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Vipra Shrivastava
Senior Manager - Content
Updated on Jan 6, 2020 13:38 IST
Read here detailed XAT analysis 2020 and expected cut offs for top institutes accepting XAT score for admission.

Read here detailed XAT exam analysis 2020 and expected cut offs for top institutes accepting XAT score for admission.

XAT 2020 analysis

XAT 2020 exam was held on January 5 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Initial reactions to XAT exam paper suggest that the difficulty level of XAT 2020 was same as last year but decision making section was tricky as expected. The cut offs are expected to remain low this year at 33. The XAT 2020 analysis will explain section wise difficulty level, topic-wise distribution of questions, number of good attempts and expected sectional & overall cut offs. 

Also Read: XAT 2020 - Student Reactions and Reviews

XAT question paper had the same number of questions as last year. Given below are key highlights of XAT 2020 exam pattern.

XAT sections

Number of Questions

Marks Allotted

Verbal and Logical Ability

26

26

Decision Making

21

21

Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation

27

27

General Knowledge

25

25

Table of contents
  • XAT 2020 Analysis: Marking Scheme and Sectional Time-Limit
  • Section-wise XAT 2020 Analysis
  • WATCH VIDEO:
  • Expected XAT 2020 Cutoffs (XLRI, Jamshedpur)
  • Expected XAT Cut Offs 2020 (Other Institutes)

XAT 2020 Analysis: Marking Scheme and Sectional Time-Limit

  • Each right question will carry 1 mark and each wrong question will carry -0.25 marks
  • In case of 8 consecutive unanswered questions, 0.10 marks will be deducted
  • Part 1 of the XAT question paper is to be solved in 165 minutes
  • Part 2 of the XAT question paper is to be solved in 15 minutes

Section-wise XAT 2020 Analysis

Of all the sections, VALR turned out to be the toughest. DM and Quant-DI were of moderate difficulty, while GK was easy, as always. Take a look at section-wise XAT 2020 analysis below.

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XAT 2020 Analysis: Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

  • The section was time consuming and students could have taken about 50 minutes to solve it.
  • This section of XAT exam 2020 was tougher than last year. The Reading Comprehension section had 12 questions with four passages of three questions each.
  • Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning section also had a poem this year with 2 questions. The poem was of moderate difficulty level.
  • There were two parajumble questions, which were of moderate difficulty level.
  • Fill in the Blanks, Critical Reasoning and Vocabulary were on the tougher side.
  • A good attempt of 15-17 questions with 70% accuracy can fetch decent marks in this section.

Topic-wise break-up of questions:

Topic

Number of questions

Difficulty Level

Reading Comprehension

12

Moderate - Difficult

CR

6

Moderate

Poem Comprehension

2

Easy - Moderate

Grammar - Correct the sentence

2

Easy - Moderate

Parajumble - 5 sentence

2

Moderate

Fill in the blanks -3

2

Moderate - Difficult

XAT 2020 Analysis: Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning

  • The difficulty level of Decision Making section in XAT 2020 was moderate. The level of the Decision Making was similar to last year but was extremely boring.
  • There were no questions from Mathematical or Analytical Reasoning. All the questions were situational.
  • There were no singlets in this section which was a relief to students.

Topics-wise break up of Decision Making section:

Section

No. of questions

Difficulty Level

Decision Making

21

Moderate

Analytical

0

Moderate

XAT 2020 Exam Analysis: Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation

  • The questions in Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation section of XAT 2020 was marginally easier than last year’s.
  • There were 20 questions of QA and most of them were from Geometry and Arithmetic. 
  • DI had three sets of eight questions. In this section too, the questions were from Arithmetic and Geometry.
  • The DI questions were based on tables and bar graphs. There were also two questions on Set Theory.
  • An attempt of 4-5 DI questions and 13-15 Quant questions in about 65-70 minutes can fetch the candidates good marks.

Topic-wise break-up of questions in this section:

Topic

Number of questions

Difficulty Level

Arithmetic

8

Moderate

Algebra

3

Easy-Moderate

Coordinate Geometry

1

Moderate

Geometry

5

Moderate-Difficult

Modern Maths

1

Difficult

Number system

2

Easy

DI (Set theory)

2

Moderate

DI (Bar Graph)

3

Moderate

DI (Table based)

3

Easy-moderate

Total

28

Easy-moderate

XAT 2020 Exam Analysis: General Knowledge

  • The overall difficulty level of General Knowledge section was same as last year – moderate
  • This section comprised 25 questions asked from static GK (Economy, Geography, Science and Technology) and Current GK (Business economy, personalities, and awards).
  • An attempt of 12-14 questions fetching a score of 7-8 can be considered good.

