TISS overall analysis
The test was divided into 2 parts – the first part was of 45 minutes duration and the second was of 1 hour. The second part of the test was specialization specific, i.e., it varied according to the specialization one had chosen. The instruction page clearly stated that there is no negative marking, no sectional cut-offs and no sectional time limits.

The part I was a cakewalk for the students as anyone could attempt all the 50 questions in the given time of 45 minutes. In fact those with good speed in mathematics actually completed all the questions in just 30 to35 minutes. The question paper (part I) contained 50 questions and was divided into 3 sections. The first section was QA and DI & LR. There were 15 questions. The questions were very easy and were based on visual reasoning, average, a simple case of pie chart with 5 questions, a question of geometry (circle in a rectangle), understanding of number system, and work and time. The level of questions was extremely easy.

The second section was of language (VA) containing 20 questions. The distribution of the questions in language section is given below.

The third section was based on GA. There were 15 questions. The questions were based on reptile, kharif crop, States and Union Territory of India, Vice president of India, novel of Tasleema Nasreen, Oscar award nominee movie, Kashmir’s special status article, nations of SAARC, full form of AIDS etc. All the questions were extremely easy and anyone expecting a call should have a score of 40+ correct questions in this section.

Verbal Comprehension Ability

This year, TISS had a well-balanced question-distribution in the language section which was clearly meant to test a candidate’s familiarity with the ‘usage’ rather than the technical aspects of the language. In 1st test, it had 20 questions and in 2nd test (HRM specialization) it had 19 questions.

Test 1

Question Type	Number of Qs.	Level of difficulty
Short passage – on acquiring wealth is justified as long as it is not achieved through wrong means like stepping on the wrong side morally or legally –with 3 direct questions which were easy and 2 inferential questions which were difficult (with close and confusing options).	5	Moderate
Qs on sequencing the sentence to make a coherent paragraph	2	Easy
Qs on multiple meanings of words used in a sentence	2	Easy
Qs on filling in 2 blanks of a sentence	2	Easy
Qs on filling blanks in a coherent passage.	5	Easy
Qs on finding erroneous usage of words in the sentences given	2	Moderate
Qs on finding the option-sentence that conveys the same meaning as Q-sentence, after the ‘voice’ is changed.	2	Moderate

• While the passage had intricacy, the key was how well the reader could tune into the intent of the author (as it was more of an expression by a person rather than an excerpt from a writing). The inferential questions could be solved if the tone of the author in the relevant sentences could be understood.
• In sequencing questions, the key was to see first-reference of subjects which were mentioned in the sentences.
• In Qs on multiple meanings of words used in a sentence, the key was to know the multiple meaning of the same word.
• In the Qs on filling in 2 blanks of a sentence, the key was knowledge of the contextual-usage of the synonymous words.
• In the Qs on finding erroneous usage of words in the sentences given, the confusion was owing to the similar-sounding words with different spellings.
• In the Qs on finding the option-sentence that conveys the same meaning as Q-sentence, after the ‘voice’ is changed, the key was to carefully observe and then predict the purpose of the sentence.      

 

Part II
For students who have opted for Human Resources Management & Labour Relations the test was option-based and the details are given below:

Duration of Test	60 minutes
Number of Questions	75
Marks per Question	Each question carries equal marks
Negative marking	No
Number of Sections	5
Number of options	4 or 5

Sectional distribution

Section	Subject	Marks
I	DATA INTERPRETATION	20
II	DATA SUFFICIENCY	15
III	READING COMPREHENSION	19
IV	BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE	10
V	FOUNDATIONS OF MANAGEMENT (ECONOMIC, SOCIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL)	11
	Total	75

The second part was moderate to difficult. The number of questions in part II was 75. The time allocated was 60 minutes. The questions need to be solved It was more difficult than it was expected. The first 20 questions were of DI. There were 4 cases of DI. All the cases were given in the form of table and were given from survey of government agencies. The tables were of the following subjects:
Case 1 (Table): Mortality rate of children below 5 years age and total mortality rate in different years
Case 2 (Table): The amount government is spending on a child in Primary, secondary, higher secondary (technical) and Higher secondary (vocational) in rural and urban area in India.
Case 3 (Table): The number of people below 15 years of age and above 60 years of age in different countries in the form of percentage.
Case 4 (Table): The data were given in the form of survey of expenditure on food and non food items in terms of percentage and in two different years in different years.

The questions given in these cases were mostly inference based and had very few calculations required. The cases could be solved with keen observation only but the language of the questions made the questions very difficult to understand and hence made them prone to mistakes. Very few students could actually understand the language of the questions and marked the answer on gut feelings. (As there were no negative marks, all the questions should to be attempted).

The next 15 questions were based on DS. The questions were tricky and lengthy. The language of the questions made some of the questions very difficult. In general all the questions were moderate to tough. The areas from where the questions of DS were given are set theory, time and work, speed and time, average and number system. The questions were very confusing and as per the general feelings of the students, they have attempted these questions without much surety of correctness. The remaining 40 questions were from reading comprehension, business knowledge and foundations of management.

The specifics about reading comprehensions are given in the following table.

Question Type	Number of Qs.	Level of difficulty
Long passage – on concept of acquisition of power in society, why an individual wants it and can use it to his benefit – with most of the questions inferential but easy	5 Qs	Moderate
Long passage – on how to decide a work’s worth in organization and decide payment terms for it – with most of the questions inferential but easy.	5 Qs	Moderate
Long passage – on manager’s role in motivating people in the organization and induce the developmental cycle of people towards the self-actualization; while reducing people’s tendency to get in reductive cycle – with most of the questions direct, with close options.	9 Qs	Moderate

• In the 1st passage, the key was to see the link that the author was trying to establish between the concept and its usage in the various aspects of the society (including profession). It needed a bit of ‘reading between the lines’.
• In the 2nd passage, the key was to carefully read and interpret the last paragraph as it had an emphasized importance in relation to the questions.  
• In the 3rd passage, the key was to track the flow of the passage, flagging when the author would shift from discussing one stakeholder to discussing another, and to remember the key-terms.

 

FOUNDATIONS OF MANAGEMENT (ECONOMIC, SOCIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL)

The keys to solving the questions of this section were:

• The knowledge of management-terminology that is normally used in the popular of-the-shelf management writings (not typical management literature)
• The ability to interpret the underlying phenomenon in a situation and to spot the same phenomenon operating in a different context. (more of an analogical inference)
• The ability to spot the pattern which is visible in a set of situations.
• The ability to make sense out of the numbers (specifically percentages) and to see how they change or get affected with the change in the scenarios. A bit of extrapolation needed.
• A commonsense to see what is the resultant effect of an action.  

 

Overall the second part was a bit difficult to solve. The kind of relaxation of the part I was completely missing in this part.

An attempt of 40+ in this section with 80 to 85% accuracy definitely gives a chance of getting a call from the institute.