Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) 2013

Januar y 06, 2013

SUBJECTIVEANALYSIS
CATv/stheXAT
Academicallyandexperientially,threethingsmakeXATeminentlyabetterexaminationascomparedtotheIIMCAT. 1 . 2 . TheXATisdesignedbeautifully.Itismoreholistic(becauseoftheEssayandtheGK)ascomparedtotheCAT.Acandidate reallyneedstodoa360degreespreparation. TheXATisapaperbasedtest,andconductedonasingleday.Thishelpsitretaintheoldworldtouchofacompetitivetest, withhundredsorthousandsateachtestvenue,unlikethetotallyfizzledoutfeelonegetswhilewritingtheIIMCAT(10or 20peopleinaslotsittinginacomplab).ThecrowdatXATvenuesmakesabigdifferencetoacandidatesmindset,and perhaps,isinstrumentalinbringingoutthebestinmany. TheDecisionMakingsection,whichtrulystandsapartinitsmeritofjudgingwhattesttakersreallybelievein(thevalue systemsstuff,andcommonsenseetc.)

3 .

TalkingofXAT2013 Theymodifiedthepatternonceagain,andremovedallthedifferentialscoringacrosssections.Thismusthavemadethingsalot easierwhilestrategizingatthebeginningofthetest.Sinceallquestionscarryequalmarks,theSSSStechniquecanbeapplied directlyScanandSearchfortherelativelyeasyones,Selectthem(andmarkwithapenorpencil),andSolvethem.Doitasecond timeforthesecondroundoftougherquestions.Andsoon. TheXAT2013wasintwoparts: Part1AptitudeTest140minutescoveredthreesections:VerbalandLogicalAbility,Decisionmaking,QuantitativeAbilityand DataInterpretation Part2GeneralKnowledgeandtheEssay. SeparateOMRsheetswereprovidedforboththestages,somaybethescoreswillbeusedseparately.Nosuretythough! FIRSTPART APTITUDETEST SectionA.VerbalandLogicalAbility(30questions12EU/VA,18RC) Difficultylevel:Tough. Wasabrilliantlydesignedsetofquestionsthatcheckedthreeskills: 1 . 2 . 3 . Areyouaregular,seriousreaderinEnglishlanguage? Doyoupayattentiontothesmallthingsthatmatter? Doyouthinkandanalysefactsandfigureswhenyouread,andhaveyouropinion? The12questionsinEnglishUsage/Verbalweredesignedwithalotofthought. Thefillintheblankquestionswerequitetricky.Withfiveblanksineachquestion,mostlybasedonarticles(a,an,the),onlythose withamplereadingpracticecouldhaveattemptedthemsafely!Questionsbasedongrammarandparajumbleswerestraightforward, butindeedrequiredhigherthannormallanguageskills,forsure!Reasoningquestionsweretough. TheRCpassagesfourinnumberwerefromthemesasdiverseasthelawsofKarma,Scientificmeasurementandestimation systems,Freemarketcapitalism,andScientificbeliefsandverification/falsification.Asonecansee,thesearenoteasythemes thatanyonecanattemptofftheshelf.TheXATrepeatedlyremindsitscandidatesthatifyouhavenotbeenseriouswithlearning thelanguageoverseveralyears,youwontgetthroughtheportalseasily.InseveralquestionsinRC,theuseofwordslikeimplies thatandarguablyetc.madethingsmoredifficultaspersonalinterpretationcomesintoplay.Inall,18questionsinRCgavethe seriousreaderagoodchancetosurgeahead. Youshouldgetatleast1012correctinthissectiontostandafairchanceatXLRI.Cutofftablegivenattheend also.
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SectionB.DecisionMaking(25questions) Difficultylevel:Moderatetotough. Howdoesamanagerorbusinessleaderworkinreallife?Withallfactsathis/herdisposal?Orwithhalffactsandhalftruths?More likely,thelatterversionreflectstherealworldssubjectivereality.AndtheDecisionMakingsectionofXATpreciselychecksthis nuancedabilitytolookbetweenthelines(yes,yes,readalsowilldo),andgobeyondtheobvious.AlittlebitofGK,alittletouch ofcommonsense,somemaths,andalotofluckissurelyagoodcombinationtocrackmostoftheDMquestions. Asexpected,thequestionsforcedthestudentstotrymakingpracticaldecisionsorchartaspecificcourseofaction.Thesection thisyearhadagoodnumberofmathematicalquestionstoo.Manyquestionsreflectedthehappeningsinourcorporateand nationallife,inrecenttimes.Sothatmadeitslightlyeasytoputaquestionincontext.CommonsensequestionsliketheBankof Bharatlosingcustomersyetimprovingitssharepricecheckastudentspresenceofmind,andreadingspan(ET,etc.).Questions onprobabilitywereinterestingandnoteasy.Somequestionswereverylengthy,makingthemunwieldy.TheseweretheRCtype cases/caselets,againreinforcingthebeliefthatXATreallywantsyoutobegoodatreadingspeedandcomprehension(ok,ok, thatsthelasttimewesayit). Youshouldgetatleast810correctinthissectiontostandafairchanceatXLRI.Cutofftablegivenattheendalso. SectionC.QuantitativeAbilityandDataInterpretation(36questions) Difficultylevel:Easytomoderate. ThiswastheeasiestofthethreesectionsinAptitudetest.IfyouhavepreparedfortheCATthoroughly,thenthissectionwasvery