On the whole the level of the test was close to Actual IBSAT. The important thing was time management. One had to pick the easy questions and leave any questions which were difficult or time consuming. The major section was of verbal having 80 questions.
The verbal section was easy to moderate. First set of questions (1-10) was based on synonyms and antonyms. All questions were easy except Q(4,7,9) which were of medium level or difficult. Then, Q(11-15) were based on analogies. All questions were of medium level except Q(15) which was easy. Again, Q(16-20) were based on sentence completion. All questions were easy or moderate except Q(19) which was difficult. Then, Q(21-25) were based on grammar. All questions were of medium level except Q(24) which was difficult. Again, Questions (26-30) were based on sentence correction. All questions were easy except Questions (27, & 28) which were of medium level. A few questions Q(31-35) were based on sentence rearrangement. All were easy or moderate except Q(35) which was difficult. Questions (36-40) were based on one word substitution. All questions were either easy or moderate. Another set of questions (41-45) was based on idioms. All questions were either moderate or difficult. Last set of questions Q(46-50) was based on cloze test. All questions were easy or moderate except Q45, which was difficult.
Next set, of questions, was based on Reading comprehension. 1st paragraph Q(51-58) talked about the extinction of land mammals. All questions were facts based and were easy except Q(54,58) which were difficult or medium level. 2nd passage Q(59-66) talked about Anil Kumble’s retirement from cricket and the consequences. All questions were factual and inference based and were either easy moderate or difficult. 3rd paragraph Q(67-75) talked about research in the invention of Chandrayan-1. Questions were factual and were easy except Q(68,71,73,75) which were of medium or difficult level. 4th passage Q(76-80) talked about technology for reducing carbon emissions. All questions were facts and vocabulary based. All questions were either moderate or easy. One has to do 34-37 questions with 80-85% accuracy to get 90%ile in verbal section and 22-24 questions with same level of accuracy in RC section.
The DI & LR section in this paper was of tough level having total of 30 questions out of which 2 were easy, 4 were of medium level and 24 were difficult.
In DI, the section started with a 15 to moderate to tough questions of Data Sufficiency. Three questions (Q114, Q120 and Q121) out of these were of medium level. 1st set on subscription of coins (Q 126 to 130) was of easy to moderate level. 2nd set on number of vehicles manufactured (Q 131 to 135) was also of moderate level. 3rd set on number of manufacture of mobile phones (Q136 to 140) was of tough level as it involved lot of calculations.
The overall feel of the section was tough and one could have scored 90+ percentile by attempting around 15 - 17 questions with 80 - 85% accuracy.
The Quantitative section was of moderate to difficult level with 3 easy, 14 medium and 13 difficult questions.
The major areas covered in the section were Geometry (Q90, 92, 98), Permutations & Combinations (Q97, 100 difficult, 106 difficult), Number system (Q84, 102, 103, 105, 110 difficult). 1 to 2 questions each were from the topics like Logs (Q99 medium), TSD (Q87) & Races & Games (Q93), Upstream & Downstream (Q107), Work & Time (Q89 difficult, 95 medium), Profit & Loss (Q88 medium), SI/CI (Q96, 101 medium), Averages (Q81, 85 both medium), Percentage (Q108 difficult). One question on Clocks & Calendars (Q109) and Ratio & Partnership (Q86), Trigonometry (Q91), Algebra (Q94, 104) and Alligation & Mixture (Q 83 easy) also appeared in the section.
One could have scored 90+ percentile by attempting around 15 – 17 questions with 80 - 85% accuracy.
The overall feel of the paper was moderate. In quant the selection of questions is very important. In order to score well it is again advised to revise fundamentals. In DI & AR, it is important to understand the questions and should have hold on calculations and approximations.Since Verbal was the predominant section, one has to be well versed in reading and grammar. Also, in reading comprehension, there were a lot of questions based on vocabulary which can enhance the score if attempted correctly.