1) How should I prepare for XAT essay section?
2) What would be the essay topic?
3) How should I write the essay?
These are few questions asked by the XAT (Xavier Admission Test) aspirants to counselors and in most of the forums. Essay writing for many years has been the integral part of XAT exams. As we all know that none of the other MBA entrance tests has a section asking candidates to write an essay. This is a totally different aspect of which XAT exam consists of.
The XAT Entrance Exam is usually held in the first or second week of January every year. The XAT entrance test generally has a time period of 2 hours. Within these 2 hours the students are required to complete the XAT paper. The XAT entrance test is divided into 2 sections where the first one consists of reasoning, quant and English and the second section consist of essay writing. Between the two sections there is a small break of 10 min for the students to get ready for the second part of XAT exam i.e. essay writing.
Essay writing in XAT consists of 20 minutes, within which the student is required to complete the essay. As such there is no word limit that is set for the essay. The student is required to write a good essay that consists of at least 350 to 450 words or more. The good essay which should be able to justify its topic and impress the examiner would be sufficient.
Types of essay asked in XAT:
Generally two broader categories of topics are asked for the XAT essay:
1. Abstract topics e.g. “There is no right way of doing a wrong thing.”
2. Knowledge Based topics e.g. “One billion Indians: Sea of opportunities, or India’s biggest problem.”
Both these topics are given for a reason. The abstract topics are usually given to test the logical power and creative thinking of a candidate. On the other hand the knowledge based topic requires students to display their indepth knowledge about the topics and has to back his argument with correct data and quotes.
To do well in XAT essay you are suggested to read business magazines and business dailies. Read magazines like Time, India Today, Outlook etc. and be aware of what is going on in the world and India. About the news be ware of everything and have a mature opinion about the same. Doing these activities will not only help you for preparing for essay writing but also for your group discussion and personal interview preparation.
Why is there essay writing in XAT?
Well there is no such solid reason for including essay writing in the XAT exam. Also the selection of candidates for the personal interview round is on the basis of the scores of the written exam only and essay writing does not have a much important role to play in this. But it may act like a icing on the cake and give importance to a shortlisted candidate during the time of the interview. As mentioned above your logical thinking and understanding about a specific topic is tested. Also based on the essay the interviewer can ask you questions and test how well you are able to convince him on the points you have written the essay. So do remember to revise the points you have written in the essay before facing the personal interview.
Note:
• Be simple and to the point
• Do not provide wrong data, facts and quotes which are hypothetical.
• Write a connecting start, body and conclusion of the essay. The start and end usually make the first and last impression in the mind of the examiner.
• The body points should contain the important points and explain them in a reasonable length.
Wishing all the very best to the XAT Entrance Exam aspirants.
