Among many other aptitude-based entrance examinations, the Xavier Aptitude Test, or XAT, is also an aptitude-testing entrance exam for people interested in postgraduate business administration and management programs at Indian universities. Human Resources Management, Finance Management, Marketing and Sales Management, Global Management, and a variety of additional specializations are among the MBA and PGDM courses available. This examination is conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur, and it is conducted once a year.
The exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) divided into four sections: Decision Making (DM), Verbal and Logical Ability, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (QA-DI), and General Knowledge. The XAT test is an online examination that lasts three hours and is open to anyone who has completed at least a three-year bachelor’s degree or is in their final year of bachelor’s degree.

Calculating Percentile Based on XAT Score
Based on the XAT exam score, the institutes that offer MBA admissions in India include SPJIMR BIMTECH, XLRI, LIBA, IMT, Great Lakes, TAPMI, XIMB, GIM Goa, FORE, and XIM E, and many others. The XAT is thought to be tougher than other MBA entrance tests. Its scoring system is +1 mark for each correct answer and -0.25-mark negative grading makes scoring higher than 35-40 marks challenging. The XAT exam’s level of difficulty and limited set of questions lead to a high percentile at low scores.
Keep in mind that in the XAT exam, you’ll have a total of 100 questions and for every more than 8 questions unanswered, you will receive a 0.10 score deduction. For example, if you leave 10 questions unanswered, your score will be deducted by 0.10 marks for the first 8 unanswered questions. Also, while calculating the XAT percentile, they do not include the GK portion of the exam, this means, 25 questions in the MCQ section of the XAT paper will not be taken into consideration for the calculation of your percentile.
The majority of individuals are puzzled by the XAT score vs percentile of this entrance exam. We’re here to assist you to comprehend the significant differences by providing relevant information about XAT scores.
In terms of XAT score versus percentile analysis, if we look at the previous year’s cut-offs and scores list, we can conclude that an overall score of 35+ can place you in the 95+ percentile bracket, whilst a score of 28+ will place you in the 89+ percentile array. To score 90 percentiles, the applicant should have an overall score of 30.
The following table shows the exact scores needed to score between a certain percentile range:
Overall Score | Percentile |
35+ | 98+ |
33-34 | 96+ |
30-32 | 95+ |
27.5-29 | 94+ |
27-27.5 | 93+ |
25.5-27 | 92+ |
26-26.5 | 90+ |
25.5-26 | 88+ |
24.2-24.5 | 85+ |
22-22.5 | 80+ |
XAT Sectional Cut off
XAT pays a lot of attention to sectional cut-off which means in order to clear this examination you’ll also have to clear the minimum sectional cut-off of every section. The sectional cut-off analysis is explained as follows:
- For Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
A score of 12 marks in this section will fetch you 90+ percentile, while a score of 10 and 8 marks will put you with 85 and 80 percentiles, respectively.
- For Verbal and Logical Ability
A score of 8 marks will mean 90+ percentile. A score of 7.5 and 6.5 marks will lead to 85 and 80 percentiles, respectively.
- For Decision Making
Scoring 8 marks will put you with 90+ percentiles and scoring 7.5 will put you with 85 percentiles while a score of 6.5 will land you on 80 percentiles.
Examination Strategy
XAT tests have a total time limit of 170 minutes, so plan your strategy so that you only devote roughly 160 minutes to the entire paper, with 10 minutes set aside as a buffer. Spend at least 50-52 minutes on each section and answer as many questions as you can, but with 100% accuracy, as negative marking can lower your score.
Finally, utilize your buffer time to double-check your answers by going back to the left questions or the questions you’ve already marked.
To ace, the XAT exam, focus more on the accuracy of the questions answered more than on the number of attempts.