The SNAP exam conducted on Sunday Dec 15, 2019 in the computer based test mode. The overall difficulty level of the exam was lower than last year.
The broad distribution of questions in the test is as under:
Since there were no sectional cut-offs, it made the job of the students a lot easier i.e., they could focus on maximising their overall score instead of perforce trying to improve their sectional performances in tougher sections. Since LR and English carried 1.5 marks per question, it would have made sense to have spent more time on these two sections.
General English
The section had a total of 34 questions. All were NORMAL questions (MCQs) of 1.5 mark each. There were no SPECIAL questions (non-MCQ).
The distribution of the questions area-wise was as under:
The RC area had two passages with 8 questions in all. The passages were lengthy in nature, while the first one had around 630 words, the other had around 1200 words.
Passage 1: A passage on “Art of happiness by Dalai Lama”, had 3 questions.
Passage 2: Another lengthy passage on “China’s telecom interest in Hongkong”, it accounted for 5 questions.
Around 20-22 can be considered to be a good number of attempts in this section.
Analytical and Logical Reasoning
The Analytical and Logical Reasoning section had a good number of easy and moderate questions.
There were 36 questions of 1.5 mark each (normal MCQ type). There were no Special questions (non-MCQ type) in this section.
Just like last year, apart from the standalone ones, there were 9 questions based on two caselets. Apart from this, the majority of questions appeared from Non-Verbal Reasoning, Blood Relations, Verbal Analogies, Clocks and Calendars, Quant Based Reasoning and Number series.
The level of the section could be pegged at Easy-moderate for a serious aspirant.
The distribution of questions in the section was as below:
Out of 36 questions in this section, 24 to 26 would be considered a good number of attempts.
Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency
The section was slightly easier compared to the last year. There were 35 questions of 1 mark each (normal MCQ type) and 5 Special questions of 2 marks each (non-MCQ type). However, QA-DI-DS being the third section and the first two sections being easier (added to the fact that questions in the first two sections were worth 1.5 marks each) would’ve led most test takers to believe that the section is more difficult than it is.
Data Interpretation questions, which were completely missing last year, made a strong comeback with 12 questions. Continuing the tradition, there were no Data Sufficiency questions in this section. The weightage of questions from arithmetic and geometry chapters was on the higher side, while algebra was under-represented compared to last year. One question from P and C involved an implicit assumption that the books were identical and another on probability would’ve left the test takers unsure about whether to enter 0.0345 or 0.035 in the space provided (the instructions at the beginning of the test did mention explicitly that test takers must enter up to 3 digits after the decimal, where applicable). A couple of special questions (one on average stipend and another on sum of multiples of 7) were very lengthy and time-consuming. SNAP seems to be following CAT in according a high weightage to Venn Diagrams as there were 2 DI sets based on the same, one involving 4 sets and the other involving 3 sets. Another table-based DI set involved simple calculations while the pie chart-based set wasn’t direct.
A few questions like the one on the difference between SI and CI, and the one on the bus halting every hour are eerily similar to the ones that appeared in SNAP 2018.
The broad distribution of the questions from various areas is as below:
Out of 40 questions in this section, 20 to 22 would be considered a good number of attempts.
Cut-Offs:
An overall score of 88-90 or above should be a good score for SIBM Pune, 86-88 for SCMHRD, and 74-76 for SIBM Bangalore and SIIB.
Note: The above mentioned estimated cut-offs are for general category students, the cut-offs for SC/ST/DA/Kashmiri migrants will be lower.
Note: There are no sectional cut-offs for SNAP
