• Admin
• 09 Dec 24

SNAP is one of the most prestigious MBA entrance exams in India. Symbiosis International University conducts it for shortlisting students for admission to its colleges. It is the initial stage of shortlisting students for the next round consisting of Personal Interview (PI), Written Ability Test (WAT), and Group Exercise (GE). SNAP exam is taken by approximately 50,000 students every year. 

The level of difficulty of the SNAP exam is comparatively on the lower side as compared to CAT or XAT. However, time is the main constraint with the SNAP exam. A candidate needs to have a good hold of the concepts and should be fast enough in concept application for acing the SNAP exam. Also, top colleges like SIBM, Pune, and SCMHRD shortlist candidates with percentiles as high as 98. Moreover, SNAP comes as a respite for those students who think that they were not able to perform well in CAT. They get another chance to perform well in SNAP and get into a top B-school of India.  So, scoring a high percentile becomes extremely necessary. 

We have brought this blog to give you expert strategies on ‘How to prepare for SNAP 2022?’ But before we discuss the strategies, let’s have a look at the SNAP exam pattern. So, without further ado, let’s begin. 

SNAP Exam Pattern

The SNAP exam consists of a total of 115 questions which can be answered in 2 hours or 120 minutes. It consists of four sections, namely Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, Analytical & Logical Reasoning, and General English. There are a total of 35, 36, and 34 questions in each section, respectively. All the questions are MCQ type except for the five special questions, which are subjective type. In special questions, you need to type in the answer using the virtual keyboard. For Quants and Current Affairs section, every correct answer will fetch you one mark. And for the English and Logical Reasoning section, every correct answer will fetch you 1.5 marks. Whereas, every correct special question (non-MCQ type) will fetch you two marks. 25% of the marks per question are deducted for every wrong answer.

So, as you can see, a candidate has to answer 115 questions in 120 minutes. This means a candidate has approximately one minute per question. Therefore, time management is an essential key for cracking SNAP. 

How to prepare for SNAP?

You need to consider that the SNAP exam tests major essential management skills and knowledge. A candidate can get the desired score in the SNAP exam by maintaining simple management skills such as efficient time managing, maintaining pace with precision, prioritizing the questions, and following a systematic approach to various sections. Having a well-defined preparation strategy helps in cracking any exam you want. So, let’s start with the essential SNAP Preparation Tips 

1. Time Management is essential 

As already mentioned, every candidate gets approximately one question per minute, time management becomes a crucial skill to learn for acing SNAP exam. Always keep an eye on the timer while solving your questions. You need to be selective about questions and let go of the difficult ones if you do not have time. Moreover, if you get stuck in some questions, don’t waste too much time on it. Leave it and move on. It is better to solve five questions in 5 minutes instead of 1 question in 5 minutes. Also, work on improving your speed of solving questions along with maintaining good accuracy. Learn tricks and shortcuts to solve the questions quickly. 

2. Identify and Practice weak topics to make them your strengths

It is crucial for you to know your weak areas so that you can accordingly plan your test day strategy. If you know your weak areas, you can practice them and improve so that you can solve at least the easier questions related to that topic. For example, if you are weak in say Time and Work topic, then you can leave the tough questions related to this topic for the end. Also, you can pick the easier ones and solve them initially. Moreover, working on weak areas properly will help you to develop them into your strengths as well. 

3. Take as many mocks as you can 

Mocks are an immense source of learning as they help you to get a knack of the exam. You get an actual exam like experience and accordingly experiment your test day strategies. Mocks also prepare you for all the surprises the exam can throw at you on the D-day. It is advisable to appear for all the mocks and learn from your mistakes. Mocks help you to narrow down your strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, mocks will help you to develop your time management skill, which is quite essential for the SNAP exam. With every mock, you will get detailed analysis wherein you will get to know about the topics or questions where you are wasting your time the most. You can then accordingly take all the measures to rectify this. Especially during the last weeks of your preparation, appear for a lot of mocks. 

4. Take out time for Revision

What we usually do is that once a topic is done, we do not revise it. It is a huge mistake done by a candidate aspiring to score well in SNAP. You need to revise all the topics from time to time so that your concepts remain strong. If possible, always maintain a notebook of all the important concepts and formulae. This notebook will come handy while revising. Especially during the last few days of your preparation, do not learn any new topics. Your entire focus should be on revising what all you have learned till now.