Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is a computer based online national level entrance exam for XLRI and other top B schools of India. For more than 74 years, XLRI is conducting XAT Exam at all India level to select candidates for management education.
XAT 2024 will be conducted on Sunday, January 07, 2024. Last date to apply for XAT 2024 and XLRI at www.xatonline.in is Nov 30, 2023. XAT 2024 Registration Fee is Rs 2100. Students interested in XLRI programmes needs to pay an additional fee of Rs 200 each course.
About XAT Exam
XAT 2023 was conducted on Sunday, January 8, 2023 from 2PM to 5:30PM!!
Total duration of the examination is 210 minutes. The question paper has three time bound parts:
175 minutes were provided in total for the First Part (Part 1) of the paper without any sectional time limit and after that Part 1 will be locked.
Second part was Keyboard Testing for 5 minutes. Now, You will be moved to Third Part of the Paper for the remaining 30 minutes. You are not allowed to leave the test lab before completion of the test.
Part 1 of XAT (175 Minutes)
Section Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning
The VA&LR section will encompass Critical & Analytical reasoning, Reading Comprehensions (including poems & passages), Vocabulary, English Grammar, and other related exercises such as para jumbles, cloze tests etc.
Section Decision Making
The DM section will present scenarios drawn from both personal and professional lives. Candidates will be required to apply critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and prioritization to make informed decisions.
Section Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation
In QA & DI section, the questions are designed to assess the quantitative aptitude of candidates who possess a foundational understanding of Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Numbers, Modern Maths, etc. The questions on DI are about clear interpretation, summarization, and insightful analysis of the data.
Part 2 of XAT (5 Minutes) Mock Keyboard Testing
Part 3 of XAT (30 minutes) *Exclusively for XLRI
General Knowledge (GK)
In the GK section, 10 questions will focus on static GK, while the remaining 15 will delve into current affairs.
Analytical Essay Writing (AEW)
The AEW section will offer three topics, of which candidates will select one. Essays should be approximately 250 words in length and must demonstrate coherence, logical consistency, and strong argumentation.
Marks for Part 1 (175 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 3 (30 Minutes): *Exclusively for XLRI
Marks awarded for every correct answer: +1 mark
No Negative marking for General Knowledge questions.
In part 3, You also have to type ESSAY by using keyboard.You have an option to choose ONE of the three available essays (arguments). The essay should not exceed 250 words.
*The GK and essay will be evaluated if a candidate is shortlisted for the GDPI processes at XLRI.
Detailed Analysis of Part 1 of XAT2023!!
Section Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning
There were 14 RC questions and 12 VALR questions. The 14 RC questions were divided across 5 Reading Comprehension Passages. 4 of them were Prose passages with 3 Questions each. 1 were Poem; with 2 questions.
The VALR part had 12 questions divided across 5 Critical Reasoning Questions, 2 Parajumbles, 3 Grammar Questions, 1 para completion and 1 Vocab based questions.
This Section was along expected lines with no surprises in terms of question type or difficulty.
Section Decision Making
There were a total of 22 questions divided across 8 sets. The section consisted of 6 sets of 3 questions each and 2 sets of 2 questions each.
All the sets were of individual decision making and required preference and ethics. This Section was of easy to moderate level.
Section Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation
There were a total of 28 Questions out of which 22 questions were of Quantitative Aptitude and remaining 6 questions were of Data Interpretation.
Quant Questions were doable but slightly lengthy and cleverly framed to check your concepts and smartness in approach. There were 2 sets of Data Interpretation with 3 questions. This section was of average level of difficulty similar to last year.
In XAT 2023, QA questions increased to 22 questions from 16 questions of XAT 2022. QA Questions from Topics like Time & Work, Clocks, Functions, Heights Distances, Inequalities, and Quadratic Equations which were present in XAT 2022 were missing in XAT 2023 and Topics like Coordinate Geometry and Modulus Equations were included in XAT 2023.
Part 2 of XAT (5 Minutes) Mock Keyboard Testing
To test the keyboard, candidates will be requested to type- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Part 3 of XAT (30 minutes) *Exclusively for XLRI
There was a total of 30 minutes for doing Part 3 which included both Essay and GK.
General Knowledge (GK)
This GK section had no negative marking. There were 25 questions across Geography, Literature, Space Technology, Culture, Books & Authors and History. 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.
Analytical Essay Writing (AEW)
The AEW section will offer three topics, of which candidates will select one. There was a word limit of 250 words for the essay. The topics for the essay writing task were:
(i) Risk is the essential need of the soul, the absence of which produces a kind of boredom which paralyses in a different way from fear, but almost as much.
(ii) Rapid decarbonisation to fulfil India’s net zero commitments will have business consequences.
(iii) Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you, because they are not smart enough to doubt themselves.
*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.
Overall: The paper was Average-Difficult. A well prepared student could have scored 38-40 marks.
Cutoffs for XLRI BM and XLRI HRM
The cut off for getting a call from XLRI BM was 36 marks for Male and 33 marks for Female.
The cut off for XLRI HRM was 33 marks for Engineer Male & Female, 32 marks for Non Engineer Male and 31 marks for Non Engineer Female.
Actual %ile required for XLRI BM and XLRI HRM
CHEERS!!
Team AnkGanit
Detailed Analysis were provided to you by Ankit Gaur & Hriday G Sarat.
Ankit Gaur is a CAT & XAT Expert. He is a B.Sc (Hons) Mathematics and M.Sc. Maths. He is also Serial XAT topper in Quant & DI (99.99%ile in XAT 2011, XAT 2012 and XAT 2013) and has written CAT 17 consecutive times.
Hriday G Sarat is an MBA from FMS Delhi batch of 2009. He is also the All India Rank 2 holder of an exam conducted by UPSC. He is an expert trainer for CAT and MBA Entrances for more than 10 years. He scored 99.9%ile in XAT 2019.
