XAT 2026: Pro tips to score above 95 percentile by Previous years' XAT Toppers

XAT cut off is the most important factor in selection of candidates for XLRI Jamshedpur’s Personal Interview or PI round. Those who do not meet the cut off are not even taken into consideration for PI shortlisting. The two main parameters upon which candidates are short listed for the PI round are academic scores (class 10,12 and graduation) and XAT cut off.

Aspirants must note that they need to score as much or above the XAT cut off and should have a consistent academic record of high score to have greater chances of getting selected. It is not necessary that they will be called for the PI round if their XAT score matches the cut off. If any candidate with the same score has a better academic record, he/she will be selected over the other.

Yes, candidates with less than 50 per cent in aggregate in graduation are eligible for admission to PGDM courses in XLRI. Candidates need to have minimum passing marks in Graduation. They must have however, completed their graduation from a recognised university only. Candidates planning to seek admission to an MBA college other than XLRI must check its eligibility criteria as the minimum score requirement of AICTE approved colleges is 50 percent (45 percent for Reserved categories). But having 50 per cent and above score is not a guarantee for getting selected for admission. You will need to clear the admission round which is based on XAT cut off percentile. If you do not meet the XAT cut off percentile you will not be selected for XAT personal interview round, which is the main parameter for MBA admission in XLRI.

No, cut offs of XAT participating colleges are different from each other. These colleges fix cut off percentiles for admission individually basis certain criteria determined by their respective admission cells. XAT cut off for XIMB is different from XAT cut off for TAPMI. XAT cut off for XIMB is usually around 90-93 whereas XAT cut off for TAPMI is 80-85. On the other hand, XAT cut off for KJ Somaiya-Mumbai is 85-90. Most of the MBA colleges shortlist candidates for admission on the basis of overall XAT percentile. However, the candidates must aim to meet sectional XAT cut offs too in the exam to avoid an unwanted situation at the time of admission. Before applying for admission, candidates must check the selection criteria of their target colleges to be sure of requirements. 

XLRI Jamshedpur releases the XAT cut offs every year in the month of February after the result announcement. The XAT exam is held on the first Sunday of January and the result is announced in the last week of January. And within a week of result announcement, the XAT cut offs are released.

The XAT cut offs are released at the official website of XLRI Jamshedpur and are available for download without login. The XAT cut offs are released for PGDM-HRM and PGDM-BM gender and academic stream wise. The document contains sectional and overall cut off percentiles for male, female, male non engineering and female non-engineering categories. Selection of candidates for the Personal Interview and Group Discussion round of XLRI admission is done on the basis of these category wise cut offs.

It is unlikely that you will get admission as most of the B-Schools have minimum graduation score criteria of 50%. If you belong to Reserved category, you may get admission as the minimum score criteria for such candidates is 45%.

There are some B-schools which do not have minimum score criteria in graduation. So, you may try to seek admission in one of those institutions as 89% is a good score in XAT.

XAT cut off different for male and female candidates to promote diversity in the candidate pool. However, the difference in cut offs is not too big. There's usually a difference of 1 or 2 percentile between XAT cut offs for male candidate and female candidate. Infact, the difference is not limited to gender only. The XAT cut offs for engineering students and non-engineering students are also different.

MBA has traditionally seen to be dominated by candidates from Engineering graduates, a stream which has also been traditionally been dominated by male students. To increase diversity and encourage students from other streams of education, XLRI has different cut offs. However, low cut offs, does not ensure admission. Female candidates still need to meet other parameters of XLRI admission criteria.