The Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is a paper based common test for admission into the academic programs of XLRI and other XAT associate member institutes. It is one of the toughest MBA entrance exams in our country. XAT is generally held in the first week of January and the results are declared by January-end. The next step in the admission process is the Group Discussion/Summary Writing and Personal Interview round. As individual institutes conduct this round, the process varies from institute to institute.
Group Discussion
GD (Group Discussion) is used by an organization (company, institute, business school etc.) to gauge whether a candidate has certain personality traits desired by them like communication skills, leadership, teamwork etc.
In various XAT institutes, Group Discussion is based on a general topic or a case study. The topics are a good mix of current as well as abstract topics. Few general topics in previous year GDs were: Make in India campaign, IPL and its impact on cricket, Corruption and the Aam Aadmi Party.
In XLRI, there are case-study based Group Discussions. In these, a situation is given to the candidates and they have to analyze it and give solutions to the main problem/s mentioned in the case. The case studies are generally related to situations in the professional world. In XIM-B, the average duration of the GD is 10 minutes. Participants are given 1 minute to think on the topic, 8 minutes to discuss and they have to write a summary of the GD in the last one-minute and submit it to the panelists. There are three panelists and the number of participants in the group varies from 8 to 14.
Personal Interview
A Personal Interview is a great opportunity for candidates to show their skills and strengths. It’s a chance to show how they are a perfect fit for a particular institute or position. On the other hand, it gives a chance to the panelists to evaluate the personality of the candidate.
Typically, interview questions can be of different types, like personality-based questions, which focus on strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failures and goals of an individual. Questions regarding educational background focus on an individual’s academic performance and extracurricular activities. There can also be current affairs or career planning based questions. The panelists might also ask technical questions related to your graduation subjects. The candidates should also be mentally prepared for ‘Stress Interviews’ in which there is a lot of cross questioning and difficult questions just to check the candidate’s confidence.
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