XAT 2022 Analysis: Exam Over without any major technical glitches; Check Pattern, Key Changes, Difficulty Level, likely Cut offs

XAT 2022 exam greeted the test takers with many changes in XAT pattern. The XAT 2022 exam was conducted from 9.30 AM to 12.40 PM on January 2, 2022 as computer based test. XAT Exam 2022 Analysis by MBAUniverse.com is the first indepth XAT analysis released on January 2, 2022 immediately after the XAT exam has got over.

XLRI Jamshedpur conducted XAT 2022 exam on behalf of XAMI,  in a single session on Sunday January 2, 2022 with an increased time duration of 3 hours 10 minutes from 9.30 A. M. to 12.40 PM instead of earlier 3 hours. XAT Exam 2022 Analysis by MBAUniverse.com is the first indepth XAT analysis released on January 2, 2022 immediately after the XAT exam has got over.

The MBAUniverse.com XAT Exam Analysis reflects upon highlights of XAT 2022 exam pattern, paper difficulty level, key changes in question paper, good attempts and likely XAT cut off score for different percentile range in the changed XAT exam pattern with increased number of questions.  

XAT 2022 Analysis: Key Changes in Exam from Previous XAT exams
Below is XAT 2022 Exam & Scoring Pattern Vs Last 2 Years XAT Exam and scoring pattern

XAT exam year	XAT 2022	XAT 2021	XAT 2020
Test Duration	3 Hours 10 Minutes: 9.30AM to 12.40PM	3 Hours:9.30AM to 12.30PM	3 Hours:9.30AM to 12.30 PM
Number of Sections	5	4	4
Number of Questions	101	100	99
Type of Questions	MCQs-100; Descriptive-1	MCQs	MCQs
Subjective Answer Questions	1 (Essay Writing Test)	No	No
Maximum marks	100 (Essay Evaluation after shortlisting by XLRI)	100	99
Key Change	Essay Writing Test Restored	No Essay Writing Test	No Essay Writing Test
Penalty for Leaving Questions Unattempted	0.10 Negative marks penalty for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions	Not Announced	0.10 Negative marks penalty for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions
Scoring Pattern	+1 Mark for each correct answer; - 0.25 mark for each wrong answer	+1 Mark for each correct answer; -0.25 mark for each wrong answer	+1 Mark for each correct answer; -0.25 mark for each wrong answer

XAT 2022 Analysis Released in 5 Minutes after the Exam
Below is shared the XAT 2022 Question Paper time and schedule and MBAUniverse.com XAT analysis release time which is 5 minutes after the exam has got over

XAT 2022 Exam Date & Time	MBAUniverse XAT Exam Analysis Release time
XAT 2022 Exam Date: January 2, 2022 Time: 9.30 AM to 12.40 PM	12.45 PM on January 2, 2022

XAT 2022: 5^th Computer based XAT Exam
XAT 2022 is the fifth computer based test conducted by XLRI in the history of 70 years of XAT exam. Earlier it used to be paper based test.

MBAUniverse.com XAT Exam Analysis 2022: Key Highlights
MBAUniverse.com XAT Exam 2022 Analysis reflects upon the overall & sectional XAT exam pattern, difficulty level, predictions on XAT cut offs among others to help the test takers to gauge their performance in XAT 2022 and their admission chances in XLRI and other top XAT accepting Colleges. To offer a wider perspective, MBAUniverse.com has also shared XAT 2022 Exam Analysis by experts of leading institutions and top XAT coaching institutes like Arun Sharma, IMS, CL, T.I.M.E. among others. MBAUniverse XAT Analysis covers the following:

1. XAT Exam Pattern & key changes
2. Variation as compared to last year in Topics, Type of Questions for each section
3. Any Surprise elements in XAT 2022 Exam paper
4. Exam Difficulty Level: Overall & Section wise Analysis by Experts
5. Required Good Attempts: Overall and Section wise
6. XAT score Cut off Predictions by Experts to help the aspirants to assess their performance and check their call chances by top XAT Accepting B-schools
7. XAT Percentile Predictions

This year XLRI has brought about many changes in its exam pattern. XAT exam 2022 analysis reflects a changed difficulty level and twisted type of questions among other things.

XAT 2022 Question Paper Analysis
Given the reputation of XLRI XAT exam over the years, the XAT Test paper is changed every year. This year too, many changes are introduced in XAT pattern.

