IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand) was established in 1979 at Anand, Gujarat with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), the Government of India, the Government of Gujarat, erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation and the National Dairy Development Board to provide management education, training, research and consultancy support to co-operatives and rural development organisations in India. 

IRMA’s entrance exam is on 13th Nov 2011 which is less than a week away. If you’re the sort of student who believes in 11th hour studies, you need a lot of the proverbial “burning of the midnight oil” and a lot of good luck.

If you’re looking for some last-minute study tips for cracking IRMA 2011, you’ve come to the right place!

First of all, let’s take a look at the pattern of the exam:The written examination will comprise following objective type tests. The details of these tests are given below:

All these four tests would be in a composite test booklet. There will be a separate answer sheet for indicating your answers. All these 200 questions would be printed serially form Q. No. 1 to Q. No. 200. You may attempt the questions / test in any order you like. However, in your own interest you are advised not to spend too much time on any one test.

To qualify in the written examination, it is necessary to pass in each one of the objective tests separately. Click here to get sample questions for the test.

Now let’s look at each of the 4 sections and see how they can be brushed up in the last week:

1. Analytical Reasoning: This section would be fairly simple if you are good at solving questions on analogies, odd man out, data sufficiency etc. Since there is just a week left, pick up a few questions of each type & try increasing your speed at solving them.

2. English Comprehension: You would be better off in this section if your reading speed is good enough. Reading Comprehension (RC) passages are almost always asked in IRMA’s exams. So practice at least 1 RC every day till your exam date. Take a look at the sample paper here to get an idea about the kind of questions asked in this section.

3. Quantitative Aptitude: Revise the usual topics like Time-Speed-Distance, Geometry, Mixtures etc. In fact, the syllabus is not very different from what you would cover for CAT. The section would be moderate in terms of difficulty levels. Questions from higher mathematics are not usually asked. You would usually get some really easy questions. When you have just a week left, the best option would be to revise all your formulae & try to solve one question of each type. If you have joined any test series or coaching centres like IMS, Career Launcher, TIME etc they would have given out IRMA-specific mock tests, which are quite useful. Try & take these tests under simulated conditions, to get a feel of the real exam.

4. Issues of Social Concern: This is the one section that most candidates lose out on. The 1st three sections are pretty easy to crack and most sail through them. Try to get your hands on magazines like “Pratiyogita Darpan” or “Yojana” or IRMA specific hand-outs given out by most coaching centres which cover topics of social concern. In fact any news related to rural India and developments taking place related to it should be known to you. Take a look at the website of the Ministry of Rural Development to know more about different schemes for rural India, budget etc. Some examples of the type of questions you can expect in this section:

• What is meant by ‘Para Banking’
• What is the objective of NABARD in launching Joint Liability Groups
• Who is the chairperson of Nation Commission on Farmer
• Who has written ‘Towards a Hunger Free World’
• The objectives of Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act

200 questions to be attempted in 2 hours makes IRMA a speed-based test. So the key to cracking this exam is to increase your speed while maintaining your accuracy. And try to not learn anything new the day before the exam. Just chill that day! All the Best!


Nishatha Abraham

Tagged in MAT MAT test pattern MAT exam AIMA MAT exam structure

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