Students preparing for top management entrance exams like- CAT, XAT, IIFT, SNAP etc, to have admissions in various courses, the major question faced by everyone is General Knowledge (GK). General Awareness or General Knowledge is such dynamic area, whose preparation is continuous and unending. The reason for extra importance of General Knowledge topics and questions is that it will not only assist you to score very high marks in less time but it will also help you to perform well in Group Discussions and Interviews.
In This article of AfterGraduation, we will give you an in-depth exam wise analysis and weight-age of the General Awareness section and important tips for How To Prepare General Knowledge.
General Knowledge or General Awareness is a section which checks an individual’s I.Q level along with his awareness for the Current affairs that are happening around him. It must not be treated lightly as it can play a deciding role for your dreams.
Apart from CAT, the other national MBA entrance exams which have a section on GK. are given in the table below with the name of the section and number of probable questions.
GK Section Details for MBA Exam
| MBA Entrance Exam | Name of the Section | Number of Questions | Marking Scheme |
| General Awareness | 25 | +4, -1 | |
|
IIFT |
General Knowledge and Awareness | 25-28 | +0.5 -1/3 |
|
SNAP |
General Awareness: General Knowledge, Current Affairs, Business Scenario | 30 | +1, -0.25 |
|
XAT |
General Knowledge | 25 | +1, -0.25 |
General Awareness Questions Pattern
The pattern of General Awareness section questions are more or less similar in all the MBA entrance exams. The questions are mainly a mix of current affairs and static GK. However, the question types sometime vary according to the conducting. For e.g. IRMA or the Institute of Rural Management Anand, which offers a niche programme in Rural Management, asks questions specific to that area. Similar is the case with TISSNET, which is conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences and MICAT, conducted by MICA, Ahmedabad.
Now we will have a brief detail regarding analysis of the General Awareness section specific to the exams.
CMAT
The overall difficulty level of the CMAT exam is easy to moderate. Among all the sections, candidate can easily crack the General Awareness section of CMAT who are regularly updated themselves with current affairs. The topics of the questions generally range on the following areas:
- Arts & culture
- Banking
- Business
- Geography
- History
- Politics
- Sports
IIFT
The IIFT entrance exam’s General Awareness section remains on the easier side. in the GA section there will be around 28-30 questions of 0.4 marks. The questions were from traditional as well as dynamic GK. There were questions from business, generic lines of politics ,Country-Capital-Currency-Parliaments, Current Affairs, Locations of International Organizations and Economics etc.
IRMA-Issues of Social Concern
The questions are asked from the topics of national and social interest compared to politics, business, sports, arts & culture etc. The common topics from which the questions can be expected include:
- Economy
- Government organizations
- Government Schemes for Agriculture, Farmers, Rural area
- National schemes and policies
- National statistics
- Social issues
MICAT
MICAT is the entrance exam for Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad (MICA). The questions appeared from the areas of marketing, advertising, media, general knowledge and general global awareness.
MAT
MAT consists of a section on General awareness. The questions were on Economics, Current Affairs, Awards and Prizes, Indian Constitution, Business and Sports.
SNAP
SNAP is the entrance exam for Symbiosis institutes. The difficulty level of the General Awareness section of SNAP is comparatively easier than the other sections of the paper. Some of the questions which appeared in the General Awareness section of the SNAP paper are related to Sports,branding, current affairs and static GK questions – India’s Constitution, Geography, History, Economy etc.
XAT
The General Awareness section was reintroduced in XAT from 2013 onwards. In 2016, some major changes were introduced in XAT. The Paper 1 of XAT has 78 questions to be attempted in 170 minutes. This paper has 3 sections – Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, Verbal Ability and Decision Making & Analytical Reasoning having 26, 23 and 29 questions respectively.
Paper 2 has general knowledge and essay writing questions. There will be 25 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. The topics on which the questions are asked include, but not limited to the following:
- Business
- Economy
- International bodies
- Politics
- Sports
- Trade
Preparation Tips for General Knowledge
Preparation for General Awareness is not a matter of 1 or 2 months but a continuous process. The most tried and tested method to prepare for GK is to read the newspapers, watch at least 1 standard TV news bulletin. You need to create a habit of studying newspapers consistently.
General Awareness is a very vast area, it makes sense to follow the top stories as and when they happen. Candidates should start enhancing their general awareness full-time by reading newspapers and magazines such as Outlook and Outlook Business. While reading up on news making events, candidates should consider various aspects and arguments and use their own judgement to decide what their stand should be.
Watching the news channel regularly is not an option, you can watch special current affairs programs of your favorite news reporter for arousing interest in this section. You will need to watch news programs at least once a day.
Keep a close watch on the major political and economic developments which should also include sports, art, culture, literature, social issues and media.
Though you will definitely expect area specific and niche questions in case you are taking the entrance exams for IRMA or TISS or MICA, but you should not rule out the chance to come across such a question in the other exams like XAT, SNAP etc. too.
For static GK, referring to the yearbook or GK encyclopedia of a reputed publication would be enough. Most of static questions are from Indian Polity & Indian History not from World History, basic question are asked in Economics which are based on current events , some questions in economics are definition based and these question should not be attempted because they are not beneficial from cost of time point of view.
Remember, there is no end to the preparation for GK. You are bound to not know certain aspects, be it static GK or current affairs. Give your best shot but don’t cram up your memory with excess knowledge which you may not bear. Always try to write short notes of what you think are important in terms of exam prospective so that your important record is maintained for exam day.
Since a majority of the exams follow the negative marking policy, it is best not to answer questions which you are not sure of. However, make sure you attempt enough questions to not only clear the cutoff but to score maximum marks possible as well.
Competitive exams is a very broad spectrum, you will be eligible to attempt several exams regardless of the stream from which you completed .
Here’s a link to which has a lot of information like all the competitive exams you can attend,number of applicants for every exam and eligibility criteria :
http://blog.learnmor.com/post/159521109486/competitive-exams-in-india
Great tips To Prepare General Knowledge For MBA Entrance Exams. this post is very helpful for those who wants to crack mba entrance exam with good score. thank you so much for sharing nice post with us. please keep us informed like this.