XAT 2022 Question Paper Pattern: Key Highlights
Key highlights of  XAT 2022 question paper are 

• Test timing changed to 3 hr.10 Minutes: : 9.30AM to 12.40PM from last year 10AM to 1 PM
• Total questions increased to 101 in XAT 2022 from 99 last year
• Single slot, single day exam
• Essay Writing Test Restored in XAT 2022: Earlier this test was scrapped in 2019
• Now XAT 2022 has MCQ type and Descriptive Questions
• Question paper with 4 sections with MCQs and 1 section with Essay Writing Test
• The GK Section with 25 questions is not counted for percentile calculation
• Visually impaired candidates with scribe are given additional 25 minutes to solve Part 1 of  the exam
• Marks for every correct answer : +1
• - 0.25 Negative Marking for wrong answer
• No Negative marking for General Knowledge and Essay writing section in part-2 of question paper
• All the MCQ type questions have five options with one correct option
• Essay Test shall be evaluated after the candidate is shortlisted for the interview.
• -0.10 Negative marks penalty for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions
• The countdown timer at the top, right-hand side of the screen displays the time remaining. This is the time available for you to complete the examination for the part of the question paper you are answering (Part 1/Part 2)
• On completion of 165 minutes, the timer reached zero and Part 1 was locked. Test takers were moved to Part 2, i.e., General Knowledge & Essay section of the Question Paper
• Test takers were not allowed to leave the test lab before completion of the test
• PwD candidates were allowed to submit their answers at any point of time between 165 minutes and 220 minutes for Part 1 and between 15 to 20 minutes for Part 2. So, a PwD candidate could  leave the lab between 180 minutes and 240 minutes depending upon the completion time of the test.

XAT 2022 Analysis: Sectional Composition & Scoring Pattern
XAT Analysis 2022 with sectional composition and key changes in XAT paper 2022, sectional division of questions in revised XAT test pattern are shared below

Sections in XAT 2022 with Overall Time Limit	Number of questions	Scoring Pattern
Part-1: 165 Minutes	75 Total MCQs	Max.75 Marks(+1 Mark for each Correct answer; -0.25 Negative Marking for each wrong answer)
Verbal and Logical Ability	26	+1 and -0.25 (Max 26 Marks)
Decision Making	21	+1 and – 0.25(Max 21 Marks)
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation	28	+1 and – 0.25 (Max 28 Marks)
Part-2: 25 Minutes	25 MCQs + 1 Essay Writing Question	Not Counted for Percentile Calculation
General Knowledge	25	+1; No Negative Marking (Max 25 Marks)
Essay Writing Test	1	Descriptive, Will be evaluated if you are shortlisted for PI round.
Total questions (Part 1 + Part 2)	101	Max 100 Marks; Essay Evaluation after shortlisting is over based on score obtained in Part-1 sections

Salient Features of XAT Exam Pattern 2022

• XAT pattern: Computer Based Test
• XAT Total Questions: 101
• XAT Question Type: MCQs + Essay
• XAT Exam Pattern for MCQs: Each MCQ is followed by 5 answer options
• XAT Scoring Pattern: +1 Mark for Each Correct answer for MCQs
• Negative Marking in XAT Pattern 2021: 0.25 (¼) mark deducted for MCQs from Sl. 1 to 75
• No negative marking in XAT Question Pattern: GK questions are free from Negative Marking
• XAT Exam Time Duration: XAT 2022 exam pattern has shared a time duration of 3 hours and 10 minutes.
• XAT Exam Pattern 2022 - Percentile Calculation: Only 3 sections in XAT exam are taken into account to calculate the XAT percentile score and XAT merit list for written exam. GK will not be counted for percentile calculation in XAT exam pattern.
• No Sectional Time Limit: XAT Pattern 2022 does not have sectional time limit to solve the question paper. Candidate can attempt any question from any of the three sections within the overall time limit of 165 minutes. However, candidate will be allowed to go to Part 2 in XAT 2022 after completing the time duration of Part 1
• Marks for Essay: Evaluation of Essay writing test will be done only for the shortlisted

XAT 2022 Cut offs for Top B-Schools
Likely cut offs, as predicted by experts for XLRI and other top XAT accepting colleges are as below

XAT Accepting MBA College	Expected XAT 2022 Cut off  Score	Expected XAT 2022 Cut off  Percentile
XLRI Jamshedpur	36-38	94-95
IMT Ghaziabad	30-31	90-91
XIM Bhubaneswar	30-31	90-91
IMI New Delhi	30-31	90-91
LBSIM New Delhi	26-28	85-87
FORE School of Management, New Delhi	26-28	85-87
TAPMI Manipal	23-25	80-84
Great Lakes Chennai	26-28	85-87
XIMB Bhubaneswar	30-31	90-91
IRMA Anand	23-25	80-84
MICA Ahmedabad	23-25	80-84
GIM Goa	26-28	85-87
K J Somaiya, Mumbai	26-28	85-87

