Guidelines For XAT 2009 Essay

The Inherent vice of Capitalism is unequal sharing of blessings and the inherent virtue of Socialism is equal sharing of misery.

 

An interesting topic, which required some awareness of the two political and economic systems. Some points worth exploring in this essay were:

 

1) The historical development of Capitalism as a major force shaping the modern world.

 

2) The rise of Socialism as a countering force as visualized by Karl Marx and other thinkers.

 

3) Major Socialist movements such as the Russian Revolution.

 

4) How Capitalism came to be viewed as a credo and how the world got bi-polarized into the Capitalist and Socialist blocks.

 

5) Lessons from the 20th century- how Socialism and Communism failed to stem the economic collapse of Russia. Ironically enough, the virtue ‘of equal sharing of misery failed to sustain Socialist governments’.

 

6) The enduring appeal of Capitalism even though the vice of unequal distribution of wealth persists- example of how erstwhile Socialist regimes like China are embracing market Capitalism today.

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First impression of XAT 2009

The paper consisted of 3 sections: Quantitative Aptitude+Data Interpretation (38 questions), Verbal Ability +Logical Ability (35 questions) and Analytical Reasoning +Decision Making (31) questions – a total of 104 questions, which was lower than last year’s 120.

As expected the paper was on the tougher side. Nonetheless it was balanced across the sections. There were few questions, which were ambiguous but all in all the paper was on the expected lines and resembling XAT 2008.

The topic for the essay was “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”

Expected Cut-off for XLRI (BM) QA+DI: 9.0, AR+DM: 7.5, VA+LA: 9.0 Overall: 34-35

Activities for XAT Day (Jan 4) on www.careerlauncher.com

Dear Student,

One big day (Nov 16 – CAT 2008) has gone and another one (Jan 4 – XAT 2009) is around the corner. Many of you were ecstatic on Nov 16 and many disappointed. Lets keep that aside for the time being and gear up for XAT 2009.

Career Launcher as usual in the endeavor to extend its services has following to offer on Jan 4, 2009

• Instant cut-offs
• First Impressions of XAT 2009
• Online OMR sheet to mark your XAT answers
• XAT 2009 Analysis
• Answer keys.
• Your detailed personal performance analysis.
• Recommendations on institutes.
• Written solutions of XAT 2009 questions.
• Any important announcements.

The action will begin at 2 PM. Be sure to logon to http://www.careerlauncher.com/mba/catday on Jan 4 2009.

All the best!
Regards,

The CL Team

Essay writing tips for XAT

Personality Development Programme (PDP)

 

What is looked for?

•          Subject knowledge

•          Clarity of thought

•          Flow of ideas

•          Examples

•          Facts

•          Correct usage of grammar

•          Correct usage of words

•          A neat hand-writing

 

How should you write?

•          Always write in paragraphs

•          It’s not a natural but learned skill

•          Different paragraphs express different ideas that contribute to the main idea

•          A paragraph should ideally contain :

      (i)            Topic Sentence: it is the 1st sentence expressing the main idea of the paragraph- Say what you are going to say

    (ii)            Supporting Sentences: they expand the main idea expressed in the topic sentence- Say it

   (iii)            Concluding Sentence: rounding off what has been said or a logical conclusion of the idea in the topic sentence- Say it again!!!

 

How should you write?

•          Follow a flow of paragraphs

•          Always let the first paragraph be an introduction to the subject matter

•          Expansion/ support/ refutation of the idea must follow in subsequent paragraphs

•          The last paragraph must have a conclusion of the main idea

•          There could be two forms of writing- Deductive and Inductive

•          You should have good knowledge of the topic to write about

•          Read the directions carefully

•          Recognize action words- discuss, evaluate, argue, comment etc.

•          Focus on the issue rather than peripheries

•          Choose words with precise meanings; avoid ambiguity

•          Do not use Jargon

•          Do not use Slang

•          Do not use Cliché

•          Do not use Abbreviations

•          Do not use Quotations without acknowledgments

•          Make tentative statements; avoid definitive statements- it leaves a scope for further discussion

 

How to prepare?

•          Regular reading of:-

      (i)            Newspaper editorials

    (ii)            News papers

   (iii)            News websites

  (iv)            Non-fiction

•          Discussions with friends and family

•          Informational thinking

 

Topics XAT from past essays

•          Gender Imbalance would lead to Third World War- XAT 2008

•          Economic growth without environmental damage – a mirage or a reality. –XAT 2007

•          ‘India has one of the largest pools of talented manpower, but few innovations and patented products.’ –XAT 2006

•          More than one billion Indians: A gigantic problem or a sea of opportunities –XAT 2005

•          Asked at the age of 83, as to which of his project would he choose as his master piece, Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect answered, “The next one” –XAT 2004

•          To give real service, one needs to add something that cannot be bought or measured, like sincerity and integrity. –XAT 2003

XAT 2008 – expected cut-offs

For CAT 2008 cutoff and calculating your cat 2008 percentile with 95% confidence, please visit www.careerlauncher.com

The expected cut-offs for XAT 2008 are:

Institute	English	Quantitative Aptitude + Data Interpretation	Reasoning + Decision Making	Overall
XLRI – BM	11 – 12	7.5 – 8	7 – 7.5	32 – 33
XLRI – PMIR	13 – 14	6 – 6.5	5.5 – 6	30 – 31
XIM-B	10.5 – 11	6 – 6.5	5.5 – 6	29 – 30

For more on XAT, visit www.careerlauncher.com

XAT Quant

XAT Essays – Past Trends