The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is an autonomous public B-school that the government of India established in 1963. IIFT, Delhi ranked 26th in the NIRF ranking for B-schools in India. IIFT will receive AACSB accreditation, which is a globally recognized hallmark given to only 5% of the world's business schools.
IIFT is one of the few B schools in India that offers a course in InternationalBusiness. True to its name, the college also has various specializations that cater
to trade, such as Trade Analytics and International Trade Operations and
Documentation.
Why you should consider IIFT
IIFT is an elite business school on various fronts, such as its brilliant academic
courses, experienced faculty, industry-relevant syllabus, and the vast array of
extra-curricular for students to engage with. IIFT also stands out due to its limited
batch sizes, with only 600 applicants selected into the three campuses, that is, in
Delhi, Kolkata, and Kakinada. Each student gets an opportunity to shine, excel,
and stand out in these limited batches.
The college provides multiple opportunities for diversity in knowledge and
experience throughout the courses. All students receive a chance to attend
hands-on learning at a national or international port. IIFT also has a robust
exchange program with notable national and international B-schools.
The college also has a well-earned reputation for supporting the government
through research. The professors at IIFT consistently work with the government
on various national and international issues; the government regularly asks for
their expert analysis on decisions regarding the position of the country in various
trade negotiations. Exceptional students often get an opportunity to work on high-
significance projects under the guidance of their faculty.
The curriculum at IIFT is recognized to be among the top 3 best Course
Structures for B-schools in India. The course is regularly reviewed and updated
to ensure that the students at IIFT emerge as global business leaders, especially
in foreign trade, apart from operations, finance, marketing, and strategy.
Students also have the option to do a double major and multiple minor degrees if
they wish.
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IIFT also stands out in social awareness, as every student is required to undertake a one-month long internship with an NGO near their campus that
actively works to help various strata of society. It also houses its own social
awareness cell, Koshish, that organizes various events and drives to support
underprivileged people.
Courses offered at IIFT
Some of the courses offered at IIFT are
● Two-year MBA (International Business), New Delhi, Kolkata, and Dar-es-Salaam
● Three-year MBA (International Business) (Part-Time), New Delhi and Kolkata
● Executive Masters in International Business, New Delhi
● Certificate Programme in Export Management, New Delhi
Admission to IIFT
IIFT conducts its own national-level admissions exam called IIFT for
admission to all three campuses of IIFT. Over 60,000 candidates attempt IIFT every
year, and the exam most aspirants find the exam more challenging than the CAT.
The exam is popular among IIM aspirants. Anybody serious about the exam
should begin preparations well in advance.
The dates for the IIFT exam are released in the month of July or August every
year. Applications open as soon as the date is officially released; they usually
close around the second week of September. Admit cards for the exams are
released two weeks before the final examination; they are available for download
on the official IIFT website. The applications for IIFT21 are already closed; the
exam is scheduled for the first week of December 2020.
Preparations for the IIFT can happen alongside CAT. However, some of the
sections and topics differ in both exams. Candidates should be thorough with the
differences in portions and should make their study plan accordingly.
Eligibility Criteria
All IIFT candidates must hold a recognized bachelor's degree, in a course that
was at least three years long, in any discipline. They must also have a minimum
of 50% graduating marks. Candidates are also eligible if they can show proof of
requisite qualification, via certification in a qualifying exam for a Bachelor's
degree or its equivalent, by the first week of October. There is no age limit or limit
in the number of attempts for giving IIFT, although the paper is only conducted
once a year.
The IIFT exam pattern
The IIFT is an objective type exam; unlike the CAT it does not have any
subjective type questions. IIFT used to be a paper-based exam that shifted to an
online format in 2019 when the National Testing Agency assumed responsibility
for the exam. The online pattern will continue for the foreseeable future. All
information provided is an approximation of how IIFT'21 will be conducted, based
on the guidelines of IIFT'0.
