XAT 2012 was different from XAT 2011 in terms of difficulty level as well as in number of questions. The number of questions were reduced to 85 from 101. As announced earlier, the difficulty level was comparatively easier than last year’s paper. Like last year, this year also there was differential marking scheme. There were questions of 1, 1.5 and 2marks. Right selection of questions will play an important role in clearing the cutoffs.

Overview of the paper:

There were 85 questions (3 Sections) in all and the time allotted was 2hrs. The three sections were as follows:

Evaluation: There were 16 questions of 1 mark each, 8 questions of 1.5 marks each and 1 question of 2 marks each. Thus the section had 30 as the maximum marks. Last year Decision Making and AR section were combined while this year decision making section was made separate. There were no AR blocks in the whole paper making the paper comparitively easier this year. In Decision Making the students found (Tina, a blast furnace expert) block tough and calculative. Rest of decision making questions required thorough and repeated reading. Choices were very close. One should have attempted this section with much caution.

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 15+

Achievable Score: 9+ was an achievable score.

Evaluation: There were 19 question of 1 mark each, 4 questions of 1.5 marks each and 5 question of 2 marks each. So this section had (1 × 19 + 1.5 × 4 + 2×5 = 35) 35 as maximum marks. The 1 mark questions were easy as compared to 1.5 & 2 marks questions.There were no higher math questions this year in this section. Right selection of questions was important as there were random traps in this section.

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 12+

Comfortable Attempt: A score totalling to 20+

The question pattern of IIFT 2011 paper was different from IIFT 2010. The number of question came down to 120 from last year’s 135 questions i.e. a drop of 15 questions. This year IIFT contained 6 sections instead of 4 sections last year. Also this year it was not mentioned that whether sectional cutoffs will be taken into consideration or not. But if taken into consideration then cutoffs are given in the analysis.

There were 120 questions (6 Sections) and the time allotted was 2hrs. The six sections were as follows:

Evaluation: In RC section, One RC (Business houses and legal Disputes) was easy while other three were moderate and time consuming. Overall difficulty level was same as compared to the previous year.

Comfortable Attempt: 6-8 questions.

Achievable Score: Around 2.5 marks.

Evaluation: Verbal Ability Section was dominated by vocabulary based questions. Sentence rearrangement and grammar questions were very easy and sentence completion was a fair mix of difficult and easy questions.

Comfortable Attempt: 15-17 questions.

Achievable Score: Around 5 marks.

Evaluation: The Quant Section was a moderate. Right selection of questions was important as some the questions were having very lengthy statements.

Comfortable Attempt: 12-14 questions.

Achievable Score: Around 9 marks.

Evaluation: DI blocks were calculative in nature so it required a lot of labor.

Comfortable Attempt: 8-10 questions.

Achievable Score: Around 6 marks.

Area Tested	Description	No. of Question	Mark Allotted
AR and LR	Decision making	2	2×1
	Syllogism	2	2×1
	Coding and decoding	4	4×1
	Letter series	2	2×1
	Deductions	2	2×1
	Course of action	2	2×1
	AR blocks	7	7×1

Evaluation: There were different types of questions in this section like syllogism, Coding, series etc. This section was comparatively easier and would raise the overall cutoff.

Comfortable Attempt: 12-14 questions.

Achievable Score: Around 8.

IRMA 2011 was following a set pattern for last four years but this year the paper had different pattern. Though the number of questions and sections were the same but the difficulty level as well as the marking scheme was different..Some new types of questions were introduced this year in English Comprehension (sentence starter etc.) and Analytical Reasoning. AR section was the toughest this year while QA section was dominated by DI questions and was calculative. Issues of Social Concern (GK) section was easier as compared to last year papers. Another major change was non disclosure of the marking scheme, though negative marking was ¼th of the marks allotted to the question .So It can be inferred that different questions carried different weights.

There were 200 questions (4 Sections) in all and the time allotted was 2hrs. The four sections were as follows:

Evaluation: The major change in this section this year is the introduction of new type of questions i.e. sentence starter. The students took some time to understand the directions. Rest RC, Vocab and Grammer sections were of moderate difficulty level. Fill in the blanks were missing this year.

Comfortable Attempt: 25-28 questions (with accuracy of about 75%) in about 30 minutes.

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

Comfortable Attempt: 28-32 questions (with accuracy of about 80%) in about 25-30 minutes.

Comfortable Attempt: 25-28 questions (with accuracy of about 80%) in about 40-45 minutes.

• 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 grammar and vocabulary. Grammar questions, (knowledge of punctuations & basic tenses) tested students on basic grammar principles. The direction for one question was not mentioned properly. Overall the verbal section was very easy and a scoring one.

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

Achievable Score:   24 + was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This sections was dominated by Simple Airthmetic questions which were easy and doable. Two DI Blocks were also easy. This year Data sufficiency question were not there.

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 Current AffairsBusiness, Foreign Policy, Sports, Movies and Government Policies and Static GK- Business, Physics, chemistry, Constitution. Majority questions in both current and static were from business and commerce and single question each on movie, physics and chemistry. The cut off expected in this section is not very high.

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

Achievable Score:   10 + was an achievable score.

Evaluation: This section was mix of CR & AR questions. As this section had a lot of Critical Reasoning questions students who are good at Verbal would have found this section Easy and should have attempted more questions from this section. Keeping in mind that this section contained question of 2 marks each one should have attempted this section first.

Comfortable Attempt: 22 to 26 questions in about 40 minutes.

Achievable Score:   38 + was an achievable score.