IRMASAT 2018 was conducted on Feb 4 across various centers in India. The structure of exam in terms of the number of questions and total duration was similar to that of the one held last year. The test was computer-based with one section having a total of 40 questions; the total duration of the test was 80 minutes.

As per the feedback shared by many of the test-takers, there were 5 options for each question. There was negative marking for wrong answers - a deduction of 1/4th of the marks allocated to every question for an incorrect attempt. The overall difficulty level of the test was difficult as compared to the last year's exam. Most of the questions were based on the recent events and various 'Yojanas' (schemes) instituted by the Government of India.

Out of 40 questions, 12 were stand-alone while 28 were based on passages. The stand-alone questions focussed on testing the students on various schemes and policies initiated by the Government of India in recent years. The passage-based questions had questions directly from the passage as well as the ones which tested the awareness level of the students related to the schemes given in the passages. The division of the passage- based questions was as follows: two passages having two questions each, five passages having three questions each, one passage having four questions, and one passage has five questions.

The questions were mostly based on the facts and information related to government schemes and institutions like NABARD, NDRI, IARI, ICAR, NDDB, 5-year plan, GFCF, JNNURM, NITI Aayog, Human Development Index, Unemployment levels in India, etc. Direct questions like the global growth rate projected by the IMF for the year 2016-17 were also asked.

All in all, students needed to know various "Schemes" of the government really well to score well in this test.

The cut-off for general category is expected to be a couple of points below that of last year's (around 15 marks) owing to the higher difficulty level of the test.