XAT is a national-level management entrance examination conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur for admission to MBA/PGDM programmes. Apart from XLRI and 10 other XAMI member colleges, over 1,000 B-schools accept XAT scores for admission to their post-graduate management programmes. The XAT question paper consists of 100 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) from Decision Making, Verbal & Logical Ability, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and General Knowledge.
Exam Pattern
The section-wise questions vary in the XAT exam. Additionally, candidates get a specified time limit to complete the questions in different parts of the XAT exam. The table below presents the detailed section-wise XAT exam pattern 2025 along with question types:
| Section | Subjects | Questions | Time Taken | Negative Marking |
| Part 1 | Verbal Ability & Logical Ability | 26 | 175 mins | +1, -0.25, -0.1 (for more than 8 unattempted questions) |
| Decision Making & Analytical Reasoning | 22 | |||
| Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation | 28 | |||
| Total | 76 | |||
| Part 2 | Mock Keyboard Testing | - | 5 mins | No |
| Part 3 | General Awareness | 25 | 30 mins | |
| Essay Writing | 1 | |||
| Total | 102 | 210 mins | ||
XAT Marking Scheme
Part I
+1 mark is awarded for EACH correct answer
*Negative marking for unattempted questions is like -
- 0-8 unattempted questions: No marks deducted.
- More than 8 unattempted questions: Marks deducted calculated as 0.1×(number of unattempted questions−8)0.1 \times (\text{number of unattempted questions} - 8).
Part II
+1 mark is awarded for EACH correct General Knowledge answer
Negative marking does not apply to the General Knowledge questions (GK)
Negative marking does not apply to the Analytical Essay Question (AEW)
