XAT 2011 was difficult than last year's XAT papers. This year the different questions in different sections were allotted different marks which made the paper more difficult. There were questions of 1,2,3,4 and 5 marks. Students found it difficult to devise any strategy to attempt the paper. Right selection of questions will play an important role in clearing the cutoffs.

Overview of the paper:

There were 101 questions (3 Sections) in all and the time allotted was 2hrs. The three sections were as follows:

Evaluation: Overall section was moderate to tough.this section contained 34questions.The verbal section was of 69 marks. There were 13 questions of 1 mark each, 8 questions of 2 marks each,12 questions of 3 marks each,1 question of 4marks. The paper was dominated by critical Reasoning, followed by RCs, based questions etc. There were 2 RCs which were moderate in length butcontained highly inferential questions / Critical Thinking based questions.One poetry based question also made a comeback this year. Critical Reasoning questions were tough to reason out.. Rest of the verbal section was moderate.overall the verbal section can be termed as difficult in comparison to previous year's XAT.

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 26+

Achievable Score: 16+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: There were 7 question of 1 mark each, 14 questions of 2 marks each, 14 question of 3 marks and 8 question of 5 marks each. So this section had (1 × 7 + 2 × 14 + 3 × 14 + 5 × 8 = 117) 117 as maximum marks. The DI question were comparitively easier. Four questions of line graph were easy and should have been attempted. One 5 marks question (a77 of : prime number based) was esey. Geometry questions were tough and should have been avoided.

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 20+

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 26+

The question pattern of IIFT 2010 paper was different from IIFT 2009. As 2010 paper had 135 Questions i.e. an increase of 13 questions (10 in GK, 1 in DI, & 2 in Math). In verbal section, analogies were introduced instead of asking vocabulary directly. The paper was very lengthy and QA and LRDI sections had few difficult question.

While overall feel of the paper was easy and negative marking was 1/3 as in the previous year.

There were 135 question(4 Sections) and the time allotted was 2hrs.
The four sections were as follows:

Evaluation: In Verbal section, two RCs (Kodak & Warren Buffett) were easy while other two were time consuming. Overall difficulty level was higher as compared to the previous year. Paper contained a few analogies and Spell – Check based questions. Sentence rearrangement was very easy and sentence completion was a fair mix of difficult and easy questions.

Comfortable Attempt: 15-19 questions in about 35 minutes.

Achievable Score: Around 9.

Evaluation: DI blocks were calculative in nature so it required a lot of labor. There were 3 LR blocks (13 Questions) and all of them could have been done easily.

Comfortable Attempt: 12-15 in about 35 minutes.

Achievable Score: Around 12.

Evaluation: This year GK section was dominated by questions on Business and Static questions.

Comfortable Attempt: 6-8 questions in about 10 minutes.

Achievable Score: Around 3.

Evaluation: The Quant Section was a bit easier than last year. There were around 10-12 doable questions, but the knowledge of higher maths was required in around 5-6 questions.

Comfortable Attempt: 10-13 in 35 minutes.

Achievable Score: Around 10.

• English Comprehension
• Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
• Analytical Reasoning
• Issues of Social Concern (GK)

Evaluation: This section had questions on Reading Comprehension; Fill in the Blanks (cloze test), Sentence Completion & Para Jumbled etc.

Comfortable Attempt: 25-30 questions in about 30 minutes.

Achievable Score:  19+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: Speed, clarity of the fundamentals of Mathematics and immaculate time-management were the key to success in this area. Overall this section was easy.

Comfortable Attempt: 35-40 questions in about 35 minutes.

Achievable Score: 26+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This section had questions that tested the student’s Analytical Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Decision making ability. There were questions on Odd man- out, Course Of Action and Statement Assumption. The section required attentive reading and deep thinking as it seemed deceptively easy on the first glance.

Comfortable Attempt: 25-30 questions in about 40-45 minutes.

Achievable Score: 27+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This was the toughest of all sections. The questions were verbose and descriptive and answer choices tricky close. 8-10 questions were direct (Milkman of India, WTO, Famous Economist, Nobel prize winner ) and a student who had brushed up his Current GK could have easily attempted these question and most of the other questions were on Government schemes, definition of terms, economics, poverty and agriculture etc. and exhaustive study was required to attempt these questions. Hence the expected cut-offs in this section is much lower.

Comfortable Attempt:  About 25 in 30 minutes

Achievable Score: 18+ would be an achievable score in this area.