Watch this space for overall and sectional Analysis of XAT 2022 exam with good attempts and expected cut offs for XLRI

XAT Exam Analysis 2022 by Top XAT Coaching Institutes & Experts
MBAUniverse.com has also published the XAT Exam Analysis from top XAT coaching institutes & XAT experts like TIME, IMS, CL, Arun Sharma with their take on exam difficulty level, sectional and overall changes and expected cut offs. The expected time schedule for release of XAT Test Analysis is as given below.

XAT 2022 Exam Date & Time	XAT 2022 Exam Analysis by IMS -Expected Time	XAT 2022 Exam Analysis by CL – Expected Time	XAT 2022 Exam Analysis by T.I.M.E. – Expected Time
XAT Exam 2022 Jan 2, 2022 From 9.30 AM to 12.40 PM	3.00 PM	4.00 PM	5.00 PM

XAT Exam Analysis By IMS

XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) 2022 was conducted online on January 2, 2022, between 9:30 AM and 12:40 PM. The test had almost the same structure as last year except that the Essay Writing task was reintroduced after a gap of 3 years.Two topics was provided. The test-taker had to select one.

The structure of the test along with suggested time allocation, good attempts, and estimated cut- offs based on the feedback from IMS students and experts are in the table below:

The Question Paper consisted of two timed parts.

Section	No. of Questions	Marks per question	Total marks	Suggested time allocation	Good Attempts
PART – A (165 minutes) No Sectional Timing within Part - A
Verbal        and       Logical Ability	26	1	26	55-60	13-14
Decision Making	21	1	21	50-55	12-13
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation	28	1	28	55-60	16-18
Total	75		75
PART – B (25 minutes) No Negative Marks
General Awareness	25	1	25	No Negative Marks	15
Essay	The essay will be assessed if the candidate is shortlisted for the interview.

Part A questions invited negative marks of – 0.25 for each incorrect response. In addition, there was a penalty of -0.1 mark for every un-attempted question after 8 un-attempted questions.

VERDICT
Overall, XAT-2022 was similar in difficulty level to XAT 2021. The DM Section was on par with the same last year with a few questions in DM being difficult. The VALR section was slightly more challenging than the same section in XAT 2021.

Based on the inputs received from students and IMS mentors who appeared for the test and based on the actual cut-offs over the last two years, we estimate the following cut-offs for XLRI BM and HRM programs:

XLRI BM Program

	VA-LR Section	DM Section	QA-DI Section	Overall (Part A)
Male candidates	6-7	5-6	9-10	30-32
Female candidates	5-6	4-5	8-9	28-30

XLRI HRM Program

	VA-LR Section	DM Section	QA-DI Section	Overall (Part A)
Male (Engineers)	7-8	5-6	8-9	29-31
Female (Engineers)	6-7	4-5	7-8	27-29
Male(Non Engineers)	7-8	5-6	7-8	27-29
Female (Non Engineers)	6-7	4-5	6-7	26-28

SECTIONAL ANALYSIS
Note: For both BM and HRM programs of XLRI, the overall cut-off is significantly greater than the sum of the sectional cut-offs. Therefore, the number of good attempts for different sections has been estimated from the point of view of a student who wishes to maximize the score in that section.

Part-A

Verbal and Logical Ability Section (26 questions)

The Verbal and Logical Ability section of XAT 2021 was at par with last year’s paper. There were 14 Reading Comprehension questions and 12 Verbal Ability/Reasoning questions. The Verbal ability/Verbal Reasoning questions were a fair mix of grammar, vocabulary, and reasoning- based questions (Critical Reasoning, Correct/Incorrect statements and Jumbled Paragraphs). The 14 RC questions were distributed among four passages and one poem. The poem-based RC was an abstract one and had 11 lines. The remaining four passages were of 300 - 450 words each approximately; they had a mixture of mostly medium to difficult questions. Many of the questions were inferential and application-based. The options were close and the directions emphasized choosing the ‘best’ one among them.

