XAT 2027: Registration, Dates, Syllabus, Pattern, Question Papers

XAT 2027 exam is expected to be conducted on January 3, 2027. XLRI, Jamshedpur, conducts XAT exam every year on the first sunday of the year.

Over 800 MBA colleges in India accept XAT score for admission apart from XLRI Jamshedpur. Some of the top colleges are mentioned here: IRMA Anand, IMT Ghaziabad, XIM Bhubaneswar, IMI New Delhi, Great Lakes Chennai, Great Lakes Gurgaon, TAPMI Manipal, GIM Goa, FORE New Delhi, K J Somaiya Mumbai, LBSIM New Delhi, LIBA Chennai, IFMR Chennai, BITS Pilani, IMI Bhubaneswar, IMI Kolkata, IMT Nagpur, Sri Balaji University Pune, Woxsen University, ISBM Pune, VIT Business School (VIT) Vellore, ISBM Pune, KIIT Bhubaneswar, Alliance School of Business Bangalore, Jaipuria Lucknow, IBA Bangalore, SIES Navi Mumbai, Rajagiri Business School, EDII Ahmedabad, IIMS Pune, NDIM New Delhi, IFIM Colleges, JIMS Rohini Delhi, IMT Hyderabad, SOIL Institute of Management, Vivekanand Business School (VBS), IMS Ghaziabad, Sri University, LM Thapar School of Management, Pune Business School

Every candidate is informed by XLRI Jamshedpur about their selection via email. The interview round is held in February-March and the offer letter are sent to selected candidates in April-May. Those who would not receive the confirmation letter, may consider that they are not selected for admission. Candidates must keep a check on their emails. They must keep checking spam folders too. It is also very important use the correct and fully functional email ID for XAT registration as that is the main contact point for communication from the institute.

The admission authorities will consider both sectional and overall XAT score while shortlisting candidates for group discussion and personal interview round of XLRI admission. Candidates must perform well in all the sections of XAT exam as well as in the for group discussion and personal interview to be selected for admission.

No, you don't need to fill a separate form. The XAT application form includes a field in which the candidates have to select XLRI course in which they want to take admission.

The option to select test centre is not there in the XAT application form, but candidates can select cities where they can appear for the exam. XAT is conducted in about 79-80 cities across India and candidates get the option to choose two cites for centre allotment. They have to make this choice in the XAT application form. In the XAT application form, there is one field in which you have to select the test cities, you can simply select the cities of your choice from the drop down. The exam conducting authorities will allot a test centre in the city of first choice to every student. In case, the seat get filled in the centre of a particular city, the seat will be allotted to remaining candidates in the city selected as second option. The centre allotment is done on first come first serve basis. Candidates must fill the XAT application form and submit it as soon as they can so that they are allotted a centre in the city of their choice.

When filling XAT application form, you will need:

• Class 10, 12 and Graduation marksheet
• Date of Birth proof
• Address proof
• Aadhaar card
• Category certificate 
• Scanned photo and signature

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.

Yes six months are enough to prepare for XAT if you plan it well. You will need about 8 hours every day for it. Use first four months to cover exam syllabus and last two months for practice. 

Digital copy of the XAT admit card is not accepted as valid. Candidates must carry a print out of the admit card to examination centre with a recent photo pasted on it. 

The process to raise objection against XAT answer key earlier was through email, but from 2023 onwards the objection filing is through login. XLRI doesn’t charge money for challenging XAT answer key. To raise objection candidates, have to log in to their XAT account and fill the objection form. To claim objection, they need to upload a supporting document.

The candidates can also send an email mentioning the question ID and answer they have objection too and attach a proof to support their objection. The mail however is to be sent within a certain deadline.

The candidates will be informed via email if their objection to XAT answer key is accepted. In case of acceptance, the answer key will be revised and published again. In case, no objection is accepted, no revised answer key will be released.

XAT admit card may be needed at the time of admission at certain colleges if their guidelines mention submission of a copy of admit card as part of document submission. Candidates must anyway preserve their XAT admit card until the end of admission process.

Sections in the XAT exam, including Decision Making, Verbal & Logical Ability, and Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation remain consistent. However, the exam pattern, question count, and structure may change annually.

Yes, the XAT admit card has a google map and address of the exam centre for candidates convenience. The candidates must find out the shortest route to the XAT exam centre via the google map a day before the test day because they are expected to be present at their respective test centre at the reporting time mentioned in the XAT admit card.

If the XAT exam timing is 2 pm to 5:10 pm then the reporting time for candidates will be 1:00 PM. Candidates must use the route map to reach their respective test centre on time to avoid delayed entry inside the exam hall for identification process. Candidates reaching the XAT test centre after the gates have been closed will not be allowed to enter the premises under any circumstances. They will have to seek special permission in case of unexpected reasons.

