The IIMB DBE Entrance Test (Undergraduate Entrance Test) is a

computer-based test conducted by IIM Bangalore at test centers across

India for admission to the online BBA programme. It tests candidates
for Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation, Verbal Ability, Reading
Comprehension, Logical, Analytical Reasoning & General Awareness.
The IIMB DBE Entrance Test duration will be 90 mins consisting of a
total of 60 questions from various sections.
This document contains a list of indicative questions similar to ones
that may appear in the actual test.
An answer key is provided at the end of this document.

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Sample Questions for DBE Entrance Test

Read the given passage and answer the questions.

Drawing is arguably the most ancient form of visual art – whether on the body or on stone. The earliest
known drawing by a human was discovered in 2021 at the Blombos Cave, South Africa: some 73,000
years ago, a human hand took an ochre crayon and carved a crosshatch design on a silcrete stone flake.
The medium of drawing is engrained in us all. It's our first means of expression and creativity. Drawing
has always been vital to every artist's practice, dating from the Renaissance when drawing flourished, to
today, when artists use drawings to create powerful films and express their personal grief and
loneliness. Though drawing's popularity has "ebbed and flowed for centuries", there was a deep ebb in
the 1970s, when the academic art world saw it as "very unfashionable". Drawing is enjoying popularity
again – appreciated for its therapeutic qualities and the sense of "flow" it engenders, especially since the
lockdowns during the pandemic. Student intake (online) at the Royal Drawing School (RDS), London,
doubled in 2020 from 1,000 students a week, and has grown steadily to 3,000 today, with the life
drawing module accounting for more than half of the enrolments. "I think that showed there was a real
longing for human touch and contact," says Balchin, principal of RDS. Students confirmed it helped
mental wellbeing. "Many came purely for that… to slow the pace of life."

Picking up a pencil or charcoal and mindfully making marks connects us to our haptic skills and offers a
respite or rest from the relentless digital drain, which is important for mental health. According to
Gilbert, a curator of modern art, drawing in particular, offers "a relief from looking at screens, which
we're so addicted to. A life drawing class, especially, forces you to look at the world – one not mediated
through a screen – and translate that". Zhang, a contemporary Chinese artist believes that art has "the
power to assuage psychological suffering". Robert Malbert, a writer on contemporary art, relates to the
idea of drawing's healing properties: "I've always drawn in a mildly therapeutic way," he says. "When
drawing from nature, I find concentrated time sitting in a natural environment, drawing… is definitely
mood enhancing." He equates it to doing yoga "when you're not thinking of anything else".

Sub-questions:

Q1. The medium of drawing is engrained in us all. It's our first means of expression and creativity. From
these two statements, we can infer that:

Options:

1. Ancient cave drawings are among the early forms of visual expression by humans.
2. All artists begin by drawing and then move on to experimenting with other media.
3. All humans are innately artistic, but we do not develop this inherent talent.

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4. Our inherent drawing abilities have suffered because we failed to find a supportive
environment.

Q2. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the text?

Options:

1. The pandemic has had a considerable role in repositioning drawing as a valid art form.
2. There is no debating the fact that drawing is the oldest visual art form.
3. Today, the therapeutic value rather than the creative aspect of drawing is driving its popularity.
4. The resurgence of drawing as an art form is evidenced by increased enrolments in drawing
schools.

Q3. According to Malbert, a life drawing class is akin to yoga because it

Options:

1. helps to get away from the hectic pace of life and reconnect with the inner self.
2. helps address personal social trauma and unrest and teaches one to look at the world differently.
3. provides a relief from the screen and forces active engagement with real world objects.
4. has a calming effect on the mind and puts one in touch with their inner selves.

Q4. Which one of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?

Options:

1. Drawing: the oldest known visual art

2. The curative power of life drawing
3. The resurgence of drawing as an art form
4. The chequered history of drawing

Read the given passage and answer the questions.

