Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, will be conducting the IIFT 2019 exam on December 2, 2018. Nearly 60,000 management candidates appear for the test each year for 600 seats at IIFT Delhi and Kolkata campuses. The entrance exam is conducted for admission to MBA (International Business) Programme. Unlike CAT or MAT, IIFT test is more trade or business oriented and the last minute preparation entails some unique strategies.
How IIFT is different compared to CAT or XAT?
Similar to most of the management entrance tests, IIFT also includes sections of General Awareness, English language, Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. However, the questions here mostly business oriented. Many candidates mistakenly assume that IIFT and MBA tests are similar. This is not entirely correct. Pattern and topics can be same, but, approach and question pattern are different.
IIFT’s offline exam contains 6 sections of MCQs, and the number of questions keeps changing from year to year. And not to forget, this entrance test has negative marking.
The IIFT Exam Pattern
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Timing | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM |
| Sections | Data Interpretation, General Awareness, Logical Reasoning, Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude |
| Total Number of Questions | Not fixed (114 Questions in IIFT 2018; 123 Questions in 2017) and MCQs |
| Total Marks | 100 |
| Negative Marking | Usually 1/3 of the marks allotted to the question is deducted for incorrect answer |
How to Prepare?
Solving previous year’s question papers, regularly taking online mock tests, keeping the general knowledge updated is very important for every candidate. Apart from these, if the candidate commerce or engineering student, he/she will have a little advantage.
Regular Study and Exercise
Rather than solving the whole question paper every day, try solving the difficult sections first. Followed by finishing the entire paper during weekends or so. To ace the exam evaluate each of the mock test performances and graph your marks. This helps a student to outline the strong and weaker sections, thereby, increasing the chances of improvement in those areas. Even after that, if you feel that you need professional assistance, do not step back. Go ahead and consult some professional centre or try taking their tests.
Solving in a Time Bound Environment
The entrance test gives two hours to solve 110 questions, which means that candidates have nearly one minute to solve each question. Accuracy is crucial here. The examinee must be habituated to perform and answer questions in a time bound environment, otherwise, there are chances of silly mistake increases.
Precision during the Exam
Exams like IIFT is all about accuracy. Even after many attempts students fail to secure a good percentile. Negative marking hits most of the candidate’s marks. Hence, precision comes with clarity in concepts, sincere practice and consistent improvement on the weak areas.
Preparation Tips
For General Awareness and English Competency, read a lot of books and newspapers to develop language skills, along with, general knowledge of current affairs. The reasoning and interpretational skills of the candidates is also important. Hence, proper clarity in concepts and perfect practice should help a lot for appearing candidates.
