Detailed TISS 2009 Analysis by IMS The management entrance test to TISS, held on 13th December 2009, was

easier compared to TISS 2008. The overall level of difficulty of the test was quite low. The test was divided into 2 parts the first part was of 45 minutes duration and the second of 1 hour. The second part of the test was specialization specific, i.e., it varied according to the specialization one had chosen. The instruction page of the test clearly stated that there would be no negative marking, no sectional cut-offs and no sectional time limits. Students who have solved IMS-TISS practice paper would have come across most of the constructs that appeared in this years test. Most of the General Awareness related questions in the test were based on information already presented in our tests and write-ups on the GQuest website. Detailed Analysis of TISS 2009 Structure of the Test PART I Total Duration of the Exam 45 minutes Number of Questions 50 Number of Sections 3 Number of choices per question 4 Sectional timing No sectional timing Marks per question 1 Mark Negative Marking NO Mode of marking the ovals HB pencil TISS 2009 had 50 questions in the first part. The questions were divided into 3 sections - Analytical Reasoning, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability (15 questions), Verbal and Logical Ability (20 questions) and General Awareness (15 questions).

Section No. of Questions i Analytical Reasoning, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability 15 ii Verbal and Logical Ability 20 iii General Awareness 15 Section I - Analytical Reasoning, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability In this section, there were 3 Visual Reasoning questions, 4 questions on a DI set based on percentages. 1 question was on Syllogism and the remaining 7 were Quantitative Ability questions. All the questions were easy to solve. There was a question on numbers, 1 question on averages and 1 question on profit & loss. None of them required much calculation. There was also a question on series completion and work & time. The 4 questions on DI set were also easy and direct. Overall level of difficulty was easy. A good attempt in this section would be 11 to 12 questions and good score would be 8 to 10. Section II Verbal and Logical Ability There were 15 questions on verbal ability and 5 questions on one reading comprehension passage. The questions were quite easy and could be easily solved. Reading Comprehension- There were 5 questions based on one reading comprehension passage. The passage was a short one and comprehending the same was not a constraint. The questions following the passage were a mix of inferential and direct ones (2 inferential, 3 direct). The passage was about Hand-woven fabrics in India. Verbal Ability- In the verbal ability set, there were questions on: Fill in the Blanks There were 2 single blank questions and 2 questions with double blanks. The question with 2 blanks was allotted 2 marks. All the questions in this set tested ones knowledge of grammar and usage.

Analogy There was 1 question that was easy to solve because the relation was very clear. Jumbled Paragraph There were two jumbled paragraphs, which were short ones and were of medium difficulty. It was easy to identify the introductory sentence but two options in each set were quite close. Identify the correct sentence There were three grammar-based questions. The concepts tested were those of prepositions, tense, and forms of words. Summary There was one question on the summary of a passage. Negating the options and arriving at the correct answer was almost a cakewalk. Odd Man Out There were two odd man out questions. The words used were quite familiar ones where the relation was also clear, e.g., characteristic/ attribute/ relation/ feature and sympathy/ empathy/ understanding/ apathy. Identify the meaning of the underlined phrase There was one question on identifying the correct meaning of the phrase. The meaning of the expression going out of ones way was asked. Replace the underlined phrase There was one question, which asked to replace the underlined phrase. It was again an easy question. A decent attempt in this section would have been 15 17 questions with a possible score of 12+. Section III General Awareness. There were 15 questions focusing on current affairs and a student who had seriously prepared for the GK section and kept himself updated regarding the current scenario could have easily attempted the questions. There were questions on recent awards like the Ramon Magsaysay Award, on the Interim Budget 2009, current popular books, taglines of airlines, business mergers, etc. The current and recent happenings were covered in three questions. Overall this section could be solved easily by students who have taken the GK tests on GQuest Website.

A decent attempt in this section would have been 8 questions with a possible score of 6. A good attempt in this part would be 33-37 with a possible score of 26+. Part II Part II was the programme specific test. For students who have opted for Human Resources Management & Labour Relations the test was option-based and the details are given below: Total Duration of the exam 60 minutes Number of Questions 75 Number of Sections 5 Number of choices per question 4 or 5 Sectional timing No sectional timing Marks per question 1 Mark Negative Marking NO Mode of marking the ovals HB pencil Some of the questions had 4 options while some had 5 options. Data Interpretation: DI section was on the moderate side. The first set no. of factories having employees in particular ranges in 3 different years was observation based. The second set no. of factories and total no. of employees in a year in rural and urban areas also was observation based and did not involve much calculations. Third set was purely calculation based. Overall, the difficulty of the section was moderate. Data Sufficiency: This section was very similar to that of last year in terms of the level of difficulty and the number of options. Most of the questions were simple with 5 options. There were some questions that required a basic knowledge of mathematics, especially of numbers and basic geometry principles. Overall, the difficulty of this section was

moderate. Reading Comprehension: There were 2 RCs. The first one was based on economics and was about industrial district concept by Alfred Marshall. It was slightly difficult to comprehend for someone with limited knowledge of economics, since there were many technical terms and the passage was quite lengthy with three and a half pages to read. Out of the 10 questions on this passage, some questions were inferential and some were content-based. The second RC was about USAs Medical Insurance policy, the role of the government and peoples savings. It was much simpler than the first RC. It also had 6 questions in all including inferential as well as direct questions. Overall the RC section was of moderate difficulty. The second RC was a must attempt. Business Knowledge: This was the first general awareness section in this part, which consisted of questions relating to common business taglines, terms, acquisitions, etc. Social, Economic and Management Fundamentals: This was the second general awareness section in Part 2. It was more specialized in character in the sense that one needed to possess knowledge of several management and economic theories and concepts like Transactional Analysis, I- theory, 525 theory, Master Status, Bourgeoisie/Proletariat etc. This was a section on the tougher side. Overall, in Part 2, the Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency sections, as well as first GK section were easy. These should have been attempted first. However with no negative marking or sectional cut-off, one could have attempted the RC and the second GK section after attempting the other three. This part was slightly more time consuming and tougher than Part 1. A good attempt in this part would be 55-60 with a possible score of 40