NMAT 2017 (Day 1, Slot 1) spun no surprise. The paper was of average difficulty level. There were three sections with no negative marking. A student has the choice of deciding the sequence of sections. There were no technical glitches and the experience was quite pleasant.
The exam center was easy to locate the staff was friendly. As we had to take the first slot, we didn’t go with any preconceived expectation. Based on our experience, one should have solved close to 83-90 questions (across the sections) in 120 minutes. The remaining questions should have been calculated attempts (educated guesses) since there was no negative marking scheme involved. However, a solid strategy was the need of the hour. Anyone with a weak reading speed would have faced a tough challenge due to the strict sectional time constraints. The three of us got different papers. The difficulty level of the questions changed drastically across the sections for us. For example, one of us got an easy English set and the other one got an extremely difficult vocabulary set in English.
The pattern of the paper was as follows:
S. no |
Section |
No. of Questions |
Time (in Minutes) |
Difficulty Level |
Possible |
1 |
Language Skills |
32 |
22 |
Easy - Moderate |
25 - 27 |
2 |
Quantitative Skills |
48 |
60 |
Moderate-Difficult |
32 - 34 |
3 |
Logical Reasoning |
40 |
38 |
Easy - Moderate |
26 - 29 |
|
Total |
120 |
120 |
Moderate - Difficult |
83 - 90 |
Logical Reasoning
The Logical Reasoning section was of easy - moderate level of difficulty. There were quite a few questions from the Verbal Logic section. There were six Critical Reasoning questions. But these were quite easy. However, a student will need to have a good reading speed to tackle the confusing options. The other verbal logic questions were very easy and the course of action question was actually a test of business ethics. There were two LR sets which were easy too. The singlets were tricky and the input-output questions could confuse students. The diagram based questions were slightly tough. However, overall the difficulty level of the section was not that high. An attempt of 26-29 is extremely realistic.
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Coding |
3 |
Blood Relation |
2 |
Critical Reasoning |
6 |
Strong and Weak Argument |
1 |
Statement Conclusion |
3 |
Course of Action |
1 |
Syllogism |
2 |
LR |
8 |
Input/output |
3 |
Diagram Based (Find the missing number) |
4 |
Mathematical Puzzles |
3 |
Singlets |
4 |
Total |
40 |
Quantitative Skills
The Quantitative Aptitude section was of easy-moderate level of difficulty and was relatively easier than the other sections. The section had many questions from Arithmetic followed by Numbers. The DS questions were from diverse topics such as Numbers, Geometry and Algebra. The paper was quite doable and a well prepared student would not have had much difficulty in going through this section. 32 - 34 proper attempts were certainly possible. However, the level of DI questions across papers varied. One of us got a tough DI section.
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Profit & Loss |
1 |
Percentages |
2 |
Ratio & Mixture, Average |
3 |
Time, Speed & Distance |
1 |
Work & Time |
2 |
Number System |
5 |
Progression |
1 |
Quadratic and higher degree Equations |
1 |
Co-ordinate |
1 |
Geometry |
2 |
Mensuration |
1 |
PnC, Probability |
2 |
DS |
6 |
DI |
20 |
Total |
48 |
Language Skills
The first 4 questions featured one FIB (Vocabulary based) and a cloze test. Though the sentences were easy, the options were tricky. The first question itself had two extremely close options. Hence, there is the possibility of a student wasting precious minutes on the first four questions. Then there were two RC passages (four questions each). The first passage was extremely easy and also an interesting read. The questions were mostly factual in nature and the options were easy to eliminate. The second RC passage was a tedious read. The sentence correction questions were slightly tricky. The para-jumble questions were a mixed bag. There were total 5 questions (5 Sentence Para Jumble) out of which two were very easy and the other three were difficult. The synonym and antonym questions were very easy as most of the words are commonly used. There was only one difficult word. A student must try to finish all the non RC and non Para Jumble questions first before moving to the RC and Para Jumble part. Overall, an attempt of 25-27 questions was realistic. The other questions must be marked with after making an educated guess.
Topic |
No. of Questions |
Reading Comprehension Passages |
8 (2 passages of 4 questions each) |
Para Jumble |
5 |
Error Spotting |
3 |
FIBs (Prepositions) |
3 (3 blanks each) |
FIBs (Vocabulary) |
3 (2 blanks each) |
Synonyms |
3 |
Antonym |
3 |
Cloze Test |
4 |
Total |
32 |