Dear student,

We hope that you are preparing for the XAT 2018 exam in earnest and have appeared for the ALL INDIA MOCK XAT 1 conducted by T.I.M.E. from 22nd December 2017 to 24th December 2017. It is imperative that you not only review the explanatory answers for the questions in the test that have been made available to you but also analyze the test in terms of your strengths and weaknesses, look for areas of improvement in the Verbal and Quant testing areas, master the Decision Making section (unique to XAT) and polish your essay writing skills.

We also hope that you have attempted the XAT Essay under test conditions and within the stipulated time. This was critical in the sense that you would have gained valuable practice and experience before the actual XAT Exam. You were expected to write an essay on the given topic in about 350 words.

Topic: The most crucial decisions in life call upon us to choose not between "good and bad" but between "good and good".

Each essay is normally graded on the basis of parameters like content, development of ideas, perspective, structure and control over language. These details are given below:

PARAMETERS	DETAILS	WEIGHTAGE
Content	Adequacy of information	x 2
Ideas and their development	Elaboration through reasoning, explanation, examples	x 3
Perspective	Pros and cons, different aspects, parallel reasoning, suggestions	x 1
Structure	Logical idea-flow in Intro-Body-Conclusion form	x 2
Control over language	Grammar and spellings, sentence construction and punctuation	x 2

Additional essay writing tips would have been shared with you in the classes on essay writing. These are also reproduced in the link below for your reference.

GENERAL TIPS ON ESSAYWRITING

Given in the links below are MODEL OR SAMPLE ESSAYS on the above topic written by students. These essays cover a range of ideas and perspectives and will give you an insight into the nuances of writing an essay. Each essay is also provided with comments or feedback that will help the writer improve his writing. You are requested to compare and contrast your essay with the essays provided in the links below and take advantage of helpful feedback and tips.

Model Essay 1 with feedback & evaluation

Model Essay 2 with feedback & evaluation

Model Essay 3 with feedback & evaluation

Model Essay 4 with feedback & evaluation

Model Essay 5 with feedback & evaluation

After you have gone through the above links, we recommend that you pen down your thoughts and compose essays on the following topics for additional writing practice:

1) In India, we, quite rightly, aspire to reach Mars. However, we must, at the same time, acknowledge that we still need our bullock-carts.

2) It has long been held that terrorism is the child of under-development and the lack of employment opportunities. Does that still hold true?

3) Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
- Albert Einstein

4) The first one gets the oyster. The second gets the shell.
- Andrew Carnegie

5) Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
- Mahatma Gandhi

6) There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
- Zig Ziglar

7) Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
- Vince Lombardi

8) What good are fans? You can't eat applause for breakfast.

All the best for the New Year 2018 and for the XAT 2018 exam. T.I.M.E.