The XAT is one of the two big fishes when it comes to pursuing an MBA in India. The other is obviously the CAT. With less than a month to go for XAT 2021, how should one take their first step on the way into XLRI? What are the insights needed to nail every section of the XAT? Read on and find out!
The XAT is a shot at redemption for many CAT Aspirants looking to get into the excellent B-School that is XLRI. Whatever happened, happened.
Do not waste time looking at multiple websites and their percentile predictors. What you need to be doing is focusing all your energy and efforts into the remaining MBA exams such as the XAT, NMAT and GMAT.
You should definitely be looking to leverage your CAT Preparation and the momentum that came with it, in order to crack the XAT. Before we begin, here is a wonderful article that provides you with all the details (including the exam pattern) and important dates for the XAT. Do give it a read!
Looking back at XAT 2020’s new clause
In XAT 2020, if a candidate left more than a certain number of questions, every additional question was penalized with a certain amount of negative marking (-0.1). I want to quickly state that this clause should not matter, and should not affect your strategy at all. If you do not know a question then you should definitely NOT attend it.
It is better to bear the -0.1 than the -0.25 for the wrong answer.
Overall Strategy for XAT 2021
The XAT has no overall sectional timings. I don’t think it is better to allocate any time limit for a particular section. For example, if you are attempting the Verbal Section (which is typically RC heavy), it is better to do RC 1, 2, 3 than attempt just 1 RC, then do a bunch of Quant Problems and then jump to BDM.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think it is better to attempt every section as a standalone section BUT keep in mind that you have the freedom to switch between the sections whenever you want.
Set 45-50 minutes for every section. Don’t get it too close and keep it 55 minutes per section. The total time is 165 minutes (excluding GK). This buffer time will help you manage your time effectively and allow for spilling over if needed.
I used to start with what I considered as my strongest section. Why?
1. I felt confident. The exam jitters and swirling thoughts were not conducive to my attempt. I wanted to feel good when I started the exam, so I used to start with Verbal, which was my strongest section. For you, it could be Quant or BDM. Whichever you feel comfortable with (if it happens to be BDM, then more power to you :P).
2. By the time you’ve gone to the section that you are not comfortable with (BDM anyone?), you can take comfort in the fact that you already have one section in the bag. That boost helps a lot.
Sectional Strategies for the XAT
Verbal Ability Section:
The XAT calls it “Verbal And Logical Ability”. Don’t misconstrue this section for the DILR Section of the CAT. In terms of similarities, the Verbal Section for both the XAT and CAT is very RC heavy. Out of 26 questions, around 14 questions were from RCs in XAT 2020.
It might interest you to know that there was a poem in XAT 2020 with 2 questions. You don’t want to waste your time figuring out what the poem means so feel free to skip it.
The Logical Ability part of this section is called the “Critical Reasoning” Section in the XAT. Those of you who are preparing for the GMAT/GRE should be familiar with this. Definitely focus on this and try to crack this as much as you can. If you have prepared well for this, it should be easier to come to an answer that you are sure of, as compared to answering the RC Questions.
Critical Reasoning Questions are of the type that wants you to understand whether a statement weakens or supports the author’s arguments. Recently, CAT 2020 tested this type within their RCs, even going to the extent of employing double negatives. All these types of questions already account for 20 out of 26 questions within the Verbal Section.
Coming to Vocabulary, XAT 2020 had 2 questions testing it in the form of ‘fill in the blanks’. They weren’t outlandishly tough and could be answered if you understood the context of the question. Definitely do NOT prepare extensively for Vocabulary. Word lists, flashcards and the like aren’t going to cut it.
The only thing that helps is Reading.
Reading daily helps build your functional vocabulary, intuitive understanding of the syntax of the language and overall command of the language.
Check out Bharath’s Curated Reading List for your daily reading needs.
The grammar part of this section is not one that I would recommend attempting, unless you’re a linguistic whiz. You do NOT need to learn some obscure grammar rules and break your head. All you need to do is read.
The remaining 2 questions are parajumbles which are relatively easier in the XAT compared to the CAT. You can plug and play in order to get the answer.
If you are very strong in Verbal overall, throw all this out the window if you must and attempt everything you feel like attempting. Have a blast within reason. 🙂
Business Decision Making Section:
Coming to the elephant in the room, the one and only BDM Section. Right off the bat, I am going to tell you there isn’t a solid set of rules you need to follow, although a practical framework can take you places within this section.
