SNAP 2006 Analysis

MBA

By morgan ⋅ December 11, 2007 ⋅ Post a comment

Exam Snapshot

No. of Questions	165
Marking Scheme	1 (2 marks for LR)
Negative marking	¼
Number of Sections	4
Number of Choices	4
Duration	120 Min

A paper on expected lines as Symbiosis had very clearly set out the pattern in its bulletin and there was no deviation from it. The paper had 165 questions worth 200 marks and was to be solved in 120 Min. A minor irritant was the fact that one was asked to shade the ovals using a ball point pen which meant one could not erase answers and shade a new oval!! The paper was of a slightly higher difficulty level overall than what was seen in SNAP 2005 and the cutoffs might be a shade on the lower side as compared to 2005.

English: Reading Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Verbal Ability

No. of Questions : 40
Marks : 1 per Question

Students would have found English to be a cakewalk given the very difficult questions that were done for the CAT preparation. The passages were short (around 300-500 words) and afforded many opportunities for students to get a very good score. A score of 7-8 was possible in around 9-11 minutes. Vocabulary based questions consisted of Antonyms, Synonyms and Phrasal Meanings and were of the ‘easy-moderate’ type where a score of at least 2-3 marks was possible in about 1-2 minutes. The Para-jumble questions were moderately tricky and could have been solved in about 2-3 minutes. A score of 1-2 was possible in 6-7 minutes. Fill in the blanks questions were quite easy and would not have caused any problems. A par score for this section should be around 17-20 in about 23-25 min. A score in the range of 27-28 should be considered good.

Area		Description	Marks	Difficulty level	Expected Score	Good Score
VA	Phrasal Meanings	Simple Phrases	2	Easy	1	2
	Spelling	Tricky spellings	2	Moderate	1	2
	Grammar	4 underlined parts & Parts of speechs	3	Moderate	1	2
	ParaJumbless	CAT types	2	Difficult	1	2
	Analogies	Simple	2	Easy	2	2
	Vocab based		7	Moderate	2-3	4
	FIB	1 word / 2 Words in blank	6	Easy	2-3	4
RC	Passages	3 passages	16	Easy	7-8	9-10
Overall			40	Easy	17-20	27-28

Quantitative, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency

No. of Questions : 50
Marks : 1 per Question

This section was of a moderate difficulty level much of it because of the calculation intensive nature of the questions given. DI sets were easy to understand but involved far lengthier calculations than what one could afford to do in the limited time. Students who had chosen easy questions from this section were the ones who could manage a respectable score without overshooting the time limit they set for themselves. The Data Sufficiency questions were very easy and so were atleast 9-10 questions in Arithmetic. A good time allocation for this section would be around 24-28 min with a score of 16-18 being par for the course. Any score in excess of 25 should be considered excellent..

Area		Description	Marks	Difficulty level	Expected Score	Good Score
QA	Arithmetic	Good Mix from all topics	21	Easy- Moderate	7-8	9-10
QA	Pure Maths	P&C	4	Moderate	1-2	3
DS	Data Sufficiency	2 Statements	3	Easy	1	2
DI	Table	Literacy Rate	5	Moderate	1	2
	Table + Pie Chart	Blood Donors	4	Moderate	1	2
	Table	Dividend TMF Ltd.	4	Moderate	1	2
	Symbol	Trucks/Cars passing through Howrah Bridge	4	Easy	2	3
	Table	Ships/Vessels Tonnage	5	Moderate	2	3
Overall			50	Moderate	16-18	26-27

Analytical & Logical Reasoning

No. of Questions : 35
Marks : 2 per Question

This section was the most difficult of the four sections in this paper. There was a marked departure from SNAP 2005 in terms of the question types asked. There was a huge focus on number series/number based questions. A surprise was the visual reasoning questions asked in SNAP. The puzzles were moderately difficult and did not afford any chances to the students to score quick and easy marks. The questions on deductions and logical connectives were straightforward and many would have scored heavily in those. All in all this was a definitely a more difficult section and any attempts in the range of 14-16 with an accuracy of 75-80% would be considered good. A score of 24 would be par for the section and anything in the range of 40-46 in around 28-32 min would be considered good.

Area		Description	Marks	Difficulty level	Expected Score	Good Score
Reasoning	Coding-Decoding	Easy	4	Easy	2	4
	Input/Output	Set Based	4	Moderate	2	4
	Number Based	Difficult series of the MhCET type	14	Moderate	4	6
	Visual Reasoning		4	Moderate	2	2
	Puzzles	Difficult	14	Moderate	4	6-8
	Logical Reasoning	Paragraph Based	10	Moderate	4	6
	Deductions	2 Statements	6	Easy	2	4-6
	Logical Connectives	CAT type	4	Easy	2	4
	Miscellaneous	Average difficulty level	10	Moderate	2	4-6
Overall			70	Moderate	24	40-46

General Awareness: General Knowledge, Current Affairs, Business Scenario

No. of Questions : 40
Marks : 1 per Question

Students who had read a lot on ‘Current Affairs’ and GK would have been able to deal with this section on account of the high focus accorded to them. Attempts in the range of around 16-20 with 70% accuracy would be a good one. A score of around 10-15 in about 12-15 min would be considered to be par and anything in the range of 20+ would be considered good.

Area	Marks	Difficulty level	Expected Score	Good Score
Standard GK	10	Easy	3-4	5-6
Political	3	Easy	1	2
Current Affairs	15	Easy	5-6	8-9
Business Scenario	8	Easy	2-3	4
Miscellaneous	4	Easy	2	3
Overall	40	Easy	13-16	22-24