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XAT stands for the XLRI Admission Test and is conducted by XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute), Jamshedpur.

XAT is the first step in the process of seeking admission to the Post Graduate or Fellow Programmes in Management offered by XLRI and other affiliated B-schools.

XAT (Xavier’s Admission Test) is one of the top Management Entrance Tests in India that is conducted by XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute), Jamshedpur.

XAT is usually conducted on the first Sunday of January every year.

The XAT notification is usually released in the leading newspapers of the country. The same will be uploaded on the Career Forum website after the release of the notification. Application forms will be available at select branches of Axis Bank, usually for a period of a month as mentioned in the notification. The application forms are also available at the administration office of XLRI, Jamshedpur. In order to get the application form and prospectus a student has to send across a D.D in favour of XLRI, Jamshedpur.

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 although marks of this essay is accounted in the admission process of XLRI only.

One should keep this in mind while planning to give XAT: Expect the Unexpected. A comparison of XAT papers for the last few years proves this.

The XAT is a 2 hour duration paper with additional 20 minutes given for essay after a 5-10 minutes of break. It is held on the first Sunday of January.

For XAT 2011 the number of questions was 101. The paper was divided into 3 sections viz. Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning and Decision making.

An essay of approx. 250 – 300 words is expected to be written with topics ranging from those of social relevance to propositions to abstract.

The essay topic in XAT 2010 was, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs but not every man's greed”.

The method of scoring is:
- Right Answer: 1 mark
- Incorrect Answer: 0.20 (for first 5 wrong answers in each section) & 0.25 (for the remaining wrong
   answers)

XAT 2011 had cornered the student into a no win situation with its conventionally unconventional paper! Maintaining its tradition to be reasonable, all sections exhibited a similar difficulty level.

This paper tested the students’ astuteness in making shrewd decisions and not just his intelligence aptitude.

Overview of the XAT 2010 Paper
Time	2 Hours
Total no. of questions	101
Total marks	101
Progressive Negative marking (per section)	0.20 For first five incorrect answers and 0.25 for each incorrect answer thereafter.

Section I: Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

This section is definitely no cakewalk. Tough questions and some new question types could be confusing. The reasoning and reading comprehension, for a change, was easier to attempt as compared to the vocabulary and grammar questions

Some of the question types include:

AREA TESTED DESCRIPTION NUMBER OF QUESTIONS DIFFICULTY LEVEL Reading Comprehension Standard (Two Passages) 8 Tough Logical Reasoning Critical Reasoning (short Passage) 4 Above Average Inductive Reasoning 4 Above Average Critical Reasoning (Strengthening/ Weakening) 2 Above Average English Usage Jumbled Paragraph 2 Average Fill in the blanks (passage: Grammar + Vocabulary based) 6 Above Average Odd one out 2 Average Miscellaneous Language based 6 Average to above average Total   34

Section II: Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability

“The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple”. Though the problems looked complex if an orthodox approach was adopted this section was not as tough as it appeared to be. In depth knowledge in areas of Geometry and Algebra was the need of the hour.

Some of the question types include:

AREA TESTED	NUMBER OF QUESTIONS	DIFFICULTY LEVEL
QUANTITATIVE ABILITY
Numbers	Based on concepts	2	Average
	Based on property	2	Average
Geometry	Circle	1	Average
	Triangles	1	Average
	Area based	2	Above Average
	Co-ordinate geometry	1	Average
	Height and distances	2 + 1	Average
Algebra	Maxima Minima	1	Average
	Functions	1	Average
	Permutation and Combination	1	Above Average
	Probability	2	Above Average
	Set theory	1	Average
	Statistics	1	Average
	Binomial theorem	1	Tough
Data Sufficiency	Numbers	1	Average
	Geometry	1	Average
Reasoning based QA		5	Average to Above Average
Data Interpretation	Tabular form	3 + 4 + 2	Tough
	Bar graph	3	Average to Above Average
	Line graph	4	Average
Total		43

Section III: Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making

XAT order of the day was “Decision Making caselets”! The decision making caselets are slightly more complex than those that were given last year.
Having no predefined parameters, and coming up with the most optimal answer option in the stipulated time was a tough proposition. The student had to rely completely on his natural competence to scrutinize and contemplate on the given conditions.

Some of the question types include:

AREA TESTED	NUMBER OF QUESTIONS	DIFFICULTY LEVEL
Matching	3 + 3	Above Average
Arrangement	3	Tough
Data Verification	2	Above Average
Mathematical Reasoning	1	Above average
Decision Making (Verbal)	9 + 3	Above Average
Total	24

One thing that always remains constant about the XAT is: “EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED “.

You should be able to think fast apart from being competent on the 3-core areas – Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning and Verbal Ability.