doable.ThetopicswereallstandardArithmetic,Geometry,Statistics,Numbersystem,Algebra,P&CandProbability,Settheory, andofcourse,DIcaselets.Itisimportanttousetheeliminationofoptionstechniquetoimproveyourchances.Thisissomething wehavestresseduponinallourPercentileBoosterSessionsalso. Thegoodpartinthissectionwasthatidentifyingthespeedbreakerswaseasy.Theyshouldhavebeenreallyavoided.Spotting theeasyonesandattemptingtheminthefirstroundisveryimportant.Itbuildyourconfidenceasyoumovethroughthesection. TheDIquestionslookedlongandcomplex,butwereeasyifthegraphsweredecipheredwithsomeeffort. Youshouldgetatleast15correctinthissectiontostandafairchanceatXLRI.Cutofftablegivenattheendalso. SECONDPART GKANDESSAYTEST GeneralAwareness/GK/CurrentAffairs Difficultylevel:Moderate. Theexamineristryingtojudgethefollowingthings:AreyoureallyawareofwhatthecorporateworldinIndiaisupto?Doyouhave ideaofthescaleandscopeofwhatcorporateandorganizationsdo?DoyouknowthatthereisaworldgatheringcalledWEF?Do yourealizethatbigcompaniesarelistedinarankingcalledFortune500?Areyougenerallyawareofthematerialandsocial challengesthatpolicymakersface?DoyouknowwhatGDPreallymeans,andhowitisbrokenupinto3majorcomponents?Areyou awareofthemajorabbreviationsandacronymsinusepresently?Areyouintheloopregardingmajorpoliticalandsocioeconomic movementsinIndia,andaroundtheworld?Ifyouareaskedtowritethetop10sociopoliticaleconomicheadlinesoftheworld,will youbeabletodoitcorrectly? Theoptionswereverycloseinmanyquestions.Thestudentshouldhaveverycarefullyeliminatedsomechoicesbeforegoingto therightones.Cautionaquestionmaylookeasy,butthecloselyplacedoptionsmaymakeansweringquitedifficult.Hencetake anextratensecondsbeforejumpingtoconclusions. Thequestionsclearlyprovethatyouneedtopreparefor12monthspriortotheexam,withadailyreadingofatleasttwoEnglish newspapers,underexpertsupervision.Wearehappytosharethatalmost100%ofthequestionsthatappearedinXAT2013GK sectionweredirectlydiscussedinPTclasseswithlotsofexamplesandexplanation.Allthesewerealsouploadedthroughvideos insidethePTSRC.TherigourwithwhichPThascoveredtheGKsectionisabsolutelyunmatched. ThetipsforstudentstargetingXAT2014: 1 . StartreadingTheEconomicTimes,andTheHindurightfromtoday(1hreach) 2 . Tryreadingatleast1businessmagazineregularly. 3 . AttendtheentireLTSseriesofPTtotal8lecturesforgettingasolidgriponmajortopics 4 . BeregularwiththeGKCAsessionsatPTalsorevisebywatchingthevideosonSRC 5 . SolveallthetestsintheSRCputinsidetheGKCAbuilder 6 . Attendalltestspecificrevisionsessions Rememberstudents:Thereisnoalternativetoregularreadingofnewspapers,andregularmentoringbyaprofessionallydesigned courseandsystem. Youshouldgetatleast20correctinthissectiontostandafairchanceatXLRI.Cutofftablegivenattheendalso.
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The Essay CorruptionistherootcauseofeconomicslowdowninIndia200wordsonlyplease:) Whilethetopiclooksprettydirectandsimple,writingameaningfulessayonitwillbefarfromanythingsimple.Areallygoodeffort shouldincludethefollowingideas: DefinitionofwhatCorruptionreallymeans(deviationfromsetpolicies,personalgreed,MahatmaGandhisfamousquote, etc.) Definitionofwhateconomicgrowthratemeans(GDPgrowthrate,qualityofliving,purchasingpower,etc.) Arethetworeallyconnecteddirectlyandindirectly? WhatdoesgrowthratemeantoanaverageIndiancitizen? Isthereanyconnectionbetweeninflation,growthrate,andqualityofdaytodaylife? Examples of leading nations Scandinavian nations, the US, Singapore, Japan, China to probe the relation between CorruptionandGrowthRatefurther Citingtherecentexamplestoillustratehowpolicymakingandbigbusinessmaycolludeattimes,atleastintheeyesofthe mediaandNGOs RoleofMediainexposingsuchpracticesdoesthatslowthingsdownfurther? Roleofanactivejudiciaryandcivilsocietyinexposingandtakingactiononsuchnewsdoesthatfurtherslowthingsdown? Afearpsychosisgrippingthebureaucracyleadingtopolicyparalysis Isbigbusinessandbigdecisionmakingreally,inherentlycorruptionprone? Whatarethedifferencesincorruptpracticesbetweenthecentreandstatelevelbodies? Howdotheanticorruptionbodiesworktheworldover?WhataboutIndiasCAG,CVCetc.? Yoursuggestionstoimprovethesystem(insyncwithyouroveralltoneintheessay)