In speaking of social reform… we have in mind not only leaders and professional workers but also the
supporters of social movements-whether these be of a practical nature for the attainment of an easily
defined end or aiming at the fulfilment of a deeper longing for social justice and betterment. They
comprise, therefore, not only radicals or theorists but the large number of people who earnestly wish to
live decent lives and leave the world a little better than they found it. Among them we find, in the main,
persons and groups of a conservative temperament, indeed, for the most part men and women who are
by no means certain of the ultimate consequences of the measures they advocate or support, or
conscious even of the exact motives that impel them to do so. Before their social creeds, vague and
unexpressed as they mostly are, can be correlated, it is necessary that conscientious men and women of
this practical type should search their own souls, should systematize their own ideas and, by discussion
in small groups, try to arrive at a separation of those convictions which with them are fundamental and
those that are tentative and subject to modification by further study. What follows, therefore, is no
more than a preliminary effort. It would be impossible with any certainty to present the dominant note

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in the social reform movement of America, much less of the Western world as a whole; but we may try
to look below the obvious differences of faith and opinion among our socially minded contemporaries so
as to ascertain whether the social reform movement in its larger phases has any unity at all-whether, in
fact, it is a movement or merely a medley.

Sub-questions:

Q5. Identify the statement that most exactly presents the ideas developed in the passage.

Options:

1. Social reform is primarily led by radical theorists who have a clear understanding of the
consequences of their advocated measures.
2. The social reform movement is already well-structured and does not require any preliminary
efforts to understand its underlying unity.
3. Individuals involved in social reform often possess vague and unexpressed social creeds that
require introspection to clarify their fundamental convictions and tentative beliefs.
4. The motives and convictions of individuals involved in social reform are always explicit and
require no further exploration or discussion.

Q6. Which inference below, according to the passage, is untenable?

Options:

1. Social reform movements primarily consist of radicals and theorists with well-defined and
unchanging convictions.
2. The passage questions whether there is unity or coherence in the broader social reform
movement.
3. The author acknowledges the complexity and diversity within the social reform movement in
America.
4. The passage suggests that social reformers should distinguish between core beliefs and those
subject to change.

Q7. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

Options:

1. The passage emphasizes the need for conscientious individuals to systematize their ideas for
social reform.
2. The passage argues that social reform proponents are fully aware of the consequences of their
actions.
3. The passage suggests that social creeds among supporters are clearly articulated and expressed.
4. The author claims that the social reform movement lacks any form of unity.

Q8. Please select a suitable word from the given choices which stands closest in meaning to the word
‘creed’ in the given passage.

Options:

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1. Agnosticism
2. Atheism
3. Affiliation
4. multiculturalism

Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.

Scholars once believed that agriculture spread from a single Middle Eastern point of origin to the four
corners of the world. Today, scholars agree that agriculture sprang up in other parts of the world not by
the action of Middle Eastern farmers exporting their revolution but entirely independently. People in
Central America domesticated maize and beans without knowing anything about wheat and pea
cultivation in the Middle East. South Americans learned how to raise potatoes and llamas, unaware of
what was going on in either Mexico or the Levant. Chinas’ first revolutionaries domesticated rice, millet
and pigs. North America’s first gardeners were those who got tired of combing the undergrowth for edible
gourds and decided to cultivate pumpkins. New Guineans tamed sugar cane and bananas, while the first
West African farmers made African millet, African rice, sorghum and wheat conform to their needs. From
these initial focal points, agriculture spread far and wide. By the first century AD, the vast majority of
people throughout most of the world were agriculturists.

Q9. Which of the following is the most appropriate summary of the passage?

Options:

1. North America's first gardeners cultivated pumpkins by copying techniques from other regions
and thus farming and agriculture burgeoned in a formal manner across the world.
2. West African farmers initially relied on African millet, African rice, sorghum and wheat for their
agricultural needs and the Middle East supplied them to help push the modern farming and
agricultural agenda.
3. The humans agreed to settle down and involve themselves in agriculture because of Asia, China,
Latin America and the Middle East
4. Agriculture originated independently in different parts of the world, with people in various regions
domesticating different crops and animals, leading to the global spread of agriculture by 1st
Century AD.

Read the given passage and select the CORRECT option that answers the question that follows.
Cross-cultural philosophers prefer to understand philosophy as a process specific to a particular
context. They endeavor to highlight that philosophical inquiry is carried out by people making a
concerted attempt at understanding the world from their own vantage point in space and time.
However, philosophical activity cannot be meaningfully separated from the historical and
corporeal particularity of its epistemic subjects.

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To be able to understand these local processes of meaning making better, we must, in their view,
ground philosophical content in different traditions. The hope is that this realisation would hinder
us from generalizing from our own, narrow, context. Indeed, committed to implementing content
diversity, many cross-cultural philosophers have, over the last few decades, been able to shift
the terms of conversation on a plethora of topics like, personhood, human agency, cognition,
universal values, etc., features of human experience, which were hitherto considered to be
philosophically unimportant.

