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Careers360

All About
XAT 2015
How to Prepare &
What to Expect

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

A Career is a Life

Contents
Introduction3

XAT 2015 Fast Facts

XAT 2015 Eligibility Criteria

XAT 2015 Application Form.

How to fill XAT 2015 Application Form Step by Step Procedure

XAT 2015 Admit Card

10

XAT 2015 Exam Pattern

11

XAT 2015 Syllabus

12

XAT 2015 Important Dates 

13

XAT 2015 Result

13

XAT 2015 Convenor Interview

14

XAT Topper Interview Maulik Gandhi

16

XAT Topper Interview Ancy Verghese

19

XAT Trends Over 10 Years and Preparation Tips

21

Expert Tips on How to Crack XAT

24

XAT Last Minute Tips and Tricks

26

Top B-schools Accepting XAT Scores and Cutoffs

28

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

Introduction

re you an MBA aspirant who is dreaming to make it big by gaining admission in a reputed B-School like XLRI Jamshedpur, which is one of the oldest management institutes in India, XAT or Xavier Aptitude Test is the gateway to this
premium institute. Not just XLRI Jamshedpur but other top B-schools like XIMB, SPJIMR Mumbai, LIBA Chennai,
Goa Institute of Management etc. accept XAT scores as well.
This special E-book brought to you by Careers360 will bring to you All About XAT 2015 exam which you need to know
to crack the exam scheduled on Sunday, January 4, 2015. You will not only get all the fast facts about the exam but also the
exclusive interviews of the XAT 2015 Convenor Dr. Munish Thakur and the last year XAT toppers, preparation tips, past 10
years analysis and trends and the top B-schools accepting XAT scores and their cutoffs. Read the E-book and know all you
need to know about the exam.

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

XAT 2015 Fast Facts

AT 2015- Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT), conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur, is a national level MBA entrance exam.
XAT 2015 scores will be used by XLRI Jamshedpur and other Xavier Associate Management Institutes and over 120
B-schools across the country for admission.XAT 2015 will be held on Sunday, January 4, 2015.

Exam Name: Xavier Aptitude Test


Commonly known as: XAT
Exam type: National
Exam category: PG Exam

XAT 2015 Selection Procedure: XLRI and other participating


institutes will shortlist the XAT takers on the basis of their XAT 2015
scores and the B-School cut off marks. In final selection process,
the shortlisted candidates will be appearing for the GD, PI and other
rounds conducted by the B-schools.
XAT 2015 Important Dates: The XAT 2015 important dates are
as follows:

Conducting institute: XLRI Jamshedpur


XAT 2015 Eligibility: The graduates in any discipline from a recognized
university are eligible for XAT 2015. Those final year students, who can
submit their final marks by June 10, 2015, can also appear for XAT 2015
exams.

Date of commencement of application: Tuesday, August 12,


2014
Last date of applying: Saturday, November 22, 2014
Last date to change test city: Wednesday, November 26, 2014

XAT 2015 Application Procedure: XAT 2015 Application Form is


available from August 12, 2014. Candidates will have to fill up the online
application form and make payment via Cash, Net Banking, Demand
Draft, Credit Card or Debit Card. The applicants have to upload passport
size color photograph along with signature not exceeding 50 KB.
XAT 2015 Application Fee: The application fee for XAT 2015 is Rs.
1000 for all candidates.

Downloading Admit Cards: Thursday, December 18, 2014 to


Wednesday, December 31, 2014
XAT 2015 Exam: Sunday, January 4, 2015
XAT 2015 Result: By Saturday, January 31, 2015
XAT 2015 Result: Last week of January, 2015

XAT 2015 Admit Card: XAT 2015 Admit Card will be available on
the XAT website from Thursday, December 18, 2014 till Wednesday,
December 31, 2014.
XAT 2015 Exam Pattern: The 3-hour duration XAT 2015 is a paperpencil based test, comprising 2 papers.
Paper 1, the objective, multiple choice question type, contains 3 sections
Quantitative Ability, English Language & Logical Reasoning, and
Decision Making with duration of 2 hours 20 minutes.
Paper 2, partly subjective and partly objective type, comprises 2 sections
General Knowledge and Essay Writing. The General Awareness section
will have 30 questions. The duration for this paper will be 40 minutes.

XAT 2015 Cutoff: Overall cutoff for XAT 2014 declared by XLRI was
88 for HRM and 94 for BM. The XAT 2015 cutoff will be announced
by XLRI after the result is declared.
XAT 2015 Participating institutes: 123 B-schools across India as
per XAT 2015 bulletin
Address: XLRI
Admission Office C.H. Area (East) Jamshedpur 831001
Jharkhand India
Phone: +91 657 665 3203/3204/3205
Fax: +91-657-2227814 Email: admis@xlri.ac.in

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XAT 2015 Eligibility Criteria

ccording to the XAT 2015 eligibility criterion, any


MBA aspirant who is a graduate in any discipline
from a recognized university or deemed university
are eligible to take the test. XLRI Jamshedpur conducts the
MBA entrance exam XAT 2015 for the admission of MBA
aspirants in over 100 B-schools across the country.
The XAT 2015 application form is now available from
Tuesday, August 12, 2014 and the last day to register is Saturday, November 22, 2014. The XAT 2015 Admit Card will be
available for download from Thursday, December 18, 2014
to Wednesday, December 31, 2014. Before you apply, ensure
that you fulfill the eligibility criteria.

Being uniform for all categories of candidates General,


SC, ST, OBC and DA XAT 2015 eligibility criteria also
has no variation in respect of religious backgrounds of the
participating candidates.

XAT 2015 Eligibility Criteria

After 10-day extended XAT 2014 registration window


closed on December 2, the total number of applicants stood
around 89,400 as compared to 92,000 MBA aspirants who
had registered for XAT last year.

The candidates, who secured less than 50% in aggregate


in the graduation final year examinations, can also take the
test. Final year graduation students can also take the test provided they can submit the marks within the stipulated time
frame by the participating B-schools, which is June 10, 2015.
Unlike many other national level MBA entrance exams, the
XAT aspirants need not score more than 50% aggregate
marks or equivalent CGPA in the graduation.

A total of 89,400 candidates have registered for XAT 2014


as XAT registration for academic year 2014-2016 closed on
December 2, said Prof. Vishwa Ballabh, Admission Chairperson of XLRI Jamshedpur, the institute which conducts
XAT.

According to the XAT 2015 officials, the candidates must


hold a recognized Bachelors Degree in any discipline or
complete their graduation by June 10, 2015.

