XAT is one of the top entrance exams for MBA aspirants. People attempt XAT along with CAT. A prominent college that accepts the XAT is XLRI Jamshedpur which also conducts the exam along with many other B-Schools in India.
Paper Pattern
The XAT paper pattern for 2022 has 4 sections which are different compared to CAT which has just 3 sections. The 4 sections are:-
1. Verbal and Logical Ability
2. Decision Making
3. Quantitative ability and Data interpretation
4. General Knowledge
XAT Exam Paper 1
Verbal and Logical Ability
There are 3 sections in Paper 1, Out of which Verbal and logical Ability consists of 26 questions. The VARC and LR sections in the CAT Exam are combined in this part. There were three sections of Reading Comprehension in XAT 2021, each with 12 problems. The VA and LR issues lead the remainder of the problems.
Except for Reading Comprehension, the following areas are commonly assessed in this section:
Vocabulary, Passage Completion, Critical Reasoning
Decision Making
Decision Making (DM) consists of 21 Questions in Paper 1. This section consists of 7 to 8 paragraphs with 2 to 3 questions. There is no preparation for this as the answers are to be spontaneous.
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
Quantitative Ability (QA) and Data Interpretation (DI) consists of 28 questions. This portion, like section 1, is a mix of 2 different CAT Exam components. The Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation Problems are found in this category. The areas that this section focuses on are:-
Time and Work, Percentage, Profit and Loss, Equations, Number Systems, Venn Diagrams, Tables, Bar Diagrams and so on.
The combined total of 75 questions in Part 1 is given 165 minutes to attempt.
XAT Exam Paper 2 : General Knowledge
There is only 1 section in the Part 2 paper. This consists of a total of 25 questions and is given a time limit of 15 minutes. This section can have questions ranging from Current affairs to Trivia.
Paper 1 and Paper 2 together have 100 questions in total and the given time frame is 180 minutes.
Important Information on XAT Exam
Earlier in the previous XAT papers, there was a section for essay writing which has been removed from XAT paper since 2018. This change happened ever since the exam mode went online. In the 2021 XAT exam, the questions were all MCQ’s with 5 options. The CAT exam has 4 options for MCQ’s.
Meanwhile, the XAT Exam Format 2020 introduced a distinct form of question known as the Numerical Aptitude Type (NAT), wherein applicants must enter their answers utilizing an on-screen keyboard on the monitor. This sort of question is likely to appear in the XAT Exam 2022.
The XAT exam has a unique marking scheme. For every correct answer, the reward is 1 mark, meanwhile, for every incorrect answer, there is a penalty of 0.25 marks. A person cannot leave more than 8 questions unanswered. Every question that is left after missing out on 8 questions holds a penalty of 0.05 marks.
However, the General Knowledge section does not have any negative marking.
Previous Year XAT Paper Patterns
The paper has gone through several changes in the past 4 to 5 years. One of the most major changes was the switch from a paper mode of exam to an online mode or Computer-Based.
The other changes include the Essay Writing section being removed, the number of questions have been constantly changing through the years, the limit for the number of unanswered questions has gone down from 12 to 8.
XAT Exam Pattern 2022
It is a 3-hour exam with the 4 sections mentioned above. There were a total of 100 questions with 26 questions for Verbal and Logical Ability, 21 questions for Decision Making, 28 questions for Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation and 25 questions for General Knowledge which are divided into paper 1 (75 questions) and paper 2 (25 questions)
The scores for the first 75 questions would be considered for percentile calculations. The total grading method was 1 point for a good attempt and 0.25 point deduction for an inaccurate attempt. Entrants can tackle up to 8 questions, but any questions left out beyond that will result in a 0.1 point penalty.