• 130 Qs, 120 min.
• 130 marks (0.33 negative for the first 5 wrong answer, 0.5 for every wrong answer beyond that)
• 3 sections, No sectional time limit
• 5 answer options per question

• XLRI (Business Management) 37+
• XLRI (Personnel Management) 35+
• S P Jain 32+
• XIM Bhubaneshwar 29+
• GIM / BIM 25+

• 5 answer options (did CAT and XAT talk to each other, or did they imitate the GMAT? )
• Introduction of 'Management Decision Making' questions involving Case studies
• Data Interpretation being a part of the Quant section and not the Logical Reasoning section.

Because of progressive negative marking (with the negative being as high has 0.5 after the first five mistakes in any section), conservative attempts with an emphasis on accuracy was the right strategy. As with all XATs, one should have focused on looking for the right questions.

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• The section was divided into two categories: Logical Reasoning (25 Q's) and Management Decision Making (15 Q's).
• The Logical Reasoning questions consisted of 4 sets of Analytical Reasoning and 3 stand-alone questions. All stand-alone questions were easy and were a must-attempt. Amongst the Analytical Reasoning caselets, one could have solved 3 sets if one picked the right questions.
• The Management Decision Making questions consisted of 4 business case-studies. These questions were difficult and could have been avoided.
• A good attempt in this section would be around 15-17 Logical Reasoning questions in 40 min.

• The Verbal Ability section consisted of 23 Q's on Reading Comprehension and 18 Q's on English Usage.
• The 23 Q's on Reading Comprehension were spread across 5 passages, which had varying levels of difficulty.
• In XAT 2006, the English Usage changed from being Vocabulary-intensive to Grammar-intensive. This year they continued the XAT 2006 orientation. The 18 Q's consisted of 5 Q's on Critical Reasoning, 4 Q's on Parajumbles (6-sentence type), 5 Q's on contextual usage of words and 4 Q's on Grammar and Usage.
• One could have attempted two passages ("Understanding oneself" and The two poems) out of five and some English Usage questions (especially the Critical Reasoning and Grammar/Usage based questions). A good attempt would have been 18-20 Q's in 40 min.

• This section had a mix of Quant (32 Q's), Data Interpretation (13 Q's) and Data Sufficiency (4 Q's).
• Like in CAT 2006, about 70% of the quant questions were on Algebra (14 Q's), Number Systems (5 Q's) and Geometry (4 Q's). Apart from these there were questions on Arithmetic, Probability and Miscellaneous Math, but surprisingly no questions on Higher Math! (Thank God)! Though some of the questions were avoidable, especially * the ones involving the equation of Hyperbola * the one involving the 3 x 4 grid and * the one involving cryptarithm.
• 2 out of the 4 Data Sufficiency questions could have been attempted.
• There were 4 sets of DI (3 Tables and 1 Bar graph). Other than the Bar graph, all others sets were calculation-intensive and hence avoidable.
• Overall, this being a difficult section, one could have attempted the bar graph in DI, a couple of DS questions and about 10-12 Q's in Quant, in 40 min.

• Write a 1-page essay on the topic: Economic growth without environmental damage – a mirage or a reality

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