By: R Chandrakala on December 28, 2017
Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is considered as one of the toughest MBA entrance exams. It is conducted by Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur every year, in order to select students for its MBA programs.
There are five sections in the exam namely- English Language & Logical Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, General Knowledge, and Essay Writing. It is a pen paper-based test consisting of two papers. The first three sections are a part of the paper- I and the last two are a part of paper- II.
Though the topics and the difficulty level of XAT is very much similar to CAT Exam, still there are many things that make XAT stand out.
The Decision Making Section
This section comprises of questions based on case studies- such as the case involving HR situations, Strategy situations and Number Based questions.
None of the other MBA exams focus on such situation based questions. This section is unique in its own way. This is kind of a combination of Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension where a case study is given and aspirants are put in the shoes of a manager and asked to make a decision. The choices can often be confusing with such questions. Quite a few students neglect it and do so at their own peril.
GK Section
The General Knowledge section is completely missing from CAT. This section focuses on the current affairs (National and International) and other static GK.
Though the score of this section will not be used to give out calls to aspirants it will be used in the later stage of admission by XLRI and some other colleges.
Essay Writing
The essay writing is quiet similar to Written Ability Test (WAT), but yet again, this section is not present in the exam process. Some of the IIMs prefer the WAT and that is a part of their own selection process. So, this section is again unique and different from CAT.
Mode of Paper
XAT is a pen- paper-based test, while CAT is a computer-based test. There are no sectional time limits in XAT like it is in CAT.
Marking Scheme
Each question in CAT carries 3 marks. Every correct answer will award 3 marks to the candidate. However, there is a negative marking of 1 marks for every incorrect answer. No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.
In the case of XAT, One-fourth of a mark may be deducted for each incorrect answer. Leaving a question unattempted may result in a deduction of 0.05. However, this deduction will not be applicable for a maximum of 13 unattempted questions.
