XLRI, Jamshedpur successfully conducted the national level management entrance exam, XAT 2019 on January 6, 2019 (Sunday). The exam was held in computer-based (online) mode. XAT 2019 was conducted across 46 test centres in India. Overall, it was a smooth affair without any technical glitches.
XAT 2019 consisted of two parts. Part 1 consisted of three sections: (i) Verbal and Logical Ability (ii) Decision Making (iii) Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (74 Questions) and Part 2 consisted of one section - (i) General Knowledge (25 Questions). Time allotted to Part 1 was 165 minutes and Part 2 was 15 minutes.
| Section Name (Part 1 and Part 2) | Number of questions |
| PART 1 - Verbal and Logical Reasoning (VA & LR) | 26 |
| PART 1 - Decision Making (DM) | 21 |
| PART 1 - Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation | 27 |
| PART 2 - General Knowledge (GK) | 25 |
XAT 2019 Marking Scheme: Questions in Part 1 carried 1 mark each, and negative marks of 0.25 for each incorrect response. Further, unattempted questions beyond 8 questions attracted a negative marking of 0.1 mark.
Part-1 consisted of 26 questions in Verbal and Logical Ability, 21 questions in Decision Making and 27 questions in Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (Total 74 questions). Questions in Part 1 carried 1 mark each, and negative marks of 0.25 for each incorrect response. urther, unattempted questions beyond 8 questions attracted a negative marking of 0.1 mark. The questions in Part-1 were to be attempted in 165 minutes without any sectional timings.
Part-2 consisted of 25 questions on General Knowledge to be attempted in 15 minutes. The negative marking did not apply for Part-2 (General Knowledge section). XAT-2019 did not have an essay, unlike previous years.
Section A: Verbal and Logical Ability (26 questions)
There were 14 Reading Comprehension questions and 12 Verbal Ability or Reasoning questions. The Verbal ability/Verbal Reasoning questions were predominantly reasoning-based (Critical Reasoning and Jumbled Paragraphs). There were four vocabulary & usage-based questions (Fill in the Blanks).
The 14 RC questions were distributed among five passages.
| Area/Questions | Questions |
| Verbal Ability / Reasoning | |
| Antonym | 1 |
| Fill in the blanks (3/4 blanks) | 3 |
| Jumbled Paragraphs | 2 |
| Analogy | 1 |
| Critical Reasoning | 5 |
| Reading Comprehension | |
| Passage 1 – Poem: Black lake | 2 |
| Passage 2 – Creativity & Mood disorder | 3 |
| Passage 3 – Women’s speech | 3 |
| Passage 4 – Elevating emotions | 3 |
| Passage 5 – Art appreciation | 3 |
Section B: Decision Making (21 questions)
This section comprised 21 questions. This section consisted of 7 sets of 2 to 4 questions each.
| Area/Questions | Questions | Question Type |
| Case 1 – Principal Bhalla | 3 | Ethical Dilemma |
| Case 2 – Minister Raja Thakur | 3 | Ethical Dilemma |
| Case 3 – PR Manager/Agency | 2 | Business decision |
| Case 4 – HR Manager | 4 | Business decisions |
| Case 5 – Ice-Cream Franchise | 4 | Business decisions |
| Case 6 – Sanchit Hospitals | 3 | Ethical Dilemma |
| Case 7 – Electro Auto | 2 | 1 Business Decision & 1 Ethical Dilemma |
Section C: Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation Section (27 questions)
Out of the 27 questions in the section, 21 were on Quantitative Ability and 6 were on Data Interpretation. This section was dominated by questions on Geometry (8 questions), followed by Arithmetic (5 questions).
General Knowledge
The 25 GK questions comprised 7 current affairs questions and 18 static GK questions. 15 questions were based on national events, 8 questions were based on international events and 2 questions were general. The questions covered a wide range of areas and gave no special advantage to specialists in any one area. The topics were diverse - Science, History, Geography, Business, Economy, names of political personalities.