Mock XAT Analysis

We had a Mock XAT Analysis Webinar on 24^th December 2012.  Due to some technical glitches we are unable to upload the video for the same as was done for other webinars. We apologize for any apprehension that might have been caused because of this delay.

Therefore, we are posting this analysis here. This post is basically aimed at how one should have attempted each section of the paper to clear the cutoffs.

English Language Ability and Logical Reasoning:

 The section consisted of 32 questions containing a total of 35 marks. The section had a few questions on vocabulary and grammar but the focus (as is also true for XAT) was on testing reading comprehension and critical reasoning skills. An attempt of about 14 marks (with 80% accuracy) in about 40 minutes could have been targeted for this section. Q.27, 32, 33, 50, 53, 54, 38, 40, 43 and 44 were of easy-moderate level of difficulty and could have been attempted. Q.28, 39, 41, and 51 were tough and could have been left.

Decision Making:

The section consisted of 25 questions containing a total of 30 marks. The section comprised questions based on case-lets. An attempt of about 16 marks (with 80% accuracy) in about 40 minutes could have been targeted for this section. . Q.1, 2 8, 18,19 and 20 were of easy-moderate level of difficulty and could have been attempted. Q.9, 10, 11 and 21 were tough and could have been left.

Quantitative Ability:

This section of the paper consisted of 28 questions with a total of 35 marks. As far as difficulty level is concerned, it was on higher side as compared to XAT 2012. There were quite a few sitters in the paper and spotting them was the key to clear the cutoff. The data sets on Pie Chart and Bar Chart contained easy questions (Q.63, 64, 73 and 74) and these could have been attempted. One of the two (Q.69) questions of the Data Sufficiency was easy and could have been attempted. Most of the questions pertaining to Permutation and Combination, Probability and Geometry were difficult in nature. To score high one should have attempted majority of the questions in Arithmetic (Q. 65, 66, 67 and 70) and a few from Algebra (Q. 81 and 82). Though Q. 82 contained humongous data but it could have been attempted. Cutoff for this section should be 7-8 marks. In sixty minutes a 12+ score should be a very good score.

The overall level of difficulty of this test was moderate- tough. Ideally, one should have devoted 40 minutes each to first two sections and sixty minutes to third section.  Overall cut off for this paper should be close to 27. One should thoroughly analyze his or her performance in the mock and should identify the scoring areas for the real XAT. One should apportion time in actual XAT as indicated for this paper.

Mock XAT Paper and solutions can be downloaded from here.

All the best