Xat 2006 Analysis

XAT 2006 Analysis Suddenly the word “new and different” has become clichéd.XAT 2006 new format, with 127 questions, CAT type three sections, but with a catch! Rather than differential marking, there was differential negative marking! 0.33 negative marking for first 5 wrong questions in each section, which escalated to 0.5 for errors beyond 5 mistakes. This signifies a shift from speed to accuracy. The salient feature was the paradigm shift. In English from direct vocabulary based questions to usagebased questions. Quant saw a distinct emphasis on algebra and functions. DI was plagued with a few ambiguous problems and had a healthy mix of analytical reasoning. As announced, GK was missing. Overview XAT 2006 Section

Topics

No. of Q’s

Suggested Time

Possible Attempts

Cut-off’s

1

EU+RC

40

40 min

22+

11-12

2

DI+LR

43

40 min

16+

10-11

3

QA

44

40 min

14+

7-8

127

120 min

52+

32-33

Total

Comparison with XAT 2005 & 2004

Parameter

XAT 2006

XAT 2005

XAT 2004

3

3

3

127

175

80+60+60=200

Difficult

Average

Average

Difficult (For QA)

Average

Average

Average

-

-

difficult

Average

Easy

Difficulty level (GA)

NA

Average

Difficult

Expected cut-off (BMD)

32+

70+

108

Expected cut-off (PMIR)

28+

65-68

104

7-8*

25-27

28 to 30

10-11**

-

-

11-12

27-28

58

NA

8-10

15 to16

Number of sections Number of questions Difficulty level (Overall) Difficulty level (Quant +DI) Difficulty Level (DI+LR2006) Difficulty level (EU + RC)

Expected cut-off (Quant +DI) Expected cut-off (DI+LR) Expected cut-off (EU + RC) Expected cut-off (GA) Only Quant for 2006,

*

**For XAT 2006 only

Section wise Analysis Section I: English Usage & Reading Comprehension Executive Summary

Have a glass of water, before reading this analysis and should have had two glasses of water before attempting XAT English section, is the first advice we have to offer; second is, don’t panic, welcome to the party. It’s a party you won’t forget easily. The English section of XAT was entirely different from the general expectation of a vocabulary heavy one. XAT English, this time around, put premium on inferential English usage .Qs were logic and rationale driven. The paper setter had worked hard to come up with some innovative question types, like a fill in the blank where you had to choose an option ‘which did not fit in’, rather than the standard type where in you choose the option that best fits in.