XAT 2015 analysis: Exam tricky and lengthy
XAT 2015 analysis: Exam tricky and lengthy
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Parasharan Chari
COO, Endeavor Careers
Updated on Jan 4, 2015 19:41 IST
XAT 2015 analysis: XAT 2015 exam was tricky and difficult. XAT turns out to be a redefinition of an uphill task. Click here to read XAT 2015 analysis from Shiksha experts.
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XAT 2015 analysis
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XAT 2015Â paper quality as such stands out. ForÂ
the fact that CAT was easier and far less intensive, XAT turns out to beÂ
a redefinition of an uphill task. Decision making time consuming,Â
Reasoning missing, Verbal Ability time consuming and options misleadingÂ
and Quantitative Aptitude only saving grace and if that wasn’t enough, aÂ
beautiful essay writing topic was staring at the aspirants’ face. All inÂ
all a welcome to the new year with a paper that made everyone realise theÂ
importance of a preparation.As far as aptitude is concerned, this year’sÂ
XAT (XAT analysis) can be considered a slightly more difficult paper in comparison toÂ
XAT’14.
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Sections-wise analysis of XAT 2015 is as follows:
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XAT 2015 exam analysis:
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Verbal Ability Section:Â
ItÂ
had 17 questions of Reading Comprehension and 11 questions of verbalÂ
ability. There were 5 sets of RCs, out of which 3 were easy to moderateÂ
and rest 2 were moderate to difficult. 2 of the RCs were around 150 wordÂ
RCs and hence were easy to interpret and hence won’t be so timeÂ
consuming. There was one RC that was dense and technical in nature andÂ
hence aspirants would have comfortably left it. With the decisions ofÂ
which RC to do and which one not to do, being easy, the section seemedÂ
approachable. Verbal Ability part had a nice mix of 2 parajumbles, 4Â
vocabulary questions, 2 logical continuations and 3 critical reasoningÂ
questions. An above average aspirant should be able to attempt up to 4Â
RCs and approximately 7 questions of verbal ability in an ideal time ofÂ
45 minutes.
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Given the scenario where he makes around 17 to 18 attempts, a score of around 12+ can be considered a good score and that means a percentile of around 98.
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Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation: Â
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This section had two sets of Data Interpretation which in total had eight questions.Â
In addition to DI there were 25 questions of quant. Data interpretationÂ
was easier than previous year’s DI and as a reasonably well preparedÂ
aspirant should be able to solve 4 moderate Qs. Rest 4 Qs were difficultÂ
and time consuming. As far as quant is concerned, it again demandedÂ
sincere solving. It was dominated by Arithmetic based chapters. About 13Â
Qs were from this part of quant with nearly equal distribution ofÂ
easy-moderate-difficult Qs. There were about 8 questions of Geometry as well;Â
nearly all of them were moderate to difficult. All in all, the difficultyÂ
level in comparison to last year has gone down slightly.
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Careful selection of questions would have given an above average aspirant around 18 attempts and a score of 13+ which can be classified as a good score and a good score means a percentile of around 98.
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Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning:-
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Not a single question of Analytical Reasoning inÂ
this section – was an impressive move by XAT. XAT 2014 had 9 questions ofÂ
Analytical Reasoning and 16 questions of Decision Making and that wasn’tÂ
a really smart move because the aspirants really did not push themselvesÂ
to solve the Decision Making, they found their way to the cutoffs throughÂ
AR. This year, it was predominantly Decision Making with just one setÂ
which was an application of Set theory & Data Interpretation skills.Â
Almost all sets were time consuming but doable for an aspirant who canÂ
sit patiently and solve them.
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Considering the presence of about 7 easy to moderate questions, in an ideal time of 45 minutes, an above average aspirant would have managed good 16-17 attempts in this section and a score of 9+ can be considered a good score and a good score means a percentile of around 98.
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General Knowledge:-
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This section was dominated byÂ
current affairs and news discussed in newspapers of last year. There wereÂ
about 7 questions related to national and international on-going issuesÂ
like Syrian crisis, Crimean referendum, Boko Haram etc. Four questions wereÂ
business or economy related. Geography and History had a share of 4Â
questions and sports was topic in 5 questions. Rest questions were mostlyÂ
random questions about India.
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Overall, a well-read aspirant should beÂ
able to get a net score of 10+ in this section.
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Essay:-
Listening is aÂ
dying art. We hardly listen to understand, we only listen to refute orÂ
reply.
Deep thought. Deeper implications. The topic is extremely contemporary.Â
Be it the media channels or the parliamentarians or the layman on theÂ
road. Everyone is busy expressing their opinion without a soundÂ
understanding of the topic and hence half baked data or half bakedÂ
conclusions seem a common occurrence. With a stronger online penetration,Â
the effect seems to multiply and the whole gist has been captured in thisÂ
one line. XAT, kudos!
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And that's all about XAT 2015 analysis.
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I feel a sectional score of around 7 in verbal,Â
around 6 in Decision making & 9 in quant will be good enough for aÂ
sectional cutoff. This means a total of around 22 would take care of aÂ
93-94 percentile. However for an aspirant to sit comfortable, he wouldÂ
have to sit with a score of around 32+ for him to reach a score of 98+Â
percentile so that he can cash in during the final admissionsÂ
stage.
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College wise cut offs:
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| College Name |
Expected cut-off / marks |
| XLRI BM/HR |
22+ |
| SP Jain |
26+ |
| XIMB |
22+ |
| IMT-G |
18+ |
| GIM |
17+ |
| LIBA |
15+ |
| TAPMI |
14+ |
| IFMR |
14+ |
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About the Author

Parasharan Chari
COO, Endeavor Careers
Parasharan Chari is an alumnus of SP Jain and is currently serving as the chief operating officer at Endeavor Careers and is also associated with the design and development of its online testing portal CatGurus.com
pratheep thangaraj
2015-01-09 07:01:42
What may be my ile for 16 marks sir? Will that come around 75+. Please reply