I dont rem the exact number of questions ... correct me if i am wrong.
1.Verbal - was basically tht - not much of an RC section :::
attempted 79/80. Left out a question which i felt didnt hv ne corect options ( typo or sumthin like tht )
2.Maths Section - This I think went very well for me - That particular day, offbeat ( & correct !) methods of solving these problems which strangely evades me during quizzes here - were bang on target.
Totally i cud attempt abt 26 + 4 Qs in this section.
I had solved 2 caselets in abt 20 mins. Therer were i think 5 or 6 of em to be done in abt 50 mins.
*I felt i had to attempt atleast all the easier questions of each caselet to stand a chance.
*Went abt slecting the caselets. few answers could deduce from the various questions and choices given under each caselet.
*The horse-shape movement problem was easy to visualize n calculate quickly (chess is one of my interests) .
*There were some sequences ? and a caselet based on functions spent some time on these.
*Quite a few answers i got, ended up with "none of these" as the choice to be ticked - this was wher the room started getting hotter. (this ploy is employed big time here to test the confidence of the test-taker during MCQ quizzes here)
*Most of the cases except the horse one and the functions one, I re-read the caselet worked out the methods to be employed from the various questions and choices listed out. So there is plenty of SCOPE for "thinking on the feet at that moment".
* Wasnt particularly sure abt the answers to these ( it constitutes abt half of my total confident attempts - 13 out of 26 ), just hoped the reasoning i had employed to get these answers didnt have any flaws
*My perception of the paper was tht the Average Joe would solve atleast 4 caselets,
so felt it was necessary to do atleast 30Qs to get a good score ( my accuracy generally was in the 75-90 % range)
*In the rush to do the above, in the last few mins I stil had the perms n combs ( which was one of my fav subjects till I encountered the quant Techniques - I course at xlri ! ). Had to do the entire case in abt 3-4 mins. In the end, could do only abt 4 questions and wasnt sure abt the accuracy of the answers.
*For all the Quant Questions I just put a dot in the OMR sheet. I did the shading, when the time for MAth section had elapsed and The time for GK had started.
*GK - section : Wa banking on my inQuizzitive mind to flash me the answers. this section i left out nearly 10 questions( or mebbe more I dont clearly rem). If i rem right it mst hv been 60 questions or sumthin.
At the end of the paper, was sure I had more than my normal performances .
Only thing in question was the accuracy of a few Qs - whic i had solved under time pressure.
*major decisions made in the exam hall were
Average Joe will answer 30Qs & with 80% accuracy.
SoI need to better that to get thru.
*Verbal - Smash it or get left out.
*GK - Hoped all that reading and my sense of
eliminating options would lead me to the answer and to xlri. ( atleast to the interview call )
*Yup, there was one more thing - the essay.
I'll give you some background on how i "prepared" for this
First of all, my landing in XLRI was purely happenstance !
After a lack-lustre performace in cat, somehow had this "what-the-heck" when giving the XAT paper ( n FMS papers). Was concerned that KREC (my engg college )was scaling up the rankings scale (frm 6 to god knows where after its made an IIT in the year to come) and XLRI might
not be able to make the same growth from 3rd/4th to the top.
(well ! l its my opinion
) .
But then decided, that what i extracted out of the course and those 2 years -to be spent at bschool was more important than just the name tag of the college I would be associated with.
My friend (who was instrumental in me applying to xlri, reason: to get experience in giving b-school interviews !) & I, decided or presumed that essays wud be reqd only for final sletions not for ivew calls. So we gladly skipped this part during our one-week preps ! The idea was to give CAt -2003 (er well reCat 2004
) and crack it the next time around. But then after getting shortlisted by XL and making it thru, BOTH of us, chose to stick with XL !!!
So we were now, three ppl from the same 12std maths tutes batch now together
again at the b-school.
*After digressing a bit. lemme come back to the essay part :
Inpsite of not knowing what to expect and how to tackle it went very coz of the length of the essay expected ! (abt a page of printed sheet was give for filling in the essay)
In the end, had squueze in my houghts and a few quotes rememeberd in the nick of time. It came out pretty cogently and well-hand-written too! (a rare combinatipn for me at the same time )
* The main talk of the junta outside the exam halls on that day was abt the quant section.
Bharatram told us that he perceived the math section to be diff and hence "decided" to stick with accuracy and did abt less than 20Qs with accuracy.
He too got a call. There r others here with 40+ attempts with good accuracy to those who hv attempted abt 18-20 questions. So u can draw inferences frm tht ( maybe!) abt the lower cutoffs.
*Bottomline, if i had to give you one line abt how to tackle, It would be this,
Be Cool n Composed esp on that day & use your mind/gut/intellect/intuition/logic/rationale whaever it takes
but do attempt most of the damn caselets and dont missout the easy ones, bcz in the end its all relative.
*also, dont desert your friend or make sure your friend ( ! accuracy !) doesnt depart in the process.
*Good Luck. Merry Xmas and Wish U a Happy and Great New Year Ahead to All Ye !!!
!!!
For more views on the same/any things I left out/corrections ,
hope xman or gkathotia (amongst the numerous XAT2003 takers here )
will like to post .
Linear Mode