Topic-wise break-up of questions in GK section

Section

No. of questions

Difficulty Level

Current Affairs

3

Moderate

History

4

Moderate

Economy & Business

4

Moderate

Geography

5

Moderate

Personality & Awards

2

Moderate

Science & Tech

5

Moderate

Polity

1

Moderate

Books & Authors

1

Moderate

Sports

0

Moderate

Total

25

Moderate

WATCH VIDEO:

XAT 2020 Student Reactions and Reviews

Expected XAT 2020 Cutoffs (XLRI, Jamshedpur)

Given below are section-wise expected XLRI cut offs for admission to 2020 batch of its Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) programmes.

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Sections

2020 Cut Offs (Expected)

BM

HRM

Verbal & Logical Ability

7.5

8.25

Decision Making

8.75

8.25

Quantitative Ability

11

6.25

Total Aptitude

33

31

Expected XAT Cut Offs 2020 (Other Institutes)

Take a look at institute-wise expected XAT cut off percentiles for admissions this year.

XAT colleges

XAT score

XAT percentile

XIMB-Bhubaneswar

30.5-32.5

90-93

SPJIMR-Mumbai

32.5-34.5

93.50-95

IMT-Ghaziabad

30.5-32

90-92

GIM-Goa

27.5-30.5

85-90

TAPMI-Manipal

26-27.5

80-85

IRMA-Anand

26-27.5

80-85

MICA-Ahmedabad

26-27.5

80-85

Great Lakes Institute of Management

26-27.5

80-85

LIBA-Chennai

26-27.5

80-85

KJ Somaiya-Mumbai

27.5-30.5

85-90

Check XAT cut offs and predict calls from XLRI and other colleges accepting XAT score for admission. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and Eligibility of all XAT participating colleges by clicking the link below:

Predict XAT Admission Calls

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About the Author
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Vipra Shrivastava
Senior Manager - Content

Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8

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Answered 4 days ago

XLRI selects candidates for its MBA full time programme through XAT score. Those who qualify the exam and meet the minimum cut off, are shortlisted for Essay Writing and Personal Interview. Final selection is made on the basis of candidate's XAT score, academic score, work experience and performance

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Aarushi Hazarika

Contributor-Level 6

Answered 5 days ago

GIBS is pretty flexible when it comes to entrance exams. They accept almost all the common management tests — CAT, XAT, MAT, CMAT, ATMA, State CET, and even GMAT. In my batch itself, we had students who came through different exams, not just CAT.

Honestly, that's one thing I liked about GIBS — they d

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Monisha

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 3 weeks ago

XAT 2026 result will not be sent in email. However, XLRI will send an email to candidates informing them about the availability of scorecard and how to download it. Candidates must keep a check on their email account for result notification.

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Pallavi Gupta

Contributor-Level 6

Answered 3 weeks ago

XAT 2026 result date has not been announced by XLRI. However, since the scorecards are released by the third week of January every year, the XAT result 2026 can also be expected to be released by January 17 or 20, 2026.

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Nitesh Vimal

Contributor-Level 6

Answered 4 weeks ago

The Bangalore University MBA Cutoff 2025 has been announced for admission to the MBA/PGDM programme via the Karnataka PGCET, CAT, NMAT, XAT, and other accepted exams. According to the Bangalore University Karnataka PGCET Cutoff 2025, students needed to obtain a rank of 3375 for admission to ABBS Ba

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Neerja Rohatgi

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 4 weeks ago

Every question of XAT carries 1 mark and a score of 38 to 42 usually covert into 99 percentile, so candidates should aim for the same number of correct attempts in the exam. XAT has negative marking so they should not attempt any question, if they are not sure of, otherwise it will affect the overal

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Nishtha Shukla

Contributor-Level 6

Answered 4 weeks ago

The CCSU MBA Cutoff 2025 has been released for admission to the MBA programme via the XAT, MAT and CAT entrance examinations. The CCSU XAT Cutoff 2025 was 50 for the Gender-Neutral Candidates under the All India quota. In the case of CCSU MAT Cutoff 2025, the qualfying cutoff percentile was 75 for t

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Neerja Rohatgi

Contributor-Level 10

Answered a month ago

Yes, if you have secured an 82nd percentile in XAT, you can get the scholarships for pursuing an MBA course at FOSSTIMA Business School. The concessions on fees that the school provides are:

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Abhishek Hazarika

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Answered a month ago

Hi.

Yes,   PIBM (Pune Institute of Business Management) does conduct its own entrance exam in addition to accepting scores from national and state-level exams. Here's how it works:

PIBM's Entrance Exam Policy

Yes, PIBM has its own internal aptitude test called PMAT (PIBM Management Aptitude Test).
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heena agrawal

Scholar-Level 17

Answered a month ago

No. Scores in CAT/XAT/GMAT is not mandatory for admission into BITS Pilani MBA in Business Analytics. However, those who have appeared for these entrance exams will get their score considered in the selection criteria. Appearing for BAAT exam is mandatory for MBA Business Analytics admission.

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Dhanya Shekhar

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