As far as the XAT 2015 eligibility criteria is concerned, the


final year graduation students, participating in this test, will
have to submit aggregate percentage obtained in previous
years of the degree course they are pursuing.

XAT 2015 will be held on Sunday, January 4, 2015 from


10.30 am to 1.30 pm. The XAT 2015 exam pattern includes
multiple choice objective type questions on Quantitative
Ability, English Language & Logical Reasoning, Decision
Making and General Knowledge. The exam also includes
Essay Writing of 20 minutes duration. The XAT 2015 result
will be declared by January 31, 2014.

XAT 2015 scores will be accepted by 123 B-schools across


India. The B-schools will declare their own eligibility criterion which is expected to be on the similar lines as XAT

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XAT 2015 Application Form

AT 2015 Application Form- The application form of


XAT 2015 is available from Tuesday, August 12, 2014.
The last day to fill the application form is Tuesday,
November 22, 2014. Through this article, we will share with
you the details on XAT 2015 registration and how to fill the
XAT 2015 Application Form.
Candidates will have to fill up the online XAT 2015 application form and make payment via Cash, Net Banking,
Demand Draft, Credit Card or Debit Card. They also have to
upload passport size color photograph along with signature
not exceeding 50 KB.
The application fee is Rs. 1000 for all applicants.
MBA aspirants filling up the XAT 2015 application form,
making payment via cash or DD, need to send their DD or
Pay-in-Slip along with the confirmation page to XAT office,
XLRI, Circuit House Area (East), Jamshedpur- 831001,
within 15 days from the date of payment or issuance of DD.
XAT 2015 applicants have to go through three steps of
online application. The first step is to create their XAT ID
and password by providing personal and payment details.
The second step involves payment of fee and the third step is
uploading photograph and signature.

Know the step by step XAT 2015 Application


Procedure.
n

Visit the official website of XAT 2015 and click on XAT


2015 Registration. Fill the form with your basic details
and submit. You will receive your XAT ID and password
through email.
Login to your XAT account with the XAT 2015 login ID
and password and fill the rest of the form which includes
education and other details and choosing the test city.

You have to choose the fee payment mode among the 3


modes of payment which are as follows:

1. Online Payment Gateway - Through VISA/MASTER


Credit & Debit Cards; IDBI Netbanking (applicable only
for IDBI account holders)
2. Cash payment - Take a print out of XAT Pay-In-Slip and
visit nearest IDBI bank and make payment
3. Demand Draft - Get a DD made in favour of XLRI Jamshedpur A/c XAT payable at Jamshedpur
If you are paying through Modes 2 & 3, update the payment details in the registration page. Unless the update is
done, you will not be allowed to upload the photograph and
signature.
n

Upload your scanned digital passport sized photograph


and signature in jpg format only, not exceeding 50 KB.
Print the confirmation page for your reference.
If you have paid through DD, send the DD along with the
confirmation page to XAT office within 15 days from the
date of issuance of the DD.

XAT 2015 Admit Card will be available on the website from


Thursday, December 18, 2014 and candidates may download
it till Wednesday, December 31, 2014.
XAT 2015 will be held on Sunday, January 4, 2015. The
result of XAT 2015 will be declared by Saturday, January
31, 2015. On the basis of the XAT 2015 cut off of the participating B-schools, candidates will be shortlisted and GD-PI
rounds will be conducted for the final admission.

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

How to fill XAT 2015 Application Form

AT 2015 application procedure has started from


August 12, 2014 for the exam scheduled to be held on
Sunday, January 4, 2015. If you are aspiring to study
in XLRI Jamshedpur or other top institutes accepting XAT
scores, registering for the exam is the first step towards your
goal. This article will share with you the step by step registration and application procedure.

Step 1 Registration

Visit the official website of XAT 2015 and click on the tab
XAT Registration. Enter your basic information such as
name, parents name, date of birth, category and contact
details. Click here to apply for XAT 2015.

You will receive the XAT ID through email. The next step
would be to login through these credentials to proceed with
the XAT 2015 application procedure.
The registration window will also display your XAT ID
along with sending the email. The message displayed in the
page says, Use this XAT Registration No. and password
entered by you in the previous screen to login and complete
the remaining XAT registration process.

Step 2 Fill Application Form

After you login, you will be given the option to view your
profile, edit contact information and add educational information.

Enter your password which will be used for your future


login.

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Enter the name of your institute, board/university, stream


and percentage of marks obtained for SSC, HSC, Graduation
and Post Graduation.

Step 3 Payment

The XAT 2015 application fee is Rs. 1000 for all candidates.
Select the mode of payment among the following modes:
n

Bank Pay-In Slip

Demand Draft

Credit/Debit Card

IDBI Net-Banking

After you select the payment mode, you will receive instructions which you must read carefully and abide by. Click on I
Agree and Pay Now tabs to move further.

Work Experience

Enter your organization name, designation and duration of


service in months and the work experience in years.

After successful transaction, print the page for your reference and remember to quote your Transaction Number in all
future communications regarding payment along with your
XAT ID. Click on Save & Continue tab for the next steps.

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Step 4 Upload your photo and signature

After you make the payment, you will be led to the next page
for uploading your photograph and signature. You have to
ensure that the photograph and signature are clear In case
the images uploaded are not clear, your candidature is likely
to be cancelled. The size of the files should not exceed 50 KB
and they should be in JPEG formats.

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

After you receive the application confirmation, you can


print the XAT Confirmation page.

This will end the XAT 2015 application process. The


XAT 2015 Admit Card will be available for download from
December 18, 2014 till December 31, 2014.

Important Note: Group photographs, side profiles, pictures


taken on holidays, photographs without a clear background
are not acceptable. To reduce the size, crop the image of
the signature in MS Paint or any other Photo Editor. Please
ensure that only the signature portion is cropped and not
the entire A4 paper on which you have signed, suggests the
XAT website.

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

XAT 2015 Admit Card

he Admit Card for XAT 2015 will be available for


candidates to download from Thursday, December 18,
2014. The last date to download the XAT 2015 Admit
Card is Wednesday, December 31, 2014. This article will give
you the details on when and how to download the XAT 2015
Admit Card.
The Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) 2015 scores are accepted
by XLRI Jamshedpur, Xavier Associate Management institutes and over 100 B-Schools across the country.
The XAT 2015 Admit Card will be available online and
students must download the Admit cards from the official
website of XAT. It will be available after the XAT 2015 application procedure is over on Saturday, November 22, 2014.
The XAT 2015 Admit Card will have the following details
mentioned,

10

1. Name of the Candidate


2. Time and Date of the Exam
3. Exam Venue- name and place of the test centre
4. XAT 2015 Roll number
5. Instructions for Exam
It is important for every appearing candidate to carry the
XAT 2015 Admit Card at the test venue. Any student who
fails to carry the admit card at the venue will not be allowed
to appear in the examination. The admit card should be preserved by the candidates till the admission process is over.

