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XAT guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers
Xavier Aptitude Test — MBA/PGDM admission to XLRI & XAMI schools. Conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur, for the XAMI (Xavier Association of Management Institutes) member schools. Aditi knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.
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On the table
Carries the marks · Verbal Ability & Logical ReasoningReading ComprehensionQs in paper 10–12 Open the chapter
The paper · XAT75 questions, 75 marksWrong answers cost marks
Aditi“Before we plan anything: when do you sit XAT, and how many hours a day do you really have?”
Talk TypeEnd & get my plan06:12
Ends in a plan
Stages
3
First paper
75 questions, 75 marks
Marking
Wrong answers cost marks
Your guide
Aditi, free
How it's decided
XAT, stage by stage
Once a year (application ~August–December; exam the first Sunday of January). Computer-based, MCQ only — every question has FIVE options, and there are no typed/TITA questions.
Part 1 — VA&LR, DM, QA&DIYour entire percentile score
170 minutes, 75 questions, no sectional time lock — sequence the three sections yourself. 10 for every unattempted question beyond your first 8 free skips. This score alone becomes your XAT percentile.
Part 2 — General KnowledgeNot counted in percentile — used at GD-PI
A separate, one-way 10-minute block of 20 GK questions, +1 for correct with zero negative marking. It does not affect your percentile at all, but XLRI and other XAMI schools factor GK performance into GD-PI shortlisting and final selection.
GD-PI & final selectionAdmission decision
Shortlisted candidates (by percentile, academic profile, work experience and GK performance) are called for Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds at each participating XAMI school, which run their own separate final selection process.
The papers
2 papers, and how each is marked
Part 1 — Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability & DI
75 questions75 marks170 minNegative marking
Merit — this score alone decides your percentile
Marking: −0.25 per wrong answer; −0.10 per unattempted question beyond your first 8 free skips
Five options per question, not four — the single most common fact test-prep material gets wrong about XAT. No sectional time limits mean you choose your own attempt order across all three sections.
Part 2 — General Knowledge
20 questions20 marks10 minNo negative marking
Not counted in percentile — used at GD-PI shortlisting
Marking: None — +1 for correct, 0 for wrong or unattempted
Zero negative marking means every question should be attempted. It does not move your percentile, but XLRI and other XAMI schools do read GK performance at the interview stage.
Where the marks come from
Where your 75 scored Part 1 marks come from
25 for a wrong one. Part 2's 20 General Knowledge questions, sat in a separately-timed 10-minute block you cannot return from, carry zero weight in your percentile — XLRI and other XAMI schools use GK at the GD-PI shortlisting stage instead.
Quantitative Ability & DI28 marks · 37%
28 questions — XAT's single largest block, and heavier on arithmetic and geometry than CAT's algebra-leaning style. Widely rated the toughest, most time-hungry section.
Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning26 marks · 35%
26 questions across RC, critical reasoning, verbal reasoning, para-jumbles and vocabulary. Passages skew philosophy, history and psychology — denser than CAT's business-heavy register.
Decision Making21 marks · 28%
21 questions, unique to XAT among major MBA entrances. No algorithm produces the answer — it rewards calibrated judgment: proportionate responses, root-cause fixes, and respecting stated ethical or authority constraints.
General Knowledge20 marks · 0%
20 questions, zero weight in your percentile — but zero negative marking too, and real relevance at GD-PI shortlisting, so it's worth a steady, low-intensity habit rather than either cramming or ignoring it.
What changed this cycle
Things last year's advice gets wrong
Essay Writing has been removed from the main exam — material or coaching notes that still mention a written essay section are out of date.
General Knowledge is now a strictly separate, 10-minute Part 2 block that begins only after Part 1 closes, with no way to return to Part 1 once GK starts.
10. 10) — most coaching material never works through this arithmetic.
Every question, in both Part 1 and Part 2, has five answer options — not four. This is XAT's defining structural difference from CAT and is the main reason its Verbal Ability section is rated harder despite shorter, more readable passages.
The chapters that carry the marks
Where a plan for XAT usually starts
The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.
CAT, XAT, CLAT and CUET: selection over speed, and reading the paper before it reads you. Pick one to start, or just talk — Aditi has read your profile either way.
1. Part 1 — VA&LR, DM, QA&DI — Your entire percentile score. 2. Part 2 — General Knowledge — Not counted in percentile — used at GD-PI. 3. GD-PI & final selection — Admission decision.
How is the XAT paper marked?
Part 1 — Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability & DI: 75 questions, 75 marks, 170 min (no sectional time lock). Marking: −0.25 per wrong answer; −0.10 per unattempted question beyond your first 8 free skips
Is there negative marking in XAT?
Yes. −0.25 per wrong answer; −0.10 per unattempted question beyond your first 8 free skips
What decides the final merit in XAT?
25 for a wrong one. Part 2's 20 General Knowledge questions, sat in a separately-timed 10-minute block you cannot return from, carry zero weight in your percentile — XLRI and other XAMI schools use GK at the GD-PI shortlisting stage instead.
What has changed in XAT recently?
Essay Writing has been removed from the main exam — material or coaching notes that still mention a written essay section are out of date.
What does the XAT guide know about me?
Only what you have done on the site: your scores by subject and chapter for XAT, what you have never been tested on, the kinds of mistake you make across topics, your mocks, your projected score, your error book, your last two weeks and your goals. You can open the exact page Aditi reads before you start.
Is it free?
Talking to Aditi, the AI guide, is free — up to four talks a day. Real guides who have cleared or teach XAT set their own prices, and many offer a free call or a short demo.
Every fact on this page comes from the exam's blueprint on this site. How the guide uses it: how Guidance works.
