PGDBA (Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics by IIM Calcutta, ISI Kolkata, IIT Kharagpur) 2021 exam took place on 7th August, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at various centres across India. In this post, we will do PGDBA 2021 exam analysis in detail and look at various aspects of the exam. Let’s bifurcate the post into various sections and go through each in detail. The company organizing PGDBA 2021 exam was TCS ION.
Sections covered in this post:
- Topics and difficulty level: PGDBA 2021 analysis
- PGDBA 2021 Analysis: Verbal section
- Reading comprehension
- Para jumbles
- Grammer – idioms
- Logical reasoning section
- Data interpretation section
- Quant section
- PGDBA 2021 Analysis: Verbal section
- Incorrect Questions in PGDBA 2021 exam
- Surprises in PGDBA 2021 exam
- Was calculator allowed in PGDBA 2021 exam?
- Expected cut-off of PGDBA 2021
Topics and Difficulty level: PGDBA 2021 analysis
At the pattern level, there were no big surprises. The PGDBA 2021 exam had 50 questions split across 4 sections – verbal (15 questions), logical reasoning (5 questions), data interpretation (5 questions) and quant (25 questions). The overall pattern was in line with the previous year exam.
PGDBA 2021 Analysis: Verbal section
The verbal section had 15 questions in all split across 3 areas:
Reading comprehension
There were 2 passages with 5 questions in each in the exam. The first passage was a bit lengthy (~6 paragraphs) and had tricky questions – mainly inference-based questions. The second passage was a bit easier and shorter (~3 paragraphs). The second passage had relatively direct questions.
Para jumbles
3 para jumbles were asked in the PGDBA 2021 exam and were of easy to moderate difficulty. Any student with good practice of para jumbles should be able to solve at least 2 out of 3 without much difficulty.
Grammar – Idioms
2 questions were asked from the grammar section. There were mainly idioms using the words “par” and “emotional”. These were a bit tricky and if you haven’t practiced, it will be a bit difficult to answer these questions.
Overall, the verbal section was of medium difficulty (similar to what we have seen in the previous year’s exams).
An attempt of 12-13 questions in verbal would be considered as a good attempt.
Logical Reasoning section
The pattern for logical reasoning questions was the same – 1 set of 5 questions. However, the difficulty level of logical reasoning set was a bit higher. A lot of students also felt the same and they either had difficulty in solving the set or took significant time to solve it.
Data Interpretation section
The data interpretation section was a bit surprising in the PGDBA 2021 exam. Instead of giving a single set of 5 questions, there were 5 independent questions in the section. These questions involved calculating averages, ratios, and percent. The questions had different types of charts – line charts, bar charts, and pie charts. Neither the questions were calculation intensive nor they were very difficult. Overall, we would call the difficulty level of this section easy to moderate.
An attempt of 9/10 in the LRDI section would be considered good.
Quant section
Almost all the topics were covered in the quant section of PGDBA 2021. The algebra section (including quadratic, sequence & series, binomial theorem, and functions) had around 7-8 questions. The calculus section (including limits, continuity, differentiation, integration, and area under the curve) had around 6 questions.
There were 2 questions for each – quadratic equations, differentiation, permutations & combination, binomial theorem. Most of the other topics such as trigonometry, heights & distances, set theory, matrices, circles, conic sections (parabola), properties of triangles, geometry had one question each.
Some of the questions were directly formula-based; while a few required you to either think through the logic or carry out calculations. Overall the difficulty level of the quant section was moderate.
There were in-all 24 correct questions in the quant section with one question having incorrect text.
A correct attempt of 18-19 questions would be considered good for this section.
Incorrect questions in PGDBA 2021 exam
There was one incorrect question in the quant section. The question text was from the para jumbles question (verbal section) and the options were numerical. In such situations, usually full marks are awarded to every candidate for that question, irrespective of the attempt.
Though there are few doubts which students have raised about incorrect options or unclear question statements, we doubt those will be considered (based on our experience).
Surprises in the PGDBA 2021 exam
No major surprises looking at the overall pattern of the exam. However, three small things we saw in PGDBA 2021 exam which were not present earlier:
- The data interpretation section did not have a single set of 5 questions. Instead 5 separate questions, each having its own chart and data, were given. This hasn’t usually happened earlier.
- The quant section had a question on probability which is not a part of the syllabus. The question was based on rolling a fair die and was not difficult but it came as a surprise.
- Another question in the quant section was based on the remainder/divisibility theorem – finding the highest power of 5 in 518! (on similar lines).
Was Calculator allowed in the PGDBA 2021 exam?
No calculator was allowed in the exam hall. Neither the calculator was available on-screen. So, you have to carry out all the calculations manually.
Expected Cut-off of PGDBA 2021
We would expect the cut-off of the PGDBA 2021 exam to be somewhere between 105 and 110. Given the difficulty level of the exam, competition, and other parameters, we expect the cut-off to drop slightly from 111 (for the General category) in 2020. Moreover, the cut-off was higher in 2020 because 15 marks were awarded to everyone due to an incorrect data interpretation set.
If you wish to contribute to this post, please reach out to us at info@aimonks.com.
All the best!!
Start your interview preparation with these real interview experiences from previous year interviews.
You can also check out this video and get insider details about the PGDBA program.
Disclaimer: The insights mentioned in the post are based on the memory and effort has been done to keep it as accurate. However, AI Monks does not hold any liability of information that is different from the actual.
Comment here