How to prepare for the XAT
As a test, XAT is possibly as tough, if not tougher, than the CAT with a unique section and many unique question-types. This post lays out a prep strategy for the XAT.
As a test, XAT is possibly as tough, if not tougher, than the CAT with a unique section and many unique question-types. This post lays out a prep strategy for the XAT.
I never thought I will be doing a timing strategy post since the CAT has gone with fixed sectional time-limits for a long time now. But a reader asked for one for the XAT and thought it might not be a bad idea to do a short post on the same. I have always preferred a test without sectional time-limits since it tests a crucial quality required for management — optimizing resources to achieve maximum return on investment. In this case, the resources are your own skills and the investment is your time. So how does one go about using the 180 minutes on the XAT?
This piece on Decision Making has really expanded and I hope as I begin to write this post that this will be the closing piece that concludes this and this.
In the previous post we discussed how Decision Making can be the undoing of XAT aspirants and tried to understand the nature of questions that come up on the section. We took up two sets from the Decision Making section of the last year’s XAT and discussed a structure to answer DM questions. In this post, we shall look at the remaining questions from last year’s paper.
One of the most tedious and inscrutable sections that you will find across all management entrance tests, Decision Making has been the nemesis of many a XAT-aspirant. A lot of factors contribute towards DM possibly being the biggest stumbling block on the XAT. But none is bigger than the fact the amount of time any test-taker would have spent preparing for DM when compared to any other section is minuscule. This coupled with the dislike and unease most aspirants have towards reading and the extremely subjective nature of questions ensures that DM ends up becoming the deal-breaker as far as the XAT is concerned.
As a test, XAT is possibly as tough, if not tougher, than the CAT with a unique section and many unique question-types. This post lays out a prep strategy for the XAT.
By now all of you would have taken one major MBA entrance test at the least. This means that you are familiar with the biggest challenge of all — uncertainty on test day IIFT turning out to be easier than usual CAT throwing up a tough DI-LR SNAP coming up with the GK section that made every one question the meaning of the word “general” For most aspirants (apart form those pursuing an education in HR at TISS) this is the last big attempt to get into a b-school this year. So here is the last to-do list, on which ticking all boxes will ensure that you achieve your dream — an MBA from a premier institution, a launching pad for a great career.
This piece on Decision Making has really expanded and I hope as I begin to write this post that this will be the closing piece that concludes this and this.
In the previous post we discussed how Decision Making can be the undoing of XAT aspirants and tried to understand the nature of questions that come up on the section. We took up two sets from the Decision Making section of the last year’s XAT and discussed a structure to answer DM questions. In this post, we shall look at the remaining questions from last year’s paper.
One of the most tedious and inscrutable sections that you will find across all management entrance tests, Decision Making has been the nemesis of many a XAT-aspirant. A lot of factors contribute towards DM possibly being the biggest stumbling block on the XAT. But none is bigger than the fact the amount of time any test-taker would have spent preparing for DM when compared to any other section is minuscule. This coupled with the dislike and unease most aspirants have towards reading and the extremely subjective nature of questions ensures that DM ends up becoming the deal-breaker as far as the XAT is concerned.