UNDERSTANDING THE XAT ANALYSIS

Posted 2025-12-23 08:36:11

The Xavier's Aptitude Test is one of the toughest MBA entrance exams in the country. Students every year work extremely hard to prepare for the exam. Each year there are over 90,000 candidates who are appearing for the exam with the aim of getting admission to the top-ranked business schools of the country. The XAT exam is officially conducted by the XLRI, Jamshedpur. This exam gives admission to the students in 11 associate member institutes of the XLRI and 150 + other business schools across the country. For such a competitive and tough entrance exam, it becomes highly important for the students to focus on the XAT analysis to get a better idea of what the exam entails. Students usually prefer to be well versed with different topics of the syllabus in order to have better preparation.

Why is XAT Analysis Important for the Students?

Usually the XAT paper analysis holds a lot of importance for the students now because the XAT exam structure has been revised since 2025. For the XAT 2026 exam, the pattern is a little bit different. When students are active and they read about the XAT 2026 analysis, they'll get a better idea of the changes that have come in the recent years. This will help the students to understand what they have to prepare for and what are the things that they can now leave as a part of their preparation. Therefore, it becomes very important for the students to be well versed and acquainted with XAT analysis of the exam.

XAT Exam Pattern

As per the revised structure of the XAT exam, there are two parts of the exam. Part 1 of the exam consists of three sections. The Verbal and Logical Ability section has 26 questions. The decision-making section has 21 questions, and the quantitative ability and data interpretation section has 28 questions. Students have a time limit of 170 minutes to solve Part 1 of the exam. Part 2 of the exam now consists of the general knowledge section, and it has 20 questions, and the time duration to solve the questions is 10 minutes. XAT is a computer-based test.

Important Points to Keep in Mind

When students study the XAT exam analysis, they will get to know what changes have been made in recent years. The key feature of the XAT exam 2026 is that the number of questions in the exam is 95. The total time duration is 180 minutes. There are in total 4 sections overall in the exam. The marking scheme of the XAT exam is also pretty simple. 1 mark is awarded for every correct answer. 0.25 marks are deducted for every incorrect answer. There is an additional penalty of 0.10 marks that are deducted when more than 8 consecutive questions are left unanswered. There is no negative marking for the general knowledge section of the exam. There is no sectional limit for students to solve any of the sections except Part B, which is the general knowledge section, which has only 10 minutes. The essay writing section is not a part of the main exam but is evaluated in the group discussion and personal interview rounds.

Section-Wise Analysis

Having a good knowledge of the various sections of the XAT exam becomes important for the students because it tells the students which topics they have to focus more on and which are the topics that are going to come in the exam and how they should deal with them. Students also get the analysis of how many questions they should attempt that makes it count as a good attempt at the exam. All of these details about the exam students get to become aware of when they study and research and read more about the XAT analysis.

Verbal and Logical Ability

This is the first section of the XAT exam. The section usually includes questions based on reading comprehension passages, critical reasoning, vocabulary, grammar, error identification, etc. Usually there are poems that are also a part of the reading comprehension passages. In this section an attempt of over 14+ questions is considered to be good enough to get an excellent percentile. In this section students should try and focus on getting more and more practice of reading comprehension and other questions on the topics mentioned in order to perform well in this section.

Decision Making

This is a section which is very unique to the XAT exam pattern. There are not a lot of entrance exams out there that have this section as a part of their exam pattern. Students in this section are presented with 21 questions that are completely based on real-life scenarios, including ethical, managerial or personal dilemmas. Students have to really use their practical knowledge and their presence of mind in order to solve the questions of this section. This section of the exam tests the practical judgement of the students. According to the XAT analysis, an attempt of 12 + questions is generally considered sufficient for a good performance.

Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation

This is the last section of part one of the XAT exam. Usually this section is considered to be mostly mathematically intensive for students. It becomes important for them to focus on these mathematical topics. There are around 28 questions that students have to solve, based on various topics such as algebra, geometry, modern math, complex data interpretation sets, etc. An attempt of over 15 questions is considered good for this section.

General Knowledge

This is the only section that's a part of Part B of the XAT exam. It comprises 20 questions that students have to solve within 10 minutes. Usually the general knowledge section covers all the current affairs, business, economics, history, geography and static GK. Even though the scores of this section are not directly added in the percentile calculation, the section holds a lot of importance in the selection process of the students. An attempt of around 14 + questions is considered ideal for this section according to the XAT analysis.

Conclusion

Usually students for many years see the dream of doing good for themselves and getting admission to some of the best colleges that will help to change the trajectory of their lives. Getting to a good institution is not just about getting admission and studying and getting a degree. A good institution adds to the personality of the students. It helps the students to go beyond the superficial and look deep within every aspect. Students become knowledgeable. All this is possible when students are dedicated towards their preparation and are sincere towards getting their aim fulfilled. Some students lag behind in their preparation because they get distracted. It is not easy for the students to crack the XAT exam because it is considered difficult. There is a standard for the exam. But students who are sincere and consistent in their efforts will be able to score well in the exam with their preparation.