The exam is conducted for over two hours, with no breaks in between. The
timings for the exam are generally between 10 AM and 12 noon. There is no
section wise timing. However, sectional marks are considered for cut-offs and
may be considered while resolving ranks. It means that candidates should give
equal almost equal importance to all sections. The test usually has a total of 110
questions and is conducted for 300 marks. The paper is only conducted in
English.
The test has four or five sections, depending on whether the verbal section is
combined or split into Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability. The other three parts are General Knowledge, Current Affairs, Data Interpretation, and
Quantitative Analysis. DI may be divided into Data Interpretation and Logical
Reasoning, depending on the NTAs guidelines for the year. The section-wise
marking scheme varies. In General Knowledge and Current Affairs, 1.5 marks
are awarded for each correct answer, whereas three marks are allotted for every
correct answer in the remaining sections. Regardless of the question, 1/3 marks
General Knowledge generally has 20 questions that have easy difficulty. The
section usually has low cutoffs, so answering a large number of problems is not
necessary. Answering 4-8 questions is considered a decent attempt. Each
question is worth only 1.5 marks, so it is not expected to make a big difference in
your final score. However, reading the newspaper regularly and staying up to
date with current affairs can improve your performance in this section.
The Verbal section, when it is not split, generally has 35 questions of easy to
moderate difficulty. Candidates should aim to attempt around 25 questions in this
section. This section is based purely on the candidate's command of the English
language. Candidates should improve their ability in both Reading
Comprehension and Verbal Ability when the section is split, as they will not be
able to compensate for each other when the section is divided.
The Quantitative Ability section generally has 25 questions that are of moderate
to tough difficulty. Candidates should attempt at least 14 questions in this
section. The IIFT does not have an onscreen calculator, so candidates should
improve their ability to solve questions quickly without one.
The LRDI section of the IIFT generally has 30 questions and it may be divided
into two sections. Candidates should aim to solve at least 16 questions, as the
section is usually moderate to difficult. Based on the guidelines provided by NTA,
you should plan how many questions to solve in each section to ensure you pass
the cut off in both.
Preparation for the IIFT
Here are 10 strategies that will help students prepare for the IIFT.
1. Study previous years' papers and sample papers to gain an understanding
of the syllabus.
2. Start preparing early and work on concept familiarity
3. Give equal weightage to all the sections during preparation
4. Learn how to calculate quickly without a calculator
5. Time every question as you attempt it
6. Take many mock tests
7. Learn to recognize which questions you should leave
8. Learn to abandon questions when they are taking longer than expected
9. Be familiar with the paper pattern
10. Know how many questions you need to attempt in each section to gain your desired percentile
Here are 5 test day strategies that you can practice during mocks
1. Start with your strengths
2. Go through each section before attempting it and mark the questions you
plan on answering
3. Attempt the easiest questions of the section first
4. If the question is taking longer than expected, leave it
5. Keep an eye on the clock and stop answering questions with enough time
left to verify your answers
IIFT results
NTA will release the IIFT'21 results in the third week of December on the official
website of NTA. The candidates will be able to download their scorecard using
their login credentials. The scorecard will have the scaled score of the candidates
as well as the percentiles obtained. Percentiles are recorded as both sectional
and overall. To clear the exam, candidates have to obtain more than the cut-off
marks set by IIFT; the cut-off will be both sectional and overall. IIFT will
undertake the rest of the admissions process, starting with the shortlisting of
candidates.
Admissions procedure
Based on the marks and percentile scored in the examination, IIFT shortlists
Personal Interviews. After this, the composite scores of all undertaken rounds are
prepared. The institute prepares the final admissions list, based on which
candidates receive emails for admissions.
Remember that the IIFT is different than the CAT, so you should prepare
accordingly before attempting the exam. You can prepare via self-study, or join a
coaching institute that offers courses in IIFT preparation. Percentile provides
complimentary classes for other competitive exams with its online CAT
preparation course so that you can prepare for IIFT without straying away from
your goal of cracking the CAT.