Area/Questions	No. of Qs.	Level of Difficulty
Verbal Ability / Reasoning
Grammatically incorrect sentence	2	2 Medium
Grammatically correct sentence	1	1 Easy
Fill in the blanks (3 blanks)	1	1 Medium
Jumbled Paragraphs	2	2 Medium
Critical Reasoning (Conclusions)	4	3 Medium, 1 Difficult
Poem-based Inference	1	1 Medium
Cloze Passage (4 blanks)	1	1 Medium
Reading Comprehension
Passage 1 (How lying differs from bullshitting - 300 words)	3	Medium
Passage 2 (A psychologically rich life can be a good life - 450 words )	3	Medium
Passage 3 ( Stupidity as a cognitive failing - 350 words)	3	Medium
Passage 4 (Publicness is as important to progress as sociability or privacy - 350 words)	3	Difficult
Passage 5 (Poem - Immigrant by Tabish Khair)	2	Difficult

An attempt of about 13-14 questions in this section in about 55-60 minutes, with about 75-80% accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

Decision Making (21 questions)
This section consisted of 21 questions, and like last year, none of the questions were quantitative.

The section consisted of 7 sets of 3 questions each. Most of the questions were on Ethical Dilemma. The passages were short and easy to read. As usual, some questions had a fair deal of ambiguity – in that either no answer seemed correct or more than one option appeared correct. Overall, the questions were of medium difficulty. Therefore, the choice of sets/questions to attempt would have depended mainly on your personal preferences and strengths. Overall, the section was on par with last year's test.

Area/Questions	No. of Qs.	Level of Difficulty
Case 1 - Allotment of accommodation to scientists (of 3 different seniority levels) in a research institute	3	Medium
Case 2 - Regarding an individual’s use of a vehicle (diesel-based) that is non-compliant with pollution rules	3	Medium
Case 3 - Regarding recruitment and confirmation of faculty members in an engineering college	3	Medium
Case 4 - Running a dosa Stall in a hospital; business	3	Difficult
Case 5 - Regarding school fees payment by financially able parents during the pandemic	3	Medium
Case 6 - Regarding an assignment submission in a management college	3	Difficult
Case 7 - Regarding the concerns of residents of an island village about how a proposed new bridge connecting their island to the mainland might impact them, business and ethics	3	Difficult

In about 50-55 minutes, an attempt of about 12-13 questions with about 75-80% accuracy would be considered to be good.

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (28 questions)

This section was of moderate level of difficulty. As a whole, it was one notch easier than XAT- 2021. Out of the 28 questions in the section, 16 were on Quantitative Ability and 12 were on Data Interpretation. There were four sets of Data Interpretation with 3 questions each. Two sets were somewhat logical in nature- one involved table and the other bar graph. LOD was medium though one question in each set was tricky. The remaining two sets were based on Calculations and Observation. Out of these two sets, one was on candlestick and the other was on Line graph. LOD of these two sets was medium.

Following is the break-up of the questions in the section:

Quantitative Ability (16 questions)
	Easy	Medium	Difficult	Total
Arithmetic	0	1	0	1
Geometry	0	1	1	2
Modern Maths	1	2	1	4
Algebra	1	0	0	1
Numbers	5	2	1	8
	7	6	3	16
Data Interpretation (12 questions)
Table	0	2	1	3
Bar Graph	0	2	1	3
Candlestick	0	3	0	3
Line Graph	0	3	0	3
Total DI	0	10	2	12
Total QA-DI	7	16	5	28

An attempt of about 16-18 questions (with about 80 percent accuracy) in about 55-60 minutes would be considered a good attempt.

Part-B
There was no break between Part-A and Part-B.

General Knowledge
The 25 GK questions comprised 13 current affairs questions and 12 static GK questions. Overall, the GK section was of the same difficulty as last year’s test. 16 to 17 questions were based on national events, 7-8 questions were based on international events and miscellaneous topics As usual, the questions covered a wide range of areas and gave no special advantage to specialists in any one area.

To maximize the score in this section, one should have attempted 15 questions seriously. Additionally, as there was no negative marking in this section, all the remaining questions should also have been attempted. A score of 6 - 7 would be a good score in this section.

Essay Writing
Two topics were provided. The test-taker had to select one topic and write an essay in around 250 words.

The topics for the essay writing task were:

1. Capitalism and democracy follow different logics: unequally distributed property rights on the one hand, equal civic and political rights on the other. debate, compromise and majority decision-making within democratic politics versus hierarchical decision- making by managers and capital owners. Therefore, Capitalism and democracy cannot co-exist.
2. In management we do not need people who have never experienced setbacks. Such people are highly risk averse. Because business schools mainly focus on stellar academic achievements during admissions, the selected students turn out to be average managers

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on XAT 2022 Exam