Whether XAT is difficult or easy, all students will face the same rigidity. XAT is all about being proactive and being ready for challenges.

This means that for you to qualify, your relative performance has to be better than the other students.

In order to take the XAT candidate should have passed three years bachelor’s degree or equivalent in any discipline from a recognized university or deemed university.

Those completing their final examination by June 10, 2011 may also apply.

No. It is not necessary that students need to be from premier colleges. You get into a B-school on the basis of your performance in the entrance exams conducted by the B-schools themselves.

Yes, you are eligible for admission to XLRI. You need to complete your final year examination by June 2010 the latest. Other XAT Members Institutes may have a different date regarding the completion of the final examination.

The equivalence of percentage is based on the equivalence certified by the institute/university from where the bachelor's degree is obtained. In case the institute/university does not follow any such method of converting the CGPA, the equivalence can be established as per the example given below: e.g. The CGPA obtained is 3.6 on a maximum possible score of 4. The equivalent percentage would be 3.6/4 * 100 = 90 percent.

The aggregate for the first 3 years of the program needs to be mentioned as percentage for bachelors, whereas the aggregate for the remaining two years needs to be mentioned as percentage for masters.

MBA, being a master's degree, requires the aspirant to be a graduate. That means, you must have a Bachelor's Degree from any university incorporated by an act of the Central or State government of India, any other educational institution established by an act of Parliament or any institution deemed as such under section 3 of the UGC Act 1956. This also includes any equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. Your Bachelor's Degree or equivalent qualification must have covered a minimum of three years of education after completing higher secondary schooling, which is a total of 10+2+3 years.

It is very important to be honest in your application forms. Do not fill any information that is untrue. Certain questions in the forms ask you about Career Goals, Strengths, Weaknesses, etc. They are deliberately there to help the B-school know a little bit more about you and are often referred to during the interview. It is highly recommended to keep a photocopy of every form that you fill so that you can revise what you have written before the interview.

Cut-off is the minimum score that one must secure in order to be eligible for a reputed school.
This cut-off varies from school to school and from year to year depending on the level of toughness of the XAT paper and the overall performance of the applicants to the respective schools. B-schools provide a section-wise as well as an overall cut-off. It is usually mandatory for students to clear the cut-offs of each section (as in verbal ability, quantitative aptitude, DI, etc) as well as clear the overall cut-off too. Hence you will have to show your proficiency across every section of the paper.

Percentile: Percentile indicates student's relative performance position among the total students who took the exam.

Percentage: The % score represents normalized percentage of scores secured by the candidate. It is a relative method of representing the score. This is not the actual % score.

For example – A 99 percentile means that the student is among the top 1 percent of the population who took the exam.

No. One needs to keep in mind that cut-offs are only one of the many evaluation tools that the B Schools uses to shortlist candidates. The other prominent factors are past academic performance, work experience if any, extra curricular activities and achievements etc.

Work experience is not mandatory criteria for making it any B Schools. However, having work experience does add to your profile. None the less, you need to prove your worth at the time of the GD/PI rounds. This implies that the panel needs to be convinced about what you have learnt at the job and contributed positively to the organization. The way you present yourself and your approach towards the questions plays a vital role in the outcome of your interview. Remember, you will be pitched against the best minds during the GD/PI rounds. So you need to be at your best to make sure you get the final call.

The key to your call from XLRI is consistent performance across all the sections apart from meeting the overall cut-off requirement.

Over the last few years, it has been observed that those who have secured an overall percentile of 90 + percente in each of the sections have received GD/PI calls from XLRI.

Candidates can download their Admit Card from the http://xlri.net.in website any time during December 18, 2010 - December 31, 2010. XAT office will not be sending admit cards to any candidates.

Results will be available on the website by 31^st January 2011.

Registration for XAT 2011 starts on 1^st September 2010 and ends on 30^th November 2010.

Last date for submission of application form is 5^th December 2010.

The XAT is a common test for admission into academic programmes of XLRI and 70 other Institutes (refer XAT member Institutes on http://xlri.net.in website). However if you are interested in XLRI or other XAT member Institutes, you need to obtain their prospectus and register for the concerned Institute.

There are 33 cities in which XAT exams are conducted. In Metros and large cities there are multiple Test Centres.

You can visit the XLRI, Jamshedpur website http://xlri.net.in any time during December 18, 2010 to December 31, 2010 to know about the Centre.

You are expected to reach the Test Centre before 10.00 am on the day of the test. This will help you to locate your seat and give you sometime to reflect. .

The test will be of 2 ½ hours i.e. from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm.

Candidate photo forms shall be uploaded on first come first serve basis until December 5, 2010. Candidates have to check their phot and signature as and when they receive the message and confirm by 15^th December 2010.