Q10. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Options:
1. For years, areas of human experience such as agency and personal context were ignored
by traditional philosophers, who considered them to be irrelevant.
2. By attempting to apply their own personal experiences to the understanding of people
and ideas, philosophers have been able to broaden the field of philosophical inquiry in
recent years.
3. Cross-cultural philosophers’ attempts to introduce diversity into their field of enquiry has
come up against strong opposition from traditionalists.
4. Philosophical study that generalises from a narrow, personal context is expanding to
incorporating cross-cultural experiences and locating subjects in their historical and
corporeal spaces.

Q11. In the sentence below, some words are missing. Select the CORRECT option to fill in each blank.

Companies talk of investing in factories and governments in infrastructure, but there is a softer, less
______ focus of investment that can be more important: knowledge and skills.

Options:

1. Wholesome
2. Cumbersome
3. Predictable
4. Tangible

Q12. Select the CORRECT option that shows the most appropriate idioms to fill in the blank and complete
the sentence below.

The applicant for the gym membership was reluctant to ______ until she had verified all the pros and cons
of the facility.

Options:

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1. rise to the bait
2. raise the bait
3. sign on the dotted line
4. sign off on the dotted line

Q13. The given sentences, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is
labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences from among the given choices to
construct a coherent paragraph.

A) The rise in inflation is a global phenomenon.

B) Although the reserve bank of India recently signaled higher short term interest rates, by and large it
has preferred to restrain an explosive growth of bank lending only in certain sectors where bubbles are
seen to be developing.

C) Along with many other countries, India is learning that there are no simple solutions.

D) The central bank has to strive for a balance between the imperatives of holding the price line and
meeting genuine credit requirements.

E) Restraining credit growth by raising interest rates has not always been feasible.

F) For policy makers, supply side solutions involve the balancing of conflicting interests.

Options:

1. ABDECF
2. ABFCED
3. DBECFA
4. CDEBFA

Q14. A shopkeeper bought 10,000 kg rice for ₹1,50,000. He sold 60% of it at 20% profit and 90% of the
remaining rice at 15% profit. The left rice was found to be spoilt and he had to throw it out. If he spent
₹21 per 100 kg for transportation at the time of buying the rice, then what is his profit or loss percentage
in this deal?

Options:

1. Profit of 12%
2. Profit of 11.2%
3. Profit of 9.4%
4. Profit of 4.4%

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Q15. A train departs station X at 6:30 a.m. at a speed of 84 km/h. After one hour, another train departs
station A in the same direction as that of the first train at a speed of 96 km/h. When and at what distance
from station A do the two trains meet?

Options:

1. 11:30 a.m. and 200 km

2. 2:30 p.m. and 672 km

3. 2:40 p.m. and 110 km

4. 3:30 p.m. and 450 km

Q16. P invested ₹1 crore for a period of 5 years. Q invested the same amount for the same period that
yields 10% interest compounded annually. At the end of 5 years, P received ₹94,900 more than what Q
did. What annual rate of simple interest had P received on his investment?

Options:

1. 13.60%

2. 13.40%

3. 13.20%

4. 12.40%

Q17. Two circles of radii 21 cm each intersect in such a way that one of them passes through
the center of the other. What is the approximate value of the perimeter (in cm) of the region
bounded by these two circles?

Options:

1. 170

2. 171

3. 174

4. 176

Q18. When 1060, 2590 and 4255 are divided by the greatest number x, the remainder in each case is y.
What is the value of (3𝑥 − 14𝑦) ?

8
Options:

1. −215

2. −212

3. −220

4. −211

Q19. If 3𝑥 2 − 𝑎𝑥 + 6 = 𝑎𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 + 2 has only one (repeated) solution, then the positive integral
solution of a is:

Options:

1. 3

2. 2

3. 4

4. 5

Q20. How many numbers can be made with digits 0, 7, 8 which are greater than 0 and less than a million?
Options:

1. 496

2. 486

3. 1084

4. 728

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Q21.

If the fiscal deficit of Country 3 amounted to Rs. x, surpassing that of Country 2 by 50%, what
would be the debt (in Rs.) of Country 2 during the financial year 2022-23?

