XAT is a multiple choice type test of 2 hours duration divided into three sections: Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability and Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making. It is followed by an Essay-writing test of 20 minutes duration. The number of questions in XAT has witnessed a downward trend over the last few years - there were 120 questions in XAT 2008, 104 in 2009 and 101 in both 2010 and 2011. Each question is followed by 5 options. .

Marking Scheme: Though XAT did not mention it explicitly, it was assumed that each question carried 1 mark in XAT 2008, 2009 and 2010. There was progressive negative marking for incorrect answers. In XAT 2008 and XAT 2009, 0.25 marks were deducted for the first 6 incorrect answers in each section and 0.50 marks for every incorrect answer thereafter. In XAT 2010, 0.20 marks were deducted for the first 5 incorrect answers in each section and 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer thereafter. So XAT had relaxed the criteria for negative marking considerably in 2010. XAT 2011 was much more challenging than the previous years’ papers. XAT introduced the pattern of differential marking this year. There were questions with marks ranging from 1 to 5. There were 101 questions in the paper worth 253 marks. The penalty for incorrect answers was 25% of the marks allotted to the question.

Cut-Offs: In XAT 2010, around 650 applicants with more than 92.60 percentile in VA&LR, 80.36 percentile in DI&QA, 84.36 percentile in AR&DM, and overall 95.03 percentile (around 29-30 marks) were shortlisted for the PM&IR programme; and around 550 applicants with more than 90.13 percentile in VA&LR, 91.31 percentile in DI&QA, 90.01 percentile in AR&DM, and overall 98.02 percentile (around 32-33 marks) were shortlisted for the BM programme. In XAT 2011, all the candidates with more than 85 percentile in VA&LR, 70 percentile in DI&QA, 75 percentile in AR&DM, and overall 91 percentile were shortlisted for the PM&IR programme; and all the candidates with more than 70 percentile in VA&LR, 90 percentile in DI&QA, 80 percentile in AR&DM, and overall 92 percentile were shortlisted for the BM programme. So the cut-off percentiles were reduced considerably in XAT 2011 and the number of candidates called for the second stage of assessment was much higher as compared to previous years.

The design and complexity of most of the XAT questions is quite different from what is seen in other B-School entrance tests and the difficulty level of test is generally very high. In addition to XAT performance, other factors like academic ability and work experience may also be considered while shortlisting candidates for the second stage.

Section-wise details of XAT
Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning: The section mainly comprises Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, Parajumbles and Fill-in-the-Blanks. There are hardly any questions based on Pure Grammar and Vocabulary.

Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making: The section mainly comprises arrangement problems and decision-making cases. The decision-making cases present real life situations where a candidate is expected to make rational choices keeping in mind the socially acceptable norms. One should go through the previous years’ XAT papers and a few ethical dilemma cases on the internet to prepare for the DM questions.

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability: There are 3-4 DI sets in the section comprising 10-12 DI questions. QA questions are spread across different topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Modern Maths. Most of the questions require a good command over the topic. The questions are generally very wordy and one needs to devote some time to pick and choose the easier questions.

Essay writing
At the end of the objective test, an essay on the given topic is to be written in 20 minutes. Though the essays are not used for shortlisting candidates for the second stage, candidates may be asked questions regarding their essays during their interview. One should try to be concise, precise and logical while writing. Slangs, abbreviations and sms language should definitely be avoided.

All the best!
Team CL

First out of the 18 CMATs was unveiled this morning across the country.

The test was conducted smoothly, without any chaos and glitch - kudos to AICTE.  The level of questions was to check what a student has learnt in last 10-12 years, not what (s)he has prepared in last few months.

As announced earlier by AICTE, the test had a total of 100 questions to be completed in 180 mins. One must exercise caution because of the ample spare time one is likely to attempt the questions which one is not sure about. There was no section wise time limit- one could use the time for attempting questions in a non-sequential way. There were 4 marks for each correct answer and -1 mark for a wrong attempt. 

Students felt that given the difficulty level of the first three sections (QA, Eng and LR), performance in GK would be the differentiator. An attempt of 12-15 questions in GK and 22 -23 questions in each of the first three sections would be considered good; and a total attempt of 75-80 would be considered good. Students also reported that there were no RC passages and no group questions - probably for the first time in the history of management entrance tests in India. Students reported a few incorrect questions in the paper, and also the language of a few questions was somewhat ambiguous. One QA question supposedly had all wrong option choices. Overall, it was an easy test and hence, a couple of correct or incorrect questions may make or mar a student’s prospect of securing one of the desired positions. 

A section wise analysis is given below:

All the Best!
Team CL