Asageneralrule,youshouldmakeagoodstartadramaticquoteisalwaysappreciated.Similarly,youshouldendonagoodnote, withasolution,andahintofoptimism. Asyoucansee,thetopiclookseasy,butthequalityofwrittenwordwillvarysignificantly.AtPT,wetriedtocoverallthese conceptsatagreatlengthinourclasses.Wearesuremanyofourstudentsmusthavepiecedtogethertheideasattherighttime. Connectingthedots,aswecallit! OVERALL,adifficulttest,beautifullydesigned,andrequiringthebestofeachcandidate.Pleasegothroughthe restoftheanalysis,andPredictedCutOffs,andandAnswerKeysbelow.

CUTOFFS
Seetableattheend.

AllthebestKarkedikhayenge!

IC : PTpnrXAT2013

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OBJECTIVEANALYSIS
Wepresenthereanobjectiveanalysisof XavierAptitudeTest(XAT) heldonJanuary06,2013in43cities acrossIndiaand2Internationallocations,Dubai,Kathmandu. XAT2013concentratedoncheckingthereadingskillsofstudents.Theverbalabilitysection,decisionmaking section,essaywritingandthenewlyintroducedgeneralawarenesssectionbearatestimonytothat. Manychangeswereintroducedthisyear. First,differentialmarkingwasnotthere,i.e.,allquestionscarriedequalmarksandthetotalnumberofquestions increasedfrom85to91inpartA.So,forastudent,selectionbecameaveryimportantfactor. Second,inthesecondpartofthepaper,30questionsofgeneralawarenesswereintoduced. TheDecisionMakingSectionhadveryfewquestionsfromAnalyticalReasoningandthiswasthetrickiestsection. TheEnglishLanguageAbilityandLogicalReasoningsectionwasofmoderatedifficultylevelandtheQuantitative Abilitysectionwasmanageableandeasyascomparedtolastyear.ThetopicforEssaywritingwasverygeneral. OnehadtomarktheanswersontheOMRsheetwithapenunlikesomeotherexams,wherethemediumof markingispencil.Sotherewasnochanceofchanginganansweratthelastmoment.Thiswasdangerousforthe lesspreparedorfortheonesinajiffy! Thus,thepaperwasfullofsurprises,whichcametolightsectionbysectionin3hrs.