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XAT 2015 Exam Pattern

AT 2015 Exam Pattern: XAT or Xavier Aptitude Test


is an objective type multiple choice exam of 3 hours
duration. The XAT 2015 Exam Pattern is dynamic as
the exam conducting body does not follow a strict pattern
every year and there are some or the other change in the
question paper in almost every year. This article will share
the details of the XAT 2015 Exam Pattern.

in XAT 2014, General Awareness was made a part of Paper


1 making it completely objective and Paper 2 consisted only
of Essay Writing question.

Mode of XAT 2015 exam

Though not fixed, the total number of questions in XAT 2015


is expected to be around 80 to 90. The General Awareness
section will have 20 questions.

XAT 2015 is a paper-pencil based test comprising 2 papers.

Sections and Duration

The last year exam pattern of XAT is given in the table


below.

Number of Questions

The exam pattern has undergone major changes in XAT


2013 and XAT 2014. The exam will be divided in two papers,
objective and subjective. The total duration of XAT 2015 will
be 3 hours.

Last year, the total number of questions was 103. The Verbal Ability, Decision Making and Quantitative Aptitude had
83 questions and 20 questions were asked in the General
Awareness section.

Paper 1 will be the objective, multiple choice question


type, containing 3 sections Quantitative Ability, English
Language & Logical Reasoning and Decision Making with
duration of 2 hours 20 minutes.

Marking scheme

Paper 2 will comprise General Awareness and Essay Writing sections. The duration of this section will be 40 minutes.

Each question contains 1 mark and each wrong answer will


get a negative marking of 0.25 marks.
XAT 2015 will be held on Sunday, January 4, 2015. The
application window is open from Tuesday, August 12, 2014
till Saturday, November 22, 2014.

Last year, the exam pattern was changed. Earlier, General


Awareness and Essay Writing were included in Paper 2 but

PART ONE

Section

Area

Section -A

Verbal and Logical Ability

28

28

Section B

Decision Making

24

24

Section C

Quantitative Ability and Data


Interpretation

31

31

83

83

20

20

Total
PART TWO

General Awareness
Essay Writing

11

No. Of Questions

Marks

30

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XAT 2015 Syllabus

here is no particular XAT 2015 syllabus prescribed


by XLRI Jamshedpur, the B-School which conducts
XAT on behalf of the Xavier Association of Management Institutes in 48 cities across the country and 2 overseas
centers. However, the XAT 2015 Syllabus is is based on the
past years analysis and trends of the exam. In this article we
will provide you the syllabus for XAT 2015. XAT 2015 will be
held on Sunday, January 4, 2015.
The XAT 2015 exam is broadly divided two parts, consisting of different sections. Part one has three sections namely,
Quantitative Ability, English Language & Logical Reasoning
and Decision Making. Part 2 of the paper is subjective and
objective consisting Essay Writing and General Knowledge
sections. In the following paragraphs, you will get to know
the topics of each section and area which are commonly
asked in the XAT exam.

XAT 2015 Syllabus - Verbal and Logical Ability

For the section, the main topics include probability, philosophy, analytics skills and other verbal logical ability that
supports students to crack this section easily. Other topics
include:
n

Vocabulary

Para completion, Inference

Grammar

PFQ

Reading Comprehension

XAT 2015 Syllabus - Quantitative Ability and Data


Interpretation

The XAT 2015 Syllabus for this section has questions related
to numbers and prepares candidates for number systems,
numerology and data skills. The main topics of this sections
include the following:
n

Arithmetic

Geometry

Statistics

Number system

Algebra

P&C

Probability

Set theory

DI caselets

The Part two of the XAT 2015 Syllabus consists of General


Awareness and Essay writing, which prepares students with
essay writing on different topics and general knowledge
questions. This part of the exam cannot be defined with any
particular syllabus as it is very vast.
XAT is known for its high difficulty level. Hence, the preparation should be taken accordingly.

XAT 2015 Syllabus - Decision Making

The syllabus pattern for this section has questions testing


the decision making skills of students. Mostly the questions
would be in a case form and students are asked to select the
most appropriate decision.

12

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XAT 2015
Important Dates

XAT 2015 Result

AT 2015 official announcement has been made. The


application procedure starts from August 12, 2014 and
the exam is scheduled to be conducted on January 4,
2015. This article shares the XAT 2015 Important Dates.

he result for XAT 2015 will be announced by


January 31, 2015. The XAT 2015 is conducted
by XLRI Jamshedpur for admissions into management programme of Xavier associated institute and
B-School.

The XAT 2015 Result will be declared online. All the


candidates who would appear in the exam will have to
check the result online. The following are the steps to
be followed for obtaining the scores:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Visit the XAT official website


Click on the XAT 2015 Result link
Enter the XAT ID and Password
Click on the Submit button

Once the candidates will click on the Submit button


the result page would appear and the candidates can
check the XAT 2015 Result. Both sectional as well as
overall scores will be given along with the percentile.

Events

XAT 2015 Important


Dates

XAT 2015 Notification

August 12, 2014

Last Date for XAT Registration November 22, 2014


Download of Admit Cards

December 18-31, 2014

Exam Date

January 4, 2015

Results

by January 31, 2015

13

After the result, the candidates clearing the XAT 2015


Cutoff would be shortlisted to appear for the next round
of Admission process, namely-Group Discussion and
Personal Interview, which will be conducted by each
participating B-School.
Last year, XAT was taken by around 89,000 candidates. Out of them 4 candidates were in 100 percentile
bracket.

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XAT Convenor Interview

XAT 2015 exam pattern may change, XLRI Interviews to be lengthier:


XAT 2015 Convenor Dr Munish Thakur

r Munish Thakur is Convenor of XAT 2015. A fellow of IIM Calcutta, Dr Thakur teaches strategic
management at XLRI, Jamshedpur.In this interview
with Careers360, XAT Convenor Dr Thakur speaks on the
possible changes in Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) 2015 pattern and other dimensions of XAT exam. He also talks on
reviewing Personal Interview (PI) process for XLRI admissions this year.

Careers360: Congratulations for taking over as Con-

venor of XAT 2015?

Dr Munish Thakur: Thank you. I take this with a great


sense of responsibility.

14

Careers360: What are the key dates of XAT 2015?


Dr Munish Thakur: The XAT 2015 will be held on
January 4, 2015. Registration for the exam has already begun
and the last date to apply for XAT is November 22. We would
announce the result by the end of January 2015.
Careers360: Is there any change in XAT 2015 exam
pattern?

