XAT Syllabus – Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation
Thursday, December 5th, 2019
Quantitative Aptitude is perhaps the most important section in the XAT exam. While some of you might argue that it is Decision Making that is most important because it is new and something that you haven’t practiced for, I wouldn’t agree to that. The simple reason being the number of questions. If you look at XAT past year papers over the last 5 years, you will find that the number of questions in the Quantitative Aptitude section were maximum every year. Let’s have a look at the quantitative aptitude syllabus and other details in the video and the article that is given below.
XAT Syllabus – Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation – Video
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Number of questions in XAT Quantitative Aptitude Section
There will be 27 questions in the Quantitative Aptitude section of the XAT 2020 exam. XAT exam went online some time ago and over the last two years, the pattern of the paper has remained the same as far as Quantitative Aptitude is concerned. The number of questions in XAT 2018, as well as XAT 2019, were 27. This is approximately 36% of the total paper.
A couple of other key highlights of Quantitative Aptitude Section:
- Every year 2 questions are asked in the Data Sufficiency format.
- Every year there are 2 sets on Data Interpretation of 3 or 4 questions each.
- One of the Data Interpretation sets is based on a new type of graph/representation of data.
- One of the two sets is often easy and should be attempted in the exam.
Topic Distribution in XAT Quantitative Aptitude Section
| Section | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Algebra (Functions, Logarithm, Polynomials) | 4 | 2+2(DS) | 4 |
| Arithmetic (P&L, TSD, T&W, Ratios, Averages, Percentages) | 5 | 6 | 3+2(DS) |
| Geometry (Circles, Trigo, Mensuration) | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Modern Math (Series, Probability, Set Theory) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Number System | 2(DS) | 3 | 2 |
| Data Interpretation (Bar graph, Pie Chart, Tables) | 6 | 6 | 8 |
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Cutoffs in XAT Quantitative Aptitude Section
For most colleges, that accept the XAT score the sectional cutoff for Quantitative Aptitude either does not exist or is on the lower side (80%ile). Typically, to get an 80%ile in XAT Quant, you need to score 7-8 marks. This would be enough to sail through almost all colleges including GIM, XIMB, and even XLRI for the HR program.
However, XLRI for its Business Management program requires students to score more than 90%ile in the Quantitative Aptitude section. To get that, you would probably need 9-10 marks. Although, scoring 9-10 out of 27 does not sound like a big deal but the level of questions that are asked in XAT is typically higher than that of other MBA entrance exams.
Time allocation for XAT Quantitative Aptitude Section
The decision of how much time to allocate to a Quantitative Aptitude section should depend on two factors:
- Is Quant your stronger / weaker section when compared to Verbal Ability
- Are you trying to clear the sectional cutoff or you are trying to maximize your score?
In my opinion, you should be allocated anywhere from 50 to 70 minutes (out of 165) to Quantitative Aptitude.
If Quantitative Aptitude is your stronger section and you are trying to maximize your score, you should allocate 70 minutes to it.
If Quantitative Aptitude is your weaker section and you are trying to clear the cutoff, you should allocate 50 minutes to it.
If you are not so sure/clear about the data – you should allocate 60 minutes to it.
We hope you found this post / video useful. Our XAT Crash Course gives you multiple such videos for strategy and preparation for XAT 2020 Exam.
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