Seek : Study : Succeed

The Why What and How of

XAT
• Xavier's Labour Relations Institute Jamshedpur (XLRI) comes under India's most
prestigious Management Institutes, in the league of the IIM's. It is famous for its
MBA in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations.

• Xavier Admission Test (XAT) is conducted by XLRI, and is accepted by more than
50 institutes. XLRI itself has 240 seats for its Business Management and PMIR
course combined. It is famous for its excellent placement and brand value in
coprorate India. (Given that majority of the top Human Resource personnel are
XLRI graduates) The PMIR (Personnel Management and Industrial Relations)
course is considered as among the finest Human Resource Management course in
the country closely followed by TISS.

• Apart from XLRI, XAT scores are also valid for Xaviers Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar (XIMB), Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Xaviers Institute of
Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) Xaviers Institute of Social Sciences
(XISS) and SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR).
• XLRI remains the most preferred institute followed by SPJIMR, XIMB and GIM
respectively. A score of above 96 percentile and clearance of sectional cut-off is
required to receive a group interview call from XLRI. SPJIMR gives profile based
calls while XIMB and GIM have cut-offs in the range of 92-97 percentile.

• Registration for XAT starts in the first week of September and goes on till
November end. The exam is held during the first week of January. The registration
charges are Rs.900 for the exam, and an additional Rs.1000 for each institute you
wish to apply to.

• The pattern- The exam is more about making the right choices. Some questions
are meant to be left and so you just have to pick out the ones giving the maximum
returns at minimum time cost (management at its best). The paper is usually at par
or more difficult than CAT. Negative marking adds to the complications of the
exam, with negatives increasing with the increasing incorrect answers.

.
• The portion for XAT also requires a candidate to prepare for Integration,
Derivatives, and Probability in quant. The DI is usually made of logical reasoning
and often tricky questions which need to be attempted with a lot of patience. Unlike
CAT, XAT has 5 options which make the process of elimination tougher. XAT is
not an examination of speed but of selection and being level headed.

• It includes-
 24 questions of Analytical reasoning and decision making which are very tricky
and need to be practiced for as the portion of quant is drastically different from
other competitive exams.
 43 questions of D.I and quantitative ability, out of which a few caselets are easy
while others range from tricky to downright complex.
 34 questions of verbal ability and logical reasoning this can be potentially high
scoring for anyone with good command over the language and excellent grammar
skills.
 A 20 minute short notes type essay question, wherein you give our inference as to
what the excerpt given, implies to you. (Please note: This is only used during the
interview stage in XLRI if one qualifies for the same).
• XAT is always a paper of surprises and twists it is rare to find any candidate
(including once who will ace the paper) who will find it easy.

• In 2011 XAT there were poetry based comprehension questions. The answer
marking of the questions ranged from 1 to 5 marks per question. The concept of
increasing negatives makes it very interesting as marks maximization and negative
minimization is required.

• On a personal level cracking XAT requires more academic effort than CAT (CAT
is more of managing ones nerve and cool). However even majority of the first
timers are well accustomed to the examination pressure when XAT comes along (it
is held after NMAT, SNAP, IIFT and IRMA).
 Tips for XAT:
1. Go back to standard 12th quant prepare well for probability, integration and
derivatives
2. Never have fixed expectations from the paper
3. Remember it's not a test of speed attempting 30-40 questions can ensure you clear
the cut-off for XLRI
4. Do not attempt questions you are not sure off. Guessing only has 20% probability
of working and there is high chance you will fall into the trap of exponential
negative marking.
5. For hitting the overall cut-off limit ensure you maximize your score in sections
which are your strength.
6. Attempt it with as much as focus and intensity as CAT especially for XLRI is
among the league to the top 3 IIMs
7. Take one or two mock XAT's just to check your comfort with the different
syllabus of the paper.

Overall verdict- Even if you are attempting XAT for XLRI only it's a must take test.
After CAT it is truly a pan India entrance exam with limited coveted seats.
Institutes like XIMB and GIM are good backups which make XAT the second
most important MBA entrance exam in the country.
 www.gyancentral.com

Medical - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/medical
AIEEE - 
http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/engineering/engineering-entrance-exams/all-india-engineering-ent
rance-exam
Aviation - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/aviation
Engineering - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/engineering
Commerce - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/commerce
Medical - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/medical
Science - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/science
Animation - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/animation
Clinical Research - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/clinical-research
Hotel Management - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/hotel-management
Media - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/media
Fashion Designing - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/fashion-designing
MBA - http://gyancentral.com/articles/post-graduate/mba
IIT - http://gyancentral.com/articles/graduate/engineering/indian-institutes-of-technology
CAT - http://gyancentral.com/articles/post-graduate/mba/mba-entrance-exams/mba-entrance-tests
Media - http://gyancentral.com/articles/others/media