Founded in the year 1936 as Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work and renamed as Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 1944, TISS has managed to muster a lot of attention from students in the field of social sciences and has been recognized as a top institute for education in the Arts field. The process of admission to any Masters (Master of Arts / Master of Science / BEd-MEd Integrated) Program at TISS involves the National Entrance Exam as its first step.
It is a computer-based test with 100 objective type multiple-choice questions (MCQs). It is usually held in February every year from 2 pm to 3:40 pm across various centres located in different parts of the country. Even when applying to multiple programmes, a single TISS-NET score will be taken into account i.e. it is valid for all the programmes you apply to.
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The mode of conduction is English and there is no negative marking. You get 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish the exam. The exam encompasses 3 sections:
English proficiency
The objective of this section is to assess your English language comprehension and usage. Under this section, you will be posed with 30 questions of one mark each, hence this section accounts for 30 marks out of the total 100. To perform well in this section, you need to prepare yourself for up to the elementary level of the English Language. It is not subjected to any sectional cut-off. Some of the topics you need to cover while preparing for this section are:
- Word Choice/sentence correction
- Odd-one-out
- Analogies
- Synonyms & Antonyms
- Grammar
- Verbal reasoning
- Reading comprehension
Books you can refer to for this section:
- Wren and Martin English Grammar by Wren and Martin.
- Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis.
- Business English and Communication by John O E Clark.
- Wilfred D Best’s The Students’ Companion.
- A Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Nishit K Sinha.
- A Communicative Grammar of English by Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik.
Mathematics and Logical reasoning
This section is included in the exam to evaluate the candidate’s quantitative skills and logical reasoning. Similar to the English proficiency section, it is of 30 marks as well i.e. 30 one-mark questions. One needs to have a command on elementary level mathematics and practice logical reasoning questions to increase their speed of solving them. This section does not have a sectional cut-off as well. Some of the topics you need to focus on are:
- Basic Arithmetic
- Basic Geometry
- Basic Trigonometry
- Basic Statistics
- Number Series
- Data interpretation
- Logical reasoning
Books that can help you prepare well for this section are:
- How to prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma.
- CAT 2018 Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning by Gautam Puri.
- How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Arun Sharma.
- Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency by Ananta Ashisha.
- Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for CAT by Nishit K Sinha.
General Awareness (GA)
The number of questions in the following section is 40, one mark each, 40 marks in total. It assesses your awareness about current affairs, developmental and socio-political issues. This is an important section in the exam not only because it holds the most number of marks but also for its sectional cut-off of 35% (14 Marks) for Gen, EWS, KM and AF, 30% (12 Marks) for OBC (NC) and PWD. No Sectional cut off for SC/ST. To successfully score well in this section, you need to polish your knowledge in the following fields:
- Politics
- Social Studies
- Science & Technology
- Environment
- Sports
- Art & Culture
- Indian History
Reading newspapers, year books and magazines such as these on a daily basis will prepare you better for this section:
- Financial Express
- Wall Street Journal
- Hindu Business Line
- The Hindu
- Business Today
- Manorma Year Book 2021
- Economic Times
Note: Sectional cut off for General Awareness (GA) is applied for qualifying the TISS-NET. A candidate not scoring the minimum cut-off mark for the General Awareness will not be qualified for TISS NET irrespective of the aggregate score.
Since the exam does not have a negative marking system, try attempting all the questions even when in doubt. Do look for previous year TISS-NET papers and practice as many sample question papers as you can. It will help you trace down your strengths and weaknesses and improve your speed and accuracy. Once you feel prepared enough, take a mock test at – https://www3.digialm.com//OnlineAssessment/index.html?619@@M106
For more information, please contact:
TISS CARE: 022-25525252
– Aishwarya Ojha
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