Dr Munish Thakur: Yes. This year we aim to broaden

our multi-dimensional approach in the question paper and


enhance fairness in testing for diverse set of test-takers.
Taking this in account, we are planning to introduce questions that can be attempted by candidates from different
academic background. Our thought process towards bringing

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

this change is to maximize the attempts by majority of test


takers. GK and Essay will continue to be the important
component of our testing process.

India. The new cities added for XAT 2015 includes Agartala,
Indore and Nasik.

The XAT 2015 exam will continue to be a one-day all India


test in the paper-pencil format.

Careers360: How many institutes will be participat-

Careers360: Why is this change in XAT exam pattern?


Dr Munish Thakur: Last year, we observed that many

candidates could not attempt a selected set of questions. This


might have been because this set of questions would not have
generic appeal. Therefore, we aim to modify question paper
in such a way that most of the questions becomes worth
attempting for candidates from varied background.

Careers360: Last year, XAT witnessed decline in


registration numbers. What are your expectations this
year?

Dr Munish Thakur: Last year, we had lesser number of

applications as compared to the previous year. Still, we had


about 90,000 registrations. This year, we expect the numbers to be in the same range as that of last year.

Careers360: Have you also increased test centers this


year?

Dr Munish Thakur: Yes, we have added 3 more test cit-

ies this year, thus offering XAT in a total of 48 cities across

15

ing in XAT this year?

Dr Munish Thakur: More than 120 B-schools will be


accepting XAT 2015 scores for admission to their management programmes in the academic year 2015-16, also including the 4 new B-schools. While most of the B-schools, have
already officially confirmed, a few are in the process.
Some of the top B-schools accepting XAT scores include
IMT Ghaziabad, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Chennai, TAPMI Manipal, XIMB, XIME, IFIM Bangalore,
IPE Hyderabad, SPJIMR, SCMS Cochin, Amrita School of
Business among others.

Careers360: Are you also introducing any change in


XLRI admission process?

Dr Munish Thakur: This year we are planning to change


the format of Personal Interview process. We are also planning to make Personal Interview more elaborate and we are
designing longer interviews than previous year. Our expert
committee is examining the process and we will evolve the
interview format to integrate both subjective and objective
assessment during this stage of admission process.
We aim to encourage participation of the candidates who
can take leadership roles in different organizations and bring
positive changes at higher management level.

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XAT Topper Interviews

How Maulik Gandhi scored 99.74 in XAT 2014 to get XLRI admission

aulik Gandhi cracked XAT 2014 with an impressive


percentile of 99.74 and secured admission in XLRI
Jamshedpur. An engineer, Maulik is currently pursuing PGDM- Human Resource from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Careers360: Apart from XAT 2014, which other MBA

In this interview with Careers360, Maulik shares his XAT


success strategies and preparation tips for the prestigious
entrance exam. He speaks on how he converted his weak
areas into one of his forte during his exam preparations. He
also explains his step-by-step strategy for XAT exam along
with key factors that contributed to his performance in XAT
exam.

September CMAT and scored 252/400 and my All India


Rank was 593. I took CAT 2013 and my percentile was 96.36,
which was fairly accepted compared to my preparations.

Careers360: What motivated you to pursue MBA?


What do you aspire for?

Maulik Gandhi: My motivation for pursuing an MBA

was my determination to emerge as a leader in the field of


management. Five years down the line I see myself as an
established HR in the market for which a professional degree
in MBA-HR is a must. A guidance and supervision from
industry experts would support me to become an independent and a dedicated Manager.
My aim is to contribute my best in the HR profession so
as the Indian HR practises are kept as a benchmark for the
world.

16

entrance exams you took and how was your performance?

Maulik Gandhi: The first exam I appeared for was the

I appeared in NMAT twice, October and November, and


scored 219 and 226 in the respective months. I also appeared
in the IIFT entrance test in which I scored 49.84.Then SNAP
in December and achieved a percentile of 99.79. I cracked the
Maharashtra CET in April with a percentile of 99.99.

Careers360: Which other B-schools made final


admission offers to you, and also why did you select
XLRI Jamshedpur?
Maulik Gandhi: My first final convert was IIFT, Delhi.
After that, I got admission letters from NMIMS, Mumbai
and SIBM, Pune. However, I was more inclined towards the
Human Resource Management course in XLRI because
XLRI offers the best HRM programme in India and the availability of highly specialized, corporate faculty. The academic
excellence what you receive at XLRI is impeccable and
develops you in a totally new personality.

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Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for

XAT 2014?

Maulik Gandhi: I started preparing for XAT 2014 in the


last week of October. I had my Engineering Semester exams
scheduled in November and they were supposed to end in the
last week of December. Since I would not have got much time
to prepare after my semester exams, I decided to start early
and save myself from the last minute jitters.
Before my XAT, Ive appeared in CAT so I was comfortable
with Quantitative Techniques and Verbal Ability. I started
solving the previous year XAT papers to understand the
format of the paper and decided the topics on which I had to
work hard. I also took 5 mock XATs to review my preparation
and have an idea of how the actual exam would be. For essays,
since the nature of topics was difficult to predict, I read newspapers daily, especially the editorial section. To summarize,
the strategy was practice, find problem areas, implement,
practice again, crack the paper.

Careers360: Do you think Coaching or Mentoring


is important to crack XAT or any other MBA entrance
tests?

Maulik Gandhi: To be honest, for XAT, I did not take


any special coaching. I had joined coaching classes to prepare for CAT as I was finding it difficult to juggle between
my preparations, my engineering studies and my positions
of responsibilities.
Finding a good coach or a mentor is important but whats
more important is the belief that you can achieve what you
have set out to achieve. For any MBA entrance test, practice
and dedication are the two pillars of success.

Careers360: How did you manage XAT preparation


schedule along with your graduation studies?
Maulik Gandhi: I started early because I knew I would

not get time to prepare once my semester exams would start.


I used to solve 20 Quant Questions, 5 Logical Reasoning sets,
3 Decision making sets and 2 Reading Comprehension passages along with 2 Decision making sets a day. I used to spend
the remaining time studying for my end term exams, reading
the newspaper, and exercising.

17

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

Careers360: Please share your preparation strategy

for the Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and


Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning separately?

