|
Established in 1949, XLRI commands high respect as
an institution of academic excellence with tremendous
brand equity and placements. For individuals aspiring
for a career in Management, after CAT and the IIMs,
the next most important option is XAT- the XLRI Admissions
Test. XAT is the common test for admission to the
Post Graduate programmes in Management conducted by
not only XLRI but also XISS, XIMB, GIM, LIBA etc.
For a detailed list of institutes that accept XAT
scores, Click
here...
About XAT- Expect the Unexpected
XAT is considered to be as difficult as or sometimes
tougher than CAT because of some exclusive features
like its highly unpredictable pattern, higher difficulty
level of questions, surprise elements in question
types and Progressive negative marking.
Like the majority of Management aptitude tests, XAT
also tests a candidate s Reasoning skills, Quantitative
Aptitude and English Language Skills . However, unlike
others, XAT also tests one s composition skills through
an essay.
One should keep this in mind while planning to give
XAT: Expect the Unexpected. A comparison of XAT 2005,
2006 and 2007 proves this.
XAT 2005 had 175 questions distributed over three
sections.
| Sections
|
Number
of Questions |
QA(including Data Interpretation) |
75 (30+45) |
General Knowledge |
35 |
Verbal and Logical Ability |
65 |
To see the detailed analysis of XAT 2005, Click
here.
XAT 2007 had 130 questions divided into three sections.
| Sections
|
Number
of Questions |
QA(including Data Interpretation) |
87 (44+43 ) |
Verbal Ability |
40 |
To
see the detailed analysis of XAT 2006, Click
here.
XAT 2007 had 130 questions divided into three sections.
| Sections
|
Number
of Questions |
Reasoning
and Decision Making Ability |
40(24+16) |
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension |
41 |
QA (including Data Interpretation) |
49 |
To
see the detailed analysis of XAT 2007, Click
here.
XAT 2007 is a classic example of how one should expect
the unexpected in XAT. First of all, following the path
of CAT, XAT also had 5 answer options instead of the
much used to 4 options. There were Questions on Decision
Making with case studies, and Data Interpretation became
a part of the Quant section and not the Logical Reasoning
section. Questions on Reasoning, though straight, had
confusing clues which made it difficult to crack. Even
in 2006, the paper had questions on Conversation Analysis,
a pattern hitherto unheard of in XAT.
Unlike in the earlier XATs, the difficulty level of
English in 2006 and 2007 was at par with that of CAT.
XAT 2007 was a treat for the students who were good
at English as those who were voracious readers and with
strong analytical skills could answer the questions
easily. There were grammar questions also on punctuation,
wordiness etc. Contextual usage-based vocabulary is
no more a surprise for XAT takers as they are almost
a regular feature of XAT . Reading Comprehension section
is the only one which seems to have not undergone any
drastic changes and can be relied on to get a decent
score.
The Quantitative Ability section of XAT 2007 was of
standard level of difficulty - the questions on progression,
series and functions were attemptable as compared to
those of the previous years. The Data Sufficiency questions
that appeared in this section were of different difficulty
levels. It is always better to expect a reasonably tough
Quantitative Ability section as, except for the year
2000, XAT has been consistently tricky about sections
like Algebra, Permutations and Combinations, Probability
and Number Systems.
Because of progressive negative marking (with the negative
being as high as 0.5 after the first five mistakes in
any section), conservative attempts with an emphasis
on accuracy is the right strategy. Selection of questions
is as important as attempting the maximum number of
questions in 120 minutes. Do remember that a couple
of correct answers can make a world of difference to
your percentiles.
|
