Dwaipayan Chakraborty

The GK sections contains a mix of both questions from current affairs as well as static GK. You should thoroughly go through the major events that took place in the last one year in business, economic scenario and politics to answer the former. For static GK you could use the help of several apps that are there. But the GK section would not affect your overall percentile.

02:30 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

The best way to solve DM questions is by eliminating options. Another tip is never go for options that are extremes. Eliminate the extremes first and choose the most logical and feasible in the context of the question.

02:32 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

You should solve at least the last 10 years' papers for XAT. That will give you a good idea of the type of questions. About solving them: Best method is by eliminating options until the most suitable is narrowed down. - Start by eliminating the option which contain extreme suggestions/answers to the question. - Go on eliminating until you find the most logical, feasible solution. - Thoroughly read the question/case given. Hope this helps.

02:35 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

XAT as an examination would test your flexibility between sections. Try not to follow a strategy that is too rigid because there might be surprises. The QA-DI section is mostly tougher than CAT levels so if quant is your strength, start with that. I have given some tips for DM in an earlier question. Solve the paper in two rounds. - In the first 100 mins, solve the ones that appear the most comfortable to you. - In the next round, after getting an idea of the difficulty level of the Paper in the 1st round, adjust your strategy according to your strenghts. Solve the questions that feel are solvable but which would take some time. - Also keep the sectional cutoffs in mind. Hope this helps.

02:42 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

You should solve at least the last 10 years' papers for XAT. That will give you a good idea of the type of questions. About solving them: Best method is by eliminating options until the most suitable is narrowed down. - Start by eliminating the option which contain extreme suggestions/answers to the question. - Go on eliminating until you find the most logical, feasible solution. - Thoroughly read the question/case given. Hope this helps.

02:42 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

My sectional scores were: QA- 86.32, V&LA: 94.6, DM - 99.84. Overall score 45.51. I am sorry, but I cannot recollect how many questions I attempted.

02:46 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

Yes. The negative marking for leaving questions is much less compared to that of answering questions incorrectly. So my advice would be that focus on accuracy as attempting more questions with low accuracy would be more damaging than leaving questions that you are not sure about.

02:48 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

Yes. The negative marking for leaving questions is much less compared to that of answering questions incorrectly. So my advice would be that focus on accuracy as attempting more questions with low accuracy would be more damaging than leaving questions that you are not sure about.

02:48 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

I solved the paper in two rounds. - In the first round (100 mins) I attempted the questions that appeared the easiest to me. - In the 2nd round, after understanding the difficulty level of the paper, I adjusted my strategy to suit my strengths and attempted more questions from the section I was most comfortable with. Hope this helps.

02:51 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

Although the difficulty level varies every year, I would say that this section is tougher than that of CAT's. If you have practiced a lot then you should be okay with this. Otherwise, I suggest that briefly look at the questions first before starting to read the passages. Also, practice understanding the passage in only one read, i.e, increase your concentration while reading. A lot of time gets wasted in re-reading passages. Hope this helps.

02:54 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

Yes LOD 3 of Arun Sharma will be sufficient. But if it is too difficult I would suggest you to attempt selectively so as to focus more on other easier sections. But keep in mind the sectional cutoff, it is usually 85 percentile in QM for a BM call.

02:56 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

The GK sections contains a mix of both questions from current affairs as well as static GK. You should thoroughly go through the major events that took place in the last one year in business, economic scenario and politics to answer the former. For static GK you could use the help of several apps that are there. But the GK section would not affect your overall percentile.

02:58 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

I am not sure about that but definitely not above 95-96 percentile.

02:59 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

It might be difficult to get a call as they focus on your profile a lot. But I would still recommend applying as nobody can surely say about getting calls from b-schools.

03:01 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

Both CL and TIME are good. But solving last 5 years' papers is also very important. Most importantly, sit 3 hours and solve previous pares as it will help you prepare for the actual exam as it is pen and paper based.

03:03 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

The cutoff for Quant for HRM is usually low. So, if you manage a good percentile and manage to clear the QM cutoff, you'll get a call. Yes, you can certainly target XLRI.

03:09 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

-Go through the entire paper in the first round(first 100 mins) and then adjust your strategy according to your strengths. - Roughly, what I did was, VA and DM: 120-130 mins. Regarding the essay: - Essays test your clarity of thought. So, my advice would be that if you are writing an opinion, make sure you adequately and relevantly support it with facts. That is very important. - Do not be verbose, brevity is attractive. - Write with a clear logical structure and flow. - Try to start with a good opening that captures the reader's attention. He'll be reading thousands of essays, try to make yours stand out. - Follow the basic structure of: Opening, Body, Conclusion and the flow of ideas in between must be as seamless as possible. Hope this helps.

03:23 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

It differs every year. I got a score of 45.51 and 98.843 percentile. The percentile vs score graph varies every year, but a score of above 40 is pretty decent.

03:25 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

So, when you practice last years questions, analyse your strengths and prepare accordingly.

03:26 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

You should solve at least the last 10 years' papers for XAT. That will give you a good idea of the type of questions. About solving them: Best method is by eliminating options until the most suitable is narrowed down. - Start by eliminating the option which contain extreme suggestions/answers to the question. - Go on eliminating until you find the most logical, feasible solution. - Thoroughly read the question/case given. Hope this helps.

03:28 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

You should solve at least the last 10 years' papers for XAT. That will give you a good idea of the type of questions. About solving them: Best method is by eliminating options until the most suitable is narrowed down. - Start by eliminating the option which contain extreme suggestions/answers to the question. - Go on eliminating until you find the most logical, feasible solution. - Thoroughly read the question/case given. Hope this helps.

03:28 PM

Dwaipayan Chakraborty

You are welcome to send me any queries on my personal id, i.e, dwaihvm.dc@gmail.com or on facebook.

03:30 PM