Maulik Gandhi: Quantitative Ability & Data Interpre-

tation: I started my CAT preparations in October 2012. So


by the time I gave the CAT in October 2013, I was well prepared with Quant & DI. For XAT, I used to solve 20 Quant
Questions and 3 Decision making sets a day. I used to find
my problem areas and determine which areas needed to be
worked upon. Next day, I would solve questions on those
topics and try not to make any mistakes.
Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning: For VA, I would answer
2 RC passages in a day. Apart from that, I would solve at least
10 questions on any 2 VA topics. For Logical Reasoning, I
would solve 5 sets a day as it was my weakest areas. I also gave
a lot of online LR tests.

Careers360: How did you plan and work for Decision


making and General Awareness section of the paper?
Maulik Gandhi: I solved previous XAT questions on
Decision making, 2 sets per day. For General Awareness, I
read the newspaper diligently and also read news summaries
on websites.
Careers360: How did you manage your time while
attempting the actual XAT paper?
Maulik Gandhi: I started with the Quantitative Ability

and Data Interpretation section of the paper and finished


it in half an hour which left me with 90 minutes to answer
the remaining two major sections. I required 50 minutes for
the Decision making section as I found it to be more time
consuming. I answered the General Knowledge section in 5
minutes, the Verbal Ability and Logical Ability section in 35
minutes. I had attempted everything I knew before the time
finally ran out.

Careers360: What were your strong and weak areas?


How did you prepare and what special efforts did you put
for improving your weak areas?
Maulik Gandhi: My strong areas were Quantitative
Ability and Data Interpretation. My weak areas were Logical

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

Reasoning and Decision Making. For these two areas, I practiced as much as I could. I solved more number of LR sets of
different types and took more time to answer the DM questions. It is also important to manage your time well as you
dont want to leave questions unanswered.

Careers360: What is your advice for the MBA aspirants who will take XAT 2015?
Maulik Gandhi: Practice and Self-belief are the most
important things during the last 4 months of XAT. There will
be times when you will be under immense pressure; do not let
the pressure trouble you, channelize it positively. Do stress
relieving exercises, watch sports on TV, and take walks in the
gardens. Never give up!

Careers360: How important are recreational activities for you? Were you involved in any of the activities
besides preparing for the exam?
Maulik Gandhi: As the head of the trekking club of my
college, I organized various treks to Sahyadri Ranges in
Maharashtra. I used to take walks daily in my colony. A stroll
in the local mall would help me gather my thoughts. Recreational activities are very important to me as I believe that for
every important problem that needs to be tackled, you should
tackle it with a calm mind. If not acted upon well, too much
pressure would ultimately lead to failure.

18

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

XAT Topper Interviews

How Ancy Varghese secured admission offers from 10 top B-school


including 7 IIMs, XLRI, MDI

ncy Varghese cracked XAT 2014 and CAT 2013 with


impressive scores to get final admission offers from
top B-schools. She however chose XLRI Jamshedpur
over other top B-schools like IIM Kozhikode, 6 new IIMs,
MDI Gurgaon and SIBM-Pune to pursue her MBA dreams.

I decided to pursue an MBA programme where not only


will I be exposed to different aspects and functions of business and management but I will also be having the opportunities to explore the practical aspect.

In this interview with Careers360, Ancy who secured 99.38


percentile in XAT 2014 describes the importance of knowing all about the exam first and later developing a strategy
accordingly. She also shares her techniques of improvising
General knowledge and how besides reading newspapers
and books, one can excel in the General Awareness section
of XAT.

Careers360: Apart from XAT 2014, which other MBA


entrance exams did you appeared in and how was your
performance?

Read how Ancy tackled the most important section of XAT.

Careers360: What motivated you to pursue MBA?


What do you aspire for?

Ancy Varghese: The nitty-gritties of the corporate world,

the management and the entire flow had caught my interest.


As I try to understand it more, the more I want to delve in.
The interest has come too far from its nascent stages to let go.
Having obtained reasonably adequate technical skills from
my graduation period, I found myself with two choices- One
which was to join the company I was placed in and understand the intricacies of management, and the second was the
route to an MBA programme that meets my requirements in
a concentrated, focussed and time bound fashion.

19

Ancy Varghese: Apart from XAT, I appeared in CAT,


SNAP and NMAT, and scored 98.86, 99.92 percentile and
212 respectively. If compared to my preparations, I was satisfied with my performance.
Careers360: Which other B-schools made final
admission offers to you, and also why did you select
XLRI Jamshedpur?
Ancy Varghese: IIM Kozhikode, 6 New IIMs, MDI and
SIBM-Pune made final admission offers to me. Selecting the
best among all for my MBA programme was easy. I zeroed
down to XLRI because of its reputation, pedagogy and the
small batch size.
Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for

XAT 2014?

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Ancy Varghese: My focus mainly was to improve my

General Awareness and for that I began to prepare from the


month of November. This helped me with GDs and the PIs
at the latter stage.

Careers360: Do you think coaching or mentoring is

important to crack XAT or any other MBA entrance


tests?

Ancy Varghese: For an aspirant who is not aware of these


exams, coaching classes do help in getting the person accustomed to the format and the other approaches required. So
it is important to understand what the exam is about, how to
crack it, the exam pattern etc., so you can develop a successful strategy and then prepare for the entrance exams.

Careers360: How did you manage XAT preparation

schedule along with your graduation studies?

Ancy Varghese: I enjoyed studying Quantitative Ability


because I was a B. Tech student and was very much familiar
with the pattern and questions. General Awareness was an
area which required much attention in my case. So I made
sure I was updated with the recent happenings around the
globe through newspapers, blogs, and discussions with the
peers.

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

month. Besides just reading newspapers and books, following whats going around the world is the best source of
information.

Careers360: What were your strong and weak areas?


How did you prepare and what special efforts did you put
for improving your weak areas?
Ancy Varghese: Verbal Ability was both my strength and

weakness. Practice and continuous exposure through reading helped me with VA. Following information available on
various websites like Vocabulary.com helped in understanding the application aspect of VA and made it a strong section
of the XAT exam.

Careers360: What is your advice for the MBA aspirants who will take XAT 2014?
Ancy Varghese: Along with preparing for the written

examination, it is equally important to start preparing for


the GD-PI component of the admission process. This should
ideally start during November and one should at least be
aware of the happenings of minimum past one year along
with the future projects in and around the world.

Careers360: Please share your preparation strategy


for the Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and
Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning separately.
Ancy Varghese: Being an engineer, I did not have to work
much on QT though I solved few questions from QT books.
But verbal was a main concern for which I used Barrons
religiously. Consciously looking for words, associating them
with what I had learnt or prepared and revisiting them again
and again helped me with Verbal Ability. I used to play games
on Vocabulary.com which was both fun and educative.

