IIFT PREPARATION GUIDE :GK-1

With the announcement of the dates of the entrance exam for IIFT MBA(IB) program , the 2011 season begins in earnest for many aspirants.

Let me give the aspirants an insight into the pattern of the paper.

The exam which will be conducted on 27 Nov this year will test a student’s aptitude in four sections:

 I will be covering the General Knowledge section in depth initially.

1)      General Knowledge(GK): Arguably the section that separates IIFT from other exams like CAT,XAT .This section is one of the most important section for getting some quick marks .(ROI is the best for this section provided you know the answer ).

Aspirants are advised to be well versed with the current happenings with special emphasis on:

(a)    International Bodies like WTO,OPEC,NATO,UN (Headquarters, Name of the Secretary Generals, President, Members etc)

(b)   Business News (which includes recent Merger and Acquisitions, Taglines, Brand Ambassadors, CEO’s)

(c)    Information about the major seaports, National Highways, National Wildlife Parks , SEZs are all very important and have found their way to the entrance exam during the last 2-3 years.

(d)   Sports and Technology News: One should be aware of the recent sports happenings amd technological updates.

(e)    Awards and Recognitions: Candidates are expected to be aware of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer, Booker Prize winners.

(f)    Miscellaneous: I would give an example of this category of question with one from last year’s paper .

Name of the instruments like Actinometer, Rheometer were given and they were to be matched with their use .

IMPORTANT NOTE

The weightage of this section has been the least for the past few years. Last year there were 30 questions with a weightage of 0.4 marks each.

Thus, out of the total 100 marks, 12 marks were reserved for GK. Those good in this section could have obtained 7-8 marks in less than 5 minutes , which is like a gold  mine .

In the next article I will be telling you how to prepare for this section.

And believe me sufficient level of prowess can be achieved for this section in the next three months with diligence from an aspirant.