XAT 2022 has been conducted on Sunday, January 2!!
Total duration of the examination is 190 minutes. The computer-based exam will be only in English.
The question paper consists of a total of 101 questions in two-time bound parts:
165 minutes were provided in total for the Part 1 of the paper without any sectional time limit and after that Part 1 will be locked. You will be moved to Part 2 of the Paper for the remaining 25 minutes. You are not allowed to leave the test lab before completion of the test.
Marks for Part 1 (165 Minutes):
All Questions of part 1 were multiple choice questions (MCQs) including five options with one correct option.
Marks awarded for every correct answer: +1 mark
Negative marks awarded for every incorrect answer: -0.25 mark
Negative marks awarded for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions: -0.10 mark
Marks for Part 2 (25 Minutes):
Marks awarded for every correct answer: +1 mark
No Negative marking for General Knowledge questions.
In part 2, You also have to type ESSAY by using keyboard.You have an option to choose ONE of the two available essays (arguments). The essay should not exceed 250 words. Essay shall be evaluated after the candidate will be shortlisted for the interview.
PwD candidates will get extra time of 20 minutes per hour which results in extra time of 55 minutes for Part 1and 5 minutes for Part 2.
Detailed Analysis
Section Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VALR):
This Section was along expected lines with no surprises in terms of question type or difficulty. As expected the VALR part was comparatively easy and RCs were tough. There were 15 RC questions and 11 VALR questions. The 15 RC questions were divided across 6 Reading Comprehension Passages. 4 of them were Prose passages with 3 Questions each. 2 were Poems; One with 1 question and the other with 2 questions. Poems and RCs were deceptive.
The VALR part had 11 questions divided across 4 Critical Reasoning Questions, 2 Parajumbles, 3 Grammar Questions and 2 Vocab based questions. CR and Grammar were of moderate difficulty. Vocab and Parajumbles were doable.
Section Decision Making (DM):
This Section was of easy to moderate level. There were a total of 21 questions divided across 7 sets with 3 questions each. All the sets were of individual decision making with no questions on business ethics or strategy. The key to doing well in this section was elimination. However at least 6-7 questions had 2 close choices choosing between which was extremely tricky.
Section Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation (QA DI):
This section was of average level of difficulty. There were lesser number of difficult questions as compare to last year. There were a total of 26 Questions out of which 16 questions were of Quantitative Aptitude and remaining 12 questions were of Data Interpretation.
A lot of Quant Questions were doable but cleverly framed to check your concepts and smartness in approach.
There were 4 sets of Data Interpretation with 3 questions each. Out of these 4 sets, 2 sets were pure DI based on Calculations and Observations and other 2 sets were logical in nature and required LR to crack the set. Hence, 2 Sets were based upon LRDI.
There was a total of 25 minutes for doing Part B which included both Essay and GK.
GK This section had no negative marking. There were 25 questions across Geography, Literature, Space Technology, Culture, Books & Authors and History. Out of 25 Questions, 4-5 were Match the Following Type. In Match the Following Questions even with partial knowledge one could solve by eliminating incorrect options. All in all the section had a good mix of current affairs and static GK. A good score would be 12-15 marks.
Essay There was a choice between two essay topics. There was a word limit of 250 words for the essay. The essay and GK are not considered in shortlisting students for XLRI. They are separately evaluated during the final admission stage. Other B Schools considering XAT do not consider GK or essay. One of the topics was on how Capitalism and Democracy have different end goals and hence are mutually incompatible. This was a difficult topic and most students would have opted for the other topic which was comparatively simpler. The other topic was on how Managers should have faced adversity in order to become good managers. Hence the current focus on selecting the academically brightest students -for B Schools is unwise. This was a very divisive topic with most students choosing one side or the other of the topic.
Overall Marks vs Cutoffs:
The paper was of average - hard difficulty as has always been the case with XAT. A well prepared student could have scored 40-42 marks. The cut off for getting a call from XLRI-BM is likely to be around 33-35 marks while the cut off for XLRI HRM is likely to be around 32-34 marks. Female candidates are likely to have a slightly lower cutoff for each course.
Cheers!!
Team AnkGanit
