Cracking FMS 2011

Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi is one of the most coveted B-schools for MBA aspirants. Admission to this prestigious B-school takes place through its own entrance exam. In calendars of most MBA aspirants, the big day is December 5, Sunday, when FMS will hold its entrance exam. Here are a few tips to crack FMS 2011.

FMS 2010 analysis
Last year’s FMS paper was not much of a surprise. However, like previous years, the questions were lengthy and tough. Overall, the difficulty level of the FMS exam paper could be termed as moderate.

Questions in the verbal ability section were mainly on vocabulary and English usage, such as idiomatic expressions, figures of speech etc.

The quantitative ability section consisted of questions only on quant. There were no questions on data interpretation. The questions were on topics such as, higher math, including maxima-minima, limits, physics-oriented mathematical problems and number systems.

Strategy for FMS 2011
The exclusivity of FMS entrance exam lies in the fact that the focus lies on verbal ability section as well as speed. This becomes even more apparent because last year there were 200 questions and the duration of the test was 120 minutes. Thus, speed is of the essence in this particular exam.

The marking scheme of the exam is as follows: there are four marks for each correct answer while one mark is deducted for each wrong answer.

While attempting the questions, you should choose carefully and avoid getting stuck on a ‘speed breaker’ question.

“Do not waste time with the ‘speed-breakers’ questions that you can solve, but take too much time. Make sure you spot and do the ‘sitters’ – the relatively simple questions that can be solved in a few seconds,” advises Sidharth Balakrishna, CAT expert, author and IIM Calcutta alumnus.

He also says that more emphasis is given on the verbal ability section.

“FMS is known to give relatively long passages running into more than a thousand words at times, followed by direct questions. That means that often the answer to a particular question is clearly mentioned within the passage and hence the student has to merely locate the answer. Due to the fact that the passages are lengthy, a good reading speed will be important for the candidate,” says Balakrishna.

The FMS entrance exam also tests the strength of vocabulary of the test takers.

“The test does sometimes ask you the meaning of some abstruse, complex words, some even based on classical literature-students can either use the ‘root’ of the word (if they are aware of these) and try to infer the answer or leave the question,” says Balakrishna.

Quantitative ability
According to an MBA expert, you might encounter topics in the quantitative ability section that you might not face in other MBA entrance exams. “Do not be shocked, if a total of four-to-five questions on force – momentum, calculus and its application, matrices, trigonometry, shares and dividends, properties of logrithms, equation of circle, parabola, ellipse, conditional probability etc. – appear in the test. The test contains the basics of all these topics,” he says.

Data interpretation
Questions on data interpretation are relatively simple and involve simple calculation. You can efficiently attempt all the questions and finish the section within the required time to leverage it for other sections.

Reasoning
The reasoning section is a mix of questions based on logical, analytical and critical reasoning. “Do expect questions on input – output, coding-decoding, sequences and series etc, which do not appear in the CAT,” he says. You cannot risk hastily marking options just because the questions are tedious and calculation intensive. “Do not be in a hurry to solve them unless you are very sure of your final choices,” the expert suggests. But you should always give priority to accuracy. Ensure that while maintaining speed, you do not commit any errors.

First Published: Nov 30, 2010 11:04 IST