Achievable Score: Around 8 marks.
Evaluation: This year also GK section was dominated by questions on current GK. This section was very exhaustive and required routine reading of newspaper and Current Affairs Magazines.
Comfortable Attempt:8-10 questions.
Achievable Score:Around 4 marks
*Disclaimer: All the above given information is based on personal opinion of hitbullseye Expert faculty. Several factors have been considered before giving these cut-offs however, It has nothing to do with original cut-offs.
