XAT 2019 Exam Analysis

XAT 2019 – Last of the lot (well almost) for many out there. And it truly was the show stopper. If we compare it with the other top-notch exams of this season, XAT 2019 clearly takes away the award for being the toughest of the lot. With a few surprises thrown in for the candidates, it was also by far a “no technical glitches” kind of exam.

 

The top 10 highlights of the XAT 2019 exam were:

1. It was conducted on 6^th Jan 2019, 10 AM to 1 PM
2. The overall difficulty was high but there few repetitions in the DM section
3. There was a total of 99 questions
4. There was no sectional time limit, although 15 minutes were awarded for GK section
5. There was negative marking of -0.25 marks in for Part-1 (QADI, VLR and DM)
6. There was no negative marking in Part-2 (GK)
7.  There was negative marking of -0.1 for more than eight un-attempted questions. This was increased from -0.05 from last year
8. The overall break section-wise is as below:

XAT 2019 Exam Section	No. of Questions	Difficulty Level
Verbal and Logical Reasoning	26	Difficult
Decision Making	21	Moderate
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation	27	Moderate to Difficult
General Knowledge	25	Moderate to Difficult

9. An overall attempt of 53 to 55 questions can be considered good
10. A score of 33 to 35 can be considered good

 

 

 Let’s take a sneak peek into each section in detail.

 

Section Name: Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning

No. of Questions: 26

Ideal Time to Spend: 45 – 50 Minutes

Sectional Break Up:  Here is detail breakup of questions asked in this section

Area	Questions	Details	Difficulty Level
Reading Comprehension	12	Passages - 4; Q per head – 3; Words 550 to 600; Areas: Psychology, Art and Social issues, Women Empowerment	Moderate to Difficult
CR	5	Could be attempted	Easy to Moderate
Poem	2	Tough and Uncanny. Ideally should not have been attempted	Weird
Analogy	1	It was a tricky question	Difficult
Antonyms	1	It was a tricky question	Moderate
PJs	2	5 sentences	Moderate
Fill in the Blanks	3	Could be attempted	Difficult
Total	26	Time Consuming Overall	Difficult

 

Ideal Attempts: 17 to 18

Good Score: 11 to 12

 

Section Name: Decision Making

No. of Questions: 21

Ideal Time to Spend: 45 – 50 Minutes

Sectional Break Up:  Here is detail breakup of questions asked in this section

 

Area	Questions	Details	Difficulty Level
Situational	21	Surprise 1: There were three repetitions from previous years. Students should have been able to attempt these caselets without any challenge Surprise 2: There were no Analytical Reasoning	Moderate

 

Ideal Attempts: 15 - 18

Good Score: 11 to 12

 

Section Name: Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation, and Data Sufficiency

No. of Questions: 27

Ideal Time to Spend: 65 – 70 Minutes

Sectional Break Up:  Here is detail breakup of questions asked in this section

 

Area	Questions	Details	Difficulty Level
Quantitative Ability	19	Arithmetic – All 4 questions were easy and based out of topics like R&P and Profit Loss Algebra – The questions were from surds, polynomials, and functions Geometry – This was tricky with questions from Trigonometry, and Co-ordinate Geometry were bouncers. Remaining were mensuration, triangles, and circles.	Difficult
Data interpretation	6	There were 2 types – Time Zone and Mixed Graph	Moderate to Difficult
Data Sufficiency	2	Doable questions	Moderate
Total	27	It was a mix of time-consuming, difficult, easy and tricky questions. Candidates should have chosen the less time-consuming questions	Moderate to Difficult

 

Ideal Attempts: 17 – 19

Good Score: 12 to 14

 

Section Name: General Knowledge

No. of Questions: 25

Time Limit: 15 Minutes

Catch: No Negative Marking

Sectional Break Up:  Here is detail breakup of questions asked in this section

 

Area	Questions	Details	Difficulty Level
Current Affairs	2	A candidate who has bee regular in reading the newspapers can solve it easily.	Easy
Economics and Business	7		Easy to Moderate
Geography	4		Moderate to Difficult
History	1		Moderate
Miscellaneous	2		Moderate to Difficult
Personality Awards	3		Moderate
Polity	2		Easy
Science & Technology	2		Moderate
Sports	2		Easy to Moderate
Total	25		Moderate

 

Ideal Attempts: 13 - 15

Good Score: 8 to 10

 

 

XAT Exam Related Articles
XAT Eligibility Criteria 2019	XAT Admit Card 2019
XAT Result 2019	XAT Exam Centers 2019
XAT Syllabus 2019	XAT Selection Procedure 2019
XAT Participating Institutes 2019	XAT 2019 Latest Exam Changes – No Essay This Year

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