Xavier Aptitude Test or XAT is an MBA entrance exam conducted on a national level by XLRI Jamshedpur for the admission to post-graduate management programmes at over 150 B-schools in India. This year it was conducted on January 8 and the official XAT 2017 Answer Key and Question Explanation was released on January 16, 2017 by the institute. Those disappointed with their CAT and SNAP scores are waiting in anticipation for the XAT 2017 results which are scheduled to be out soon. To pacify these students, PaGaLGuY spoke to Munish Thakur, Assistant Professor-Strategic Area, XLRI-Jamshedpur, who had the following things to say:
1. XAT 2017 results can be expected by the end of this month (January-end)
2. There may be some variations, but the percentile-marks relationship will be comparable for XAT-2016 and XAT-2017, for Decision Making. As far as DI is concerned, the relationship will be almost same.
3. Results are yet to be analysed, however, an initial glance indicates that students have done well across the sections. Overall, the scores may be 1.5 to 2.5 marks higher, but too early to say anything.
4. Even if we assume that DM section was more difficult, it will not impact their overall percentiles because performance in any competitive examination is relative. However, the absolute marks (or percentages) can come down.
5. I do not have the data to comment on CAT vs. XAT debate. Every year, we attempt to improve XAT to bring in better validity (Is the exam a good indicator of candidate’s potential to study at XLRI?), better reliability (Will a candidate get similar scores upon repeating the test?) and better differentiation (Is the score spread over a good range and can we say that candidate with 50 marks is better than candidate with 35 marks?). My assessment is that XAT-2017 has been one of the best examinations on these parameters.