Options:

1. 10.36x
2. 11.62x
3. 12.12x
4. 13.48x

Q22. In the financial year 2022-23, only countries with a Long-term interest rate below 4%, Debt
to GDP ratio under 60%, and Fiscal-deficit not exceeding 4.6% received a AAA rating among the
six considered. The number of county(ies) with AAA rating is(are)

Options:

1. 0
2. Exactly 1
3. Exactly 2
4. Exactly 3

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Q23. If the GDP (in Rs.) of Country 2 exceeded that of Country 4 by 50%, then what was the
percentage difference in the Fiscal deficit (in Rs.) of Country 4 compared to Country 2 in the
financial year 2022-23?

Options:

1. 24.8
2. 26.8
3. 28.8
4. 32.8

Q24. The primary deficit refers to the fiscal deficit that excludes interest payments on
outstanding debt. If the the GDP for country 1 is Rs. 1000, then the value of the primary deficit
of county 1 is
Options:
1. −707.28

2. 707.28

3. 70.728

4. −70.728

Q25. Which country among the following was the first to enter New Year 2024?

Options:
1. Fiji
2. Ghana
3. Kiribati
4. Ivory Coast

Q26. Which of the following sites in India was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023?

Options:
1. Red Fort Complex
2. Sundarbans National Park

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3. Santiniketan
4. Western Ghats

Q27. Which of the following events marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement in India?

Options:

1. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

2. The Non-Cooperation Movement
3. The Salt March (Dandi March)
4. The Quit India Movement

Q28. Who among the following was the first President of the Indian National Congress?

Options:

1. Bal Gangadhar Tilak

2. Dadabhai Naoroji
3. A.O. Hume
4. Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee

Q29. Which of the following beaches was the first in India to receive the Blue Flag certification?

Options:

1. Radhanagar Beach

2. Chandrabhaga Beach
3. Marina Beach

4. Palolem Beach

Q30. Which Indian space mission was the first to successfully reach Mars orbit?

Options:
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1. Chandrayaan-1
2. Mangalyaan
3. GSAT-6
4. Astrosat

Q31. Who is the founder of the Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries?

Options:

1. Azim Premji

2. Ratan Tata

3. Mukesh Ambani

4. Dhirubhai Ambani

Q32. Which of the following is considered a primary economic activity?

Options:

1. Banking

2. Agriculture

3. Manufacturing

4. Retail

Q33. Which of the following books is authored by Ruskin Bond?

Options:

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1. The White Tiger

2. The God of Small Things

3. The Room on the Roof

4. Midnight's Children

Q34. Which of the following is a key characteristic of Bharatanatyam?

1. Mask and Make Up

2. Tribhanga Posture

3. Natyarambha Posture

4. Tarangam

Q35. A, B, C, D, E, F and G are sitting around a circular table facing the centre. A sits third to the right of E.
C sits second to the left of G. G is not an immediate neighbour of E. B sits to the immediate right of F.
Q. How many people sit between D and B when counted from the left of D?

Options:

1) Four
2) Two
3) None
4) One

Q36. Seven people, A, B, C, D, E, F and G are sitting in a row, facing north. Only two people sit to the left
of E. Only three people sit between E and A. B sits second to the right of C. B is not an immediate
neighbour of A. D sits to the immediate right of F.

Q. Who sits at the extreme left end of the line?

Options:

(1) G (2) C (3) F (4) D

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Q37. Each of P, Q, R, S, T, U and V has an exam on a different day of a week starting from Monday and
ending on Sunday of the same week.

P has an exam on Thursday. Only one person has exam between P and U. R has exam on the day
immediately before U but not on a Monday. Only two people have exams between R and T. V’s exam is
on one of the days before S but on one of the days after Q.

Q. On which day does V has the exam?

Options:

(1) Sunday (2) Friday (3) Wednesday (4) Monday

Q38. L, M, N, O, P and Q each scored different marks. Only two people scored more marks than O. M
scored more than L but less than Q. Q scored less than O. N did not score the maximum marks.

Q. Who amongst them scored the second highest marks?

Options:

(1) N (2) P (3) M (4) L

Q.39 Read the given statement(s) and conclusions carefully. Assuming that the information given in the
statements is true, even if it appears to be at variance with commonly known facts, decide which of the
given conclusions logically follow(s) from the statement(s).

Statements: Some planets are rocks. All rocks are lakes.

