The IBA entrance exam contains three sections: English, Math and Analytical in consecutive order. The MCQ test contains a total of 70 multiple choice questions and is 1 hour 30 minutes long. The passing bar in each section varies every year depending on the difficulty of the question paper.

The math section usually contains 25 multiple-choice questions. The passing bar in the math section was 7 in the 34th intake and 4.25 in the 33rd intake and the pre announced cut off marks in both the years was 10, which was modified later on based on the examinees' performances. 

What to study 

Well, to put it bluntly, there's no syllabus. We analyzed the past exam papers and put together a list of high frequency topics and every year most questions are from these topics. The topics include but are not limited to

Numbers

Fractions

Inequalities 

Ages

Average 

Percentage 

Profit loss

Interest 

Probability 

Permutation and combination 

Mixture and alligation 

Work and time

Ratio and proportion 

Speed, distance, time

Sets

Geometry

Mensuration 

Series

Now your job is to cover every topic and  it is advised not to skip anything completely. Even if you find yourself struggling in one, it's best if you can at least have a basic understanding of the topic so that you don't miss out if an easy question comes from that topic. 

Difficulty of the questions in the math section

Usually the questions are not very difficult questions. For example, they might ask you,

If the average of 5 numbers is 20 and four of the numbers are 18, 22, 19, and 21, find the fifth number.

This type of question tests conceptual clarity rather than advanced mathematics. If you have the basic understanding of all of the topics mentioned, you should be able to secure at least the passing bar in the math section. 

Where to start

You should start by understanding the basics of each topic and then solving some easy questions and slowly progressing to the difficult ones. The topics I listed here are in consecutive order and this is the recommended progression through the topics. You should follow through this since having basics of one topic are prerequisites of another, for example, you won't understand interest if you don't have the basics of percentage. For resources, the IBA book is the all-in-one solution. I personally only used the IBA book for my math practice all throughout my admission phase. But if you want other alternatives, you can opt for the mentors math question bank or the GRE math bible. For online resources, you can opt for examveda and gmatclub.

Tips and tricks

Another very important aspect of aptitude tests is that you have to be very fast at hand calculations, as you have limited time and can't use a calculator. The trick to this is that you have to be very good at mental math so that you don't waste your time getting stuck on silly stuff in the main exam. For example, what's 15x25? You break it down into 15x20=300 and 15x5=(10+5)x5= 50+25. So it's 300+50+25=375. You get better at these mental maths, you need to practice doing them very often. Try doing maths in your head in your everyday life when you're calculating bills or maybe even your GPA.

Practice using the question paper as your rough paper. Flipping to the rough page every time kills way too much time. 

Don’t memorize the formulas, understand why something works the way it does and study the patterns in the questions. It helps.

Practice from your mistakes. Solve the questions you got wrong and you skipped in the tests.

Lastly, be consistent because practice makes perfect. If you are not consistent with your studies, the exam pressure might get to you and you might fumble the moment you see a tricky question.

Mistakes not to make

So why do some people (most people, in fact) fail this section? That's because they try to answer everything. You need to understand that every question contains equal marks. Solving a difficult question instead of an easier one DOES NOT bring you more marks, instead it takes away your time. So it is very important to know what to skip. If you put in a huge amount of time trying to solve that one question that would take a lot of time instead of the next question that you haven't gotten to yet that would take you half of the time you're putting here, it will be very difficult to secure the passing bar in this section . So don't get stuck on one question. If you think you can solve it but it'll take time, mark it down and come back to it later when you already have secured (assumingly) the passing bar in the other sections.

If you feel like you can solve a math problem but it'll take 2 to 3 minutes, mark it and move on to the next one. If you feel like you don't understand the question or don't know how to solve a math problem, skip it completely. If you need to, you can jump from section to section as it helps you not get brain fog. 

Another mistake a lot of people make is being afraid of the 'none of these' option. If you're confident in your answer, then don't hesitate to answer none of these. But of course building this level of confidence does take a lot of hard work and months of rigorous prep.

Exam strategy

How much time someone should dedicate to each section depends on individual strengths and weaknesses. However, no more than 40 minutes should be dedicated to the math section as that might lead to compromising in the other two sections. And you have to pass all three sections individually. So doing very well on one and bad on the other won't do you any good. I personally used to dedicate the first 20 minutes to English, the next 20 minutes to analytical and the next 30 minutes to maths. That way I would be left with 20 more minutes to go back to whichever section I wanted to. But, as I mentioned, it depends a lot on individual strengths and weaknesses so you should experiment and see which strategy works best for you.

Bushra Lubabah,
IBA BBA 34th Batch.