On the whole the level of the test was close to Actual MAT. The important thing was time management. One had to pick the easy questions and leave any questions which were difficult or time consuming.
Reasoning was of relatively easy level with very less time consuming questions. The section had 23 easy, 15 medium and 2 difficult questions. The section contained 5 question of AR all of which were of easy level. There were 6-7 questions on direction and relation and they were easy to solve. The verbal reasoning part had 9 questions and was of easy to moderate level. The paper had 7-8 questions based on different type of series and 3 – 4 questions were easy to solve. There were 2 questions of coding and decoding and were easy. There were some questions of miscellaneous type including Venn diagram and ratio. These questions were of moderate level.
An average student could have gathered 85-90 percentile plus by attempting around 32-34 questions with around 80-85% accuracy.
Quant was of relatively easy to medium level with a very few time consuming questions which made them avoidable in time pressure. Majority of the questions were easy to moderate. Out of 40 questions, 17 were easy, 17 moderate and 6 difficult.
It was a balanced paper it terms of all the mathematical topics. There were 6 questions on Geometry and Mensuration and they were of easy to moderate level. The area of simple and compound interest had maximum number of questions i.e. 9 and they were of moderate to difficult type. There were 4 questions of number system and they were easy. The questions on permutation combination and probability were of moderate level. There were 3 questions of time, speed and distance and they were of easy to moderate level. The time and work and percentage both had 3 questions each. The questions were again of easy to moderate level.
A student who is even average at quant could have gathered 90 percentile plus by attempting around 30-32 questions only with around even 80 - 85% accuracy.
DI section was of easy to moderate level with just one or two time consuming sets which could have been avoided in time pressure. Out of 40 questions, 15 were easy, 16 moderate and 9 difficult.
The first caselet although lengthy was moderate. Data Comparison was of easy to moderate level. There were 10 questions of data sufficiency and they were of easy to moderate level. The table on General, sports was easy and could be doable. The line diagram on capital markets was easy. Next the pie chart on water usage was also of moderate level. The last block of car production was also of easy to moderate level. The student who is even average at DI could have gathered 90 percentile plus by attempting around 20-22 questions only with around even 80 - 85% accuracy.
In verbal section there were five RCs with four questions each. The first passage (161-164) based of Hyundai corporation was a little tricky to understand as it included analysis of sales and perceptions of customers. The questions based on it were either moderate or easy. The second passage (165-168) based on economic growth of four states was easy to understand but it had a lot of data to understand the ideas presented by the author. All the questions were easy except Q165, which was easy. Third passage (169-172) was based on nature of relationship between price and trading volume of 50 stocks. All the questions based on it were moderate except Q 170, which was easy. Fourth passage (173-176) based on political development in Iceland, was again a little tricky in terms of understanding. All the questions based on it were either moderate or difficult except Q174, which was easy. Fifth passage (177- 180) based on steel sector was moderate in terms of understanding. The questions were a mixed bag. The set of questions (181-184) was based on sentence correction and modifier. The questions were based on subject – verb agreement and modifiers. All the questions were easy except Q 182, which was moderate. The set of questions (185-188) was based on sentence rearrangement. The questions were either moderate or difficult. The set of questions (189-192) was based on sentence completion. The questions were either moderate or difficult except Q189, which was easy. The questions (193-194) were based on critical reasoning and were difficult. The set of questions (196-200) was based on part –error was mixed bag. The overall feel of the section was moderate. One could have scored 90+ percentile by attempting 24-26 questions with 80% accuracy.
This section of the paper was moderate. The paper covered Business and economy, books & authors, international and national, finance and banking, sports, Politics, history, science and technology. Very less time should be devoted to this section of the paper. In order to generate a percentile of 90+ a student should have ideally attempted 14-18 questions with 85 – 90% accuracy.
The overall feel of the paper was of easy to moderate category. Now talking of strategy as a general rule you should not get struck in any question unless you are sure about its solution. Taking the Verbal, the general strategy is that never leave a RC passage on the face of it that it is either lengthy or the language is difficult, without reading the questions given below as some of the question could be direct and do not require full reading and understanding of the passage. Taking the Reasoning section, since many of the questions on AR were in sets of 3 questions, thus do not get struck in any one set. If arrangement is difficult to be deciphered, then move on to the next set and so on, so as to reach till the end of the section. The general strategy for Quant section would be to solve easier questions and leave all the questions which were difficult or time consuming. GK section should have been devoted very less time and attempting only those questions which one knows. One should have a good knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to score well. Also one should read a lot to have hold on reading comprehensions.
