IBA Admission Test: The Ins and Outs (Excluding the Viva)

The difficulty level of the IBA admission test has always struck me as somewhat overrated. While it’s true that this is a competitive exam, what’s even more true is that there usually aren’t many candidates who pose a real challenge in the actual competition. Most people prefer to intimidate others about this exam. They speak about what they know; they also speak about what they don’t know. Let me share two facts with you.

• Fifty percent of candidates in this exam show up just for the experience, without any particular reason—almost like attending a get-together. (The amusing thing is, some of them actually succeed! It’s that “I came, I saw, I conquered” type of situation! You can’t fit them into any grammar. So there’s no point in feeling bad about their success.)

• Only about 7% of candidates are actually capable of real competition.

This means your competitors aren’t as numerous as you think. The IBA admission test has no specific syllabus, so it’s impossible for anyone to prepare 100% for this exam. Keep in mind, the art lies in forgetting sixty percent of what you thought you’d learned completely, and properly utilizing the remaining forty percent. For doing well in this exam, knowing what not to study is far more important than knowing what to study.

I’ve tried to address this. Use these guidelines in your own way. Take what you need, throw away the rest.

• Thoroughly solve all the previous years’ questions (if not all, then at least 10-15 years’ worth) from IBA’s BBA+MBA, BIBM’s MBM, DU’s EMBA, and private university MBA admission tests. Get a clear understanding of the question patterns. This is the first step in beginning your preparation.

• Learning the GRE wordlist doesn’t guarantee admission to IBA. Remember, the easiest questions from GRE and GMAT appear in IBA. One question is the genesis of several other questions. This means you should thoroughly learn the meanings and usage of all the additional options given as answers to any question.

• Let me share a secret. Usually, no segment has a cut-off mark above 50%. So try to score at least 50% in all segments to reach the viva board. In the IBA admission test, you need to pass each segment separately.

• In competitive exams, preparedness works better than preparation. Maintain the attitude “I’m the best” in the exam hall. It works like magic! There’s no such thing as an “uncommon question.” The ability to answer uncommon questions in the exam hall is divinely inspired!

• Time Management. Because it does matter! Now let’s see what this means. Keep two things in mind.

First. No matter how much you prepare, you must maximize its utilization. Preparing isn’t the big deal—properly utilizing that preparation is. You need to pass each segment separately. So you can’t put all your effort only on what you’re good at. Therefore, divide your time accordingly. Second. In the first two-thirds of the total time, answer everything you can. Use the remaining time to tackle the left-out questions.

• To do well in the IBA admission test, solve lots and lots of questions. You can regularly solve GRE+GMAT questions online with understanding. (Not all types of questions—only those that appear in the exam.)

Now let me tell you which books to read and how much from each.

Verbal part

• Vocabulary. For this, you can look at Barron’s GRE Wordlist, Word Smart. If you’re short on time, you can also check market books. Initially, definitely look at Barron’s SAT hot prospectus and high frequency wordlists.

• For the Analogy part, you can check the GRE Big Book (old edition). To reduce difficulty, you can buy and read a couple of guides.

• For Sentence completion, you can look at the GRE Big Book (old edition). It’s good to do the exercises from Barron’s SAT beforehand.

• Read the Sentence correction section from Official GMAT.

• Reading IELTS books will benefit the Comprehension part. You can also check Official GMAT, as it has questions in IBA Admission Test format.

• Read the Error Finding part from TOEFL books (like Cliff’s TOEFL). Definitely read Barron’s TOEFL Essential Grammatical Rules. You can look at Saifur’s Grammar book.

Mathematics

You can solve from Saifur’s Math, Saifur’s Geometry, Mentors’ QBank, NOVA’s GRE. If you have time, you can also look at ARCO SAT.

Analytical Analysis

• For Puzzle/Logical inference, you can look at GRE Big Book. You can also keep a couple of market books.

• For Critical Reasoning, you can check short comprehensions from GRE Big Book + Official GMAT.

The secret to succeeding in the IBA admission test is massive, massive, and massive practice, plus becoming emotionless in the exam hall. You’ll need extensive practice because there’s no such thing as “getting common questions” here. Practice gives you confidence, and you’ll understand how to solve what, whether you should attempt a question at all or not. No one has ever qualified for any IBA admission test with 100% marks; the questions have always been, are, and certainly will be designed to be impossible to complete within the given time. You need to become emotionless during the exam because once you start feeling the exam is going well, your body and mind will subconsciously begin to relax. And IBA questions are such that it’s not easy to realize you’re getting wrong answers—all possible wrong answers are mercilessly provided in the options. And if you think the exam is going badly and have a nervous breakdown, it’s better to leave without finishing the exam; honestly, IBA isn’t for nervous people, neither before succeeding nor after. Not before because being nervous makes success difficult. Not after because being nervous makes survival difficult.

Good luck!

Postscript.

Greed leads to sin, sin leads to negative marks. The marking system in IBA admission tests is: 1 point for each correct answer, and minus 0.25 for each wrong answer. Simply put, four wrong answers will cost you one correct answer’s points. The score differences are very small, but this 0.25 difference creates a world of difference in results. Yes, you’re thinking correctly—you’ll be eliminated by just a small mistake! So be very careful when answering. There’s no need to answer the entire question paper—IBA doesn’t expect that from you either. Just answer what you’re sure about, and if that goes above roughly 60%, you can consider yourself safe. These are exam tactics—when and how to answer which questions—you’ll understand only when you enter the exam hall after extensive, extensive, extensive practice beforehand, as I’ve said before. Competitive exams aren’t for those foolish, lazy people who expect someone else to hold them and spoon-feed them, and who sit around with their mouths open in that expectation.

Tips. How about browsing through D.N. Ghosh’s College Essays to develop your writing style?