IIFT Exam Analysis (Available): Check detailed IIFT Analysis & Expected Cutoff

Q: How many questions are there in General Awareness section of IIFT?

The General Awareness section of IIFT entrance exam has 20 questions. They are in MCQ format with four options to choose the right answer from. Maximum question are asked from Static GK whereas Current Affairs questions are less. This section is memory bases so it is best to attempt in the end, after completing the Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension and Reasoning sections. Keep aside 10-15 minutes in the end to attempt this section in the IIFT exam. Even the preparation for this section should be done preferably towards the exam date as one only needs to memorize events, dates, personalities, etc.

Q: Is the VARC section of IIFT exam tougher than other exams?

The difficulty level of Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section of IIFT exam varies every year. Although, one can say that this section of IIFT is usually tougher than other MBA entrance exams, it is not really that tough as the Reading Comprehension passages are short and fact based. The questions are also simple and can be solved by noting important points of the passages. The readability is often good and candidates do not feel shortage of time in reading and solving IIFT reading comprehension passages. The Verbal Ability questions of IIFT are easy and pertain to mostly grammar and vocabulary.

Q: How many questions should I attempt to get a decent score in IIFT?

If the IIFT question paper has 110 questions, you should attempt 65-70 questions with 100 per cent accuracy for a decent score. Ideally, candidates must attempt to solve about 2/3rd of the total questions in each section to be able to meet the sectional as well as overall cut off. Since, there is negative marking in the IIFT exam candidates must make sure that they don’t waste marks by choosing incorrect options. If they are not sure of the answer, they should skip the question instead of making a guess because there is no negative marking for skipping questions. Negative marking can severely hamper your overall score.

Q: What is the time limit of IIFT exam? Will there be sectional-time limit like CAT?

The IIFT exam is of two hours. It is held from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. there is no sectional time-limit in this exam and candidates have to address about 110 questions in a 120 minutes. Because there is no sectional time limit, candidates need to have a tab on the time so that they are able to solve a good number of questions in every section. Candidates must have a time management strategy for each section so that they don't end up falling short of time in the last section. For example, they should allot maximum time for the section they find the toughest and allot least time on GK.

Q: What is considered good attempt in IIFT exam?

In an IIFT question paper having 110 questions, about 65-70 accurate answers are considered a good attempt. In IIFT exam, candidates must aim to solve at least 70 questions accurately so as to score a good percentile in the exam for selection of admission to MBA-International Business programme. Sectional cut offs are equally important in IIFT selection process, thus candidates must try to solve 2/3rd of the total questions in every section of the question paper. They must decide the number of questions to target per section beforehand and follow the same in the exam for best results.

Q: Will the difficulty level of the IIFT question paper affect the cut offs?

Yes, the difficulty level of the IIFT question paper may affect the admission cut offs. If the difficulty level of the IIFT question paper is high, the admission cut off may be lower and if the question paper is easy the admission cut off may be high. The IIFT cut offs also depend upon overall scoring trend and pass percentage of the given year. The difficulty level of IIFT 2023 question paper was moderate to high, similar to IIFT 2022, thus the cut offs were in same range as previous years.

Q: What is the difficulty level of IIFT exam?

The difficulty level of IIFT exam is usually high, with tricky VARC and calculation intensive Quants. The IIFT 2023 question paper was also of moderate difficulty level. VARC was moderate to tough, so was the DILR section. The Quant section was tougher than VARC, DILR and GA. The IIFT entrance exam is considered one of the high difficulty level MBA entrance exams in India. The syllabus and pattern are prescribed by the institute. It also sets the test paper. Considering IIFT is one of the top colleges for MBA in India, the only moderate to high level questions are selected to prepare the test.

Q: Is there a pattern of distribution of questions in each section of IIFT?

IIFT exam has 110 questions in total. Section wise, the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section has 35 questions, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section has 30 questions, Quantitative Aptitude has 25 and General Awareness section has 20 questions. Overall, the weightage of VARC section is maximum exam and candidates must try to solve about 27-30 questions to score well in this section. Within the sections, weightage of topics can vary from year to year. For example, in one year, the Quantitative Aptitude section may have more geometry questions than previous years.

Q: What is the marking scheme of the IIFT entrance exam?

The marking scheme of IIFT entrance exam is similar to other MBA entrance exams, i.e. positive and negative marking. Check the table below for details. IIFT Sections Marking Scheme Quantitative Aptitude (QA) 3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) 3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt General Knowledge (GK) 1.5 for right attempt -0.5 for wrong attempt Overall -

Q: Is the syllabus for IIFT similar to CAT?

Yes, the IIFT syllabus is similar to CAT syllabus. The topics included in English, Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Aptitude section of IIFT exam are same as CAT. The topics included in these sections of IIFT are same as that of CAT. In VARC section, one has to study reading comprehension, verbal ability, vocabulary and grammar. In Quantitative Aptitude section of both exams, there are questions from Arithmetic, Mensuration, Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra, Modern Math, etc. In Data Interpretation, one has to study Tables, Charts, Graphs and Venn Diagrams. The Logical Reasoning section of both exams has questions from Sequence, Number System, Coding-Decoding, Family Tree, Blood Relations, Series, etc. However, IIFT aspirants have to study General Awareness too as it is one of the four sections of IIFT question paper. The General Awareness section is memory based and can be prepared in the last month before the IIFT exam. Candidates can prepare for both CAT and IIFT simultaneously. Read more: Is IIFT tougher than CAT exam?

Updated on Jun 28, 2024 13:00 IST

By Vipra Shrivastava, Senior Manager - Content

IIFT 2025 analysis will be shared here if the institute conducts the exam this year. Last year, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi did not conduct the IIFT 2024 entrance exam and selected candidates on the basis of CAT 2023 score.

You can read below the IIFT exam analysis 2023 which was held on .December 18, 2022. The below analysis contains section wise in-depth discussion of difficulty level, topic wise weightage, types of questions, number of good attempts and expected cut offs for IIFT admission. While VARC is moderate, Quant is usually tough. Read below all about IIFT 2023 analysis.

Q: What is the difficulty level of IIFT exam?

Q: Is there a pattern of distribution of questions in each section of IIFT?

Q: What is the marking scheme of the IIFT entrance exam?

Table of content

IIFT 2023 Exam Analysis: Highlights
IIFT 2023 Analysis: Exam Pattern and Good Attempts
IIFT Exam Analysis 2023: Sectional Difficulty Level
IIFT Exam Analysis FAQs

IIFT 2023 Exam Analysis: Highlights

IIFT exam duration was two hours.
The IIFT question paper had four sections - English, DILR, VARC and General Awareness.
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section was moderately difficult.
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section was og higher difficulty.
Quantitative Aptitude section was most difficult with maximum questions from Arithmetic and Algebra.
General Knowledge section was tough as always.

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is the time limit of IIFT exam? Will there be sectional-time limit like CAT?

Q: What is considered good attempt in IIFT exam?

Q: Will the difficulty level of the IIFT question paper affect the cut offs?

IIFT 2023 Analysis: Exam Pattern and Good Attempts

IIFT 2023 exam structure was same as last year. Here's the basic structure of the IIFT 2023 question paper.

IIFT Sections	No. of Questions	Marking Scheme	Total Marks
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	25	3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt	75
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	35	3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt	105
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	30	3 for right attempt -1 for wrong attempt	90
General Knowledge (GK)	20	1.5 for right attempt -0.5 for wrong attempt	30
Overall	110	--	300

Commonly asked questions

Q: How many questions are there in General Awareness section of IIFT?

Q: Is the VARC section of IIFT exam tougher than other exams?

Q: How many questions should I attempt to get a decent score in IIFT?

IIFT Exam Analysis 2023: Sectional Difficulty Level

Out of 110 questions, about 97+ questions were doable. Given below is the difficulty level of IIFT 2023 exam as inferred by the experts:

IIFT section	Difficulty Level	Good Score
Quantitative Aptitude (QA)	Tough	20-22
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	Tough	38-42
Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	Moderate to Tough	40-42
General Knowledge (GK)	Moderate	6-8
Overall	Tough	97+

IIFT Analysis 2023: VARC

The overall difficulty level of VARC section of IIFT 2023 was of moderate difficulty level. There were four RC passages having 16 questions. Most of the RC questions were inference based. Rest of the 19 questions were from VA. Check the IIFT 2023 VARC section below:

VARC Topics	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
RC passages (4)	16	Moderate to Tough
Antonym	2	Easy
Word Root	2	Moderate
Match the Following	1	Easy to Moderate
Idioms	3	Easy
Vocabulary	4	Moderate
Spelling	1	Easy
Crossword Puzzle	1	Easy
Closed Passage	1	Easy
Grammar – Noun, Adjective	4	Moderate
Total	35	Moderate

IIFT Analysis 2023: DILR

The DILR section of IIFT 2023 exam had 30 questions as usual. There were 4 DI sets of 4 questions each. There were 6 LR sets of 4-2 questions. Only on LR set had 1 question. Check the table below for DILR sectional break up:

VARC Topics	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
DI set – 2 tables on Tokyo Olympics 2021	4	Easy
DI set- Pie Chart & Line Graph	4	Easy to Moderate
DI set – Stacked Bar Chart	4	Easy
DI set- COVID-19 Ratio of Male: Female	4	Moderate
LR set- Coin Flip Game	4	Easy
LR set - Circular Sitting Arrangement	3	Moderate
LR set - Row Arrangement	2	Easy - Moderate
LR set - Transport Service- 8 locations	2	Easy
LR set - Transport Service- 8 locations	2	Moderate
LR set - Choosing 4 Students from 8	1	Easy
Total	30	Moderate

IIFT Analysis 2023: Quantitative Aptitude

This section of the IIFT 203 exam was moderate to difficult in terms of difficulty. Maximum questions were asked from Arithmetic and Algebra. Candidates could attempt 11-12 questions easily. Check the table below for Quantitative Aptitude sectional break up:

VARC Topics	Number of Questions	Level of Difficulty
Number System	2	Moderate
Algebra	5	Tough
Arithmetic	8	Moderate
Geometry - Mensuration	4	Easy
Modern Math	4	Easy
Trigonometry	2	Tough
Total	25	Moderate to Tough

IIFT 2023: General Awareness

The IIFT 2023 General Knowledge section was also moderate in terms of difficulty level. The questions were from Static GK and Current Affairs. Out of 20, questions, 7-8 were easy. A good score in this section would be 6+ marks.