Careers360: How did you plan and work for Decision


making and General Awareness section of the paper?
Ancy Varghese: I used to follow the General Awareness
threads available on various websites. Apart from that, I used
to read blogs and articles on the internet and had subscribed
to Civil Services Chronicles to keep myself updated. Year
books also helped me in with my preparations in the last

20

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

A Career is a Life

XAT Trends Over 10 Years and Preparation Tips

AT or Xavier Aptitude Test is the second most popular


MBA entrance exam after CAT. Conducted by XLRI
Jamshedpur, the scores of XAT are accepted by 123
B-schools. Its definitely one of the top choices of MBA
entrance exams among the aspirants. The exam is taken by
around 90,000 candidates.
The exam is also known for its high difficulty level and
its dynamic exam pattern. If you are all set to take XAT for
the admission in next academic year, which is scheduled on
Sunday, January 4, 2015, knowing the past 5 years in depth
analysis and trends will enhance your preparation.
The XAT 2015 Convenor Dr. Munish Thakur mentions
that the XAT 2015 exam pattern is expected to change. However, the details of the exam pattern have not been declared
yet apart from the fact that the duration would be 3 hours and
the sections would be Quantitative Ability, English Language
& Logical Reasoning, Decision Making and General Knowledge and Essay Writing.
XAT as an exam keeps changing its pattern and moulding itself according to the needs of the time and the kind of
students the institutes look for. According to Prof. Vishwa
Ballabh, Admission Chairperson, XLRI Jamshedpur, XLRI
believes in change hence it does not follows a static pattern.
For e.g. last year XAT had re introduced General Awareness
section as the institute believes that a good manager should

not only have good knowledge on their domain but should


also be aware of the current happenings around him or her.
XAT is one of the most versatile MBA entrance exams
where each year there is some or the other surprise in store
for the test takers in terms of the exam pattern. Only one
thing has remained constant, which is the mode of conduct
of the exam. XAT is conducted in the traditional paper and
pencil format while the other exams like CAT, MAT, CMAT,
ATMA and IRMA (Issues of Social Concern) have modified
into computer based format. This article will give you the
trends and analysis of the past 10 years and preparation tips.

The following table will give you the trend and difficulty level of the paper for the past 10 years.
Year

Sections

Number
of Questions

Duration

Difficulty
Level

2014

Verbal & Logical Ability Decision Making Quantitative Ability & Data
Interpretation General Awareness

28+24+31+20 = 103

3 hours

Tough

2013

Verbal & Logical Ability, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability &


Decision Making, General Awareness

30+25+36+30 = 121

3 hours

ModerateTough

2012

Quantitative Ability, English Language Ability & Logical Reasoning,


Decision Making

28+32+25 = 85

2 hours
30 minutes

Tough

2011

Verbal Reasoning & Logical Reasoning, Analytical Reasoning &


Decision Making, Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability Logical
Analysis of an argument

34+24+43 = 101

2 hours 20
minutes

Tough

21

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

A Career is a Life

Year

Sections

Number
of Questions

Duration

Difficulty
Level

2010

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning &


Decision Making, Verbal & Logical Ability

34+24+43 = 101

2 hours
20 minutes

Tough

2009

Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability, Verbal & Logical Ability,


Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making

38+35+31 = 104

2 hours
20 minutes

Tough

2008

Verbal & Logical Ability, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making,


Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability

38+38+44 = 120

2 hours
20 minutes

Tough

2007

Quantitative Ability, Reasoning & Decision Making Ability, Verbal


Ability

49+40+41 = 130

2 hours
20 minutes

Tough

2006

Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation & Reasoning, Quantitative Ability

40+43+44 = 127

2 hours
20 minutes

Tough

2005

Reasoning & Quantitative Ability, General Awareness,


Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

75+35+65 = 175

2 hours
20 minutes

Moderate

As you can see, the sections, number of questions and even


marking scheme vary year by year. The General Awareness
section which was a part of the XAT exam till 2005 was
removed and again added in the year 2012. Essay Writing
section was introduced in the year 2008. While the pattern
was slightly changed in the year 2011 (Logical Analysis of an
argument), it went back to its previous pattern in the next
year itself.
The nomenclature and combination of the sections and
areas have varied according to the years as well. A close look
at the above table will give you the names and the combinations of the sections and areas.

Marking Scheme

As per the past few years XAT marking scheme, there is 1


mark for each correct answer and negative marking. Till
2010, XAT followed a progressive marking scheme. Progressive marking scheme refers to 0.20 marks for first 5 incorrect
answers in each section and 0.25 marks for each incorrect
answer thereafter.
Till 2009, the progressive marking scheme followed the
pattern of for first 6 wrongs & thereafter.
Till 2007, the scheme included 1/3 for the first 5 wrong
answers in each section, after that.
Till XAT 2005, there was 1/3 negative marking.
Now let us have a look at the section wise syllabus, question

22

topics and general analysis which you can expect for XAT
2015.

Verbal & Logical Ability

This section has two types of questions, Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability or English Usage. This section
also contains logical, critical and analytical reasoning questions. The English Usage questions are on grammar and
vocabulary.

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

The topics of the questions in this section are as follows:


n

Arithmetic

Algebra

Mensuration

Geometry

Trigonometry

Permutation Combination

Higher Math

Decision Making

The questions of this section appear in caselets and test your


interpretative, calculative and logical skills.

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General Awareness

You can expect the following topics for the General Awareness section:
n

Business

Sports

Economy

Politics

Trade

International bodies

The above mentioned topics are not exhaustive, but inclusive of all the plausible areas under the broad areas of politics, economy and society.

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

preferable one business daily. Regularly watch news bulletins to stay updated with the current affairs. For static GK,
read yearbooks of reputed publications.
For the essay writing section, practice is the key. The duration of the essay writing is 20 minutes. The topics of XAT
essay is mostly inferential in nature and not direct, for e.g.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of
riches; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of
miseries (XAT 2009) and Earth provides enough to satisfy
every mans need but not every mans greed (XAT 2010).
A lot of reading will be required along with logical thinking
ability to tackle the essay writing section. Write at least 1
essay everyday by assigning 20 minutes time slot. After reading the topic, arrange your thoughts and jot down the points
and elaborate them accordingly. Furnish your essay with lot
of examples, facts and figures to add credibility. Last but not
the least, keep your essay crisp and to the point and avoid
beating around the bush.

