Paper Structure

Cutoffs

Analysis

Paper Structure

As has been the practice for the last few years, there was a two-hour objective paper followed by a 20-minute essay.

There were three sections in the paper - with a time limit of 40 min. for each of the sections. One section had Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability questions; another section had Quantitative Ability, Reasoning and Data Interpretation questions and the third section had General Awareness Questions.

While XAT Hall Ticket mentioned that different students may get different questions in their question papers, such a thing has not actually happened. It is true that there were three different sets of test booklets (A, B and C) but all the three sets had the same questions. All that was done by XLRI was that the order of the three sections was different in the three sets of papers. The following table gives a complete picture of the order of the sections in the three sets of papers.

Details about the types of questions in each of the three sections are given in the table below.
 

Incorrect answers would attract one-third negative marks.

ESSAY:

Students were expected to write an essay of about 250-300 words in 20 minutes. The essay topic given was:

"Asked which of his works he would select as his master piece, architect Frank Lloyd Wright at the age of 83 replied, "My next one."
 

Cutoffs

The individual section-wise cut-offs expected to be required by XLRI are given in the table below.

A total score of 90-95 marks can get you an interview call from XLRI. This level is expected to be the same for both BMD and PMIR.


Analysis

Overall Cutoff for XLRI (PMIR/BMD) - 90-95
For XIMB - 85+
For GIM/LIBA - 80+

Verbal and Reading Comprehension (Expected Cutoff for XLRI- 48-52)

The Verbal and RC was very much similar to the paper given last year. T.I.M.E. students who have taken the AIMXAT 2 would have been pleasantly surprised to see almost an identical structure of the section in this year's paper.

The following table gives the types of questions that appeared in RC/Verbal section and the number of easy/moderate/difficult question under each type of questions.

While going through the analysis, a student may think that most of the questions given in the column "difficult" may not actually be difficult as they were able to answer them easily in the exam. It should be borne in mind that there is always a possibility for ambiguity in some of the meanings and usage of words. Every person who marks an answer does so hoping that it is right. However, care should be taken not to underestimate the possibility of making mistakes in the heat of the moment (even though it is less than that of CAT!).

Quantitative/Reasoning/Data Interpretation (Expected Cutoff for XLRI - 22-25)

This was a bit of a surprise as XAT moved away from their patented 6 sets of questions of the reasoning/quant variety. This year's XAT paper had some very simple arithmetic questions and two sets of DI which would have been a cinch for those seriously preparing for CAT. It was a surprise that they have repeated FOUR sets of questions from XLRI's previous year's papers. T.I.M.E. students would have been on the rejoice mode as they have got THREE sets out of these as a part of the material given to them.

In Set A test booklets, the permutation and combinations questions were given from 116 to 125. And few questions referred to Q No 119 for attempting those questions. However, in Set B and C booklets, the same questions appeared with different serial numbers, but some questions had reference to Q No 119 instead of the number appropriate for the respective test booklets. This would have caused some amount of confusion in the minds of the students.

The questions on number series were real bouncers and for a person who is seeing them for the first time, it may be difficult to get the ideas fast enough to be able to crack these questions in the exam. The questions on reasoning (weights) can be put under the difficult category. However, this set was a standard puzzle set given in T.I.M.E. mock papers. A few students would have seen questions with similar ideas in puzzles books that they might have gone through. It is very easy to solve all six questions if one knows the puzzle and probably none in that stipulated time, if one didn't know.

The difficulty level analysis for the type of questions is given below

General Awareness (Expected Cutoff for XLRI - 12-15)

The general awareness section would have come as an unwelcome bouncer to many a student. In fact, those students who had this section as the first would have cursed their luck. Similarly, after doing the verbal and quant sections well, any student getting this section last would be sitting with crossed hands to find out the cutoff for this section and whether he/she can make it or not.

The best part of this section was the structured way in which the same was given and kudos are due to XLRI for having come up with such good stuff. However, this has not helped any students to score more marks and if at all it was useful, it would be for leaving these questions as a bunch!

The areas in which the questions were asked and the difficulty levels of those questions are given below.