SNAP 2009

Overview

* In 3 sections, 40 questions carried 1 mark each. In Analytical & Logical Reasoning section, all 30 questions were of 2 marks each.

Section 1 – General English
This time, the General English section heavily concentrated on grammar and vocabulary. There was just one RC passage, on child psychology. Broadly speaking, the questions were somewhat easier than those which have been appearing for the last three years.

The questions based on grammar were mostly doable. 35 of the 40 questions were based topics like parts of speech, synonyms, spellings, sentence correction, Odd Man Out, FIB and usage. There was one question on Jumbled Paragraphs, also doable.
There was just one RC, on child psychology. The questions were mostly indirect, but not too difficult. The passage was somewhat simple to read.

Most questions in this section were easy and attemptible. It was difficult to pinpoint what to leave out. Instead one should have set one's own  time limit for this section and attempted the maximum number of questions.

A good attempt would have been 28 to 32 questions with a possible score of 25 + marks.

Section 2 - Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency
This section comprised many questions which were direct questions based on concepts and requiring no application. Most of them could be solved in under a minute. In the quantitative part, the emphasis was on Arithmetic, especially topics like Percentages, Ratios  and principles of counting. Hardly any questions were calculation intensive. The other topics in this section included Time Speed Distance, Work, Probability, Puzzles, Quadrilaterals, Alligation, Work and basic statistics. This section also had 3 DI sets based on Venn Diagram (2 Questions), table (3 questions) and Pie- Charts (4 questions). The Venn Diagram and table questions were really easy but the questions based on Pie- Charts were a little calculation intensive but could be solved using approximation techniques. Surprisingly, there was no DS question and just 2 Geometry questions. Overall, a typical SNAP section.

A good attempt in this section would be around 26 to 28 questions with a possible score of 21 to 23.

Section 3 – General Awareness
This section contained less questions on current affairs than those in the past three years.  Rather, the GA section this time concentrated more on topics like awards, economics, business affairs, etc. A few questions were on sports. Unlike last year, there was no differential marking. 
Overall this was a moderately difficult section.

A good attempt in this section would be 14 to 16 questions with a possible score of 11 to 13 marks.

Section 4 – Analytical & Logical Reasoning
This section, surprisingly, had questions based on DI too apart from Verbal Reasoning, Critical Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Visual Reasoning.
Most of the DI questions needed only a basic understanding of data and simple logical reasoning and no calculations. There were 2 questions on filling the missing element in a grid, which took some time to crack the logic. The 2 visual reasoning questions were really simple. There were 2 questions on conditionalities and grouping, which again were very easy. There were 5 single-question sets on Strong/Weak Arguments, which compared to the rest of the section, were slightly on the tougher side, requiring some analysis. There was one question on Complete the Series. It was easy. There were 4 questions on Analogy cum Match the Following, in which there were two missing items in each questions, which had to be chosen from options given.
There were 4 DI sets comprising a total of 11 questions. One set had 4 question, one had 3 and the other two had 2 questions each. One of the four sets was calculation-intensive, the one on Airtel GSM. The others were easy and must-attempts.

A good attempt in this section would be 22-23 questions with a possible score of around 38

Thus on the whole, SNAP 2009 was a slightly easier test as compared to SNAP 2008, and so speed would be an even more important factor this year.

Note: Individual institutes may or may not use sectional cutoffs to give the GD-PI calls. However, these institutes do not explicitly mention anything to the effect.