Bir ds Eye View XAT 2013

Total Number of Questions 91 in PartA and 30 in PartB Total Time 180 minutes (140 min for PartA and 40 min for PartB) The Marking Scheme It was mentioned that all questions carry equal marks, and negative marking was 25% Number of Options 5 Sections/Sectional Time Limit Three sections in PartA and Two in PartB Essay Writing Topic Corruption is the root cause of economic slowdown in India Medium of marking Blue or Black pen. Sectional Breakup Part Sections VerbalandLo gicalAbility A DecisionMaking QuantitativeAbilityandDataInterpretation GeneralAwareness B Essay Total 121 Questions 30 25 36 30

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IC : PTpnrXAT2013

Verbal and Logical Ability

This section was of moderate difficulty level. The vocabulary based questions, para jumbles and fill in the blanks were easy. The reading comprehension based questions and logical reasoning questions were slightly difficult. Their options were confusing. The detailed breakup of this section is given below:

Topic LogicalReasoning Grammar ParraJumbles ReadingComprehension Total

No.of Questions 3 6 3 18 30

DifficultyLevel Moderate Easy Easy ModeratetoDifficult Moderate

A score of 10+ can be considered good in this section.

Decision Making
This section was of higher difficulty level. The questions required the skill of prudent and speedy judgement. A score of 8+ can be considered good in this section.

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation

This section was easy. With good selection and speed a student could manage to get a high score. DI sets looked lengthy, with a lot of data, but could be attempted eaily, because the questions did not require lengthy calculations. The detailed breakup of this section is given below:

Topic Arithmetic Geometry Statistics Numbers Algebra PandCandProbability DI SetTheory Total

No.of Questions 5 4 1 5 5 2 13 1 36

DifficultyLevel Easy EasytoModerate Easy Moderate Easy Moderate EasytoModerate Moderate Easy

A score of 15+ can be considered good in this section.

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General Awareness and Essay Writing

These sections were included in the second part of the paper and were easy to moderate. To score high one needed a good reading habbit as the fundamental skill. The essay topic was very general, the GA questions laid importance on current business and economic senario in the country. As observed in previous years, this part of the paper will not be counted in the cutoff while giving calls, but might play a part during GD PI in XLRI. A score of 12+ can be considered good in this section.

EstimatedCutoffs
Sections I II III Topic VAandLA DM QAandDI Total XLRIBM 10+ 8+ 15+ 35+ XLRI PMandIR 8+ 6+ 13+ 30+ XIMB 7+ 5+ 12+ 27+

~Kar ke Dikhayenge~
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ANSWERKEY
Q.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
IC : PTpnrXAT2013

Question VerbalandLogicalAbility Whetherduetohasteordesign.. Ifthereisanyendeavourwhose .. Businessschoolsareideallypositioned.. ..wolf,meetingwith.. batwhofellupon.. Hegot..nextmorning .. Tobeagreatmanagerrequires.. ThetremendousinsightofEinstein.. Economictheoryfailsto explain.. Iwasscarcelyinposition.. Finallyhetookawrongturn .. Aschro niclersofanincrementalprocess.. "Futureexistences"inthe.. Assertion:Themeaningofkarma .. Highersatisfactio nleads.. Temporaryfeelingsand.. Amanagerwentoutothave.. Supposeyouapplythesamelogic.. Quickestimate,asperFermi, .. Givenbelowaresomestatements.. Atomicbombdetonationwasaresult.. Aspertheparagraph,authorbelieves.. Aspertheparagraph,whichofthefollowing.. Accordingtotheauthor,A.GeorgeSoros.. AccordingtotheauthorA.Ideasofcritical.. Theworddeterministic. AccordingtoPopper . Thestatement,"this'asymmetry'. Verificationisbetterthan. Falsificationgivesusan. DecisionMaking Overthelastfive.. Gastricbypasssurgery .. StatementI:Onlinestoreaccounted.. Whatistheprofit/loss.. Whichretailformatis.. Whichretailformatgivesthe .. Isitpossiblefortheteacher.. Threegoodstudentswere.. Studentsfromfoursections.. Thereisalotofinterestin..

