3 things to keep in mind for XAT 2018

By Gautam Puri

XAT 2018 is scheduled for January 7, 2018. The exam is a great opportunity for candidates who are not very confident about their performance in CAT 2017. Moreover, clearing XAT provides a gateway for admission to the prestigious XLRI.

To succeed in XAT 2018 exam, the following three things must be kept in mind:

Negative Marking

In 2015, a few changes were announced in XAT exam pattern. One of the changes being negative marking for the questions that shall not been attempted by a candidate. No matter how chaotic or draconian it may seem, students should not be bogged down by this. This negative marking won’t make any difference to the overall percentile, and therefore won’t affect the fate of the deserving students.

Decision Making

The Decision Making section, which is unique to this exam, is a performance booster which requires minimum preparation. These generally are situational questions which require a conscious decision to be taken by you on behalf of the protagonist of the situation. The decisions have to be ethical and in line with the goals that are needed to be achieved. Some of the mathematical DM questions can be considered as Data Interpretation sets. The best way to go about practicing the DM questions is by religiously going through the previous year XAT papers. These papers could be accessed from the CL Student Information System (SIS).

Time Limit

The examination will consist of two parts: Part I and Part II. Part I will have three sections A, B and C having a total of 78 questions. The three sections of Part I will be followed by Part II having 25 GK questions and an essay. Time management plays a crucial role in completing all the sections on time.

The time for completing the three sections and general knowledge is 210 minutes. The candidate must aim at solving the first three sections in 170 minutes and the General Knowledge questions in 35 minutes. The aim of the candidate should be to secure maximum scores in each section. Candidates must note that the marks obtained in General Knowledge will be used only for the final selection and not for shortlisting candidates for interview/GD.

The essence of the XAT paper is in accuracy and choosing the right questions to attempt. The student must back himself to attempt more in the areas of strength and to solve a decent number of questions in the other areas.

All the best for XAT 2018!!

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Gautam Puri

About the Author

Gautam Puri, affectionately called GP Sir by his students, is the co-founder of Career Launcher (a leading MBA test prep centre). He is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore.