Important Instructions and Last Minute Tips

By: Kandarp Patel

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is one of the important exams for MBA Aspirants. The countdown for XAT 2020 has begun already as it going to be conducted on 5th of January 2020.

In this article, we will discuss some important instructions and tips to score well in XAT 2020, which you might not be aware of.

XAT is the second most important exam in India after CAT for MBA aspirants. XAT is basically the second chance to do well, especially if your CAT did not go well. Around 150 institutes accept its score. Some of the well-known institutes which consider XAT score are XLRI, SP Jain, IMT, XIM, etc. A new campus of XLRI is coming up this year in Delhi NCR, which makes XAT a bit more interesting this year.

Exam Pattern

Since 2018, XAT is conducted online. XAT consists of two parts (Part A & B):

Part A

It consists of 3 sections and a total of 74 questions. The time duration for this part is 165 minutes.

VA & LR: 26 Questions

DM: 21 Questions

QA & DI: 27 Questions

Part B

It consists of a total of 25 questions and the time duration for it is 15 minutes.

No negative marking is there in it, so try to answer all the questions.

GK score is not used for calculating percentiles. Only XLRI, during the PI round, will look at this score.

Marking Scheme

+1 is there for every correct answer and -0.25 for every incorrect answer.

Apart from this, XAT has a different definition for different negative markings for unanswered questions in Part A.

The first 8 unanswered questions that you have to attempt will carry no negative marking. But, beyond that, each unanswered question will carry -0.1 marking. You will get a clear idea of this by an example:- let’s suppose you do not answer 18 questions in XAT Part A, hence 18 – 8 = 10. Therefore, 10*0.1 = 1 mark (Negative).

Basically, XAT aims at confusing students and hoping that the students will get into this trap and they will try attempting more and more questions.

Please do not fall into this trap. Just try to understand that the negative marking is only 0.1 per question.

About the Author:

Kandarp Patel is a student at Nirma University, Ahemdabad, pursuing Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering (final year). He is also a campus representative with Shiksha.com since 2016.