XAT 2017 Exam Analysis by MBA expert Rahul Singh

XAT 2017, conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur, was held today at various cities across the country. XAT is only the second most popular entrance exam after CAT conducted by IIM. XAT provides a gateway to not only XLRI, but numerous top ranked B-Schools in India.

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The exam was conducted amid high security, which saw thousands of students appearing for it. Here’s an indepth analysis of the XAT 2017 exam by MBA expert Rahul Singh, CATKing.

XAT has always been known to be a difficult exam, time consuming having tricky questions unlike CAT. However this year, the paper was easier than always. Reduction in the number of questions proved beneficial for students to have better attempts, as XAT has always been an exam that tests high accuracy over attempt to not leave out any question.

Section	No of Questions	Difficulty Level	Good Attempts
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation	27	Moderate to Difficult	14-16
Verbal Ability	24	Moderate	12-14
Decision Making	21	Moderate to Difficult	10-12
Total	72		40-42

Good attempts with 85-90% accuracy would enable the test-takers to meet XLRI’s expected cut-off.

 

Sectional Analysis:

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation:

The overall section was moderate to difficult with basic questions of arithmetic and modern maths like progressions, time-speed-distance and geometry. It was definitely easier that last few years.

Data Interpretation had only two sets, but they were difficult; one being tricky the other being calculation intensive.

Verbal ability:

Verbal ability section was easier than usual. The reading comprehension paras were shorter with 2-3 questions. Only one RC was lengthy and it was meant to be skipped.

People who did not invest time in these road blocker questions have done well in the exam.

The grammar section had easy questions. Spot the error and vocabulary usage in fill in the blanks were easy.

Parajumble questions were little time consuming but manageable.

Decision Making:

This is always the tricky area with close options for answer that make the students’ life difficult. However, this time there were two different sets; one being table based and one being calculation based.

The typical ethical and case scenario questions were moderate to difficult.

Overall, summarizing the paper, we witnessed happy faces post the exam as XAT is the most dreaded exam when it comes to MBA entrance tests.

Good Attempts: 40-42 with 85-90% accuracy

XLRI Cutoffs: BM 33-35 and HR 30-32

All the Best to all MBA Aspirants!

“Got a question about top MBA exams? Ask students who have already made it to top B-Schools.”

About The Author: Rahul Singh is the Director of CATKing, a premier MBA Coaching institute of Maharashtra. Rahul Singh completed his MBA from SPJIMR and is a Master of Information Technology from Virginia Tech. He has also pursued SPNM from Havard Business School. Among numerous awards, he's been honoured with Digital Indian of the Year 2016 and Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2015.