60 days to XAT 2013: What to expect in the paper

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
November 3, 2012
This MBAUniverse.com article describes what to expect in the XAT 2013 exam.
"Our test is innovative and we try to test candidates' ability and aptitude from a variety of angles." Prof. Vishwa Ballabh, admission chairperson, XLRI
CAT 2012 is now a matter of just five more days. After that, the majority of MBA aspirants’ focus will be shifted to the XAT 2013 exam, conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur. The exam begins on January 6, 2013, so around 60 days are left. The registration process is going on and the last date to register is November 30. This MBAUniverse.com article describes what you can expect in the exam.

According to Prof. Vishwa Ballabh, admission chairperson, XLRI, XAT is a dynamic exam which undergoes modification every year to improve the quality of questions. The purpose is to make it more conducive for future managers. “Our test is innovative and we try to test candidates’ ability and aptitude from a variety of angles,” he said.

This year onwards, XAT will include a section on general awareness along with an essay writing question. Let us discuss in detail about the types of questions you can expect in the exam.

According to Prof. Ballabh, the exam is not only meant for engineers, but also for those belonging to the humanities background. Hence, the test will be difficult, though not severely tough. The sections of the exam paper are quantitative ability & data interpretation, English language ability and logical reasoning & decision making. These sections form the Part A of the exam. The Part B comprises essay writing and general awareness.

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

The topics of this section include numbers, geometry, mensuration, simple & compound interest, average, mixtures & alligations, special equations, ratio, proportion, variation, time & distance, percentage, and profit & loss. The data interpretation questions include Venn Diagram, pie & bar charts.

English language ability

This section is a combination of reading comprehension and English usage questions. Verbal reasoning, consisting of PFQ and fill in the blank questions, is also an important part. Vocabulary questions consist of analogy, synonyms, & antonyms and fill in the blanks. The grammar part consists of fill in the blanks and identification of correct & incorrect options.

Logical reasoning & decision making

The logical reasoning & decision making section includes questions on strengthen/weaken arguments, sentence-based inference and puzzles. The analytical reasoning questions are common. 

Essay Writing

The duration for essay writing is 20 minutes. The topics of XAT essays range from political and philosophical topics which require analytical thinking and reasoning skills. The topics of the past few years were: The consequence of gender imbalance – the third World War; The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of riches, the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries; Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed; and Poverty is a big menace in India: due to its complexity and magnitude, most of the government initiatives fail.  

General awareness

Questions in general awareness will be from business, economics and politics related to business environment. Candidates will have to attempt both essay and general awareness. The duration of the general awareness section is 20 minutes.

To know more about XAT 2013, click on the following link:

Tips & guidelines to write good essays in XAT

Preparing for XAT 2013: Change is constant here

http://www.mbauniverse.com/mba-exam-preparation/CAT_Preparation/mba_preparation_package.php

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on XAT 2013.