IBA Karachi entry test: what IBA publishes and how to prepare

The short answer

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi admits undergraduate students for the BBA and for programmes such as BS Economics and Data Science, BS Business Analytics and BS Accounting and Finance. IBA gives an entry test, and it publishes past entry test papers and sample papers on the Past Papers page of its admissions website. IBA does not give a fixed pattern on that page, and the papers differ by programme and by year, so open the most recent paper for your programme.

What IBA says about mathematics

IBA says that it expects its selected students to have a high level of mathematical ability, because students who come with a poor background in mathematics find it hard to progress. The aims of the mathematics part of the test are to check that you understand mathematical ideas and can apply them, that you can reason in a consistent way, that you can use symbols and graphs, and that you can tell relevant data from irrelevant data.

Recommended mathematics topics

IBA lists 34 areas in its recommended topics for the undergraduate mathematics section. They run from number, sets and functions through percentages, ratio, money and finance, algebra, graphs, indices and inequalities, to geometry, mensuration, trigonometry, statistics, probability, matrices and vectors in two dimensions. Use the checklist on this site to tick them off.

The format of the latest BBA sample paper

The most recent sample paper for the BBA, Accounting and Finance and Social Sciences programmes on the IBA page is Sample Paper 12. The file is dated 2018, so the format of your year may be different. Its instructions say the following.

Rules in that sample paper

• Each question has one correct answer. A correct answer earns four points, and one point is deducted for every wrong answer. Negative marking applies to all parts.
• If you do not want to answer a question, you mark option E on the answer sheet, and the question then earns no points.
• Calculators and mobile phones are not allowed.
• The parts must be attempted in the given order, and you cannot go back to an earlier part.
• The first BBA sample paper on the same page has English, Mathematics and an English essay, and some programmes such as BS Computer Science have their own sample papers. Open the paper for your programme and read its instructions.

How to prepare

• Learn the 34 areas in the list, with the most time for ratio, percentages, money, algebra and graphs. The first question of Sample Paper 12 is about two functions, so be ready for questions on functions.
• Practise short problems without a calculator, and check your working. Because of the negative marking, leave a question when you cannot reduce the choices.
• For English, practise vocabulary, grammar and sentence correction, comprehension passages, and writing a short essay of your own.
• Take the IBA mock test on this site. It copies the number of questions and the time of the two multiple choice parts of Sample Paper 12.
• Do the IBA sample papers for your programme under time, as the last step.

Practise on this site

Where this comes from

• IBA Karachi admissions website, Past Papers page (admissions.iba.edu.pk): Sample Paper 12 for the BBA, Accounting and Finance and Social Sciences programmes, and the Recommended Topics for the Undergraduate Mathematics Section.
• IBA admissions home page: the undergraduate programmes.
• Sample Paper 12 is a 2018 file. Check the paper and the notice for your programme and year.