If you misplace your XAT admit card, you don’t need to panic. You can download another copy of the same from your XAT account. You can simply log in to your XAT account with application number and password to download it again. After downloading it, save it in a folder or in email so that you can take a print out anytime you want. The XAT admit card download link will be available for download till the exam day only so candidates must ensure that they have save a copy. If they need to download the XAT admit card after the exam for any reason, they will not be able to do it. Thus, they should save the PDT file of the XAT admit card in a folder or email.

XAT admit card is a proof of identity of the applicant. It is the main document required for appearing in the XAT exam thus it should be error free. Candidates must check the information mentioned on their admit card as soon as they download it and check for errors. Usually, there is no error in the XAT admit card but you should still check the details. Every XAT admit card contains the following information:

• Candidate’s name
• Candidate’s photo
• Candidate's date of birth
• Candidate's category
• Candidate’s XAT ID
• Exam date
• Exam time
• Exam venue
• Instructions regarding exam/exam day

In case of an error or misprint, you can get it rectified by the exam authorities by contacting the XAT helpdesk. However, you cannot change or update the XAT test centre and city. The allotment will be made according to your choice filled in the XAT application form, so in case you filled the test city which you didn’t intent to, you will need to make arrangement for appearing for the exam in that city.

XAT admit card is available for download until the exam day only. The admit card link is deactivated from the official website once the exam is over. Moreover, only that XAT admit card is considered to be valid and a proof of candidate appearing for the exam that has official stamp and signature. So, candidates must preserve their admit card they carried to the test centre and has official stamp till the end of admission.

XAT provisional answer key of refers to official solutions of questions asked in the exam and final XAT answer key is the document containing updated answer keys post the analysis of objection raised against provisional XAT answer key by candidates.

The XAT response sheet is the document which has answers marked by the candidates against every question and the answer key is a document carrying correct answers of those questions. XLRI sometimes releases the XAT response sheet and XAT answer key separately and sometimes is released together. Both the documents are important for candidates to analyse their performance.

After XAT answer key is released, the examination body invites objection against it. Candidates can raise objection against preliminary answer key by filling an online form and submitting a document supporting their claim. Thereafter, examination body will examine all objections.

Provisional XAT answer key will be available for download for a limited period. It will not be available for download after objection window is closed. Thus, download it as soon as it is released.

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.

There is no provision to challenge the final XAT answer key because it is prepared after examining the challenges raised by candidates against the provisional answer key. The answer key status mentioned on the final XAT answer key is final and XAT result is prepared on the basis of same.

Since the XAT scorecard is the main proof of the candidate’s attendance and passing the entrance exam, the XAT result cum scorecard of every candidate contains their personal details and scores. Given below is the lift of information that is printed on every candidate’s scorecard.

• Name of the candidate
• Gender of the candidate
• Address of the candidate
• XAT ID
• Date of XAT exam
• Date of Birth
• Validity of the XAT scorecard
• Sectional percentiles
• Sectional scores
• Sectional percentiles
• Overall percentile

Candidates must check the details carefully and incase of any error in personal details, candidates must reach out to exam authorities for rectification. The marks and percentile will not be changed as there is no provision of rechecking or revaluation. However, if it is a glaring misprint then candidates may apply to the admission cell and seek updation.

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 in Essay Writing and Personal Interview.

Sectional cut off for XAT refers to the minimum percentile fixed for each section of the exam that candidates have to meet. For example, if the Quantitative Aptitude cut off is 85 percentile for XAT, students should score 85 percentile or more in the section of XAT to become eligible for group discussion and personal interview. Check the below tables for PGDM BM and PGDM HRM for XAT.

XAT Sectional cut offs for PGDM BM

XAT Sectional cut offs for PGDM HRM

XAT score calculation process is simple as the marking scheme is pretty straightforward. The total marks of XAT 2025 is 95. The test has 95 questions each carry 1 mark. Section wie distribution is:

VALR: 26 marks

DM: 21 marks

QADI: 28 marks

GK: 20 marks

However, since GK marks are not to be included in XAT score and percentile calculation, the total marks have to be calculated from VALR, DM and QADI sections. So, for every correct option, candidate can give themselve 1 mark and for every incorrect option they need to subtract 0.25 marks. Further, for 8 consecutive unanswered questions, they need to subtract 0.10 marks. The final number arrived at will be XAT raw score.

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. 

XAT cut offs for all colleges are not fixed by XLRI. Every score accepting college fixed XAT cut offs individually and independently.