With less than 10 days to go for IIFT 2021 candidates need the focus on following seven points during IIFT exam preparation.
The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) exam 2021 is all set to be held on January 24. Most candidates appearing for IIFT 2021 must have also appeared for CAT 2020 and XAT 2021. Therefore, there’s no requirement to prepare separately for IIFT exam as all these exams have common syllabus. What one needs to do is have an exam centric approach to preparation in the last few days before the exam.
IIFT 2021 exam however does have its own set of rules to test the candidate’s ability. With less than 10 days to go for the exam, candidates need the focus on following seven points. Here are seven things to keep in mind for IIFT 2021 exam preparation.
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Seven things to keep in mind for IIFT 2021 exam preparation
- Speed and Accuracy
A test of speed and accuracy, IIFT put heavy focus on core concepts. To crack the exam, one must revise concepts and theories. Candidates are expected to answer 110 question in two hours – which means aspirants can allot only about a minute to each question. So work on your speed of reading questions, understanding questions, identifying patterns, and doing mathematical calculations. While working on speed, candidates should also focus on accuracy. There is negative marking in IIFT, so be careful about accuracy.
- Mock Tests
In these last few days of preparation, candidates should attempt one to two IIFT mock tests. One should thoroughly analyse the answers of these mocks and focus on improving the errors. Thereafter, candidates should re-attempt the entire mock test in a calm manner. Try to solve previous year’s question papers. It gives a fair idea about the exam pattern. Do not panic if the result of your last mock test before IIFT exam is not as expected. This last attempt was just meant to evaluate your strength and weakness. Devise an exam day strategy according to your strong areas.
- Low Focus on Academic Profile
One of the good things about IIFT is that the institute doesn’t put too much focus on past academic records at the time of shortlisting for admission. However, the institute does focus on sectional cut-offs and overall scores. Test takers should focus on performing well in all the sections of IIFT question paper.
- Sectional cut-offs
So far, IIFT looks at sectional cut-offs both during shortlisting candidates for second stage of admission and final merit list. Therefore, it’s imperative to score well in all the sections during the exam. Aim to solve about 2/3rd of the questions in each section of IIFT exam. Once you’ve solved a good number of questions in all the sections, you can then focus improving score if time permits.
- General Knowledge
GK is a no brainer. Give 15 to 20 minutes to news and current affairs daily. Questions in this section of IIFT 2021 can will range from news, business, brand tag lines, economic news, corporate news, famous award and prizes, world records, books and authors, science, history, geography, etc. During the exam too, allot not more than 15 minutes for it and solve this section at the last.
- Differential Marking
All questions in IIFT test have different marking scheme. Thus, candidates need to create an exam strategy, considering these factor to score well in the exam. Given below is the marking scheme for each section of IIFT exam:
| Section |
No. of questions |
Marks per questions |
Negative marking |
Total marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Aptitude |
25 |
3 |
-1 |
75 |
| VARC |
35 |
3 |
-1 |
105 |
| LRDI |
30 |
3 |
-1 |
90 |
| General Knowledge |
20 |
1.5 |
-0.5 |
30 |
| Total |
110 |
-- |
-- |
300 |
- Exam Strategy
In a speed based test, it is always recommended to go with a strategy. Candidates tend to take stress and buckle under pressure of performance, while some get nervous due to the onscreen timer. Since IIFT has no sectional time-limit, candidates can develop a strategy accordingly. Focus on achieving sectional cut off, attempt questions from topics which are your strong areas and do not spend too much time a question you find difficult to understand. Even if there are surprise questions in the exam, you have the choice to skip them. So instead of panicking, be prepared to handle it.
Read More:
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