IRMA 2011 Analysis IRMA 2011 had four sections like the previous years question papers.

IRMA maintained the paper structure with respect to number of sections and questions but the level of difficulty has gone up noticeably. There were quite a few surprises in types of questions. English Comprehension This year IRMA stressed on questions based on inferences. The section had 40 questions. There was one RC Passage (Rational thinking in politics) with only 4 questions from Vocabulary (2 Synonyms, 2 Antonyms). There were 10 questions of sentence correction with questions on articles, tenses, superlatives etc. IRMA threw a surprise with a new question type where the students were asked to select probable paraphrases of given sentences. (There were three sentences given which were to be combined into a single sentence. Five different ways of paraphrasing the given sentences were given. Each option was an introductory phrase, not a complete sentence. Students had to infer which sentence fragment is viable.) Like last year there was a cloze test with 10 blanks and very easy options. Topic RC Passage on Rational thinking in politics (including 4 questions on synonyms/antonyms, 1 question on title). Sentence correction Paraphrase Cloze Test Number of Questions 15 10 5 10 Difficulty Level Moderate Moderate Difficult Easy

Quantitative Ability - This section came as a huge surprise as there were very few questions from quantitative ability. Most of the questions were of Data Interpretation. There were quite a few questions with one option as none of these. This compelled students to solve the questions entirely rather than rely on approximations. Most of the DI sets were calculation based. Topic Brief Description 3 sets (table based), 1set on double pie chart, 1 set on vertical bar graph, 1 set on horizontal bar graph, 1 set on combination of pie chart and bar graph, 1 set on line chart 1 set of 3 questions on probability, 1 set of 2 questions on percentages and fractions. 5 individual questions (Age, PLD, TSD, Quadratic equations, Geometry) Number of Questions 40 (8 sets with 5 questions in each set) Difficulty Level Moderate-Tough

Data Interpretation Quantitative Ability Data-Sufficiency

5 5

Easy

Easy-Moderate

Analytical Reasoning This section was tough as compared to previous years. There was a new kind of set where students were asked to select statements containing data as answers to given questions.

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Topic Sitting arrangement (2 sets) Data Sufficiency (reasoning based blood relations, directions etc.) Statement conclusion (syllogism) Logical Reasoning Set Coding-Decoding Linear Arrangement (Alphabet based) Odd word/letter out Formation of meaningful word Logical reasoning set based on sentence inferences

Number of Questions 12(7+5) 5 6 7 5 4 5 1 5

Difficulty Level Tough Easy Moderate Tough Easy Easy Easy Moderate Moderate

Issues of Social Concern The section had questions that were of primarily easy to moderate difficulty level. Only a few questions in this section were tough. Most of the questions asked were from development programs, agricultural organizations, personalities, economy, awards and environmental issues. Topic Agricultural and Rural development Economy (Rural economy) Organizations Personalities, awards and important days Misc Number of Questions 17 18 8 8 9 Difficulty Level Moderate Moderate-Tough Moderate Easy-Moderate Moderate

Estimated Cut Off Marks (IRMA 2011) SECTION English Comprehension Quantitative Ability Analytical Reasoning Issues of Social Concern Overall Marks 40 50 50 60 200 Expected Cut off 14-16 18-20 15-18 20-22 80-85

All the best! Team CL

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