• Quantitative Ability
• Logical & Analytical reasoning
• Reading Comprehension
• VERBAL ABILITY

Evaluation: This section was dominated by algebra questions. Some of the algebra questions were direct &could be solved just by putting the values. TSD questions were also do- able. Questions on number could be done by estimation.  Over all feel of this section was easy as compared to last year paper.

Comfortable Attempt: 27 + questions in about 30 minutes.

Achievable Score: 90 +

Evaluation: This section was dominated by AR blocks. The candidates who have done sufficient practice should have done this section easily. Single questions in AR were sitters and should have been attempted. One with wise selection of AR blocks could have maximized his score in this section.

Comfortable Attempt: 25+ questions in about 30 minutes.

Achievable Score: 85 +

Evaluation: English language Section comprised of Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability
Sections. Reading Comprehension Section contained 50 Questions and English Usage contained 50 Questions. RC passages were lengthy but easy to deal with as questions asked were direct. The two passages (history/Delhi and Google’s story) were very easy and other two were a little difficult. RC section only checked candidate’s retention and reading speed. On the other hand English usage, contained a fair mix of various type of questions ranging from Grammar, Sentence completion (2 blanks/1 blank), Idioms/phrases, to, sentence rearrangements, sentence correction etc.
Overall this year’s paper is easier than previous year’s paper.

Comfortable Attempt:
In RC –22+ questions in 30 minutes.
In English Usage 25+ questions in 20-30 minutes.

Achievable Score: In RCs 85 + and in English usage 85 +

• Verbal Communication
• Logical Reasoning
• Quantitative Ability
• Data Interpretation

Evaluation: Verbal section this time was moderate. But students had to be judicious to pick the right questions.
Approximate time to be spent 30- 35 minutes.
There were 4 Reading comprehension passages. Although they were too short and easy to read, answering some of the questions was difficult. The trend was more towards Humanities and philosophy passages. Vocabulary based and Reading Comprehension were major chunk of the verbal section. Grammar, cloze question, rearrangement were easy. A right pick of 10 – 12 from the total 30 questions could keep one in safe zone.

Comfortable Attempt: 16 to 18 questions in about 40-45 minutes.

Achievable Score:  14+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This year LR section was dominated by AR blocks,except two blocks(MBA project and blood relation) rest were of easy or of moderate difficulty level.

Comfortable Attempt: 20 to 22 questions in about 40-45 minutes.

Achievable Score: 18+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This section was an excellent mixture of easy , moderate and difficult questions.

With proper scanning one could find doable questions. Rejection of questions was of same importance as that of selection in this section.

Comfortable Attempt: 18 to 20 questions in about 50-55 minutes.

Achievable Score: 14+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This section was of moderate difficulty level with certain questions demanding more calculations.

Comfortable Attempt:  18 to 22questions in about 40-45 minutes.

Achievable Score: 16+ was an achievable score.

• General English
• Quantitative & Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency
• General Awareness
• Analytical & Logical Reasoning

Evaluation: The verbal section was easy, with majority of questions based on vocabulary, idioms, and general Verbal Ability. The paper was dominated by idioms/proverbs and sentence completion based questions. Grammar questions, (knowledge of punctuations & basic tenses) tested students on basic grammar principles.  Vocabulary based questions had very moderate difficulty level; questions on general verbal ability were very easy. There was only one RC with four questions. The question based on ‘kangaroo words’ were difficult to understand first and then to get the correct answer. The directions for a few questions were not covered /mentioned properly.  Overall the verbal section was manageable and a scoring one.

Comfortable Attempt: 20 to 26 questions in about 30 minutes.

Achievable Score:   22 + was an achievable score.

Evaluation: DI questions were very easy and direct. This section was dominated by Data sufficiency and number system. Overall the Quant section was easy to moderate.

Comfortable Attempt: 28 to 32 questions in about 35 - 40 minutes.

Achievable Score:   28 + was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This section required you to be thorough with your knowledge of Geography, Current Literary, International Affairs as well as Current Affairs. This section was very exhaustive and required routine reading of newspaper and Current Affairs Magazines. The cut off expected in this section is not very high.

Comfortable Attempt: 12 to 16 questions in about 10-15 minutes.

Achievable Score:   10 + was an achievable score.

Evaluation:  This section was mix of DI & AR questions. This section contained direct puzzles from Bulls Eye Study Material. Keeping in mind that this section contained question of 2 marks each one should have attempted this section first.

Comfortable Attempt: 20 to 24 questions in about 40 minutes.

Achievable Score:   44 + was an achievable score.