Analysis IRMA 18th December 2005

The pattern of the paper this year was similar to that of the last year. This year the overall difficulty level was
marginally higher as compared to last year. The test had 200 questions and the time allotted was 120 minutes.
There was a negative marking of ¼ and each right answer was assigned 1 mark. There were four sections.
There were five answer choices for every question and maximum questions had the “e” option as “none of
these” which made the task of choosing the right option all the more difficult. One can assume that, because a
majority of questions, especially the passages and General Awareness questions were based on agriculture,
necessity of schools, consumer rights, etc…, the IRMA test was designed to fathom the genuineness of a
student to pursue Rural Management.

The four- sections in the paper were as follows:

1. English Comprehension

2. Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

3. Analytical and Verbal Reasoning

4. Issues of Social Concern

Overview of the IRMA Paper

Time: 2 Hr.

Total no. of questions: 200.

Negative marking: ¼.
Sections Number of Questions Difficulty Level
1. English Comprehension 40 Average
2 Quantitative Ability and Data
50 Easy
Interpretation
3. Analytical and verbal Reasoning 50 Average
4. Issues of Social Concern 60 Tough
Total 200
 SECTIONAL BREAK – UP

English Comprehension (Verbal Ability)

This section constituted reading comprehension, fill in the blanks and passage building. The subjects of the two
passages were agriculture and education, respectively. The passages were fairly lengthy but difficult to
comprehend. The questions based on the passages were specific-detailed and hence quite easy to solve. The
“fill in the blanks” questions and the “passage building” questions were also easy. The “fill in the blanks”
questions were a blend of grammar and usage. Not only did one require a thorough reading of the given passage
with blanks to choose the correct usage, but also have a good knowledge of grammar.

Area Tested Description No. of Questions Difficulty Level

Reading
25 Easy
comprehension
1. Dairy Sector-its role and
the recent changes in 10
India
2. School Education in India 15
Verbal Ability 15 Easy
Passage Building 5
Cloze test (Fill in the blanks
10
in the given passage)
Total 40 Easy

Comment: One could have attempted 28 to 29 questions in about 25 minutes.

A score of 22+ is a good score.
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation:
Good speed and clarity of the fundamentals of mathematics were major requirements for securing a good score
in this section.

Area Tested No. of Questions Difficulty Level/remarks

1. Data Interpretation[5 caselets]
Three caselets were easy.
25
(Two tabular forms, one line graph, one Overall DI was Average.
bar graph and one based on set theory)
All these questions were easy
2. Arithmetic: ( SI CI , Profit loss ) 5
but calculation-intensive.
3. Quantitative comparison 5 Easy
4. Number series 5 These questions were Tricky
These were easy questions.
5 Simple approximate
10 Solving them depended solely
calculations(simplification)
on speed of your calculation
Comment: One could have attempted 25 to 26 questions in about 25 minutes. 20+ is an
achievable score in this section.
Analytical and Verbal Reasoning
This section comprised questions based on AR, Critical Reasoning, analogies, coding-decoding, Data
Sufficiency and Paragraph building

Type of questions No. of Questions Difficulty Level

1. Cause – effect 5 Above average

2. Strong & weak argument 5 Average

3. Argumentative type
questions (Definitely 5 Average
True/Probably false)
4. Coding-Decoding 3 Easy
5. Strengthening & Weakening
5 Average
arguments
6. Data Verification 10 Average
7. Odd man out 6 Easy
8. Analytical reasoning 5+1 Easy
9. Analogies 5 Average
Total 50 Average
Comment: One could have attempted 28+ questions in about 35 minutes. 21+ is an achievable score in
this section.

Issues of Social Concern

In this section, there were 10 questions which simply required you to apply your common sense, 30 questions
which needed a wide knowledge about current happenings in the field of agriculture, social sciences, United
Nations, Current Government policies etc.. There were 6 questions related to WTO and its effects. The
remaining questions were direct and comparatively easy. Overall the section was moderately tough.
Comment: One can score 15+ in this section.

OVERALL CUTOFF
As was expected, this paper carried no sectional time limit and had 1/4th negative marking.
Anyone with a fair amount of preparation would have attempted 110-120 questions.
With a score of 90+ one can expect a call from IRMA.