Understanding the Anatomy of SNAP through this SNAP Exam Pattern article will help you devise your strategy for SNAP 2018, exactly how a doctor can understand symptoms and cure diseases by studying the anatomy of any organ.
Before we delve deep into the details SNAP Exam Pattern, let me inform you about the biggest change that had been introduced last year: SNAP 2018 will be an online exam. Read this article to know more about the repercussions of the same.
SNAP 2018 Exam Pattern: Snapshot of sections
There are four sections in the exam with three of them having equal weightage and one section with little less weightage. The pattern of SNAP underwent a drastic change in 2016 when two major changes took place:
- The weightage of reasoning questions was reduced from 2 marks for each question to 1 mark.
- The total marks reduced from 180 to 150.
- The General Awareness section was renamed as the current affairs section and it was specified that only questions from current affairs of last 2 years will make up the syllabus for this section.
The major change introduced this year has been the inclusion of ‘Special Questions’. The official website mentions that: Normal Questions carry 1 mark for each question and Special Questions carry 2 marks for each question. Explaining what exactly are these special questions, the website has mentioned: For special questions in each section will have blanks where answers will have to be entered by the candidate by using the virtual keyboard. For example, if question is “What is the capital of Australia?” The candidate needs to enter the answer as CANBERRA by using the virtual keyboard.
Here is a donut chart and a table to explain the section wise breakup of the sections in SNAP 2018:
| Section | Normal Questions | Special Questions | Total Questions | Total Marks |
| General English: RC & Verbal Ability | 30 | 5 | 35 | 40 |
| Quantitative, DI & DS | 30 | 5 | 35 | 40 |
| Analytical & Logical Reasoning | 30 | 5 | 35 | 40 |
| Current Affairs | 20 | 5 | 25 | 30 |
| Total | 110 | 20 | 130 | 150 |
Important details related to SNAP Paper Pattern
Few more details related to the exam are as follows:
The key takeaways from understanding the pattern, that will help you in devising a winning strategy for the exam are:
1. As SNAP 2018 will be an online exam, it is advisable to practice reading online. Another good idea would be to read all previous year RCs online.
2. The exam will be held in the afternoon, from 2pm to 4pm. To adjust your body clock to make this time your peak performance time during the exam, solve mocks or previous year papers during this window.
3. As the weightage of all sections except current affairs is the same, do not focus on just one section or area. Make sure you balance your preparation for all the sections to maximise your score.
4. The key to doing well in the exam is to maintain a balance between accuracy and speed. You need to solve 150 questions in 120 minutes. Focus on solving questions within this time limit.
5. SNAP does not have sectional time limits, this means you need to plan in advance how much time you would be devoting to each section.