For the first time in probably a decade, FMS has joined the bandwagon of CAT - in terms of surprises galore that were there in the paper this year. The pattern of exam has been changed from a paper with 150 questions including 30 questions of Business GK (given in the last 4-5 years) to a paper with 175 questions but without GK.

The absence of Business GK in the paper must have come as a pleasant surprise to most of the students who have not laboured to mug up the various names of the companies and their MDs and CEOs, or the punch lines of famous consumer durable and non-durable manufacturers.

The scoring pattern (of 4 marks for every correct answer and -1 mark for every incorrect answer) and the pattern of the paper (without any sections) remained the same as in the case of the last 6-7 years FMS papers.

Of the four areas in the paper, Reading Comprehension and Reasoning & DI are more difficult/time-consuming when compared with Quant and Verbal Ability. Since the paper was not divided into sections, students would have spent more time on (and hence attempted more questions in) Quant and Verbal Ability sections. The scores indicated in the analysis given below are arrived at on this approach taken by students in general.

The length of the Reading Comprehensions passages left many a reading buff stunned. Though the passages were lengthy as expected, the sheer size of each of them made people wonder what FMS was testing. There were four passages with a total of about 5500 - 6000 words. A careful reading of the questions (totalling 50 in number) first and then reading the passage would have helped students crack those seemingly interminable passages with ease. Spending about 30-35 min to answer about 35 questions and getting about 25-30 correct can be considered to be good in this area.

The Quantitative Ability area, as expected, was a cinch. In fact, many a good student would have cracked at least 42 to 45 out of the 50 by spending 35-40 min. Getting about 30 to 35 questions can be considered good.

Reasoning and DI were combined in a set of 50 questions. These areas were marginally tougher than the Quant area. However, good students could have easily attempted around 30 to 35 and got about 25 to 28 correct. Attempting about 25 questions in about 30 min. can be considered good in this area.

The last but not the least, the questions in Verbal Ability area would have been a godsend for most of the T.I.M.E. students who had gone through the model papers given for FMS. 15 such questions have been taken straight out of those papers including the order of the choices. Attempting about 20 questions in 10 min. (and getting about 15 questions correct) can be considered to be good in this area.

Overall, the cut off is expected to be lower than that of the previous few years. A cut-off of about 340 to 360 marks is the most likely mark a student is expected to cross to expect a call from FMS.