All About XAT 2011

XAT is an all-India examination conducted by the premier B-School XLRI Jamshedpur. XAT is designed on multiple-choice questions of two-and-a-half hours in which the last 20 minutes are given to an essay. Like CAT, XAT is also based on the areas which includes verbal ability and reasoning, reading comprehension, quantitative skills, data interpretation, analytical and logical reasoning. In XAT, the additional areas in comparison to CAT are the general awareness section and the 20-minute essay writing section.
XAT is designed on multiple-choice questions of two-and-a-half hours in which the last 20 minutes are given to an essay.
Since XAT is conducted once a year, the next XAT exam is on its way. It’s slated to be held on Sunday, January 2, 2011. Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur will be conducting Xavier Admission Test (XAT), 2011 across 33 cities to grant admissions in varied post graduate management programmes across XLRI and other 70 premier management institutes (accepting XAT score) across the country.
XLRI, Jamshedpur had published the XAT notification on September 1, 2010 in all important newspapers of the country. The applicants are required to send in their filled up application forms latest by Tuesday, November 30, 2010.
The MBA aspirants can obtain XAT Bulletin & XLRI Prospectus from 120 Branches of Axis Bank or from the XAT Office / Admissions Office, XLRI, Circuit House Area (East), Jamshedpur, 831001.


XAT 2011 Format:-
XAT is quite an unpredictable management entrance exam since aspirants get to face different exam pattern every year. Also, XAT is considered to be the most difficult exam among all management entrance exams. XAT 2010 exam surprised test takers with its new exam pattern such as introduction of five instead of 4 answers for every question, introduction of a new section ‘Management Decision Making’ entailing case studies, only true/false statements placed under the Logical Reasoning section thereby leaving no scope for elimination process etc.


XAT 2011 Eligibility Criteria:-
For XAT, the candidate should be a graduate in any discipline from any recognized OR Deemed University.. The candidates awaiting the result of final year of graduation are also eligible to apply for XAT. However, they’re supposed to produce a certificate duly signed by the Principal/Head of the Department/Registrar/Director of the University/Institution certifying that he/she is currently in the final year awaiting final results.


Various Programmes available at XLRI are:
• BM – 2 Year Post Graduate Programme in Business Management.
• PMIR - 2 Year Post Graduate Programme in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations
• FPM - 4 Year Fellow Programme in Management.
• GMP – 1 Year General Management Programme.


Eligibility criteria to get admission in following programmes:
For BM & PM&IR programmes:
• Graduates who have completed three years of Bachelor's degree or equivalent in any discipline recognized by a University or Deemed University are eligible to apply. Those who have given their final examination may also apply.


For Graduate Programme in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations:
• Candidate should have minimum 5 years of relevant work experience after graduation (10 + 2 + 3) is required.


For Fellow Programme in Management:
• Candidates should have a Master’s degree or its equivalent in any discipline, or CA, ICWA, or CS with at least 55% marks  (50% for SC/ST candidates) or a BE/B.Tech degree or its equivalent with at least 60% marks (50% for SC/ST candidates).


XAT 2011 Syllabus
XAT is a 2-hour examination followed by a 20 minutes essay writing test on any given topic. The test paper entails questions, which can be put under three different sections:


1. Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability—DI questions based on Tables, Pie Chart, Line Chart, Bar Diagrams, number system, simple calculations of fractions, averages, percentages, SI-CI, PLD, ratio proportion, average, algebra, equalities & inequalities, functions, maxima, minima, series, sequences, progressions, graphs, plane geometry, mensuration, coordinate geometry, permutations, combinations, probability, mathematical reasoning, set theory, data sufficiency. 


2. Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making—Analytical Reasoning questions, complex arrangement, logical conditions and grouping, miscellaneous, decision making 


3. Verbal & Logical Ability—Inferential logic, critical reasoning, RC passages, jumbled paragraphs, different usage of same word, Contextual usage,  Synonyms & Antonyms, Analogies, Fill in the Blanks, Para Jumbles, Sentence correction 
At the end of 2-hour test, 20 minutes is allocated for essay writing section. The essay topics can be based on varied themes.


XAT 2010: Paper Analysis
XAT 2010 maintained the difficulty level of XAT 2009. The number of questions was 101 and each question had 1 mark. The negative marking scheme is progressive. There was 0.20 negative marking for the first five incorrect answers in each section and 0.25 marks for each incorrect answer thereafter.
Like last year, the number of sections was three. They were Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making and Verbal & Logical Ability. Each questions had five choices. The essay topic to be written within 20 minutes was ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed’.
The Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability questions were the toughest in the paper. The Quantitative Ability questions were from a variety of areas. Though most of them were difficult and tricky, some of them were simple.
The Verbal and Logical Ability questions were tougher than that of XAT 2009.
The questions on Decision Making were easy to read but the options were close.


 XAT 2011 Preparation
XAT is a knowledge-based test that entails three objective-type multiple choice sections and an essay writing section. Hence, the test preparation strategy needs to be formulated accordingly to score on the higher side in the test. If the aspirant is a beginner then he/she can get started with the basics in Mathematics, logic reasoning, English etc. Once the aspirant gets proficient in mental calculations and other fundamentals, he/she can easily walk through advanced topics, which are tested in this exam.
As a part of preparation strategy, the MBA aspirant must attempt as many MOCK tests as possible so that he/she gets a crystal clear picture of his areas of strength and weaknesses. Since every wrong answer would be penalized, never make wild guesses even in the sample tests. Since essay writing section is a decisive factor in GD round so it’s recommended that the aspirant does not take this section lightly.




XAT over the last 3 years : An analysis

Year	Sections	No. of Questions	Difficulty level
2008	Verbal & Logical Ability, Analytical reasoning & Decision Making, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability	38 + 38 + 44 = 120	Difficult, Moderate, Difficult. Overall Difficult
2009	Verbal & Logical Ability, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability	35 + 31 + 38 = 104	Easy, Moderate, Moderate. Overall Moderate
2010	Verbal & Logical Ability, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making	40 + 30 = 101	Difficult, Moderate, Difficult. Overall Difficult







XAT 2011 Result
XAT 2011 result is expected to be declared on or before January 31, 2011. All candidates aspiring to seek admission in XLRI and other premier management institutes of the country can download XAT scores available online from the official website of XLRI Jamshedpur, http://www.xlri.edu/xat_main_login.php. The test taker can log on to the website using his/her XAT ID and password, download and print his/her XAT score card.


Institutes Accepting XAT 2011 scores
In addition to XLRI, there are over 70 other management institutes, which accept XAT scores to grant admissions to students in varied management programmes. Some of the top B-schools, which would be accepting XAT 2011 scores are:
 XLRI, Jamshedpur
 Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
 Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
 Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi