XAT Exam Analysis 2021

CAT Quantitative Aptitude

CAT DILR

CAT Verbal Ability

What is XAT?

Xavier Aptitude Test is a national level MBA entrance exam conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur every year, for more than 70 years now. Some of the top colleges that accept XAT scores are XLRI Jamshedpur, Xavier Institute of Management (XIM) Bhubaneshwar, MICA, BITS Pilani, TAPMI, IMT Ghaziabad and 150 others. In terms of difficulty, XAT is considered to be the toughest of all MBA entrance exams, even tougher than CAT.

There is negative marking for every incorrect answer and a penalty of 0.10 marks after 8 unattempted questions. The part 2 of XAT, however, General Knowledge section does not have any penalty

XAT 2021 Analysis:

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT 2021) Exam was conducted on 2nd January 2022 from 09:30 a.m. and 12:40 p.m. XAT Exam Paper Pattern was similar as the previous year. Only one additional section was introduced such as the Essay Writing. The section had 2 topics from that student had to select only 1 topic and write on it. The section had 2 topics among which one topic had to be chosen.

Exam Sections	Number of questions	Overall Time Duration
Part-1	75 Total MCQ’s	165 Minutes
Verbal and Logical Ability	26	No Sectional Time Limit
Decision Making	21	No Sectional Time Limit
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation	28	No Sectional Time Limit
Part-2	25 Total MCQ’s	25 Minutes
General Knowledge (No negative marks)	25
Essay	1
Total questions (Part 1 + Part 2)	101

In the above Part 1 questions had negative marks of 0.25 for every incorrect answer attempted. In addition, there was a penalty of 0.1 mark for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions in a row. XAT Exam Analysis 2022 section wise is as given below:

MBAP's CAT Test Series Mock- Click Here to Know More

It Covers 100 + Full Length Mocks (CAT + All Exams), 150 + Topic Wise Tests (Every Topic Has 3 Level Of Difficulties), Last 10 Years Actual CAT Exam in Mocks, National Percentile with 6 Level Analysis, Study Planner & Remedial Tests.

XAT 2021 Analysis for Part-1

Verbal and Logical Ability Section (26 questions)

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for the Verbal and Logical Ability section was similar to the previous year’s paper. There were total of 14 questions based on Reading Comprehension. The Verbal ability and Verbal Reasoning questions were a fair mix of grammar, vocabulary, and reasoning based questions such as Critical Reasoning, Correct or Incorrect statements and Parajumbles. The Reading Comprehension included passages and also poem based questions.

Area	No. of Q’s	Doable Q’s	Level of Difficulty
Verbal Ability/ Reasoning
Grammatically incorrect sentence	3	2	Moderate
Fill in the blanks	1	1	Moderate
Jumbled Paragraphs	2	1	Moderate
Critical Reasoning	4	2	Difficult
Poem-based Inference	1	1	Moderate
Cloze Passage	1	1	Moderate
Reading Comprehension
RC 1 – How lying differs from bullshitting	3	2	Moderate
RC 2 – A psychologically rich life can be a good life	3	2	Moderate
RC 3 – Stupidity as a cognitive failing	3	1	Moderate
RC 4 – Publicness is as important to progress as sociability or privacy	3	1	Difficult
RC 5 – Poem – Immigrant by Tabish Khair	2	1	Difficult

An overall attempts of about 12-14 questions in this particular section in about 50 to 60 minutes, with high accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

Decision Making (21 questions)

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for the Decision Making section consisted of 21 questions but none of them was based on Quantitative and similar to that of the last years paper. This section had 7 sets and each set had 3 questions. Most of the questions were to test Ethical Dilemma. The sets were easy to read and also short in length. The selection of sets and questions to solve must be depended upon personal preferences and strengths.

Area/Questions	No. of Qs.	Level of Difficulty
Allotment of accommodation to scientists of 3 different seniority levels in a research institute	3	Moderate
Regarding an individual’s use of a vehicle (diesel-based) that is non-compliant with pollution rules	3	Moderate
Regarding recruitment and confirmation of faculty members in an engineering college	3	Moderate
Running a dosa Stall in a hospital	3	Difficult
Regarding school fees payment by financially able parents during the pandemic	3	Moderate
Regarding an assignment submission in a management college	3	Difficult
Regarding the concerns of residents of an island village about how a proposed new bridge connecting their island to the mainland might impact them, business and also ethics	3	Difficult

An overall attempts of about 12-13 questions in this particular section in about 50 to 55 minutes, with high accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (28 questions)

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for the Quantitative Ability section had 4 sets of Data Interpretation and it consisted of 3 questions each. The questions were tricky and it was moderate in terms of the difficulty level. 2 sets of DI also was very calculation intensive. It also had 16 questions based on Quantitative Ability which are given as below.

Topic	No. of Q’s	Doable Q’s
Modern Math	4	2
Arithmetic	1	1
Geometry	2	1
Algebra	1	1
Numbers	8	5
Table	3	2
Bar Graph	3	2
Candlestick	3	1
Line Graph	3	3

An overall attempts of about 16 to 17 questions in this particular section in about 55 to 60 minutes, with high accuracy would be considered a good attempt.

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for Part 2

There was no break in between of both the parts of the Examination.

General Knowledge:

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for the General Knowledge (GK) section consisted of 13 questions based on current affairs and 12 questions based on static GK. Overall, this section was of the same level of difficulty as per the previous year’s exam. Approximately 14 to 15 questions were based upon national events, 7-8 questions were based upon international events and rest on miscellaneous topics. The questions covered a wide range of sub-topics and gave no special advantage to students who like only one particular area of interest.

To maximize the score in this particular section, one should attempt minimum of 14-15 questions seriously. In addition since there was no negative marking in this section, all the remaining questions should also be attempted.

Essay Writing:

XAT Exam Analysis 2021 for the Essay Writing was re-introduced in the XAT Exam. 2 topics were given and from that only 1 was to be answered. The total words need to write was of approximately 250-300 words.

The topics for the essay writing were as follows:

1. Capitalism and democracy follow different logics such as unequally distributed property rights on the one hand, debate, compromise and majority decision-making within democratic politics versus hierarchical decision-making. Therefore, Capitalism and democracy cannot co-exist.

2. In management we do not need people who did not experience setbacks. Such people are highly risk averse. Because B-schools mainly focus on stellar academic achievements during the admissions and the selected students turn out to be average managers.

Overall, XAT Exam Analysis 2021 was similar in the level of difficulty as compared to previous year XAT Exam 2021. The DM Section was on the similar terms with the last year and only few questions in DM section were difficult. The VALR section was slightly more challenging than the previous year XAT 2021.

MBAP's CATalyst Program (CAT + All Exams) - Click Here to Know More

It Covers Basics To Advance Concept Preparation, Daily Doubt Clearing, Non CAT Exams, Test Series & College Specific WAT GDPI Preparation.

Counselling Session

By IIM Mentor

Click Here to Enquire

Enquire Now !!!

Past Year Question Paper & Solutions

Words From Our Students

During my CAT preparation, I enrolled at MBA Pathshala for classroom coaching. Abhijit Sir & Haider Sir guided me through the process of planning & executing the strategies I had to use to succeed in the test. I received regular feedback on my progress during the GD and PI preparations after CAT. I received calls from IIMs, SPJIMR, and MDI. MBAP played a huge role in this, and I cannot thank them enough for their efforts.

MBAP is a great place to prepare for MBA-CET, CAT, and CMAT, and the faculty are unbeatable. Most importantly, they pay personal attention to each student. Most faculty members come from IIMs. One-on-one interaction helped me improve as the exams approached, as well as get calls from IIMs I, S, and all New and Baby IIMs. Interview sessions were very beneficial for me to convert IIM S.

I am glad I chose MBA Pathshala for my MBA coaching. The faculty here is excellent and very competent. If I had any questions or needed extra classes, they always gave me one. I got through my GD-PIs too after the exams with their help. Thanks to MBAP, I was able to pass CAT and other entrance exams. Among others, I received calls from XLRI, XIMB, and IIMs. A few of the colleges I've converted are KJ Somaiya, TAPMI, IIM Sambalpur, and IIM Sirmaur.

MBAP prepared me for GD, WAT, and PI. Abhijit Singh, Haider, and other MBAP faculty provided excellent training. Good knowledge was imparted from the very beginning. Regular mock interviews were conducted. As a former SPJIMR, I would recommend students to join MBAP.

Coaching offers me personalized attention and a competitive environment. Because the preparation was so rigorous, I eventually began to perform at my best. The mock interviews/GD/WATs were conducted by anonymous panels, and it really boosted my confidence. Although I got a call from SCMHRD (SNAP-98.12), Abhijeet sir felt that I should try again and aim for IIM-A/B/C. It has been your pleasure to have been your mentor.

You will get good support from the faculty until you get into a B-School. The shortcut techniques you will learn will be extremely useful. You will be able to resolve doubts at any time. If you plan on taking CAT CET or any other entrance exam, go for MBA Pathshala. With the help of MBAP tutors, I received a call from IMT Ghaziabad.

GMAT prep with MBAP was the best I've ever experienced. With Rohan Kulkarni Sir's Verbal Guidance, I scored 85th percentile in my GMAT exam as I was very weak in English. I always found Haider Sir and Abhijeet to answer my questions and to develop strategies and shortcuts to tackle GMAT problems for me. MBAP is a great option for GMAT and CAT prep.