The Xavier Admission Test (XAT) 2022 will be held in a week from now, keeping its promise of the first Sunday in the new year. XAT only recently went online and while it has always been a far more ‘tougher’ paper than the Common Admission Test (CAT), it has always been viewed far more seriously in the industry.
Conducted by the Xavier’s Labour Relation Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur), on behalf of Xavier Association of Management Institutes (XAMI), the exam has always been far more respected. According to those who has taken the exam before and coach in the same, the best way to prepare for the exam is by:
1. Starting preparation work at least 2-3 months earlier. The time is needed to complete the entire curriculum and given that XAT is far stricter with the marking, it is important to give the exam far more time than one would give for CAT. Experts say that for those who have started work a few days ago, simply do mocks to get the best feel of one’s prep performance. In the last week, the more mocks the merrier.
2. XAT has always focused on Verbal Ability so some thorough work with Reading Comprehensions (RCs), para jumbles, assumptions is always a good move. XAT likes it, candidates to read, so keep reading to improve language and get the comprehensions correct. Keep doing RCs, and in the last week, do at least one to two a day.
3. Do not ignore your Quantitative Ability section though it might not be your favourite subject, carries good marks so it is sensible to stay abreast with going through your math concepts. Think Math and try to solve calculations in your mind. Keep Geometry, Profit and Loss as important learning areas.
4. General Awareness is XAT’s strength as well. Literary questions are always good to answer and kept ready. History is as important as current global events, not to forget sports. Read newspapers and magazines thoroughly.
5. In the last week, divide your prep into Sections and keep a few hours for every Section every day. Within a day or two, your weak areas will be more than visible then slowly start giving them a little more time than others since XAT has a penalty of 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer.
6. Given the penalty it makes sense to have a thorough look at the paper before you start answering the questions. All exam papers will have easy medium and difficult questions. Solve the easy ones first, then go to the slightly difficult one and last go to the more difficult. Since XAT has negative markings, it helps to be sure of your answers.
7. Last week to XAT is a good time to revise earlier XAT papers. While the pattern has undergone changes, the emphasis has always been constant. Writing XAT papers is a good way to get a feel of writing the actual paper. In fact, timing the paper to the actual XAT paper is another good way to get ready for the big day.
8. Do not treat XAT as an extension of CAT. Both the exams need a different mindset and different prep schedules and methods. Some candidates who have also taken CAT will probably be stressed expecting its results anytime - don’t let that stress affect your exam. A few candidates (some years ago) did not see their CAT results, (which were declared one day before the XAT exam) till they finished with the XAT paper as they did not want to add to their stress.
