This article will give you all the goods on the SNAP entrance exam and share information about the SNAP you never knew.

What is SNAP all about?

The Symbiosis National Aptitude Test or SNAP is a national level MBA entrance exam which is conducted by Symbiosis International University annually for admission of aspirants into its various management programs, including its affiliated institutes like SCMHRD and SIBM. From 2017 onwards the SNAP exam was taken by students in an online format.

Even though the exam doesn't fall into the league of challenging exams like CAT or XAT, it requires thorough preparation if you want to get a good score. After CAT, the SNAP is one of the most popular MBA entrance exams in India as more than 50,000 students take this exam every year.

What differentiates the SNAP entrance exam from the CAT is its General Awareness Section and the overall lower level of difficulty (LoD). The General Awareness section has a pivotal role to play in the SNAP, while it is absent in the CAT. Furthermore, the overall LoD of SNAP is historically lower than that of the CAT. So the good news is you don't need to develop a separate MBA preparation strategy to crack the 2018 SNAP Exam.

The structure of SNAP exam

The SNAP EXAM will be held online for the duration of 120 minutes.

SNAP Exam Pattern Analysis

If you are planning to sit for the 2018 SNAP entrance exam, you will have to solve a total of 150 questions in 120 minutes. So you must ensure that time management is a big part of your SNAP preparation strategy. To have a solid plan in place for the 2018 SNAP exam you need to know the exam pattern.

 Have a look at the four sections of the SNAP exam below:

Quantitative Ability: This section has 40 questions that carry 1 mark each. Topics like Quantitative aptitude, data interpretation, and data sufficiency based questions are included in this section. Arithmetic based questions are mostly asked however there is a chance that geometry and mensuration based questions will appear too. Since the Quant section is very time consuming, we suggest that you brush up on your concepts and practice shortcuts to improve your speed and accuracy.

Logical Reasoning: Many aspirants have found this section to be the most scoring section among all other sections. It has 40 questions that carry a total of 40 marks. Most of the questions are asked straightforwardly and are easy to answer. However, we cannot stress how important it is to keep practising as it makes giving the SNAP exam that much easier.

Verbal Ability: This section again has a total of 40 questions that carry 1 mark each. To do well in this section, all student have to do is read. Yeah, there are no shortcuts here and you must pick up any pertinent material like newspapers, magazines, books etc. and read them every day. Trust us this is the only way to strengthen your verbal ability.

General Awareness: This is the section that is known to tip the odds in favour of a candidate who does well in it. It has 30 questions in total and each question carries one mark. However to answer the questions in this section correctly regular practice is essential. Just remember that you can’t cover a topic like Current affairs in a few days, so start while you’re ahead. There are many books available for your preparation and you can also read the newspaper to enhance your general knowledge.

When is the SNAP entrance exam conducted?

SNAP is conducted in December every year. For further information and details about the 2018 SNAP exam, you can check the official website snaptest.org.  There you will get to know about the important dates, application fee, MBA/PGP programmes and other essential information.

The SNAP application form has to be submitted online and you will have till the last week of November to register and pay the fees. The exam is held in 32 cities across the country. The admit card is issued by the 3rd week of December which you will have to get from the website.

Eligibility criteria for the SNAP entrance exam in 2018

You must be a Graduate from any recognised/statutory University with a minimum of 50% marks (45% for SC/ST).  Also, keep in mind and remember to check the eligibility as given by the respective Institute for programmes which require specific discipline/ subject specialisation.

make sure to check eligibility criteria separately for specialisation offered by different Symbiosis Institutes like SSSS, Pune; SIHS Pune; SCIT Pune; SITM Pune; SCMHRD Pune; SIOM Nashik as they have their separate criteria.

Even international students are welcome to apply as long as have completed a qualifying degree from any Foreign University and have an equivalence certificate from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

List of institutes that accept SNAP scores:

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM, Pune)

Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research (SICSR, Pune) 

Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD, Pune)

Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB, Pune)     

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management (SITM, Pune) 

Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS, Pune)     MBA

Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune (SIMC, Pune)

Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, Nashik (SIOM, Nashik)     

Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT, Pune) 

Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS, Pune)  

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru (SIBM, Bengaluru)          

Symbiosis School for Media & Communication, Bengaluru (SSMC, Bengaluru)      

Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance (SSBF, Pune) (Formerly Symbiosis School of Banking Management)           

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Hyderabad (SIBM, Hyderabad)        

Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences (SSSS, Pune)     

SNAP Selection Procedure

The selection procedure of SNAP 2018 will be a 2-step process. For the MBA aspirants sitting to give the SNAP exam is the first step of the selection procedure. After they have given the SNAP entrance exam based on their performance, the participating institutes will shortlist the desired candidates with the highest scores.

In the second step of the SNAP selection process, shortlisted candidates have to appear for Group Exercises, Writing Ability Test or WAT and Personal Interaction rounds.

Soon after which the institutes will announce the list of shortlisted candidates by the third week of January while the final list of SNAP selected candidates will be announced in the fourth week of February.

Only if a candidate clears the cutoff set by a particular SNAP participating Institute, will they be shortlisted for the GE, WAT and PI rounds. Aspirants must keep in mind that the final merit list of the 2018 SNAP exam will be generated based on overall performance in both the SNAP exam and each of the selection rounds.