Traditionally, the JMET is divided into four sections, namely verbal communication, logical reasoning, quantitative ability and the data interpretation section. A short review on each of the question types and a few strategies below:
Verbal Communication:
Reading comprehension traditionally consists of short, crisp passages followed by 3-4 questions. The questions are a mix of factual and inferential ones and a good reading of the passage is enough to get through. The questions might include those asking about the tone/title of the passage, the author’s probable stance about a subject and his profession as well in some cases. Last year saw a good number of questions asking for the gist/central idea of the passage. Also, there were some questions pertaining to the meaning of a word in the context of the passage. The key word here is the context of the passage. The word might mean something different but ‘the use to which it is put to’ in the passage should be the answer.
Verbal ability focuses almost equally on the grammar and vocabulary part. Grammar questions include traditional grammar questions which involve picking the grammatically correct statement. In addition to these questions, there were questions on punctuation which made an appearance a few years back. The normally asked questions involve conversion of voices from active to passive or vice versa and also, changing a statement from direct to indirect speech. A few questions also included rephrasing a short statement/paragraph without altering its essence.
The Vocabulary part consists of fill-in-the-blanks questions, analogies and also a few questions on correct spelling of commonly-used words. The fill-in-the-blanks questions can be solved by eliminating options taking into consideration the tone and flow of the sentence even if one is not comfortable with the words in the options. Analogies might get a bit difficult if one doesn’t know the words in the question. Also, last year’s paper saw a few direct questions on synonyms and antonyms. The questions vary from being straightforward to extremely difficult and attempting those which one is sure of and moving ahead is the best way to go.
Quantitative Aptitude:
A couple of years back, this section was a nightmare for the average aspirant with all kinds of higher maths involved and with almost no contribution from conventional maths which appears in other entrance tests. But over the last couple of JMETs, this section has evolved into a much easier version. The basic thing would be to give the section some time and do the questions steadily thus avoiding silly errors. The common topics which are focused on predominantly include:
- Functions
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Percentages
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Probability and permutations-combinations
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Derivatives and integration
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Simple equations
Logical Reasoning:
The section can be divided into the following few subtopics:
- Parajumbles: Pretty much similar to what is found in the VA section of other entrance tests, this questions consist of 4 sentences in a random order which one has to arrange in a logically coherent order. The level of difficulty is not that high and going by the previous year trends, these questions should be must attempts.
- LR caselets: The normal logical reasoning type of questions. A caselet followed by a set of 3-4 questions. For the last two years, there have been obvious mistakes in some of the questions from this area. So, if something similar occurs during the test, it would be a wise idea to get done with it quickly and not get stuck. If the question has a mistake, marks are traditionally awarded for the erroneous questions.
- Critical Reasoning: A small paragraph/caselet/conversation is given on the basis of which, one is expected to answer questions based on the assumption made, the conclusion which is reached. Another variation of the question would be putting the idea in the question paragraph into different words with the central idea remaining the same.
- Strengthening / Weakening arguments: Again a variation of critical reasoning questions. A paragraph is given and one has to select which argument will strengthen/weaken the position of the speaker most effectively. Most effectively is the key phrase here as, there might be more than one option which gives the desired twist to the argument but it might not be the most effective. So, be careful and go through all the options before zeroing on your choice.
- Syllogisms: In these type of questions, a set of 3-4 statements is given and we have to find out other statements in the options which can be logically concluded from the question statements. The thing here would be to keep an eye on the key words in the question statements i.e. Some, all, many, not all, some are not, etc.
- Data sufficiency: Normal Data Sufficiency questions where, one is required to find out whether one or both of the statements are enough to get to a unique answer.
- Course/s of action: Here, a statement is given and there are a few courses of action which have to be followed to address the issue which is mentioned in the question statement. The best option has to be chosen, which includes a practical solution and one which takes all possible outcomes into consideration and doesn’t have any adverse effects.
- Implicit assumptions: These questions require one to read between the lines. The right option choice would be an assumption which has affected the argument. Trivial assumptions or far fetched ones need to be neglected in these kind of questions.
Data Interpretation:
This is like the traditional DI section found in almost all other management tests with plenty of tables, graphs, charts and data. The DI section of yesteryears has been doable with the exception of JMET 2008 which was nothing short of a nightmare. Last couple of years have seen the section become easier and even though the questions might seem a bit intimidating to look at, at the beginning, they are pretty much easy to crack if one is persistent. In this section too an aspirant needs to be aware of the wrong/slightly off-track options and avoid getting stuck in the process. The common types of presentation of data include-bar diagrams, percentage bar charts, pie-charts, line graphs and tabular data presentations.
Aspirants can also go through some of the seniors’ views and experiences from past two years in the JMET Ready Reckoner.
All the best for the test.
If someone wants to share his/her JMET 2011 experiences you can write to us at [email protected] after your test.