TANCET – M.B.A 2013 Analysis

TANCET 2013 was conducted on 6th April, 2013 from 10 a.m. To 12 : 00 noon. Every year Anna University has been conducting this exam on behalf of the Government of Tamilnadu.

Exam Snapshot

Number of Questions	100
Number of Sections	5
Marking Scheme	1 Mark for every correct answer
Negative Marking	1/5 Mark for every wrong answer
Number of Choices	5
Duration	120 Minutes

Till last year though the pattern for TANCET remained the same, there used to be some surprise element in the exam such as giving new types of questions, focussing on new areas like Venn Diagrams etc. But this time the surprise element is the change in the pattern itself which is as follows:

Section	Number of Questions in TANCET 2013	Number of Questions till TANCET 2012
AnalysisofBusinessSituations	30	20
ReadingComprehension	10	20
QuantitativeAbility	20	20
DataSufficiency	20	20
EnglishGrammar&Usage	20	20

T.I.M.E has always maintained that the pattern for TANCET MBA need not be the same every year.

Let us now look at each section individually :

Analysis of Business Situations

The first ABS passage is about the new trend of western firms filling their executive positions in Asia with locals. The passage analyses the advantages of this move,and gives the perspective of employees, recruiters and companies. The "localisation", the passage concludes, is not just in recruitment, but is also in the areas of product focus.

The passage is not a difficult one in terms of subject or language,but its length could be intimidating. The clarity of the case in favour of locals vis a vis expats is unambiguous and lucidly worded. The number of questions (20) may have come as a surprise, but that is in sync with the general trend to keep the surprise element alive.

The second ABS passage is about the Bengal tiger economy (A tiger economy is the economy of a country which undergoes rapid economic growth, usually accompanied by an increase in the standard of living). It is an encomium to India's burgeoning and vibrant economy as it presents opportunities for European businesses.

The passage showcases India as the future of the labour force. This passage is also quite lucidly worded,and not very long.

Reading Comprehension

The first RC passage had about 350 to 400 words. It was about the Greek and Persian war. The second passage had about 250 to 300 words and was about a war between England and Spain. Both the passages had five questions each. The questions can be classified as moderately difficult.

However, T.I.M.E students who practised our material and mocks would have found this area easy.

English Grammar & Usage

There were 20 questions on sentence correction on the lines of regular TANCET Questions i.e 'spotting the error' and most of them were of easy to moderate level of difficulty.

On the whole, we can classify the above three areas as moderately difficult. A score of 24+ marks can be considered very good.

Quantitative Ability

TANCET is known for its surprises. But this time as far as Quant is considered, the students were lucky that there were no big changes in the Quant part when compared to the earlier TANCETs. In this year's TANCET, there was a significant number of questions on Indices & Surds, which usually had little presence in earlier TANCETs. Other areas that were tested include Permuations & Combinations, Ratio & Proportion, Progressions, Percentages, Geometry & Mensuration, Averages, Functions,etc. Though the questions were from a wide variety of topics, this time most of the questions were of easy to moderate level of difficulty except for 3-4 tricky questions. A score of 13 + would be good.

Data Sufficiency

The questions from this area were based on similar ideas/concepts as in the previous years' papers. This kind of repetition of ideas is not generally observed in TANCET Exam. Questions based on the chapters Time & Work, Geometry & Mensuration, Numbers, Sequences, Equations, formed a major portion of the data sufficiency questions. Most of the questions were easy and straightforward. A score of around 14+ can be considered very good.