XLRI conducted the computer-based test – XAT 2019 which was the second computer-based test in the history of sixty years of conducting XAT. However, there were some technical glitches and a bit of problem were reported at some of the centres, but they were overcome promptly.
The Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) got over on the 06h January 2019 with many substantial changes introduced in the exam. The time duration of the exam as the computer-based test was 3 hours instead of 3 and a half hours. It was the first time that the NAT questions were introduced in the Xavier Aptitude Test exam.
It is expected that the cut off for the XAT 2019 may go down this as the difficulty level of the exam was more than the previous years. It has been reported that XAT 2019 was a bit more difficult exam than earlier years. While other sections of the question paper were moderate, the Decision-Making section gave students a tough time and was much tricky from the previous years.
XAT 2019 was conducted in 47 cities in India and did not have any centres abroad. But the earlier the exam was performed in 49 test centres including 2 test cities abroad. There have been some changes as compared to last year in the test structure of XAT 2019 exam while there was no surprise element in the test structure of the XAT 2019 Exam.
Xavier Aptitude Test 2019 was divided into two parts with three sections in part 1 and General Knowledge section in part 2. The part 1 section is counted for percentile calculation to prepare the merit list while the score in the general knowledge is for making the merit list.
The highlights of the XAT 2019 exam are as follows:
| Section in Exam Pattern 2019 | Number of Questions | Overall Time Duration |
| Part – 1 | 74 Total MCQs | 165 Minutes |
| Verbal and Logical Ability | 26 | No sectional Time limit |
| Decision Making | 21 | No sectional Time Limit |
| Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation | 27 | No Sectional Time Limit |
| Part – 2 | 25 Total MCQs | 15 Minutes |
| General Knowledge | 25 | |
| Total Questions (part 1 + part 2) | 99 |
Considering the difficulty level of XAT question paper this year, the expected cut off is likely to go down and can be as follows:
| Institute | Expected XAT cut off percentiles |
| XLRI | 94+ |
| XIMB | 90+ |
| SPJIMR | 93+ |
| Goa Institute of Management | 85+ |
| Institute of Management Technology | 90+ |
| Great Lakes Institute of Management | 80+ |
Key Highlights
It has observed that mostly the 2019 question paper was based on the previous year yet there have been some changes.
The critical differences in Xavier Aptitude Test analysis 2019 are as follows:
- Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions were introduced in the XAT exam.
- The duration of the exam was 3 hours which was reduced by half an hour.
- The extra 25 minutes only were given to the visually impaired candidates with scribe and just for the part 1 of the XAT exam.
- The total number of questions were 99 instead of 100.
- All the questions were multiple choice questions with five options with one correct option.
- XAT 2019 didn’t have the essay writing test like the previous years.
- There is no negative marking for the general knowledge section
- For each wrong answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted, and the correct answer will be awarded 1 mark.
- There is negative marking for the unattempt question and 0.10 marks deducted for every unattempt question beyond eight unattempted questions.
- The procedure to enter the NAT question was to enter a numerical answer by making use of virtual numeric keypad that appeared below the questions.
Sectional Break-up
The general knowledge questions were on the higher difficulty side and questions were framed on budget sessions, history and merger-acquisition.
The break-up for the general knowledge section is as follows:
| Topics | Number of Questions | Difficulty |
| History | 1 | Moderate |
| Geography | 4 | Moderate – Difficult |
| Economy & Business | 7 | Easy – Moderate |
| Current Affairs | 2 | Easy |
| Personality & Awards | 3 | Moderate |
| Science & Tech | 2 | Moderate |
| Polity | 2 | Easy |
| Miscellaneous | 2 | Moderate-Difficult |
| Sports | 2 | Easy-Moderate |
| Total | 25 | Moderate |
The sectional wise break-up of the Xavier Aptitude Test 2019 for part 1 is as follows:
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning
| Topic | Number of Questions | Difficulty |
| Reading Comprehension | 12 with 4 passages of 3 questions each | Moderate – Difficult |
| CR | 5 | Moderate- Difficult |
| Poem Comprehension | 2 | Difficult |
| Analogy | 1 | Difficult |
| Antonym | 1 | Moderate |
| Para-Jumble – 5 Sentence | 2 | Moderate |
| FIB-3 blanks | 3 | Difficult |
| Total | 26 | Difficult |
Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning
| Topic | Number of Questions | Difficulty |
| Situational | 21 | Moderate |
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
| Topic | Number of Questions | Difficulty |
| Arithmetic | 4 | Easy |
| Algebra | 7 | Easy – Moderate |
| Co-Ordinate Geometry + Trigonometry | 4 | Moderate |
| Geometry | 4 | Moderate-Difficult |
| Data Sufficiency | 2 | Moderate |
| DI (Time Zone) | 3 | Moderate-Difficult |
| DI (Mixed Graph) | 3 | Easy-Moderate |
| DI (Mixed Graph) | 3 | Easy-Moderate |
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