IRMA – 8th November, 2009
IRMA held on 8th November, 2009 has no major surprises for the test takers in terms of level of difficulty of questions and the test structure. Since IRMA is usually the first in the season of tests, its feel is something that sets the mood of the students for the subsequent tests. So, starting the journey with a comparatively easy test provides the much-needed moral boost to the candidates.

The test had 200 questions to be solved in 120 minutes. There were four sections

Overall Test Pattern

*Accepts IRMA score but one has to apply separately to XIMB.

Area-wise Break-up

Sectional Discussion

SECTION I – ENGLISH COMPREHENSION
The English section was easier compared to last year because this year there was a mix of constructs. Last year there were only two constructs – Reading Comprehension and Fill in the Blanks (paragraph). This year there were a variety of questions mainly focusing on the vocabulary and contextual interpretation skills of the test taker. The break-up is given below:

Reading Comprehension
The passage was of medium length and the topic was on the problems of chemical fertilizers and the benefits of organic farming. There were 10 questions based on the text, which were a mix of direct and partially indirect questions. Solving them was easy because the correct answer almost stood out. There were 3 questions on identifying the synonyms and 2 questions on identifying the antonyms of words used in the passage. The words were simple and familiar ones like impact, drastically, practiced, etc. Neither reading and understanding the passage nor solving the questions would be a problem for an average student.

Fill in the Blanks (complete the idea)
Many students would find this set moderately difficult because one had to negate the options not only on the grounds of grammar but also the context in which it was used. Again, all the sentences pertained to the rural scenario and reading the sentences would give one enough clues to negate the options.

Jumbled Paragraph (4 sentences)
This was a very easy set where all the paragraphs related to rural scenario like farming process, use of fertilizers, etc. The introductory sentence of each paragraph almost stood out – there was hardly any other sentence that could begin the sequence. This set could be solved in a very short time.

Fill in the Blanks (paired)
Again the sentences related to the rural scenario and a careful reading of the sentences would have helped one solve the questions correctly. The options were not at all close and arriving at the correct answer was almost a cakewalk.

Fill in the Blanks (paragraph)
This set had a paragraph with 10 blanks and the paragraph was on the effective utilization of water for sustainable development. The options had no difficult words and they were not too close also. So arriving at the correct option was easy.

A good attempt in the English section would be around 30 to 32 questions and a good score would be 17 to 18 marks.

SECTION II – QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE
This section was on the easier side as compared to the previous year. Most of the questions were straightforward and calculation based and anyone having good grasp of the basics should have sailed through this section. As the level of difficulty was lower than the previous year, one can expect a higher cut-off for this section. A good time allocation would have helped students to maximize their scores in this section.

The detailed analysis of this section is given below:

A good attempt in this section would be around 35 questions and a good score would be 28 to 30 marks.

SECTION II – ANALYTICAL REASONING
This section had questions on logical reasoning as well as verbal reasoning.

The break-up of Verbal Reasoning questions is given below:

Odd One Out
Both the questions were easy and required simple logic to solve them. The options were related to agriculture and food crops.

Analogy
In this set the question on mustard-seed relation was easy but the one on rabi crop and its season was tricky because one had to know the sowing seasons of rabi and kharif crops.

Anagram
This was an easy question and only four letters were given in a scrambled manner.

Course of Action
In this set a situation was given and one had to find the appropriate course of action from a set of choices. One had to read the instructions carefully and logically eliminate the options. This set was easy and should have been attempted.

Implicit Assumption
This set was comparatively tricky because differentiating an assumption from an inference would require strong logical skill of the candidate.

Cause and Effect
The questions were presented in a different format where either the cause of effect was given and one had to identify the probable cause of the effect or probable effect of the cause from a set of options. This was a slightly time-consuming set.

Probably/ Definitely True/False
The passage was on an environmental issue and understanding it was not a constraint. Therefore, eliminating options was also easy.

Logical Reasoning
Analytical reasoning had 25 questions on Conditionality based Arrangement, LR based DS and Selection Criteria.

A good attempt in this section would be 35 + questions with 24 – 26 marks as a good score.

SECTION IV – ISSUES OF SOCIAL CONCERN
The distinctive feature of IRMA test is this section. As usual, there were 60 questions on topics related to rural economy and rural development policies. There were some general question too, like how is carbon credit is related to which sphere, the headquarters of WTO, the highest private sector service provider in India, etc. There were questions on cropping pattern and the season of crops, union budget, PDS scheme, government subsidies, awards, rural development measures, etc.

A student who has been seriously preparing for IRMA and has been following the IRMA related activities on our GK website – GQuest (www.imsindia.com/GQ) would have come across many familiar topics in the test. Given below is a list of IRMA questions which you could have easily solved if you had gone through the IRMA related articles/tests on GQuest:

This is just a sample set. There were also questions where some of the options have been either dealt with in our articles or we have given questions on those topics in GQuest.

A good attempt in this section would be around 20 to 25 questions and a good score would be 16 to 18 marks.

IRMA Cut-Offs
The cut-offs given by IRMA for the last two terms is given below: