Outside an IIFT 2011 test center in New Delhi. (Photo credit: Astha A)
The General Knowledge and Data Interpretation sections emerged as the two sore points for candidates who appeared for the Indian Institute of Foreign trade (IIFT) admission test held today between 10 am and 12 pm across 20 cities of the country. The overall difficulty of the test was easy, agreed IIFT aspirants.
For Kriti Rehani, a student from Delhi, the paper was quite simple and she was expecting to score enough to make a shortlist. The pattern of the question paper was quite predictable. All sections of the exam were doable. The only section where I faced a slight difficulty was the General Knowledge section. If I clear that, I will surely scrape through to get an interview call, she said.
Vaibhav Bhasin (Photo credit: Astha A)
Vaibhav Bhasin, another test taker from Delhi, found the General Knowledge section to be the one bump in his otherwise smooth exam. You try to read newspapers and become up-to-date with the current happenings. But the brain just does not retain it. I hope that there are no sectional cutoffs otherwise my IIFT dream is certainly over for this year.
For some students from Mumbai, it was not GK but the DI section that posed the major problem. I found the GK and Logical Reasoning sections quite easy. I wasted a lot of time on Data Interpretation. It had a lot of lengthy calculations, which were difficult to do without a calculator, Mohit Gaur, an engineer from Mumbai told PaGaLGuY.
Mohit Gaur (right). (Photo credit: Bansi Mehta)
Theya, a medical student from Mumbai said, My test performance was satisfactory. The only problem I faced was in the reading comprehension section, which I found quite lengthy. I found the GK questions easier than what I had prepared in the mock tests.
Tanvi Nagra, a first time test taker from Delhi said, My sessions at Career Launcher paid off. The paper was according to the pattern that had been drummed into our heads. There were no unexpected surprises waiting for us. My exam went well.
Even the coaching institutes sounded satisfied with the IIFT entrance paper. Varun Shukla, Center Manager of Career Launcher’s, Kailash Colony center said, We had asked candidates to go for the test keeping confidence in the pattern that the IIFT exam has been following for the past few years. No surprises were expected and none came. In fact, the Quant, LR and Verbal sections were quite easy as compared to last year. The only difficulty that the students might face would be in the GK section.
Last year, IIFT cutoffs stood at 33 to 34 marks and this year is expected to be no different, he added. If a student manages to get 6 to 7 questions in LR-DI, 8 questions in Verbal and 3 to 4 questions in GK correct, they stand a good chance of getting an interview call, said Varun.
However, the one point that the candidates seem unsure of despite a comparatively easier exam is whether IIFT will consider a collective cutoff or have sectional cutoffs to make shortlists. Last year, there were no sectional cutoffs. DI was very difficult. If there are sectional cutoffs this year, I am going to be in big trouble. All I can do is hope for the best, Savi Charayi told PaGaLGuY.