This section aims to test your ability as a manager.
It will give you situations that occur in a company, where A did something and B responded in an XYZ way. As the manager C, how would you respond (where you have to choose between options)?
The preparation strategies and frameworks for this section are too vast to include within this already comprehensive article, so head on over here and peruse that wonderful article that delves into XAT BDM Preparation in detail.
Definitely do NOT keep the BDM Section for the end. Keep it sandwiched between the other sections.
Quant Section:
This section has both Quantitative Ability Questions and Data Interpretation Questions. There are 28 Questions in total, where 6 questions are from DI and the rest from Quant.
The Quant portion of the QADI Section of the XAT is not too different from the CAT. It is dominated by Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. These make up for 70-80% of the paper. However, do prepare yourself for a few curveballs and a few freakishly difficult questions thrown at you. Feel free to skip out on Number Theory Questions but definitely focus on the rest.
There is one strategy for Quant that I have followed repeatedly due to its efficacy. I tend to recommend this to everyone I come across. IF you already have a preferred strategy, do follow that by all means.
What I always do in the Quant part of the section, is that I attempt the section in rounds.
The number of rounds depends on the paper and how well you have prepared for this section.
Round 1: I go through the section and attempt ONLY the super easy questions which I can solve under a minute. The definition of ‘super easy’ is subjective, as mentioned in the aforementioned paragraph. The idea behind this is you get all these questions already in the bag. You do NOT want to miss out on these questions.
Even if you solve only 2 questions in this round, don’t let that deter you. Be happy with the fact that you have gotten the easy questions out of the way.
Round 2: This round will comprise questions which you are comfortable answering. The easy to medium difficulty questions.
Round 3: Look for topics you are comfortable with in this round. Medium to difficult questions in topics you are comfortable with are ones to definitely attempt. Even 1-2 would help you a lot.
Onto the Data Interpretation part of the QADI Section. The DI part of XAT has not been as difficult as the DI Part of CAT. Some of the DI questions are very easy and are just calculation-heavy. You do not have an on-screen calculator in XAT, so you have to deal with the numbers and percentages on the rough pad that you are provided with.
If you end up leaving the DI section due to the lack of time, your Quant scores should make up for the entire section’s cutoff due to the QA and DI being clubbed together in one section. However, do look to solve a few questions from DI. Definitely try it out.
General Knowledge Section:
Obviously the CAT does not have a counterpart for this section like the XAT. Perhaps the point where the threads connect would be the “current affairs” part of the GK Section, where the former comes into play within the GD PI.
The GK Section is often lost amongst the time allotted to preparing for XAT. It often feels as though everyone has forgotten about it in the midst of worrying about the BDM Section or the Quant Section.
Remember, your GK Scores become relevant in the last step of your admission, when there is a tie between candidates. GK is also an important part of your GD PI Preparation in the CAT, and is also useful for exams such as SNAP or IIFT. So let us jump in and explore XAT GK Preparation.
Definitely read well, be aware of news around the world and your country as much as you can.
There are 25 questions in the GK Section and within this, 8-10 questions are Current Affairs Questions. You don’t have to read papers cover to cover, but following the major events around the world can help you breeze through the Current Affairs Section.
There is also a static section within GK, where questions of the type: Which person was a PM during this xyz year? There’s no way you can answer these questions unless you know it, so don’t bother going through countless GK books and devoting too much time to this section.
GK does not have negative marking. Definitely devote your time to the other sections, but don’t miss out on the GK Section completely. You could get a few questions right even by probability! 😛
GK only becomes important during the final selection stage, when there is a tie in candidate selection. There is no sectional cutoff for GK either. The scores aren’t used in your percentile either. Remember, you can still get into XLRI by nailing all other sections, and having an average GK Score, so don’t spend too much time preparing for it.
You should be alright if you know what’s happening around you for the past 6 months. Definitely read up about the pandemic. Such events that have planet-wide ramifications are definitely important for the GK Section.
A Final Note
Definitely look to writing this exam and giving yourself a backup apart from CAT. For important dates and details regarding XAT 2021, go here. Watch the full video on XAT 2021 Preparation here.
Stay Safe, and Best Wishes for XAT.
This piece was contributed by Agastya Ramesh, XLRI BM Almunus.
Written by Saahil R Bhatt.
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