IIFT 2021 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E.| Sectional Analysis & Expected Cutoff

IIFT MBA 2021 Exam Analysis: The National Testing Agency conducted the IIFT MBA 2021 examinations on December 5, 2021. The exams were conducted in a single shift from 10 AM to 12 Noon in the Computer Based Mode across the various exam centres in the country. Students who have taken the IIFT 2021 Exams can check below the complete exam analysis, section-wise analysis, expected cutoff, and other details from experts at TIME. 

IIFT MBA 2021 Examination Analysis

The IIFT exams 2021 were conducted from 10 AM to 12 noon in the CBT (computer-based test) format for a duration of two hours with no sectional time limit. According to some of the students who appeared for the exams the experience was far from desired. Students had to wait in serpentine queues to get entry into the center. Many were allowed into the test well after 10 am as checking the documents took a lot of time. No social distancing measures were followed in some test centers. Troubles did not end there for some. The systems provided were not working properly and students had to be allocated other systems. The test timer, however, kept running for some, during this change, causing undue pressure and frustration for the students.

However, on the pattern front, there were no surprises. The paper was of the same pattern as that of last year. The snapshot of the pattern is as below.

IIFT MBA 2021 Exam Pattern 

The IIFT MBA 2021 Examinations were conducted in a single shift. Students had to appear for the exams in Computer Based mode. Given below is the section-wise division of marks and questions..

IIFT MBA 2021 Sectional Analysis

Quantitative Aptitude

The section was almost on par with the last year’s paper, tending slightly on the tougher side this year. The section had a total of 25 questions from across topics. Topics like numbers continued to be underrepresented, with only one question this year too. Some questions had a lot of data and a couple of questions were a little ambiguous. However, no question was uncrackable. The distribution is as given below:

IIFT MBA 2021 Topic Wise details

Reading Comprehension & Verbal Ability

This section was very similar to last year's pattern with 16 questions on RCs and 19 on Verbal Ability with a total of 35 questions.

There were four RC passages- 2 passages with five questions each, and the other two with three questions each. Most of the questions were Inference based or Specific Detail based. 

Following is a brief description of the RC part:

Passage 1 was clearly the lengthiest and the toughest. It would have taken students close reading of at least 50% of the passage to understand the ideas that were put forth in the passage! Such a long passage with 5 questions to it would surely discourage students from attempting it, and it should not have been attempted. The passage also contained multiple ideas (around four to five) making it tedious even for a good reader to comprehend the passage in its entirety, quickly.

Passages 2, 3, and 4 were relatively shorter and much easier to comprehend. Some of the questions associated with these passages were also straightforward. While the questions were inference-based, they should not have troubled the students much, especially those who understood the passage well. 

The questions in the Verbal Ability segment were predominantly on Vocabulary. A couple of questions from Grammar also were present.

Here is a snapshot of the Verbal Ability part:

Para-formation questions were visibly absent this year. As a consequence, vocabulary took a much larger share this year. Answering the Grammar questions and a few Vocab based questions should have been easy for T.I.M.E. students who have been regularly attending classes, as they would have been familiar with several terms/words/grammar rules. 

The questions on foreign terms were different this year, as only the origin of the words was asked, and not their meaning.

Overall, the VA part of the paper was a relief to the students, at an easy-moderate level.

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

This section had a total of 30 questions with 16 questions on DI and 14 on LR. The distribution of the questions is as below:

Data Interpretation

DI sets this year needed both reasoning and calculation abilities, unlike the last year where there were more calculation-based questions. 

Both the sets on bar graphs had partial data with more information being provided at a question level. This pushed the difficulty level of these sets up. The set on pie charts required a moderate level of calculations. 

The set online charts was the must-attempt in this section as all the questions in it were straightforward, needing no additional reasoning from the students to crack them.

Logical Reasoning

The LR part of this section had four set-based questions and two standalone questions. Three of the four sets were not so easy to solve. They were difficult because adequate data has not been to completely crack the set and while the individual questions give additional info, solving them is tedious and time-consuming – Student of the year puzzle. The set of B-school competitions had ambiguous data, increasing the difficulty level. The set on hackathon could become a moderate level set if students could interpret the data correctly. 

The set on blood relations and the two standalone LR questions, however, provided some relief to the students as they were standard types of questions.

The overall difficulty level of this section can be classified as moderate-difficult. 

General Awareness

This year the GK section was of moderate level. This section, apart from the regular MCQs, also had two matches the following type of questions.

Students who followed the news regularly and had a good reading habit should have been able to handle this section with some ease. Questions on ‘match the following’ were lower this year at only two. The questions were from diverse topics. The breakup of questions is as below.

Geography – 2

Brands & Logos – 2

National Bodies – 2

International Bodies – 2

Ministries/schemes/Bills – 4

Movies – 1

Awards – 1

Sports – 1

Miscellaneous - 5

A good number of questions were from current affairs, and only a few were from static GK.

Overall

This year, the sectional cut-offs are expected to be as below.

The overall cut-offs are expected to be around 45(+/-)3 marks.

Note: These cut-offs are for General category students. The shortlisting criteria give weightage to the profile of the candidates also. So, the cut-off mentioned is only indicative. 

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by T.I.M.E. based on student inputs about the exam. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.