The Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) is conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur across 100+ cities in India and is accepted by 150+ B schools in India. This includes renowned B schools like XIMB, MICA, IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi, IRMA, KJSIMSR, GLIM, FORE School, BIM, GIM, TAPMI, LBSIM, Welingkar, LIBA & IFMR.
Exam Date : 3rd January 2027 from 2 pm to 5 pm
XAT Pattern
| Section | About | No. of Questions | Time in Minutes |
| Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning (VALR) | The VA&LR section will encompass critical & analytical reasoning, reading comprehension (including poems, cartoons & passages etc.), vocabulary, English grammar, and other related exercises such as para jumbles, cloze tests etc. | 26 | 170 |
| Decision Making (DM) | The DM section will present scenarios drawn from both personal and professional lives. Candidates will be required to apply critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and prioritization to make informed decisions. | 21 | |
| Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation (QA & DI) | In this section, the questions are designed to assess the quantitative aptitude of candidates who possess foundational understanding of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration, modern Maths, etc. The questions on DI are about clear interpretation, summarization, and insightful analysis of the data. | 28 | |
| General Knowledge (GK) | In the GK section, 8 questions will focus on static GK, while the remaining 12 will delve into current affairs. | 20 | 10 |
| Total | 95 | 180 |
Exam marking Scheme & penalty
1 mark for each correct answer. 0.25 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer. There is a penalty for unanswered questions. You can skip up to 8 consecutive or total questions without any penalty. However, if you leave more than 8 questions un-attempted, a penalty of 0.10 marks is deducted for every additional question left blank
In the case of GK, there is no penalty for wrong or un-attempted answers. The GK score is not included in the CAT score and will be considered by XLRI only at the interview stage. Apart from XLRI, none of the other institutes under XAT considers GK score at any stage of their selection process.
XAT Syllabus
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning– Spot the error, Para Jumbles, Para Completion (Cloze), Grammatically correct Sentence, Antonym, Analogy, Reading Comprehension including a poem, Statement and Assumptions, Statement and Conclusions, Statement – Inference, Strong and Weak Arguments, Decision Making, Course of Action, Critical Reasoning
Decision Making – This section tests your critical thinking, ethical judgment, and leadership skills, based on seven short passages which outline real life scenarios/business problems/ethical issues. Each of these passages will have three multiple choice questions. You need to understand the given scenario, the core issue(s) involved, the ethical dilemmas and then logically choose the best option to solve the issue. The best way to prepare for Decision Making is to go through the past eight to ten actual XAT papers.
Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation – Arithmetic, Numbers, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration, Co-ordinate Geometry, Probability, Statistics, Quadratic Equations, Special Equations, Logarithm, Indices & Surds, Progressions, Trigonometry, Inequalities, Functions, Operator Based Questions, Data Sufficiency, Venn Diagrams, Clocks, Cubes, Data Interpretation
Advantages of the XAT exam
If you are not very good at quantitative ability, XAT appeals to you because two thirds of the exam is verbal based. This helps you to maximise your score and percentile.
There is no sectional time limit which means you can use the 170 minutes to your advantage. Apart from XLRI, none of the other institutes under XAT have sectional cut off. So, if you are targeting these institutes, you have the freedom to try and maximise your score by spending more time on your favourite sections.
Important dates
| Activity | Date |
| Registration Opens | 15th July 2026 |
| Registration Closes | 6th December 2026 |
| Admit Card Download | 20th December 2026 |
| Exam | 3rd January 2026 |
