The standalone section of Decision Making with 23 MCQs in sets or singular ones in XAT 2016 emphasises its importance in calculation of percentile and shortlisting for final admission round. The section has gained more importance since XAT 2012 when the questions on Decision Making were increased from 7-8 to 23-25 and it was formed as a separate section. Earlier questions on Decision Making formed the part of other sections.
Decision Making Section in XAT 2016 is not only indepedant one but would prove to be a turning point in getting shortlisted for XLRI admission batch 2016-18. XAT considers Decision making as a more relevant section and as such awards equal weightage to it as awarded to Quant and Verbal Ability sections. If you wish to improve and score high percentile in XAT 2016, you cannot run away from it. The section could prove to be the game changer in XAT 2016.
Making decisions in business environment is something an MBA aspirant should be aware of. This is the reason that XAT emphasises on this module and has developed a separate section with 23 questions on decision making in the forthcoming exam.
Decision Making: Percentile booster
Out of the 78 MCQs contributing to calculation of XAT 2016 percentile in the first stage of shortlisting, 23 will be on Decision making with equal weightage and 30% share of marks.
XAT 2016 will have sectional cut offs also. You may be very good on Quant, on Verbal and may score high in both these sections but if you lag behind in Decision Making section and are unable to clear the cut off, you will not be shortlisted. It is therefore of utmost importance to make sure that you are equally good while attempting the questions on Decision Making problems.
The approach in arriving at the right answer option is that the decisions should be clearly focussed as you may have to address the problem in multiple ways. Confusing and wrong decisions should be avoided.
Ignoring the importance of this section in XAT 2016 will not only lead to a substantial dip in XAT percentile but also due to low scores in this section the candidate may not be shortlisted for final admission round.
Decision making is not Logical reasoning
Reasoning is related to answering questions from diverse data without human intervention or help. The data is given in some formal system whose semantics is clear On the other hand Decision Making is a form of reasoning that focuses on answering questions about preferences and choice between/among two or more activities, e.g., in the context of an autonomous agent trying to fulfil a task for a human.
Many times in decision making earlier actions affect later decisions. The decisions taken there involve achieving goals or optimizing some criteria such as plan length, actions’ cost, or future expected accumulated reward.
The preparation tips and question format on Decision Making can be understood by reading comprehensive expert article http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/9189/XAT-2016
Question Type
A passage with certain information is followed by a set of 4-5 questions. Each of the questions is again followed by 4-5 close decision making answer options.
The questions may be on what should be the decision in the given situation, how it should be taken, why it should be taken-factors influencing the decision or who should take it.
XAT 2016 aspirants have to focus on right direction of their study pattern to prepare for Decision Making section.
The passage will have information based on a tricky situation. The test taker is expected to decide the best and preferred course of action to tackle the situation. You will have to identify the reasons leading to the situation and opt for best course of action to defuse and move forward in the given situation.
The passage will be followed by a set of varying questions. You are supposed to approach the situation skilfully taking decision as a leader with intelligence, determining the priorities of organization while working in a team.
How to crack question on DM
The first and foremost thing is to read and understand the given data, facts, information in the passage. It is advised to go through the information with an open mind and read it attentively.
Now read the questions one by one. Try to get to the core of question as what is being asked for. Then move to get the available information, whether you have all of that or the requirement is more than the availability.
Now comes the time to analyse the information in right perspective and fit it into a problem solving structure. Once the data given is classified, arriving at the answer will be easier.
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