Tips & Tricks to Crack the Exam

With the SNAP-2015 exam barely 10 days away, it makes sense to
understand the nature of the exam and explore the important tips related to the
exam. In this article, I explore the important things you should keep in mind
with respect to the different sections of the exam and the approach you should
adopt for the exam.

SNAP-2015: Structure of the exam

The first thing that you need to understand about the exam is its
structure. The SNAP has 4 sections, which are as follows:

Since SNAP is a pen and paper based exam, it does not have any sectional
time limits. This gives you the freedom to attempt the paper in the manner you
want to and in order to maximise your scores, you can allocate more time to
your strong areas. In the past, SNAP has had sectional cut-offs but this year,
the exam does not have sectional time limits. This should not mean that you
completely skip any given section. Considering the difficulty level of the
exam, there are definitely some very easy/easy questions in every section that
you can use to boost your scores.

Let’s have a section-wise look at the exam now.

General English

If you have a look at the topic-wise break-up of the exam pattern last
year, the following topics featured in the SNAP exam last year:

●
Reading Comprehensions (2 Passages): 9
questions

●
Vocabulary (Synonym, antonyms, meaning of
idioms): 7 questions

●
Fill in the blanks (vocabulary based): 7
questions

●
Grammar (Faulty constructions,
Correct-incorrect sentences, grammar based fill in the blank questions): 16
questions

●
Para-jumble: 1 question

As we can see from the above, the SNAP exam places a heavy emphasis on
Vocabulary and Grammar. The best thing about these questions is that these are
basic in nature and do not require advanced skills. Most of the Grammar based
fill in the blank questions were based on the correct usage of prepositions and
conjunctions. This means that these do not require any special focus and
general reading is sufficient for these questions. Overall, for vocabulary, you
should revise your word lists and try to go through the words you have already
learnt. Also, the nature of RCs is fairly simple and CAT 1993-1999 RC passages
form good practice material for SNAP. Since the official SNAP paper is not
released, you might find it difficult to source the actual exam papers.

Overall, you can target an attempt of 30 questions for this section and
should spend 23 to 27 minutes on this section. In case English is the strong
area for you, you can spend an additional 5 minutes on the section and try to
attempt a few more questions.

Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation

This is a 40 question section that had the following break-up last year:

●
Arithmetic: 20 questions

●
Geometry: 7 questions

●
Probability, Log, Permutation and
Combination: 4 questions

●
Data Interpretation (Pie chart based): 5
questions

●
Data Interpretation (Bar Graph based): 4
questions

We can see from the above that this section has a heavy focus on
Arithmetic and this means you should thoroughly revise this area. This section
also contains Data sufficiency questions at times. Generally, most of the
questions in this section are of easy or moderate level of difficulty.
Considering the level of the section, you should try to attempt 25 to 30
questions in this section, within 30 to 35 minutes. The easy nature of section
means that candidates score significantly in this section and this means you
need to make sure you maintain good accuracy in this section.

Analytical & Logical Reasoning

In a way, this is the most important section in SNAP. Why so? Because
the 30 questions in this section are worth 60 marks (the only section which has
2 marks per questions). In the past year results, it has been seen that
students spend the maximum amount of time on this section (for obvious reasons)
and are able to boost their overall scores using this section. The easy to
moderate level of difficulty of this sections makes it an even more tempting
proposition.

The break-up of questions for the section last year was as follows:

●
Cubes: 3 questions

●
Arrangements: 5 questions

●
Family tree: 3 questions

●
Input Output set: 5 questions

●
Syllogisms: 2 questions

●
Analogy: 1 question

●
Critical Reasoning: 8 questions

●
Directions: 2 questions

●
Number tree: 1 question

You can see from the above break-up that a variety of questions are
asked in the SNAP reasoning section and you are advised to practice the above
topics as well. Some of you might not have practised the above topics as these
generally do not appear in the CAT exam.

Overall, you should try to solve around 25 question in this section in
about 40 minutes. If you maintain good accuracy in this section, this will
provide a significant boost to your overall scores.

General Awareness

As is generally the case, General Awareness is the tricky bit of the
exam. Since it is hard to prepare for this section and generally, the syllabus
for this area is vast (as well as fluid in nature), students generally shirk
from preparation for this section. The exam last year had 7 current affairs
questions and 33 static GK questions.  If
we have a quick look at the section break-up for the last year’s exam, you will
get a good idea of the challenge you are faced with:

●
Economy: 3 questions

●
International Affairs: 7 questions

●
Corporate GK: 2 questions

●
Geography: 6 questions

●
Financial Sector: 1 question

●
Science and Technology: 3 questions

●
Miscellaneous: 9 questions

Considering the break-up above, it is advisable that you prepare the
current affairs of the last 6 months and revise static GK facts from a book
such as Lucent’s GK. Overall, an attempt of around 15 to 20 questions within a
time of 10 to 15 minutes is a good attempt for the section. Do not wildly guess
in this section as GK generally requires absolute knowledge and this approach
won’t be of much help.

This completes an in-depth analysis for the SNAP exam. Use this to fine
tune your preparation strategy.