It is that time of the year again. Laden with late-night coffee and armed with a mountain-load of study material, aspiring students everywhere are preparing for SNAP 2018. Being a gateway to various MBA programmes offered by Symbiosis International University (SIU), SNAP is an exam which gives importance to time-management and quick-thinking skills. In a bid to offer guidance regarding the gruelling exam, the toppers of SNAP 2017 from SIBM Bengaluru have put forth their insights.
“When it comes to a speed-based exam such as SNAP, it is imperative to focus on your strong areas. My strategy for the exam was the attempt at least 120 questions” elaborated Namita, a 97.67 SNAP percentiler. Since the SNAP exam does not consider sectional cut-offs, an aspirant can have an edge through spending ample time on their strong points. It is advised to begin the exam with the section one excels at.
Most of the toppers of SNAP 2017 from SIBM Bengaluru had attended different coaching centres as part of their preparation. “Going to a coaching centre added much-needed discipline to my preparation. I found the structured approach very helpful, especially the mocks. Mocks played a significant role in helping me analyse my weaknesses and diversify my strategy accordingly.” said Roopal, a 99.32 SNAP percentiler.
For Quantitative Aptitude, popular topics that demanded focus were Permutation, Probability, Algebra and Numbers. Pakshil, a 99.48 SNAP percentiler, said, “The calculations in SNAP are mostly basic and speed is the differentiating factor. To gain an advantage, I gave one hour mock tests for Quant everyday to increase my speed.” Moreover, knowing shortcuts to solve the questions was found to be handy.
“Although, SNAP doesn’t have sectional cut-offs, it is inadvisable to ignore your weak sections. You can’t hedge all your bets on one section, as the level of difficulty cannot be predicted” said Kaushal, a 99.67 SNAP percentiler. Case in point, the G.K section in SNAP 2017 had caught many students off-guard as some of the questions were based on changes that took place barely 24-hours prior the D-Day. Adishesh, 97.86 SNAP percentiler, stressed on the importance of static G.K.
The verbal ability section is a mix of Reading Comprehension, Sentence Completion, Sentence Correction and Vocabulary based questions. Ravi, a 98.04 percentiler, suggested ‘close-reading’ to be of great importance in solving Parajumbles. Akshit, a 99.13 percentiler further elaborated, “I found long paragraphs to be tedious, so I allotted a time-limit for each question I work on. I had resolved that it shouldn’t take me more than 7 minutes to solve such a question.”
The final section of logical reasoning exhibits a fluctuating level of difficulty. A combined response of the SNAP toppers was that they perceived LR to be the most tricky section and quite difficult to gauge. Arihant, a 97.76 SNAP percentiler, warned against spending too much time on a particular question in LR. He further suggested, “Time is of essence in this section. If you are unable to crack a question within one minute of seeing it, it is better to direct your focus onto the next question.”
The best suggestion to boost the preparation for SNAP is to brush all the concepts and manage the time well while taking mocks during regular time intervals. Rishi and Shikhar, 98+ SNAP percentilers, gave some final tips to the aspirants of SNAP 2018. They suggested eliminating options when needed and found it imperative to complete one entire section before moving on to the next. “Learn to leave the questions” was their final warning, “as you may otherwise end up wasting time on a single question in the heat of the moment.”
SIBM Bengaluru wishes you the best for SNAP 2018!