XAT 2016: Confusion on changed penalty pattern cleared by convener; to apply from 14th unattempted question

Imposing the penalty of 0.05 for unattempted questions and 0.25 marks for each wrong answer in XAT 2016 had created more confusion among candidates as they were not clear whether the penalty would begin for 14th unattempted question or would also be applied for earlier unattempted questions. Addressing the query of the candidates, XAT 2016 convener Prof Munish Thakur has responded The penalty of 0.05 marks for each unattempted question would begin from the 14th question. It implies that the imposition of negative marking wouldnt include the earlier unattempted 13 questions.

With a uniform marking system of 1 mark each available for all 78 questions to be attempted in 170 minutes, XAT 2016 has gone for tremendous changes in imposing penalty on unattempted questions and wrong answers to the questions.

Although the level of difficulty in XAT 2016 has been brought down and number of questions reduced from 84 to 78 with increased time limit to attempt the exam, it has been left open to XAT 2016 test takers whether they wish to attract higher penalty by leaving more questions unattempted or plan to use the opportunity judiciously to turn the table in their favour.

Penalty beyond 13 unattempted questions
In the changed scenario XAT 2016 will impose a penalty of 0.05 marks if you leave more than 13 questions unattempted out of total 78 questions. These 78 questions will be divided in 3 sections of Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning; Quantitative Ability followed by questions on Decision Making. All the questions will be of MCQ type carrying negative marking for each wrong answer.

With the reduction in number of questions from 84 to 78 the time limit to solve these questions has also been increased from 140 minutes to 170 minutes, half an hour increase for fewer questions.
But there is a catch with the changed pattern of negative marking. According to XAT 2016 conducting authority In XAT-2016 students have a choice of not attempting 13 questions. Beyond 13 unattempted questions, any unattempted question will carry the negative mark of 0.05

25% penalty for each wrong answer
Finding it not a sufficient penalty, XLRI has announced In addition there would also be negative marking of 0.25 marks for any wrong answer. XAT Centre 2016 believes that this would encourage the risk taking ability of the students while making XAT robust in differentiating a good student from the not-so-good student.

Negative marking aggravates to 1/3
In view of Prof S K Agarwal since number of questions and level of difficulty have been reduced in XAT 2016, it will be easier for test takers to attempt more questions now. Out of 78 questions if you attempt 65 questions you face a penalty of 0.25 marks per wrong answer but if you attempt less than 65 say 64 or 60, you will face a penalty of 0.05 marks for unattempted questions as well as 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. It means apart from the penalty for leaving more questions unattempted you will face the penalty imposed on every wrong answer. This penalty will become around 1/3 instead of 1/4 if you attempt fewer questions and get them wrong also.

Understand with example
Total questions in XAT 2016 will be 78 and you are required to attempt a minimum of 65 questions. Let us understand what happens if you attempt less than 65 questions taking the different scenario

Attempted
Qs
Incorrect answers

Penalty for unattempted
Qs -0.05 marks each
beyond 13unattempted

Penalty for Wrong
answers @ 0.25
marks each

Net score assuming 1 as
the maximum mark
for each correct answer

Source: MBAUniverse Analysis
Fraction of score also very important
You may expect to be included or excluded among the shortlisted candidates at XLRI on the basis of gaining or losing even 0.05 marks. The new marking and negative marking process in XAT 2016 strengthens this fact. Now you need to attempt not fewer than 65 questions and have to minimise the wrong answers to avoid remaining out of the shortlisted candidates by missing the negligible fraction of scores in XAT 2016

Move to check candidates leaving many questions unattempted
Since Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is considered a bit more difficult and admitting that In the previous years, students would attempt only half of the questions reducing the range of marks scored among students XLRI the XAT 2016 conducting authority has taken this step to counteract the phenomenon of students leaving too many questions un-attempted.

XLRI accepts the intelligent move to skip the question in XAT but simultaneously would like the candidates to attempt more number of questions in XAT 2016. According to XLRI We appreciate the fact that leaving the question is also a sign of intelligence but we are also concerned that students are becoming risk averse in attempting to answer difficult questions. We believe that if one aspires to be a good manager, one should be able to take reasonable risk. That is how one creates future possibilities.

Too much of penalty; use judiciously
Your hard earned percentile score depends on maximising the correct answers and minimising the wrong answers. Now another phenomenon of imposition of greater penalty has been added if you leave more than 13 questions unattempted.

According to Prof S K Agarwal expert on Verbal Ability and mentor on XAT 2016 preparation, so far XAT has been a higher difficulty exam and candidates attempting around 60 to 65% questions with higher accuracy level could score a very high percentile even after allowing for 1/4 negative marking.

There has never been any penalty for unattempted questions in XAT. But in XAT 2016 the penalty for unattempted questions and the penalty imposed on wrong answers will turn the total penalty from 1/4 to 1/3 for each question, if you leave more than 13 questions unattempted. Now the XAT 2016 aspirants have to attempt the questions carefully. 13 questions out of 78 amount to around 17%. It is a reasonable limit and XAT 2016 takers should strategically plan and utilize the opportunity to maximise their scores in the changed scenario.

XAT 2016 will be held on January 3, 2016 in paper pen mode. It will be a totally revamped and a bit easier exam. Although XLRI has announced In the main question paper the total number of questions has been brought down to 78 and the time allotted has been increased by 20 minutes. The candidates would have 170 minutes to answer the questions. Going by the announcement, the increase in time limit is that of 30 minutes and not that of 20 minutes since XAT 2015 and XAT 2014 allocated 140 minutes to attempt the 84 and 83 questions in main question paper. XAT Centre 2016 might have overlooked and made the mistake inadvertently.

The format of supplementary sections of GK and Essay in XAT 2016 would remain same with some minor changes. The time allowed to answer both GK and Essay would be additional 35 minutes. Last year, the GK score of most candidates was on the lower side, and some candidates had complained about the time. Taking this feedback into consideration the number of questions in the GK has been reduced to 25. All the questions would be General in nature rather than specific. There would be no negative marking in this section.

The last date of registration and application for XLRI XAT 2016 has been extended from November 30 to December 10, 2015.