Tata Institute of Social Sciences Entrance Test 2008
TISS 2008 exam did not throw any surprises. It was clearly communicated to
the candidates that the question paper will consist of two parts. Part I was
divided into three sections: Quantitative Ability & Analytical Reasoning, Verbal
Ability and Awareness of Contemporary Social Issues. Students were given an hour
to attempt this section. There was no negative marking and each question had
four options to choose from.
Part II of the TISS exam was program specific. The question paper was
objective /descriptive on the basis of the program(s) that the candidate had
applied for. The duration to attempt Part II was one hour. TISS gives 50-50
weightage to both Part I and Part II of the examination for all the programs
except Elementary Education where the weightage is 35-65.
| Section |
Number of questions |
Time (in minutes) |
Possible Attempts |
| Quantitative Ability & Analytical
Reasoning |
20 |
25- 30 |
12 |
| Verbal Ability |
20 |
20 |
14 |
| Awareness of Social Issues |
10 |
10 |
5 |
| Total |
50 |
60 |
31 |
Disclaimer: Our expert faculty who have attempted
the TISS paper decide this attempts/cut-offs. These may not be the actual
cut-offs of TISS 2008. These are calculations based on our experience and
expertise.
Part I: Quantitative Ability & Analytical Reasoning
This section had 20 questions. These questions ranged
from word problems to data interpretation. The level of difficulty was moderate
to difficult. Some of the questions involved lengthy calculations. This section
was more time consuming in comparison to the other sections of the question
paper. A total of 12 questions could be easily attempted.
Verbal Ability
The Verbal Ability Section was quite simple. This section comprised a total
of 20 questions.
| Topics |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
| Grammar based |
2 |
Easy |
| English Usage (including match the
following words with their meanings and phrases) |
6 |
Easy to Moderate |
| Para Jumbles |
2 |
Easy to Moderate |
| Analogies |
4 |
Easy to Moderate |
| RC Passages � 2 with 3 questions
each |
6 |
Easy to Moderate |
| Total |
20 |
|
English Usage and Reading Comprehension:
The questions in this section did not pose much of a
challenge. The word meaning question was a little tricky as it contained four
words that had to be matched with one of the five meanings given in the table.
Reading Comprehension contained 2 short passages of 150
� 160 words. The first passage reflected author's views on criminals and how
he/she believes that there is hardly any distinction between those inside the
jail and those living freely outside of it. This passage was easy to understand
and was followed by three questions. The questions were inferential in nature
but not difficult per say.
The second passage was based on Anthropology and how
culture influences the way things are named and classified by a group of people.
This passage was short and not too difficult to understand. However, the three
questions that followed were a little ambiguous.
A total of 14 questions could be attempted in this
section.
Awareness of Contemporary Social Issues:
This section had 10 questions which tested the
candidates' general knowledge and understanding of social issues. The questions
in this section were based on topics ranging from Free Education of Girl Child
to Globalisation and Opening of Free Markets in India, Reservation for Women in
Panchayati Raj and inspiration for the movie 'Chak De' etc. These questions were
on a moderate level of difficulty.
A total of 5 questions could be attempted.
Part II:
Part II of this exam was objective/ descriptive on the
basis of the programme(s) that the candidate chose to apply for. Those who had
applied for Human Resources Management and Labour Relations, Globalisation and
Labour, Social Entrepreneurship and Development Studies had the objective type
questions paper with an OMR sheet. Others applying for Master of Health/Hospital
Administration, Disaster Management and Media and Cultural Studies had the
descriptive type question paper. This descriptive section of the exam tested the
analytical ability on programme specific areas. Each question had to be answered
within the booklet because a clear word limit for each question was not
provided. The descriptive part of this examination had to be answered in an
hour. This section could seem lengthy if one chose to write longer answers
instead of being precise and to the point.
Those who had applied for Elementary Education received
a question cum answer book wherein the answers had to be written within the
provided space.
With Best wishes
