XAT Exam Pattern 2019 - XLRI Jamshedpur, the conducting body of Xavier Admission Test, prescribes the exam pattern of XAT. Candidates who are preparing for the exam or planning to appear for the same must know the XAT 2019 exam pattern. It’ll allow them to structure their preparation in a much organised way. As per the XAT exam pattern, the exam will be of 3.35 hours divided into two parts whereas Part I is further divided into three sections carrying objective type questions or say Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Part II will be a mix of subjective as well as objective questions divided into two sections. There would be negative marking also for incorrect answers. In this article by Careers360, XAT aspirants check all the details related to the exam pattern of XAT 2019, previous year trends, online exam instructions and more.
XAT 2019 Exam Pattern
The XAT exam pattern usually remains more or less same every year. The number of questions in each section may change. The official exam pattern for XAT 2019 isn’t released yet. Let’s have a look at the last year’s exam structure.
XAT Exam Pattern 2019
Paper | Section | No. of Questions | Total Marks | Total Time | Negative Marking |
Part 1 | Decision Making | 21 | 74 | 170 Min |
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Verbal and Logical Ability | 26 | ||||
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (QA & DI) | 27 | ||||
Part II | General Knowledge (GK) | 25 | 25 | 40 Min |
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Essay Writing | 1 essay | ||||
Note: There will be a break of five minutes between Part I and Part II for the test takers.
Highlights of XAT Exam Pattern 2019
Marking Scheme: Every question carries one mark which means candidates will get one marks for the right answer. There is negative marking as well. 0.25 marks or 1/4th of the total marks of a question will be deducted for an incorrect response. Unattempted questions also have negative marking. Last year, beyond 8 unattempted questions, there was a deduction of 0.05 marks per unattempted question. This number may change this year as it was 12 in last to last year.
Sections: The test paper is majorly divided into two parts – Part I consists of three sub-sections, Decision Making, Verbal and Logical Ability and Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation. Part II consists of two sub-sections, General Knowledge and Essay Writing. The exam is a mix of both subjective and objective type questions.
Duration: The exam would be of 3.30 hours (210 minutes). As per the last year’s timing, Part 1 was assigned 170 minutes and Part II had 30 minutes. Usually, a gap of 5 minutes is also given to the candidates after Part I of the exam. Candidates are ideally suggested to spend 20 minutes on the essay writing and 15 minutes on GK section.
Mode of Exam: XAT 2019 will be conducted in online mode. Candidates will be assigned a computer system where they’ll have to select the right answer from the options given. For the essay writing part, candidates will have to type the content. Rough sheets will be provided to the candidates.
Number of questions - The number of questions and weightage to each section may change this year. Last year, Part I had was 74 questions and the highest weightage was given to Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation section. The number of questions in Part II remains the same usually. Last year, GK section had 25 questions and one essay writing topic.
XAT Exam Pattern – During years
Year | Total no. of questions and duration | Marking Scheme |
XAT 2018 | 74 MCQs 25 GK 1 Essay topic 210 minutes duration |
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XAT 2017 | 72 MCQs 25 GK 1 Essay topic 210 minutes duration |
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XAT 2016 | 78 MCQs 25 GK 1 Essay topic 210 minutes duration |
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XAT 2015 | 84 MCQs 140 minutes duration |
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XAT 2014 | 83 MCQs 20 GK 1 Essay topic 150 minutes duration |
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Online Instructions for XAT 2019
There are few instructions that every XAT aspirant must know before appearing for the online test. It’ll save a lot of time and confusion on the day of the exam.
The system displays only one question on the screen at a time. After selection, the answer from the options given, click on 'Next Question' to go to the next question or on 'Previous Question' button to go to the previous question.
In case, the candidate does not wish to attempt the question, s/he can leave it blank.
The computer screen also shows the timer on the TOP RIGHT-HAND CORNER of the screen to keep the candidates aware about the timings.
The option of removing or changing the answer is also given to the candidates through the 'Erase' button provided at the bottom of the screen.
Candidates can answer any question in any order within the given time frame.
The list of attempted and un-attempted questions is shown in the right side of the screen. Candidates can click on any of the attempted or unattempted questions to revise the answers or answer the unattended questions.
Candidates are given the option of bookmarking a question in case they want to review it at a later stage by clicking on the 'Tag' button available at the bottom of the screen. The Bookmark on a particular question can be removed by clicking on the 'De-Tag' button provided at the bottom of the screen.
The question palette at the right of the screen shows different colours to display the status of each question.
Colour | Status |
Green | The question has been answered |
Yellow | The question hasn’t been answered and marked for review |
Purple | The question has been answered but marked for review |
White | The question hasn’t been answered |
PS: Questions which are attempted and marked for review would be treated as attempted questions only as long as the candidate does not 'Erase' the option selected.
Candidates should use the 'Next Question' OR 'Previous Question' button or click on the question number displayed on the right side of the screen to move back and forth between questions.
The answers will be saved whenever the candidate goes to the next question, by clicking on 'Previous Question' OR 'Next Question' button. However, the last question will be saved automatically after answering
If a candidate finishes the paper within the stipulated time, he/she can end the test by clicking the 'Preview Submit' button. However, candidates will not be allowed to leave the test hall until the end of the stipulated time
On the completion of the test duration, even if the candidate does not click on an answer or does not click on the 'Preview Submit' button, the result will be saved automatically by the computer.
XAT 2019 Syllabus
There is no specific syllabus for XAT. Based on previous years’ question papers and XAT sample papers, here are the topics covered under XAT syllabus. It will give the aspirants a broad idea about the exam and guide about preparing.
XAT Syllabus
Section | Topics |
Verbal & Logical Ability | Reading Comprehension, Fill in the blanks, Para Jumble, Vocabulary, Sentence correction, Grammar, Critical Reasoning/Inference etc. |
Decision Making | Analytical Reasoning, Arithmetic, Situational etc. |
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation | Algebra, Data Analysis & Interpretation, Data Sufficiency, Table, Bar Charts, Scatter plots, Arithmetic etc. |
GK/Current Affairs | History, Culture, Books, Films, Geography, Personalities, Economics, Ecosystem, etc. |
Essay Writing | Topics are generally abstract in nature |
XAT 2019 will be conducted in the first week of January 2019. The application process of XAT 2019 along with the exam notification will start from the second week of August 2018. Approximately 90,000 candidates appear for the test every year. Around 150 B-schools across India accepts the XAT score for admission to their management programmes.
