XAT 2019 (Xavier Aptitude Test), an all India level examination for admission to post graduate management programs in XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute) and 150 other institutions, held on January 6 was stated to be moderately difficult by the test takers.
The 2019 edition of the test had done away with essay writing. The exam comprised three sections, Verbal and Logical Ability (VA & LR), Decision Making (DM), Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (QA & DI) and General Knowledge (GK). The duration of the test was three hours from 10:00 am to 01:00 pm.
The Verbal and Logical Ability Section had 26 questions, same as last year. The section on Decision Making comprised 21 questions and the Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation section had 27 questions.
Each question in Part A carried 1 mark each and attracted -0.25 marks for every incorrect attempt. Part B had no negative marking.
From this year, the penalty for unanswered questions went beyond 8 and such questions had been doubled to -0.10 from -0.05 marks.
The Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, comprising 26 questions was stated to be tougher than the previous year. The section had four passages with three questions each in Reading Comprehension There was also one poem of 2 questions that the exam takers found to be very difficult.
However, the two para jumble questions were easy. The fill in the blanks was difficult and some of the critical reasoning (CR) questions tougher. Even in reading comprehension, drawn from psychology, arts and social issues, the reasoning used in some of the questions were stated to be vague.
According to an analysis by Career Launcher, a candidate could have attempted 16-18 questions with 70% accuracy, taking about 50 minutes to complete the section.
In Decision Making, the absence of singlets made reading easier. The section had as many as 18 questions on situational decision making.
The section on Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation was tougher than the previous year. Of the 21 questions in Quantitative Ability, most were from Geometry and Algebra (including coordinate and Trigonometry). Majority of the questions from Arithmetic were doable while the questions on Geometry were difficult.
Data Interpretation had 2 sets with a total of six questions. Some of the questions were slightly ambiguous. One question on the proportion of Economists and Engineers was incorrect. Similarly, one question in Quantitative Ability on roots was incorrect since x was mentioned in the root.
In this section, a candidate could have attempted 2-3 DI questions and 13-15 Quant questions in about 65-70 minutes.
The level of difficulty of the General Knowledge section was similar to last year. This section comprised 25 questions. Most of the questions were single-statement based. Some of the questions having multiple-statements had more than one correct statement.
The key areas from where the questions were asked were static GK (Economy, Geography, Science and Technology) and Current GK (Business economy, personalities, awards, sports and miscellaneous).
The difficulty level of the GK section was in the moderate-difficult range. An attempt of 12-14 questions fetching a score of 7-8 could be considered good.
