XAT 2016 test pattern changes: 7 critical things you should know!

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) 2016 has announced quite a few significant test pattern changes on the official website.

Here’s a look at the top seven changes in XAT exam:

1. In the main question paper (Verbal and Logical Ability, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation sections), the total number of questions has been brought down to 78.
2. Candidates will have 170 minutes to answer the main question paper, which means the time allotted has been increased by 20 minutes. Earlier, the total time for objective part of the test was 150 minutes. XAT 2016 syllabus
3. Now comes the tricky part. In order to encourage students attempt more questions with accuracy, XAT 2016 question paper has been created in such a manner that that the top hundred students will be able to complete the test within 170 minutes. The idea behind this is to reduce the low range of scores and encourage good students to do well. 
4. In XAT 2016, aspirants have a choice of not attempting 13 questions. Beyond this, any non-attempted question will carry a negative mark of 0.05 marks per question.
5. There’d also be negative marking of 0.25 marks for any wrong answer.
6. Number of questions in GK section has been reduced to 25. However, the time to answer GK and Essay section remains same – 35 minutes.
7. There’s no negative marking in GK section.

XAT 2016 exam will be held on January 3, 2016. The last date to apply for the exam is December 10, 2015. Know more about XAT exam.

XAT 2016 changes: What does this mean for aspirants?

What do experts say about the changes in XAT 2016?

Hitesh Devalia

Endeavour Careers, catgurus.com

It feels we are going back to early 2000 for a greater good cause. It's a welcome change of course. I have always had highest regards for XAT as they never disappointed me.

1) Giving clarity on number of questions and time allocation will give good time to prepare for exam strategy.

2) Clear indication to encourage risk appetite shows what they want in students. Could be a hint for further rounds of admission too.

3) As always, sectional consistency will be given top priority.

4) Should improve number of applications this year (they have postponed last date too) .

5) Though they have clarified that level of difficulty will be reduced, I am not expecting a drastic change. In fact it should not be reduced when you are reducing questions and increasing time limit. This is just to motivate students who consider XAT as very tough.

6) Change in question type in GK will also help them evaluate who is a better prepared candidates (when there is a tie)

7) Penalty for unattempted question is negligible. Should not hurt anyone giving genuine attempt. You still have flexibility to leave upto 13 questions in all. Moreover negative marking for incorrect answer is also fixed and not cumulative.

 

Vinayak Kudva

IMS Learning Resources, vkpedia.in

 

The Changes and its implications:

a) The number of questions in the first three sections reduced to 78 (from 83 last year) and time-limit increased from 140 min to 170 min.

Implication: You will now need to score more to get the same percentile as last year – as attempts will go up and so will the corresponding scores. Until last years, on an average, only 50% of the questions were attempted – this change will push up the number of attempts per section and overall.

b) The level of difficulty of the test is set to be watered down to an extent that the top 100 students should be able to solve all the 78 questions in 170 minutes.
Implication: So, the test will become easier for all, but only those who are all-rounders i.e. proficient across all areas will be able to answer a majority of the questions, if not all.

c) There will be negative marking of 0.05 marks per question if you skip more than 13 questions in the rest: So if you skip 20 questions overall, (20-13)*0.05=0.35 marks will be deducted from your overall marks.
Implication: You cannot be overcautious and skip too many questions – at the same time remember that the penalty for incorrect responses is 5 times that of skipped questions, so wild guessing is still not a good option in the test. This change places a premium on conceptual knowledge, and so students with a sound conceptual base will be able to attempt more questions in the increased time duration (without wild guessing) and thereby score higher in this test.