XAT Exam Analysis 2019 and Expected Cut Offs
The Xavier Aptitude Test or XAT 2019 question paper was of moderate difficulty. While, the Quant section was moderate, the Decision Making section gave some students tough time.
XAT Exam Analysis 2019 - Conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur the XAT 2019 exam was held from 10 am to 1 pm at various examination centres across India. This XAT exam analysis will explain section wise difficulty level, students' reactions and expected cut offs for admission to XLRI.
The analysis of XAT question paper reveals that the exam this year was of moderate difficulty. The Quant section was easy but Decision Making section was tricky. English and Reasoning sections were easy.
Latest:
XAT 2019 Result Announced on January 16, 2019
XAT 2019 Student-Reactions
Shiksha spoke to some students at one of the exam centres. While some found Quant difficult, some said it was one of the easy sections of the paper. Arushi from Delhi University said that she found Quant difficult and Reasoning and English section easy, while Smriti from Gurgaon said Quant and Decision Making were easy but the RC section was tricky.
XAT 2019 Exam Highlights
- In XAT 2019, NAT questions were introduced
- The duration of XAT exam was reduced from 3.5 hours to 3 hours
- Total number of questions was 99
- Visually impaired candidates were given 25 mins extra only for Part 1
- There was sectional time limit: The candidates had to finish Part 1 in 165 mins after which they could move to Part 2
Take a look at the XAT 2019 question paper break up:
| Sections in XAT 2019 |
Number of Questions |
Overall Time Duration |
| Part-1 |
74 Total MCQs |
165 Minutes |
| Verbal and Logical Ability |
26 |
|
| Decision Making |
21 |
|
| Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation |
27 |
|
| Part-2 |
25 Total MCQs |
15 Minutes |
| General Knowledge |
25 |
- |
| Total |
99 |
- |
Let's take a look at XAT paper analysis 2019 section wise:
XAT Exam Analysis 2019: Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning
This year, the Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning section of XAT exam was tougher than last year. The Verbal section was dominated by Reading Comprehension with 4 passages of 3 questions each. It also had one poem of 2 questions which can be considered very difficult. FIB questions and some of the CR questions were difficult too. However, the 2 para jumble questions were easy. Reading Comprehension passages were from Psychology, Art and Social Issues. The Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning section of XAT 2019 was lengthy and time-consuming.16-18 good attempts with 70 percent accuracy will give good result.
Take a look at Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning break up:
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty |
| Reading Comprehension |
12(4 passages of 3 questions each) |
Moderate-Difficult |
| CR |
5 |
Moderate-Difficult |
| Poem Comprehension |
2 |
Difficult |
| Analogy |
1 |
Difficult |
| Antonym |
1 |
Moderate |
| Para-Jumble – 5 sentence |
2 |
Moderate |
| FIB-3 blanks |
3 |
Difficult |
| Total |
26 |
Difficult |
XAT Exam Analysis 2019: Decision Making and Analytical Reasoning
The Decision Making section of XAT 2019 was of moderate difficulty There were three caselets and no singlets. Situational decision making dominated this section with 18 questions. This year, there were no questions from Mathematical/Analytical Reasoning. However, there were more sequencing questions which lead to lesser attempts
The breakup of this section is given below:
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty |
| Situational |
21 |
Moderate |
XAT Exam Analysis 2019: Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation
The Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation section of XAT exam 2019 was slightly tougher than last year’s with one tricky DI set. The section had 21 questions of Quantitative Ability; most of which were from Geometry and Algebra (including co-ordinate and Trigonometry). While Geometry questions were difficult, questions from Arithmetic were doable.
In Data Interpretation, there were 2 sets comprising 6 questions in total. This section had a few ambiguous questions. Infact, 1 DI question on proportion of Economists and that of Engineers was incorrect and 1 Quant question on roots was incorrect since x was mentioned in the root.
