Facts about IBSAT

IBSAT is an aptitude test conducted by the Federation of Universities (FedUni), for students seeking admission into the management programs. IBSAT is for 2 hours duration and is aimed to test the applicant’s ability in quantitative techniques, data interpretation, data adequacy, vocabulary, analytical reasoning and reading comprehension.

IBSAT is known for changing its format slightly every year. For example IBSAT 2007 was very similar to the GMAT format where as in 2008 a new section on “Writing” was included, which was compulsory.  IBSAT 2009 was similar to 2008 except that the essay writing section was again removed. Some key facts about this format are (based on 2008 and 2009 data)

Number of Questions: 125

Number of Sections: 4 + (Writing Section in 2008)

Duration: 2 hours for 4 sections + 30 minutes for Writing

Sections:

1.    Quantitative Ability
2.    DI/DS
3.    Reading Comprehension
4.    Verbal Ability
5.    Writing (2008)

In 2008 and 2009 there was NO negative marking and hence attempting all questions were a good strategy to follow. But each question had 5 options decreasing the probability of nicking a correct answer.

Quantitative Ability:

This was probably the toughest part of the whole exam with 25 questions. There were 15-20 questions from topics including T&M, Simple arithmetic, BODMAS, areas and volumes, ratio and proportions, simple and compound Interest, geometry etc. Any basic book on quantitative would cover this part comfortably. Lots of pattern questions with time saving formulas especially for T&M etc can be used for this. Since it’s less than a minute per question, the aim for people who are weak in this section should be to prepare with set formulas and pick the low hanging fruits and come back later once other sections are done. For candidates strong in this area, the aim should be to attempt around 90-100% with an accuracy of around 80-90% and hence preparation should be focussed on speed.

DI/DS:

There was an average split of around 10 questions to DI and 15 to DS. Questions were either easy or moderate and 90-100% marks were obtainable by allotting 20-25 min to this section. DI had 2 sets (bar graph, line graph, tables). Speed calculation methods would help as there is some number crunching involved. DS was also simple and practise of simple DS questions should be enough to tackle the same.

Reading Comprehension:

There were 3 passages. Simple passages with mostly data based questions directly answered from the passage. Inference based questions were around 2-3 and were ones that did not warrant very deep understanding. In 2009 the passages were on Abandoned Child Ancient Monuments in Punjab and Principles of Amartya Sen where as in 2008 they were Music, Extra-ordinary art, and a man can do anything.

Verbal Ability:

This was the scoring section with 50 questions largely testing pure vocabulary. There are generally also questions of types like sentence correction, Antonyms-synonyms, Jumbled paragraphs etc.  A strong vocab is necessary to tackle the same.

Essay:

Essay section was introduced in 2008. There were 5 topics and one was to be attempted in 30 minutes. Topics were

•    Was on India’s bid for 2020 Olympics
•    Retirement age : 62-65
•    Global Warming
•    Immigration and its social, economic effects
•    Retiring age of politicians

Since the format keeps changing year after year, it is advisable to prepare on contemporary topics so that the candidate is not caught off guard.

On the whole IBSAT is usually a speed oriented paper with a need for a strong vocabulary to score in the verbal section which has double the number of questions compared to others. By focussing on learning speed math tricks for DI and using standard formula solutions for some questions in quantitative, a good score and calls can be achieved.