Tracking General Awareness along CAT prep key to crack XAT 2014

With XAT 2014 exam date on January 5, 2014, its time you should begin your preparation for the same simultaneously with your CAT 2013 preparation.

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT), the national level Admission Test, is conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur for admission to Post Graduate Management Jamshedpur in XLRI Jamshedpur and many other top MBA Colleges, Institutes, reputed B-Schools in India.

Though your CAT preparation will cover most of the XAT syllabus, you will need consistent preparation for the General Awareness section that was added only last year in XAT. Nevertheless, your MBA entrance preparation must cover XAT syllabus as you will be left with just 30-40 days to prepare for XAT after your CAT 2013 exam.

So, what questions appear in XAT?

XAT 2013 analysis: The paper of XAT 2013 was divided into two sections, each with different scoring sheets. The first part had multiple-choice questions for three sections Verbal Ability, Decision Making & Quantitative Aptitude. The time allotted for it was 2:20 hours. The second part had essay writing and General Awareness questions and time stipulated for it was only 40 minutes. XAT 2012 paper did not have any questions on business and general awareness. Unlike XAT 2012 where every section had a different marking scheme, this year, each question carried 1 mark. This made life a bit simpler for test takers. Brief analysis of XAT 2013 exam: PART 1 Section 1- Verbal Ability

Section
No of Questions
Topics covered
Overall Analysis

Verbal Ability
30
- Reading Comprehension/ Passages - Grammar (questions on preposition, article) - Fill in the blanks - Critical Reasoning
-Moderate to Tough -Time-consuming and lengthy

The Verbal Ability section of XAT 2013 lived up to its tradition of being the most difficult and time consuming section. This section had a total of 30 questions. There were four passages in total, each with three-four questions. The passages were lengthy. More than 10 questions on grammar tested students skills with the intricacies of the English language. Section 2- Decision Making

Section
No of Questions
Topics covered
Overall Analysis
Decision Making & Logical reasoning
25

Case-lets on managerial decision making - Basic LR questions on ranking, grouping, etc
Case lets were trickier asking test takers to arrange the best possible sequence for the possible decisions that can be taken. LR was easier

The decision making section was trickier than the last year. This section has a total of 25 questions. There were four case-lets asking test takers to arrange the best possible sequence for the possible decisions that can be taken. Logical reasoning questions were also a part of this section. There were around 10-12 LR questions. They were basic in nature and consisted of question on ranking, grouping, Grid-based questions, etc. Section 3 Quantitative Aptitudes

Section
No of Questions
Topics covered
Overall Analysis
Quantitative Aptitude
36

Allegations, P & L, Speed & Distance, Geometry Pie charts, bar diagram
Moderate section DI case lets were easy

The Quantitative Aptitude section was easy to moderate with a total of 36 questions. There were 20 questions testing the basic quantitative aptitude. Major topics covered in this section were profit & loss, speed & distance, geometry, etc. Data Interpretation was also a part of this section with a share of 16 questions out of the total. DI case-lets were not tough in nature and were mostly doable. Pie charts, bar diagrams dominated the scene. PART 2
Essay and General Awareness

Section
No of Questions
Topics covered
General awareness
30

Business Awareness & General Knowledge
Essay
Corruption is the root cause for the slowdown of Indian Economy
The General Awareness section was the easiest of all the sections. The essay topic, Corruption is the root cause for the Indian economic slowdown, was predictable. Past XAT papers: How does XAT 2013 compare with past years papers? Our analysis shows that XAT has continuously reduced the number of questions. The paper is also becoming more analytical. Lets take a look as to how XAT 2013 stood in comparison to its last 4 yrs paper:

Year
Sections
No. of Questions
Difficulty level
2009

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making Verbal & Logical Ability
104
Difficult
2010

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making Verbal & Logical Ability
101
Difficult
2011

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making Verbal & Logical Ability
101
Difficult
2012

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation English Language Ability & Logical Reasoning Data Sufficiency
85
Moderate
2013

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation English Language Ability & Logical Reasoning Data Sufficiency, Essay Writing & General Awareness
91+ 30
Moderate