The breakup of this section is given below:
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty |
| Arithmetic |
4 |
Easy |
| Algebra |
7 |
Easy-Moderate |
| Co-Ordinate Geometry + Trigonometry |
4 |
Moderate |
| Geometry |
4 |
Moderate-Difficult |
| Data Sufficiency |
2 |
Moderate |
| DI (Time Zone) |
3 |
Moderate-Difficult |
| DI (Mixed Graph) |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
| DI (Mixed Graph) |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
XAT Exam Analysis 2019: General Knowledge
The level of difficulty of the General Knowledge section of XAT 2019 exam was similar to last year i.e.Moderate. A total of 25 questions were there in this section mostly from static GK (Economy, Geography, Science and Technology) and Current GK (Business economy, personalities, awards, sports and miscellaneous). An attempt of 12-14 questions fetching a score of 7-8 can be considered good.
| Topics |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty |
| History |
1 |
Moderate |
| Geography |
4 |
Moderate-Difficult |
| Economy & Business |
7 |
Easy-Moderate |
| Current Affairs |
2 |
Easy |
| Personality & Awards |
3 |
Moderate |
| Science & Tech |
2 |
Moderate |
| Polity |
2 |
Easy |
| Miscellaneous |
2 |
Moderate-Difficult |
| Sports |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
| Total |
25 |
Moderate |
Expected XAT Cut Offs 2019
Given the difficulty level of XAT question paper this year, the cut off are likely to go down. Take a look at expected XAT cut off percentiles for admissions this year:
| Institute |
Expected XAT cut off percentiles |
| XLRI |
94+ |
| 90+ |
|
| 93+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 90+ |
|
| 80+ |
You may also like:

News & Updates
Contact Details
Address
XLRI Xavier School of Management, C.H. Area (East)
Jamshedpur ( Jharkhand)
Get details of Similar Colleges
Student Forum
Answered 5 days ago
XLRI Xavier school of managment XAT cutoff 2026 has been released. The cutoff for overall section was a score of 95 percentile that was minimum requirement for a candidate to be eligible for admissio.
R
Contributor-Level 6
Answered a week ago
Required XAT score varies every year because the percentile depends on difficulty level of exam and candidate performance. In XAT 2026, overall cutoff for XLRI BM was 94 percentile for Engineering Male and Non-Engineering Male candidates.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes. XLRI specifies sectional cutoffs along with overall XAT cutoff. Candidates need to meet required percentile in QADI, VALR and DM for respective programme and category.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
For XAT 2026, overall HRM cutoff was 92 percentile for Engineering Male candidates and 90 percentile for Non-Engineering Male candidates. Cutoff was 87 percentile for Engineering Female and Engineering Transgender candidates and 84 percentile for Non-Engineering Female and Non-Engineering Transgende
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
For XAT 2026, overall XLRI BM cutoff was 94 percentile for Engineering Male and Non-Engineering Male candidates. It was 88 percentile for Engineering Female, Engineering Transgender, Non-Engineering Female and Non-Engineering Transgender candidates.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 months ago
XLRI Jamshedpur has been ranked by prominent ranking bodies. Check the XLRI College rankings are mentioned in the table given below:
Ranking Body | Category | Rank |
|---|---|---|
FT Global Rankings 2025 | Global (MBA) | 83 |
QS WUR Ranking 2025 | Business and Management Studies | 351-400 |
NIRF Ranking 2025 | Management | 10 |
Y
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 3 months ago
XLRI Jamshedpur is a private business school run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Some of the USPs of XLRI Xavier School of Management are as follows:
- XLRI Jamshedpur has been ranked 9th among Management institutes in India and ranked 351-400 in QS WUR Ranking By Subject 20
M
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 4 months ago
The XLRI waitlist movement is usually high for Delhi campus between 350 to 600 spots. For Jamshedpur the movement is low between 100 to 180 for BM and 130 to 230 for HRM.
S
Contributor-Level 7







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
Read Full Bio