This is for the first time in the history of management entrance examinations that a test taking body has come out with the answerkey along with the solutions of the questions asked in their test, and that too in time.

Though this is a standard practice for some other recruitment bodies (SSC, UPPSC etc.), no management institute has ever bothered about it. In fact, XAT has shown some light to bodies like CAT group and SNAP.

The students have been given the option of getting back to XAT if they are not satisfied with the answers. Please read on for our take on the question paper. The body clearly states that students can send out an email to xatqp@xlri.ac.in on or before 16th January 2015 for any question paper / answer key queries.  Many of us at CL appeared for XAT & we have made it a point to write to them. We encourage you to write to XAT too. To download the sample student response, click here

Let’s analyze the solutions now:

All the question numbers used here are from Booklet series D.

Question 38

There are two correct answers here, options A and D.

In option A, the sales volume of generic drugs in India comes out to be less than 7% (confirmed by the official solution too). Anything which is less than 7% is certainly less than 43% as well and this this option is definitely correct. Moreover, as this was the very first option (and so very obviously correct), not many students bothered to check any other option in this high pressure examination.

Question 65

The answer, in our opinion, is E (none of the above).

We have to find the highest possible value of the expression a+b+c+d divided by a+b+c-d. The highest value would tend towards INFINITY whenever a+b+c would be equal to d. E.g. when a=1, b=2, c=3 and d=6, here the value of the expression reduces to 12 divided by ZERO which tends towards INFINITY. Among the finite values option C (51) is the answer but in presence of option E (None of the above), E is the best choice.

It is written in the solution that the least value of the denominator is 1, which is incorrect. The least value of the denominator would be -19 that is when a=1, b=2, c=3 and d=25.

Question 69

The answer in my opinion is “Cannot be determined” and as that is none of the first four options, option E (None of the above) becomes the best choice.

Here the question talks about an ASCENDING SERIES OF NUMBERS which satisfies two conditions. The question asks the 6th term in the series.

The solution assumes that the sequence is

242, 902,1562, 2222, 2882, 3542, 4202,4862…

Here, the 6th term is 3542 and that is given as the answer.

Now, even if we take the sequence as

902,1562,2222, 2882, 3542, 4202 or as

242,1562, 2222,  3542, 4202, 4862

all these sequences are ascending and satisfy both the conditions. And thus, we can get different 6th term depending on the sequence we choose to go for. IT IS NO WHERE MENTIONED IN THE QUESTION THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO TAKE ALL THE NUMBERS OF THE SERIES. EVEN IF XAT INSISTS THAT THE AFOREMENTIONED SEQUENCES DO NOT FORM A SERIES WE CAN CREATE THOUSANDS OF SERIES WITH A COMMON DIFFERENCE OF 1320 OR EVEN 1980!!!

Question 71

Here, we think that the answer is option E. The question says, “students got all possible marks BETWEEN 25 and 30 and every student had different marks”. Now, when we say “between 25 and 30”, should 30 be included? In my opinion, it should not be and thus the rank of the student who got 27.5 marks is 4 and not 5.

“4” is none of the options and hence my answer is E (None of the above).

Question 73

Here the question itself is incorrect as there CANNOT be two integers M and N for which M! – N! would have 999000 as the last 6 digits. In other words, we can say that all the options (A, B, C, D and E ) are correct. There are many people who began with an option and when could not get the last six digits as 999000 for any of the possible combinations marked that very option as the answer.

Over all snapshot of our feedback:

 

Question No Correct answer (remark)
38 Correct answers are option A & D
65 Option E- None of the above
69 Cannot be determined
71 Option E – None of the above
73 Question incorrect

We once again encourage you to  send an email to xatqp@xlri.ac.in on or before 16th January 2015 for the question paper / answer key queries.

To download the sample student response, click here

Thanks
CL Academic Team