The difficulty level of XAT 2015 was almost similar to XAT 2014. There was a slight increase in the number of question i.e. 84 from 83. Keeping these facts in mind, the cutoffs are likely to be comparable to those of the last year.
Overview of the Paper:
The paper had two parts: Part I and Part II. Part I had three sections A, B and C with 28, 23 and 33 questions, respectively, i.e. a total of 84 questions. The three sections of Part I were followed by Part II that had 30 questions on General Knowledge and an Essay Topic. The time allotted for Part I was 100 minutes and Part II had to be attempted in 40 minutes. All XAT affiliated institutes use general knowledge and essay marks at the time of final selection and not for short-listing candidates for the GD/ PI round. The three sections were as follows:
| Overview of the XAT 2015 Paper |
| Time allotted |
140 Minutes (for Part I) + 40 Minutes (for Part II) |
| Total no. of questions |
84 + 30 (For GK) |
| Marking Scheme |
All questions were of equal marks |
| Sections |
3 |
| Number of choices |
5 |
| Number of choices |
1/4 |
| Expected cut-offs * |
Score of 28+ (approx. 95+%ile): can expect a call from XLRI(BM) |
| Score of 26+ (approx. 92+%ile): can expect a call from XLRI(HR) |
| Score of 22+ (approx. 85+%ile): can expect a call from GIM/XIMB |
| Score of 19+ (approx. 80+%ile): can expect a call from LIBA/BIM |
| Score of 17+ (approx. 70+%ile): can expect a call from XIME/XISS |
| Overview of Different Sections |
| Sections |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
| Verbal Ability |
28 |
Moderate |
| Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning |
23 |
Moderate to Tough |
| Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation |
31 |
Tough |
SECTION I: Verbal and Logical Ability
| Area Tested |
Description |
No. of Questions |
| Verbal Ability |
RC |
13 |
| CR |
9 |
| Vocabulary |
2 |
| Sentence Rearrangement |
2 |
| Sentence Completion |
2 |
Evaluation:
The verbal section was dominated by Reading Comprehension & Critical Reasoning based questions.There were questions on vocabulary, Para jumbles and sentence completion and sentence rearrangement.In reading comprehension, a few questions were based on critical reasoning. Overall level of difficulty of the section was moderate to tough.
Comfortable Attempt: 14+
Achievable Score: 8+
SECTION II: Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning
| Area Tested |
Description |
No. of Questions |
| Decision Making |
Decision Making |
23 |
Evaluation:
All Decision Making questions were of equal marks and were a combination of Decision Making and Case based reasoning questions. Overall, the difficulty level of the section was moderate to tough.
Comfortable Attempt: 14+
Achievable Score: 9+
SECTION III: Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
| Area Tested |
Description |
No. of Questions |
| Quantitative Ability |
Algebra and Functions |
4 |
| Number System |
4 |
| Geometry |
7 |
| Co-ordinate Geometry |
1 |
| Arithmetic sequence |
1 |
| Mixtures |
1 |
| Probability |
1 |
| Tables Chart |
4 |
| Multiple Graph |
4 |
| Profit and Loss |
1 |
| Statistics |
1 |
| Directions |
1 |
| Interest |
1 |
| Percentage |
1 |
| Trigonometry |
1 |
Evaluation:
The feel of this section was tough. There were no direct questions asked in this section. In DI also, the graphs were difficult to interpret and the question required intensive calculations.
Comfortable Attempt: 12+
Achievable Score: 8+
General Awareness
There were 30 questions in general awareness consisting of Static GK based questions covering Books and Awards, Geography, History etc. Current GK questions were from Sports, Politics, Science and Technology, Economics Data etc. The difficulty level was generally high.
Comfortable Attempt: 12+
Achievable Score: 8+
Essay Topic
Apart from this students had to write an essay of not more than 200 words, on the following topic: 'Listening is a dying art. We hardly listen to understand, we only listen to refute or reply.'It was an abstract topic but of moderate level of difficulty. Students could write about the importance of listening skills.