Conclusions (I) : Some lakes are planets

Conclusions (II) : No lakes are planets

Options:

(1) Only conclusion (I) follows

(2) Only conclusion (II) follows
(3) Neither conclusion (I) nor (II) follows
(4) Both conclusions (I) and (II) follow

Q40. Study the given diagram carefully and answer the questions. The numbers in different sections
indicate the number of persons. (NOTE: You have to take the given data to be true even if they seem to
be at variance from commonly known facts)

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How many such scientists are there who are also doctors but not from the UK?

Options:

(1) 10 (2) 18 (3) 16 (4) 4

Q41. What should come in place of ? in the given series based on the English alphabetical order?

EGB IKF MOJ QSN ?

Options:

(1) TVQ (2) UWR (3) UWZ (4) TVY

Q42. In a certain code language,

A+ B means ‘A is the mother of B’

A – B means ‘A is the brother of B’
A x B means ‘A is the wife of B’
A ÷ B means ‘ A is the father of B’

Based on the above, how is P related to T if ‘P x Q ÷ R – S + T’?

Options:

(1) Mother’s mother (2) Father’s mother (3) Sister’s daughter (4) Daughter’s sister

Q43. An accurate clock shows 9:00 am. By approximately how many degrees will the hour hand rotate
when the clock shows 2:30pm?

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Options:

(1) 144°
(2) 150°
(3) 168°
(4) 180°

Q44. MPQO is related to SVWU in a certain way based on the English alphabetical order. In the same
way, DGHF is related to JMNL. To which of the following is KNOM related to, following the same logic?

Options:

(1) QTUS (2) ORSQ (3) QSTR (4) RUVT

Q45. Based on the alphabetical order, three of the following four are alike in a certain way and thus
form a group. Which is the one that does not belong to that group?

(Note: The odd man out is not based on the number of consonants/vowels or their position in the letter
cluster)

Options:

1) HLO
2) RVY
3) CGJ
4) LPR

Q46. Given below is a statement followed by two possible reasons numbered I and II. Read the
statement carefully and decide which of the two explains the event/observation/information given in
the statement.

Statement - Even though the best export quality apples are produced in District X, it has not emerged as
a major center for export of apples in the country.

I. Land and air connectivity of District X with other parts of the country is very poor
II. Nearly 40% of the export demand of apples is already being met by District Y.

Options:
(1) Only I is a possible reason
(2) Only II is a possible reason
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(3) Neither I nor II is a possible reason
(4) Both I and II are possible reasons

Q47. Select the set in which the numbers are related in the same way as are the numbers of the following
sets.

(NOTE: Operations should be performed on the whole numbers, without breaking down the numbers into
its constituent digits. E.g. 13 – Operations on 13 such as adding / subtracting /multiplying etc. to 13 can
be performed. Breaking down 13 into 1 and 3 and then performing mathematical operations on 1 and 3
is not allowed)

(15, 105, 7)

(12, 60, 5)

Options:

(1) (17, 401, 12)

(2) (14, 197, 4)
(3) (18, 162, 9)
(4) (11, 188, 6)

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ANSWER KEY:
Q1. Ans (2)

Q2. Ans (2)

Q3. Ans (4)

Q4. Ans (2)

Q5. Ans (3)

Q6. Ans (1)

Q7. Ans (1)

Q8. Ans (3)

Q9. Ans (4)

Q10. Ans (4)

Q11. Ans (4)

Q12. Ans (3)

Q13. Ans (1)

Q14. Ans (1)

Q15. Ans (2)

Q16. Ans (4)

Q17. Ans (4)

Q18. Ans (1)

Q19. Ans (2)

Q20. Ans (4)

Q21. Ans (4)

Q22. Ans (1)

Q23. Ans (4)

Q24. Ans (1)

Q25. Ans (3)

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Q26. Ans (3)

Q27. Ans (3)

Q28. Ans (4)

Q29. Ans (2)

Q30. Ans (2)

Q31. Ans (4)

Q32. Ans (2)

Q33. Ans (3)

Q34. Ans (3)

Q35. Ans (4)

Q36. Ans (1)

Q37. Ans (3)

Q38. Ans (1)

Q39. Ans (1)

Q40. Ans (1)

Q41. Ans (2)

Q42. Ans (1)

Q43. Ans (2)

Q44. Ans (1)

Q45. Ans (4)

Q46. Ans (4)

Q47. Ans (3)

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