Part-I of the question paper was common for all applicants and did not pose too many challenges for the candidate. This part was divided into three sections: Analytical & Numerical Ability, Language Ability and Social Awareness. This part was of 50 marks with a time allotment of 45 minutes and there was no negative marking. Further, it was specified that there was no section-wise time limit or cut-offs.
Part II of the TISS exam was program specific, i.e. students applying for different programs took different tests. 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. For the popular HRM & LR program, there were 4 sections of the test including Data Interpretation, Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension, Economic and Social Concerns. This part contained 75 questions with each carrying equal marks. There was negative marking of one-fourth of the marks allotted to each question. Further, it was specified that there was no section-wise time limit or cut-offs.
Part I:
| Section | Number of questions | Suggested Time (in minutes) | Difficulty Level |
| Analytical & Numerical Ability | 15 | 17-18 | 13 |
| Language Ability | 20 | 17-18 | 13-14 |
| Awareness Of General & Social Issues | 15 | 9-10 | 8-10 |
| Total | 50 | 36-38 |
Analytical & Numerical Ability
This section had 15 questions. The level of difficulty was easy to moderate. Most of the questions involved simple calculations. This section was more time consuming in comparison to the other sections of the question paper. A total of 13 questions could be easily attempted.
| Topic | No. of questions | Difficulty level |
| Series | 1 | Easy |
| Profit and loss | 1 | Easy |
| Time and work | 1 | Easy |
| Geometry | 1 | Easy |
| Averages | 1 | Easy |
| Mensuration | 1 | Easy |
| Partnership | 1 | Easy |
| Visual Reasoning | 2 | Easy |
| DI set (Bar Chart) | 6 | Moderate |
Language Ability
The section had 20 questions with the following break-up:
| Topic | No. of questions | Difficulty level |
| RC | 5 | Moderate |
| Cloze test | 5 | Moderate |
| Grammar | 2 | Easy |
| Idioms | 2 | Easy |
| Sentence completion | 4 | Moderate |
| Para jumbles | 2 | Tough |
Awareness Of General & Social Issues
This section had 15 questions. The paper mainly consisted of Current Affairs questions of national importance. Most of the questions were based on Indian Economy. The level of difficulty was easy to moderate. A total of 8-10 questions could be easily attempted correctly.
