On the whole the level of the test was moderate to tough. The test contained many moderate and difficult questions and hence the important factor was selection of appropriate questions to attempt. Quant section was slightly easier than reasoning section. Verbal section was moderate to tough. The key to getting a good percentile was time management and selection of questions.
The 1st passage (Q-1 to 4)discusses the "status quo bias," where individuals resist change and stick to their current situation, even when change would be beneficial, resulting in detrimental health and decision-making outcomes. The level of this passage was easy to moderate. The 2nd passage (5-8) explains how U.S. has the highest incarceration rate globally, with harsher and lengthier sentences, including life without parole. European nations consider such sentences inhumane. Public safety justifications for these sentences are questionable, leaving retribution as the main, yet debatable, reason. This passage was moderate in difficulty level. The 3rd passage (9-12) portrays how Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma revolutionized Hindustani classical music by introducing the santoor, traditionally a folk instrument. Facing challenges with its limitations, he innovatively redesigned it, elevating its status in classical music. Celebrated and honored, his legacy is unparalleled and his passing leaves an irreplaceable void. In level of difficulty, this passage was easy to moderate. The 4th passage explores how coastal communities are selling fish to aquaculture corporations for fishmeal, diverting essential micronutrients from local diets and exacerbating malnutrition issues. By retaining a fraction of their catch, communities could improve health. Consumers can drive change by demanding responsible practices from fish farms. This passage had easy to moderate- level questions. Questions (17-19) were based on sentence rearrangement and these questions were of moderate to difficult. Questions (20-22) were based on para-summaries and were moderate in difficulty level. Questions 23-24 were based on sentence placement. These questions were difficult and moderate I respectively, in difficultly level. Overall, the verbal section was more on moderate to difficult. One could have score 90+%ile by attempting 16 – 18 questions with 70-75% accuracy.
The difficulty level of DI was Hard. There were 8 easy, 7 medium and 5 difficult questions in this section. The second and last block (Excellent company and Two researchers) were easiest and were must do and by attempting a couple of questions from rest of the blocks, one could have fetched a very good percentile. In this section, one could have fetched 90+ percentile by attempting 9 -12 questions with approx. 80 % accuracy.
Students found this section easier than DI this time. The Quantitative section had 10easy, 6 medium and 6 difficult questions. Selection of questions was important to crack this section. There were questions from varied topics like Geometry, Basic Numbers, Basic Algebra, Progression and Series, Arithmetic (Percentages/Time and Work/Mixtures/Percentages/SI-CI/Ratios). A good student could have scored 90+ percentile by attempting around 8-10 questions with approx. 80% accuracy.
The overall feel of the paper was moderate to tough, though for the students who knew how to manage the time available to the best i.e., not wasting much time in lengthy and difficult questions, could easily manage an overall good attempt. Quant section was slightly easier than reasoning section. Verbal section was moderate to tough. Most of the questions in quant section were from Arithmetic, Algebra, Number system and Geometry. For verbal section, one should have good reading skills as there were 4 RC’s and also a few questions based on paragraph summary. One must focus on contextual vocabulary as well to understand and score well in RC passages. Questions such as sentence rearrangement and misfit/best fit require analysis and knowledge of tricks to answer the questions. It is not advisable to spend too much time on TITA questions especially in the verbal section.