Preparation Tips for XAT

If you have taken or taking CAT or are preparing for other


MBA entrance exams, then your preparation is almost done.
The syllabus of the exams for the basic sections like Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation, Reasoning and General
Awareness is almost the same.
Kamlesh Sajnani, MD, IMS Learning says, Apart from
the common sections in CAT, XAT additionally assesses
Decision Making and General Awareness type of questions.
The preparation for XAT will therefore require you to get
oriented to these question types. He also adds, Take 4 to 5
mock tests for XAT and analyze the same to thoroughly get
acquainted to the test structure and the type of questions.
However, the Quantitative section is more logical than direct.
Hence conceptual clarity is very important.
For XAT, your language skills are very important as the
exam pattern has more weight on the RC and has an exclusive section on essay writing. As Sandeep Manudhane,
Chairman, PT Education puts it, The XAT tests you much
more intensely on the language part and since that happens
on a paper-pencil mode, one really gets checked (long passages, for a start).
General Awareness is a section which you cannot complete
the preparation in few days. It is a continuous process. Vinayak Kudva, Product Head, IMS Learning says, GK preparation should be a continuous process. The basic and the
easiest way of preparation is to read at least 2 newspapers,

23

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A Career is a Life

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

Expert tips on How to crack XAT

autam Puri, Vice President, Career Launcher guides


XAT aspirants on the exam pattern and shares preparation tips for the coveted exam. The entrance to
some of the most revered B-Schools in India, which include
XLRI and XIMB, the Xaviers Aptitude Test or XAT, is a far
cry from CAT, and in fact from any entrance examination
for that matter.
Apart from being a pen and paper exam (a fast vanishing
medium of exam taking), XAT is also one of the most difficult
B-School entrance exams to crack. If a student is appearing
for XAT, he/she needs to focus on General Awareness also
and he/she should be well-versed with decision making. A
student must also hone his writing skills, for he will have to
write an essay along with the objective type questions.
The exam has roughly 90-100 questions on English, Quantitative Aptitude, LR-DI and Decision Making. General
Awareness was also included last year. This year, this part is
supposed to be completed in 150 minutes. There will be a test
on Essay writing also to be done in 20 Minutes. The number
of questions is distributed evenly between the sections, with
the Quantitative Ability section usually carrying a slightly
larger section of the pie. The distribution of questions in last
years XAT is as follows:

24

SECTION

NO OF QUESTIONS

A: Verbal Ability

30

B: Decision Making

25

C: Quantitative Ability and Data


Interpretation

36

The paper has sectional cut-offs decided on the marks


scored by all the students. The difficulty level is also at least
a few notches higher than that of most exams. And with the
inclusion of the General Awareness section this year in the
main examination, unlike in the previous year when it was
clubbed with the essay section, for which another additional
30 minutes were allotted, the first-timers might feel overwhelmed. Moreover in North India, the winter chill has no
intentions of making it any easier for the students.
The marking scheme is most likely to be similar to that of
last year, with all questions carrying equal marks and a penalty of 25% of the marks allotted to the question for every
wrong answer. Though XAT has gone with a differential
marking scheme in the past, there are little chances that it
might be repeated this year.
However, the picture is not all that dismal. There are ways
to beat the examination blues this winter. For cracking the

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Quantitative Ability section of XAT, frequently regarded


as one of the toughest quantitative ability sections in any
B-School entrance examination, it is absolutely vital for you
to get familiar with the kind of questions which make their
presence felt in XAT.
You need to pick your questions wisely, for unlike some
examinations where the imperative is on doing as much as
possible, XAT demands you to attempt the question paper
as efficiently as possible. Same is the case with the Decision Making and the Verbal Ability sections. Since questions are many and time is of essence, not to mention the
hiked difficulty levels, someone completely oblivious to the
examination pattern might be caught unawares. So, it is very
important that you rigorously solve the actual XAT examination papers at least from the previous five years (one paper in
every 3 days including proper analysis of the same). This will
improve your ability to adapt to XATs type of questions.
Moreover, it will help if you try to attempt the examination
papers with a timed approach, for this will help you gauge
the level to which the time constraint multiplies the difficulty, enabling you to make any changes in your approach,
if required.
Another way to ensure that you do well in XAT is to lay
stress on the Decision Making section, a section unique to
XAT. It carries a sectional cut-off and also can be useful in
improving the overall score. Apart from looking up questions

25

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

in the previous years papers, you can go to the Harvard Business Review website (http://hbr.org/) and read sample cases
to enhance your knowledge and also to arch your thinking in
a way to facilitate better reasoning.
Though the General Awareness section will not be included
in determining the percentiles and the cut-offs in the first
stage of the selection process, it still is paramount. This
time, the General Awareness section will eat into your main
examination time unlike in the previous years, wherein it was
clubbed with the essay section following the main examination and was a separate 30-minute test. Keeping abreast
with the latest happenings in the business world will help
your chances of scoring big in this section.
Practicing essays are crucial to doing well in the essay section, for writing a coherent, crisp 200-word essay in 20-30
minutes is by no means a cakewalk. The evaluators not only
look for language skills, but also for the thought process
involved, the spectrum of ideas, and your knowledge pertaining to the topic at hand. Having a fair knowledge of the
contemporary topics will give you an edge. So reading newspapers, especially the editorial columns, is highly advised.
To sum up, XAT surely is difficult but not impossible to
crack. With only about less than a month to go for the D-day,
paucity of time becomes the natural enemy. So, the next 10
odd days will decide who all get left out and who all emerge
victorious.

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

XAT Last Minute Tips and Tricks

istamind CEO ARKS Srinivas shares last minute tips


for XAT aspirants in this column. While it is a sham to
give last minute tips for an exam for which one has to
prepare seriously for more than 3 months if not more, here is
an attempt made to only focus on those issues that may make
a last minute difference to the outcome of the exam.

The exam will immediately be followed by 20 minutes of


essay writing making the total examination duration to be
2 hrs 50 min. Please note that there is no break between the
exam and essay writing. As per the instructions on the hall
ticket, the exam is from 10:30 PM to 1:00 PM and essay is
from 1:03PM to 1:23PM.

Some important facts

Also, there is less likelihood of differential marking (as per


the last years pattern), while that cannot be ruled out!

XAT is a 2.5-hour exam this year with four sections (as given
in the website)
n

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

Decision Making & Logical Reasoning

Verbal & Reading Comprehension

General Awareness

26

Strategy for XAT

XAT is more and more becoming like the CAT of yesteryears.


It has about 90+ questions (this time it could be closer to
120) and 2.5 hours of time to crack it.
Many students dont understand that to crack an exam like
XAT, all you need is around 40% of the total marks available.
To add to the fact that there is a difference in the percentile

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levels at which the sectional cut-offs exist, it becomes all the


more easier if one plans the way to attempt the exam.

