Exam Snapshot

No. of Questions 120

Sections 4

Marking Scheme 1

Negative marking 0.25

Number of Choices 4

Duration 180 Min

Students preparing for JMET-1009 spent quite a few anxious months

wondering as to what the pattern could turn out to be. With the IITs
specifying that JMET2009 would be a 180 minute long marathon and
the syllabus clearly defined, it was anybody’s guess as to what was in
store for them. However the surprise turned out to be a pleasant one
as JMET-2009 was nowhere near the much feared JMET papers of
yore. With the additional time available most would have maximised
their attempts and consequently the cut-offs are bound to go up
significantly.

Section 1: Verbal Communication

This section tested the candidates’ abilities with

• Comprehension
• Vocabulary (meanings, opposites, relationships, word pairs that cause
confusion)
• Grammar and Composition (sentence correction, arrangement of jumbled
sentences)

Of the comprehension passages, two would have been easy to read for those with a
regular reading habit. The questions from these two passages looked at detail, main
ideas, implications and inferences. Some of the questions, especially those dealing
with the main idea (title/essence) were a little tricky and required some thought. The
3rd passage (an excerpt from Bhagat Singh’s “Why I am an atheist”) made for
difficult reading, not so much for the language as for the unfamiliar thoughts. Those
who tried this passage would have found that it took some time. Once understood,
however, the answers could be arrived at without too much difficulty, even through
elimination. Two of the vocabulary questions were difficult but the well-prepared
candidates (and those with a regular reading habit) would have found the others
easy to deal with. The grammar and composition questions would have taken a little
time to answer because of the length of the sentences / jumbling of sentences. With
careful reading, however, the errors were not difficult to spot.

The cut off mark in this section is likely to be around 10-12 marks.
Section 2: Logical Reasoning

The Logical Reasoning section of JMET would have caused the maximum heart ache
for students on account of the ambiguous nature of the questions and some very
evident mistakes in some sets. The section had 12 Qs from Analytical reasoning and
a whopping 18 Qs from Critical Reasoning. There were at least 5 Qs in Analytical
Reasoning that could have been answered with ease while the set of 5 Qs based on
‘persons living on different floors’ cannot be solved completely on account of some
‘missing’ information. The questions on Connectives and Deductions can be answered
by most as they were on the easier side though one must say that they involved
some thought on account of their apparent ‘trickiness’.

The cut off mark in this section is likely to be around 8-10 marks.

Section 3: Quantitative Ability

The Quant section of this year’s JMET saw a significant departure from the usual,
especially in terms of the level of difficulty of the section. The overall look of the
section, however, remained very similar to that of the previous few years’, i.e., the
questions were mostly based on practical scenarios/business problems involving
quant concepts, varying from differential calculus and probability distributions to
simple equations and percentages. One peculiar observation that can be made
regarding this section is that it was a lot easier than what it looked like. There were
very few questions that could be termed as difficult and even questions that, at first
look, seemed to be lengthy or involve complex concepts were actually as simple as
just formulating/summarizing the basic information given in the question rather than
requiring any actual solving using advanced concepts.

The cut off mark in this section is likely to be around 7-8 marks.

Section 4: Data Interpretation

The Data Interpretation questions were for the most part quite straightforward and
could have been solved by simple observation. A couple of sets which had multiple
graphs would have appeared difficult and confusing and would have intimidated
students. However beneath the tough exterior were a set of questions that were
quite doable and with the additional time available this year students would have
been able to crack these as well. Given that there were quite a few true/false
questions; students could have unravelled them by working them out through the
choices.

The cut off mark in this section is likely to be around 8-10 marks.
Sectional Scores and Overall Cut-Off

JMET is the qualifying exam and as such the cut-offs given are what we estimate is
required to secure a rank. Each of the IITs could possibly have a different/higher
sectional cut-offs depending on their selection process. Our estimate of the overall
score required to get a call from different IIT’s is as follows:

Expected Overall Cutoff

Expected Overall
Institute
Cutoff
IIT - Bombay 70+
IIT - Delhi 65+
IIT - Kanpur
IIT - Kharagpur 60+
IIT - Chennai
IIT - Roorkee 50+