1. Don’t worry about GK: IIFT GK has always been moderate-difficult. Brushing up the current affairs, going through the past papers and identifying patterns would be helpful.

2. Solve past papers: Solving the past five IIFT papers would be extremely useful as you would get a feel of the type of questions asked. Also, in case of any similar model questions, a lot of time could be saved.

3. DI-fference maker: DI is one of the most decisive sections in IIFT and the standard of DI has been very high in the past years. Hence in this week, practice fractions, table based, chart based calculation intensive DI questions. Also, on the d-day, once you get the paper, open and check the toughness level of DI and then decide on how many DIs to solve. An easy DI is a cash cow.

4. Read Comprehensions: Yes, read them. They might appear long but the answers lie inside the RCs. As it is a paper-pencil/pen exam, you could underline the important points and save time. All those who are afraid of VA-RC section can use this strategy to clear the cut off in VA-RC section. In case you don’t have time, read the questions and scan through the RCs for answers. However, this should be the last minute strategy and it could be risky.

5. Quant, the score booster: While DI is the difference maker, quant is the score booster. Traditionally, QA has been given the highest per question weightage.

6. LR and VA, the cruisers: Don’t neglect them because when you are under high pressure solving complex DIs and long RCs, these sections could boost your confidence and provide some breathing space. Try to solve LR and VA in the middle.

7. Don’t guess: Unless you have a strong hunch, don’t guess. A few calculated guesses might be okay but as people tend to miss the cut off by kitten’s whisker, I would not personally suggest guessing.

8. Sectional Cutoffs: If the paper has sectional cutoffs, your first aim should be to clear them. This means that you’ll need to allocate optimum time to each section.

9. Time management: Unlike CAT, you don’t get three minutes to solve a question in IIFT. Last year’s paper had 128 questions to be solved in 120 minutes. Time allotted should be proportional to the weight that particular section carries. I personally started with GK, spent not more than 7minutes, solved Quant and DI for 20 minutes, LR, RC, VA for 15 minutes each and then in the last 28 minutes, maximized my score. You could have your own strategy but don’t get stuck at a simple question. “Art of leaving” plays an important role.

10. Stay cool: All said and done, stay cool. If it is tough for you, it is tough for every one as it is a single day paper and all the candidates would be tested on the same paper. All the best.