XAT stands for Xavier Aptitude Test.

It is a national level entrance examination conducted by XLRI

every year for selecting the best possible students for management programs in the institute.
Additionally, more than 100 other institutes for admission to their management programs use the
XAT score. It is a paper-based test conducted on the first Sunday of the year in which the program
commences. XAT 2016 will be conducted on January 03, 2016.
XAT Preparation Strategy

The paper can be split into three parts: concept driven, practice intensive and environment sensitive.
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and select areas of Verbal & Logical Ability are concept
driven; Decision Making & Analytical Reasoning is a purely practice intensive section while General
Knowledge is environment sensitive.
The exam is markedly different from the other MBA entrance exams as it features a section on
Decision Making. This is an area that checks your management aptitude by presenting different
situations and cases, and asks you to identify the correct recourse in these situations.
XAT Verbal & Logical Ability

Critical Reasoning & Reading Comprehension areas have historically dominated this section.

Thrust is on reasoning skills. Purely vocabulary-based questions are rarely asked.

Vocabulary questions are based on a combination of skills and usage is also important part
of these questions.

This section requires a very fine balance between quick reading and comprehension skills.

The Reading Comprehensions in XAT are generally of an advanced level and require more
than a simple perusal of the passage.

A majority of the questions in this section are inference passage.

Practicing across Mock Tests is essential for superior performance.

XAT Decision Making & Analytical Reasoning

This is one of the most unique sections of the XAT exam.

Consisting of various business and everyday situations, you are meant to establish what the
various stakeholders should do in the situations given.

In general, the situations given in these questions set up interesting dilemmas for the parties
involved, and most of the choices involve an analysis of the possible gains and losses with
each course of action adopted.

Different types of questions probed in these areas include: ethical dilemmas, financial issues
involving sales, revenues etc. of a company, employee management issues and general
management scenarios.

As far as what kind of decisions you should make, ensure that the decision taken is unbiased
and does not favour one particular party, ethical, balanced and from the perspective of all
stakeholders involved. Do not lose your objectivity in the entire process and do not let your
own biases cloud your judgment.

XAT Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

Majority of the questions featured in this area have come from Geometry, Number Systems,
Functions, P&C, Probability and Data Interpretation.

Strong conceptual base in the above topics, with a good application orientation is the key to
doing well.

This section requires a fine balance of time spent and questions solved. Considering the
number of questions in this section is lower in comparison to other exams such as SNAP and
IIFT, this becomes an accuracy based section.

XAT General Knowledge

General knowledge made its first appearance in the XAT exam in 2013.

Out of the 30 questions in XAT 2013, 12 were on current affairs and 18 on static GK.

Greater emphasis on economics and business related facts.

Preparing current events for the last 6 months is essential.

In static GK part, focus on awards, books & authors and geography.

XAT Essay Writing

Going by the past trends, XAT essay topics have had stronger abstract dimensions.

The topic is based on either a common phrase or an idiom with a philosophical hint implied
within.

The examiner is not only looking for language skills here, but is also evaluating coherence of
thoughts, ability to provide logical arguments and your knowledge level.

Reading the editorial page of national newspapers may be of great help in this section.

It is recommended that you write sample essays and get them assessed on content and
style.
Art of Effective Essay Writing for XAT

Overall, you have to brace up to handle reasoning based questions requiring strong analytical
application. Preparing the decision making section and the essay writing task should enable the XAT
test taker to handle the test challenges more confidently. Concept strengthening should be followed
by consolidation of application orientation and thereafter by an adequate number of practice tests.
While attempting the paper, keep in mind the basics of time management, prioritization and striking a
right balance between speed and accuracy!