C orrect option E B C A D B B B D B C E D A C D C A D D E B D C E D D E D A C A C D B A C C E A
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Q.No. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83
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Question MaratheshouldtransferKale .. Marathesoughtanappointment.. AGovernmentofIndiastudy.. Vardarajandoesno tfindthework.. GiveVardarajanamorechallenging.. Youoverheardaconversation.. People'slatentangeragainst.. Thecommonmanhadbecome.. Mediareportssuggested.. Subsequently,theminister.. Lookingatthepublicunrest.. IfyouwereVijya .. Itwasfoundthatalargesection.. Asapotentialentrant .. Vijyafoundthatthereweremanysuch.. QuantitativeAbilityandDataInterpretation Prof.Mandalwalkstothe.. Atthecentreofacity's.. Mr.Mehraisplanning.. Themeanofsixpositive.. Rameshboughtatotalof .. SarahasjustjoinedFacebook.. Albela,BobandChulbul.. ThetaxisplayinnginWasseypur.. Considertheexpression.. Arunhastotogotothe.. However,Arun'smanagerhastold .. Theradiusofacircle.. Sixplayingcardsare.. 70%ofthestuden ts .. pandqarepositivenumbers.. Ram,ShyamandHari.. Thecentralparkofthecity .. InasquarePQRS.. Howmanywholenumber.. p,qandr.. Anumberisinteresting.. Considertheexpression(xxx)b.. 103and7aretheonly.. Considerafunctionf(x).. Inthecountryoffo ur.. Thefigurebelowshowsthegraph.. Consideringawaymatchesonlywhichofthefollowingteams.. Consideringawaymatchesonlytheleastnumberofteams..

C orrect option A E A E C B B C E B E E D B D D A E D E B A C E B E A E B D A A C B C E E C D B C D D
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Q.No. 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91

Question

Letusdefineaterm .. Howmanyuniquevalues.. WhichisthefastesttrainbetweenHHH .. WhichisthefastesttrainbetweenAAA.. IfyouhavetotravelfromAAA.. Whatistheratioofthecurrent.. Exportsweremore.. Whatwastheapproximate.. GeneralAwareness 1 WhichofthefollowingIndiancompanies. 2 Whichofthesebodies . 3 CPIandWPI . 4 WhatisDavosfamous. 5 Whichofthefollo wingsaremillenium. 6 WhichofcountriesinEurope. 7 Whichofthefollowingco untrieswouldaccount. 8 Whichofthefollo wingwasnotthereason. 9 Whichoffollowingscombination. 10 Earthsummitisheld.. 11 Whichofthefollowingcountriesmeetmore.. 12 Picktherightmatchfrom. 13 HarishHandewho won . 14 Indiangovernmentisplanning 15 Whoisthechairmanof. 16 Givenbelowareso mewellknownawards 17 Afewcombinationsofnameofthecompanies. 18 Excisedutyisatax. 19 Fromwhichofthefollowingitems. 20 Whichofthefollowingassets 21 Whichofthefollowingistherightmatchfor. 22 WhichofthefollowingAfricancountries. 23 Whichofthefollowingeducationinstitutions 24 Whichcountrywasthehighest . 25 Whatistheapproximateshare.. 26 Whichofthefollowingcombinations .. 27 Forwhichofthefollowingreasons 28 Whatisthemeaningo foneunit 29 Whoistheauthorof .. 30 VKurienwas. *Noneo ftheoptionsiscorrect

C orrect option A B D A D E C A A A C D E D B E A B B A E E C E B D D C * A E E D A C C B A

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