Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability form one of the three sections of the XAT entrance test. Actually they are two independent sections, but they are clubbed to one in XAT. Apart from this there are two more sections on Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making, and Verbal Ability & Logical Ability. Essay writing is also a part of the exam.

Qualification:

Graduates from any discipline can apply for XAT. Students who are in the final year of the degree course can also apply, provided there result should come out before the admission process starts.

Scoring and Negative Marking:

Each question is of 1 mark. For each wrong answer ¼ marks is deducted. This system started from this year only; earlier there was progressive negative marking scheme.

Mode of exam:

XAT is still a paper-pen based exam.

Format:

All the questions in the Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability are multiple choice type questions. Each question has four options with it.

Paper Pattern:

The Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability section had 43 questions in 2011. The number of questions varies every year. As far as the difficulty is concerned, the paper cannot be termed easy. In plain and simple words, the paper is pretty tough. All the questions are MCQs. Only one of the given four answers is correct.

Topics Included:

The topics covered in the Quantitative Ability section are Numbers, Ratio and Proportion, Percentage, Modern Mathematics, Geometry etc. The Data Interpretation section covers topics like Line Graphs, Tables and Bar Graphs.

Timing:

The paper is to be completed in 2 hours and 20 minutes. All the sections are to be completed in this composite time. Essay writing is given extra 20 minutes.

Recommended Books:

For this section, students can refer to books by S.L. Gulathi and R.S. Agarwal.