MBA Entrance Exam Pattern@ XAT, IRMA change test pattern; CAT, others stay firm

(prHWY.com) September 14, 2012 - Noida, India -- With time ticking fast for B-school aspirants to take MBA entrance exams for the academic session 2013-2015, some of the prestigious entrance tests like XAT and IRMA have announced significant changes in their test patterns even as CAT and other entrance tests are expected to continue with the last year's patterns.

While Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT), the MBA entrance examination XLRI conducts for admission in 109 B-schools, will now have an additional section on 'general awareness', IRMA has refreshed the pattern with more weightage given to English and analytical reasoning. The test pattern for Common Admission Test (CAT), the gateway to IIMs and other top B-schools, will, however, remain unchanged.

More diversity

According to the changes announced in XAT, the duration of the test has been extended to three hours and a section on general awareness has been added. The exam will have two parts. The first part will have multiple-choice questions on three sections -- data interpretation & quantitative ability, analytical reasoning & decision making and verbal & logical ability - and time allotted to it is 2:20 hours. The next part will have essay writing and the general awareness section and time stipulated for it is 40 minutes. Earlier, XAT duration was 2:20 hours.

The changes, according to Prof. Vishwa Ballabh, admission chairperson, XLRI, are aimed at bringing in more diversity into the classroom. "We want to have students from diverse backgrounds. So, XAT is not just meant for students from the engineering and science backgrounds, but from the social science background as well. That is precisely the reason why we have extended the duration of the test. We want students to take their time and answer as many questions as possible," he said, adding, "We need versatile students who can excel in the management field. We want test takers to have equal knowledge about business knowledge, economics, politics and social developments."
We have more than 20 per cent students from social science streams besides science and engineering graduates. We would like to make our classes more diversified. For this, the question pattern will be changed in a manner so that no one has any disadvantage. General awareness (GA) questions will be related to business economics and politics related to business environment. XAT 2013 is scheduled on January 6, 2013.

A refresh

IRMA has also refreshed its pattern with a few changes. The entrance examination pattern for the academic session 2013-15 will have more weightage being attached to the English comprehension and analytical reasoning sections. At the same time, the weightage on the issues of social concern section will get reduced. The IRMA entrance examination will be held on November 11.

The English comprehension and analytical reasoning sections will have 10 more questions compared with previous years. However, the issues of social concern section will have 20 questions less in the new pattern. The total number of questions is 200 and each of them carries one mark. The duration of the exam is two hours.
Section name No. of questions in new pattern No. of questions in previous pattern
English comprehension 50 40
Quantitative ability 50 50
Analytical reasoning 60 50
Issues of social concern 40 60

A spokesperson from IRMA said, "Every year, IRMA incorporates some innovations in the pattern of the paper. The reshuffling of the number of questions and marks is a part of that."

Will CAT change its pattern?

CAT is also known for changing its pattern frequently. It has already made a few changes in the pattern in 2011. So, will CAT also throw any surprise in the test pattern this year? Prof SSS Kumar, CAT 2012 convener, says CAT will stick to what was announced in its admission brochure. Asked whether any last-minute change is possible in the CAT pattern, Prof Kumar said, "I certainly have no doubt about it that we will go ahead with what we have announced."

"We carefully analysed the last year's pattern. It worked very well last year and we will stick to it this year too," he said, adding, "There will not be any deviation from the pattern which is already in the public domain."

Other top entrance test like IIFT entrance test, SNAP, NMAT, and CMAT have also announced that the test patterns this year will remain unchanged.

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