Recommendations

Leave a buffer time of 15 minutes (out of the total time available) and divide the rest of the time between sections.
Assumption 1: The number of questions is in the range of
25-35 in each section.
Assumption 2: Time available is 150 minutes
Strategy: 45-35-35-15 minutes as per the above four section pattern, with a buffer of 20 minutes
Quantitative Ability:
One should give more time to the Quant and DI sections.
DI in XAT has traditionally been calculation based tables,
charts which would make it easy to solve given sufficient
time.
While there are a few Arithmetic questions, XAT has
always concentrated on higher algebra and higher math
including probability, permutations & combinations and
functions & graphs.
Concentrate on attempting around 18 to 20 questions in
the given 45 minutes and select the right one.
Decision Making Section:
Many a student makes a mess of this section by trying to
attempt too many questions. They appear deceptively easy.
Take your pick and objectively and logically deduce and
decide answers.

27

All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

General Awareness:
Here again, do not attempt too many (unless you are very
sure). Attempt only those that you are very sure of or those in
which you could eliminate choices and come down to a toss
up between two choices.
Verbal & Reading Comprehension
The passages in RC are normally not long. However the
questions are mostly inference based. Hence, decide on the
number of RCs you would attempt. There are quite a few
Verbal Usage, Grammar & Jumbled para questions in XAT.
One has to try reading all questions so that it becomes easier
to leave questions that one is not absolutely sure of.

BUFFER TIME

The last 20 minutes should be used to attempt the section


where you have the best chance of maximizing scores. As
indicated above, the sectional cutoffs are not going to be
more than 30% of the total marks in that section. However,
you have to score around 40% of the total marks in the paper
to get a call.
Note: Whether or NOT the General Awareness section
counts for the final percentile, giving 15 minutes is all a student should give (if there are less than 40 questions).
ARKS Srinivas is CEO of VistaMind Education. Mr. Srinivas who graduated from IIM Calcutta in 1997, carries more
than 15 years of diverse experience in industry, training and
academia.

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All About XAT 2015 How to Prepare & What to Expect

A Career is a Life

Top B-schools Accepting


XAT Scores and Cutoffs

he Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is conducted by XLRI


Jamshedpur. There are 123 B-schools which have
registered as the XAT 2015 participating institutes
which includes the Xavier Associate Management Institutes. Careers360 brings to you the XAT cutoff for the top
B-schools.
XAT is held on the first Sunday of January every year. In
order to know where you stand and what your chances to
get through a top B-School accepting XAT scores, check the
cutoffs in this article.
Here we bring you a list of top B-schools accepting XAT
scores along with their cut off percentiles, Careers360 2014
Rank and Rating. It will also help you prepare for the next
round of selection which includes GD, PI and WAT.

Here we bring you a list of top B-schools accepting XAT


2014 along with their cut off percentiles, Careers360 2014
Rank and Rating. It will also help you prepare for the next
round of selection which includes GD, PI and WAT.
Note: The B-schools are arranged according to their
Careers360 ranks allotted to them in the top B-School
Survey 2014. The ranks of the B-schools which have been
referred as Not Ranked have not participated in the ranking
or were not deemed eligible as per the Careers360 ranking
eligibility criteria. Some B-schools do not have a particular
cutoff score or percentile as they consider the candidate
profile for shortlisting. For them, we have denoted the cutoff
as Not Applicable (NA).

B-School

XAT Cutoff Percentile Careers360 Careers360


Rank
Rating

Xavier Labour & Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur

PGDBM - 94,
PGDM HR - 88

AAAA+

Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad

90

AAAA+

TAPMI, Manipal

86

AAAA

Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB)

95

AAAA

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai

90

AAAA

Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development


and Research, Mumbai

85

13

AAAA

Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore

80

15

AAA+

Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad

50

16

AAA+

IFIM Business School, Bangalore

70

17

AAA+

Amity Business School, Noida

85

18

AAA+

Amrita School of Business

80

19

AAA+

Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM), Pune

NA

20

AAA+

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow

60

21

AAA+

PSG Institute of Management (PSGIM), Coimbatore

75

23

AAA+

ITM Business School

NA

24

AAA+

Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai

65

25

AAA+

28

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A Career is a Life

B-School

XAT Cutoff Percentile Careers360 Careers360


Rank
Rating

School of Communication and Management Studies (SCMS), Cochin

60

26

AAA+

60 + Profile based
shortlisting

28 (KIAMS
Harihar)

AAA+

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida

60

29

NA

Siva Sivani Institute of Management (SSIM), Secunderabad

80

42

NA

Galgotias Business School, Greater Noida

70

45

AAA+

Lovely Professional University (MBA), Phagwara

85

49

AAA

Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management (VJIM), Hyderabad

50

52

AA+

Indus Business Academy (IBA), Bangalore

NA

55

AA+

Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai

90

Not Ranked

AAAA+

Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies (KIAMS),


Harihar & Pune

Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi

85

Not Ranked

AAA+

Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies, Jabalpur

80

Not Ranked

NA

Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Nagpur & Hyderabad

70

Not Ranked

NA

Acharya School of Management, Bangalore

60

Not Ranked

AA

Alliance School of Business, Bangalore

70

Not Ranked

AAA

MYRA School of Business, Mysore

80

Not Ranked

NA

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans Usha &


Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management (BULMIM), New Delhi

80

Not Ranked

NA

Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida

75

Not Ranked

AAA+

Goa Institute of Management

90

Not Ranked

AAAA

Institute for Financial Management & Research (IFMR), Chennai

85

Not Ranked

AAAA+

MICA

NA

Not Ranked

NA

SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai

85

Not Ranked

AAAA+

AIMS, Bangalore

60

Not Ranked

AAA+

University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun

70

Not Ranked

NA

Mody Institute of Technology & Science,


Faculty of Management Studies, Sikar

70

Not Ranked

NA

Asia Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi

50

Not Ranked

NA

KIIT School of Management, Bhubaneswar

85

Not Ranked

AAA

Balaji Institute of Management & HRD (BIMHRD), Pune

70

Not Ranked

AA

Dehradun Institute of Technology (MBA), Dehradun

50

Not Ranked

AA

SRM Institute of Mgmt & Technology, Delhi-NCR Campus, Modinagar

60

Not Ranked

NA

Source: Respective B-School admission officials, websites and B-school reports

However, there is a caveat. The cutoffs of the top B-schools


accepting XAT scores is only an indication of the quality of
students the institutes look for admitting. Apart from the cut
offs there are various criteria for shortlisting and selection

29

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such as past academic records, work experience to name a


few. Hence it cannot be guaranteed that obtaining the cut
off percentile will ensure a call from the B-schools you have
applied.

http://www.bschool.careers360.com

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