Test Analysis & Strategy 2021 Bull XAT 05

On the whole the level of the test was moderate. Many of the questions were of easy level except a few which were either moderate or difficult. So, the key to get a good percentile was to select doable questions and to leave difficult questions. One has to keep ethical perspective while solving decision making based questions and not to bring in any social or personal prejudices.

There were 28 questions in total. They were from different topics like geometry and mensuration, algebra, arithmetic, combination of pie and bar and one tabular data. Questions were moderate in nature and selection of question was important to get a good percentile. Seeing the difficulty level, the attempt around 20 with an accuracy of 85% would have been sufficient to get 90+ percentile.

The first question was based on rearrangement of the given sentences and was difficult. The set of questions (3,20, & 21) was based on critical reasoning. These questions were easy & manageable. The set of questions (18,19 & 26) was based on grammar fundamentals such as correct usages of articles, questions tag & finding the incorrect sentence/s out of the given sentences. All grammar-based questions were easy. There was one question based on analogy and was difficult. The first RC (4,5 & 6) was based on the ‘challenges involved in elimination of malaria’. The passage was a little lengthy but easy to understand. All the questions based on it were easy except Q4, which was moderate. The second RC (10-12) was based on ‘analysis of characters created by John Webster in his novels’. The passage was a little tricky to understand and questions based on it were also moderate except Q12, which was easy. The third RC (13-15) was based on ‘repercussions of growing single crop on same land’. The passage was easy to understand and questions based on it were also easy. The fourth RC (16, & 17) was based on a poem ‘Runaway’ by Robert Frost. The questions based on it were easy. The last RC (22-25) was based on ‘analysis of what it is like to be an investor in Tesla’. The passage was a little tricky to understand and questions based on it were either difficult or moderate except questions (22 & 23), which were easy. Over all feel of the section was easy to moderate. One could easily have scored 90+ percentile by attempting 20-22 questions with 80% accuracy.

The first set (55-57) was based on ‘complains about discrimination shown by one academy’. All the questions based on it were easy except Q55, which was moderate. The second set (58-60) was based on ‘luxury garment company’. The questions based on it were based on design flaws, ethics, child labour & media blunders. All the questions based on it were easy. The third set (61-63) was based on ‘Tony entertainment company”. The questions based on it were based on conflict management, finding the relevant content & future prospects. All the questions based on it were easy except Q61, which was moderate. The fourth set was based on ‘a content development company’. The questions based on it were either moderate or difficult except Q 64, which was easy. The fifth set (67-69) was based on ‘Hazel solutions, a chemical manufacturing company. The questions based on it were based on media campaigns, accident at its site & legacy. The questions were a mixed bag. The set six (70-720 was based on ‘product launch by Linda, product manager at occult, a tech firm. The questions were based on conflict management, credibility, etc. All the questions based on it were easy except Q70, which was moderate. The seventh set (73-74) was based on ‘luxe sports’ a global brand based in USA. The questions based on it were easy & moderate respectively. The last question was based on analytical reasoning and was easy. The overall feel of the section was moderate and one could have scored 90+ percentile by attempting 16-18 questions with 80% accuracy.

The section consisted of questions ranging from awards, places, people, flora & fauna, science & technology etc. The section had a fair mix of current & static general knowledge-based questions. Overall feel of the section was moderate to tough. One could have easily scored 90+ percentile by attempting 10 -15 questions with 70% accuracy.

The overall feel of the paper was moderate, though for the students who knew how to manage the time available to the best i.e., not wasting much time in lengthy and difficult questions, could easily manage an overall good attempt. Quant and DI were mostly selective in this paper. As far as Quant is concerned most of the questions were from Algebra and Geometry. Decision making section was moderate and in verbal section focus should have been on RCs. To score well in verbal section one should start with non-RC questions as it is easier to select or reject these questions. The selection of the passage should be done carefully to maximize the score. Also one should have strong hold on critical reasoning and vocabulary to get a decent score.