XLRI has announced number of key changes in XAT 2020 exam and this can help the XAT exam takers to maximise their attempts and add a good percentile in the computer based XAT exam. XAT 2020 aspirants are in the last leg of their XAT exam preparation. In fact, almost all the candidates going to appear in XAT 2020 on Sunday January 5, 2020, are brushing up what they have prepared so far and are in the XAT syllabus revision mode.
Low negative marking, more time for fewer questions, no sectional time constraint, comparatively low difficulty level and scrapping of subjective Essay writing test are only some of the recently announced aspirant friendly changes in forthcoming computer based XAT 2020 to be held on January 5, 2020. XAT 2020 is the third computer based Xavier Aptitude Test. Till 2017 XAT had remained a paper based test.
XAT 2020 is not only going to be easier exam but it will also offer more opportunities of scoring high to get shortlisted at one of the top rated B-schools. XLRI-XAT has the tradition of awarding higher percentile at lower score.
Apart from XLRI other top rated B-schools like SPJIMR, IMT, LIBA, XIMB, XIME, XISS, FORE, Great Lakes, IRMA, K J Somaiya, MICA, TAPMI, IFMR include the list of 150+ B-schools who will be accepting XAT 2020 scores for their MBA/PGDM admission 2020.
5 Last Minute Tips
Following 5 key tips how to utilise the aspirant friendly changes in XAT 2020 exam pattern can help you add 30% to your percentile score in the exam by maximising your attempts and utilizing these changes to your best in the exam.
XLRI the XAT 2020 exam conducting authority has also shared that all the changes are meant to improve the performance of the candidates in the exam.
- Decision Making (DM): Focus More
XLRI-XAT 2020 exam will have one key percentile determiner section - Decision Making which is not present in other MBA entrance exams. Decision making (DM) section makes XAT exam a different MBA entrance test. While all other test sections like Verbal, RC, Quant, DI, LR are common for all the MBA entrance tests, Decision Making section in XAT is unique and is key percentile determiner. Many candidates who crack other key sections in XAT exam find it difficult to score even reasonably well in decision making section and don’t get admission to their dream B-school - XLRI Jamshedpur.
Decision Making section with 21-22 Questions in XAT exam tests you not your ability to learn concepts or remember formulas, but on your ability to view a situation and find out a solution to the problem differentiating you as leader from common managers.
Make sure that you have prepared and practised well on the different types of Decision Making Problems which could be based on data analysis. The questions could also be based on a scenario wherein you will be tested on your ethical standing or it could be a mixture of both of the above type of problems.
During this week, make sure that you practice more on variety of DM questions for XAT. This will help you to improve your score in XAT 2020 substantially.
- Use Low Risk of 25% Negative Marking Instead of 33%
XAT 2019 will impose only one-fourth negative marking as against one-third negative marking in CAT 2018 for each wrong answer. If used judiciously, it offers low risk with more opportunity to score high. Besides, to encourage the candidates to attempt more questions in the exam, XAT 2019 is to keep the difficulty level of most of the questions at moderate level.
The introduced pattern will discourage the candidates to leave more questions unattempted in XAT 2019. This will also help the candidates to improve their speed. This year XAT exam is going to be easier than earlier XAT exams.
- Time Management: Maximum Time is 108 Seconds for One Question
Candidates appearing in XAT 2020 will have three hours to attempt the exam with all MCQ type of questions. Without reducing the time limit or introducing any sectional time constraints, XLRI has changed the XAT exam pattern to 100 MCQs to be attempted in 180 minutes. It comes to 1.8 Minute or 108 seconds available to attempt each question.
The number of questions which determine the percentile calculation for shortlisting are 75 only. The questions are divided in three sections namely VARC, Quant and Decision Making. The 4th GK section is not taken into account for percentile calculation.
Candidates now have the opportunity to attempt a question in about 2 minutes in XAT 2020 instead of only 1 minute 40 seconds earlier.
- Maximize Attempts: XAT is now Moderate Difficulty Exam
Earlier candidates were not able to attempt more than 50% questions in past XAT exams. Now XLRI has decided to reduce the level of difficulty in XAT 2020 to attract candidates to attempt more number of questions. In order to enable students to attempt as many questions as possible and encourage them to demonstrate all-round skills, the difficulty level of the questions is kept moderate in the exam.
In the previous XAT exams, students could attempt only half of the questions, reducing the range of marks, scored among students. However, if the examination is made very easy, many would finish the test before time. Keeping also this factor in setting up the test questions, XLRI does not propose to keep the level of difficulty either very low or very high. The test is targeted to be attempted within time by top students followed by others.
The main objective to introduce this change is that the examination would avoid 2 possible errors - one the low range of scores and second is that excellent students not getting enough opportunities to showcase their ability because of too easy a question paper.
Now XAT 2020 in its revised pattern and reduced difficulty level offers more opportunities to score higher than ever before. Still a week is left to update the preparation for the exam according to the changed pattern.
- No Sectional Time Constraint: Freely Toggle Between the Sections
There will not be any sectional time limit to attempt questions in a particular section. Candidates good in Quant or good in Verbal can begin with the section they like most, finish it in lesser time, go to the more difficult section and use the saved time on this section and score high by maximising the attempts in different sections.
Essay Writing Test Scrapped: No Need to Practice
There will not be the subjective Essay Writing Test in XAT 2020. The test used to consume more time as XLRI considered essay writing test very important in its admission process. Even after switching to the computerised format in 2018, XLRI continued with the Essay Writing Test in XAT. But now, there will be no Essay Writing Test in XAT 2020 exam and the candidates can focus primarily to crack the core three sections of XAT exam.
It has been 60 years for XLRI, conducting yearly Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) for admission to all the Member and Associate Institutes. The aim to continue the similar approach is that XLRI believes that single testing session with same difficulty level will provide level playing field to all the test takers without any discrimination. XAT 2020 is aimed to select the most appropriate candidates who wish to pursue management education. Around 90 thousand to 1 lakh candidates explore admission opportunities in XLRI and other member and affiliated B schools by applying and appearing in XAT exam every year.
Your score of less than 50 marks in XAT exam can get you a high percentile of 95+. This percentile is considered good enough to get shortlisted by top B-schools accepting XAT exam scores.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on XAT 2020
