XAT preparation plan has to be concept driven, practice intensive and time sensitive. The difficulty level of XAT is high and it has some unique aspects. You need to have complete knowledge of XAT syllabus and be able to solve all types of questions. Know here some topper tips to prepare for XAT 2025.
XAT preparation 2025 - Xavier Aptitude Test or XAT is considered one of the toughest MBA entrance exams in India, on par with CAT. It can be described as a mix of concept driven, practice intensive and environment sensitive questions. The unconventionality of the XAT question paper, its unique marking scheme and the number of applicants make it a tough exam to crack. The key to excel in the XAT exam is not only studying from XAT preparation books but also thoroughly understanding the question paper and choosing questions wisely during the test. The most important part of XAT preparation is timely completion of the syllabus and practice of mock tests. Read this article for toppers tips for XAT 2025 preparation.
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XAT 2025 exam will be held on January 5, 2025 so now is the time to speed up. For cracking XAT exam, it is important to know the fundamentals. By now, you must have completed the XAT 2025 syllabus and must already be practicing questions. This year, candidates may find it easier to perform in XAT as the exam pattern has been simplified. There are a few changes in the XAT exam pattern. The XAT 2025 question paper will be divided into 2 sections, instead of 3. There will be no essay writing this year. The number of GK questions will be only 20. The time duration of XAT has also been reduced from 210 minutes to 180 minutes. Check the sectional break up and marking scheme of XAT below:
| XAT sections |
Number of questions |
Marking Scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Decision Making |
21 |
1 for each right answer -0.25 for each wrong answer -0.10 marks will be deducted for more than 8 unanswered questions. |
| Verbal & Logical Ability |
26 |
|
| Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation |
27 |
|
| General Knowledge |
20 |
|
| Total |
95 |
Know complete XAT syllabus 2025
Q: In how many months can I prepare for XAT?
Ideally, XAT preparation takes six to nine months, but if candidates have prepared for CAT too, XAT preparation can be done in lesser time as one will have to only work on Decision Making and General Knowledge topics. Those who are weak in English Comprehension must start reading practice early on. The ideal time to start XAT preparation is May, so you can cover the whole syllabus by October and dedicate two months to mock test practice.
If you start studying for XAT late, by July or so, make sure you complete the syllabus by October only. Remember that XAT syllabus is tough, so you’ll need to study at least 6-8 hours daily from start until the end. Give ample time to yourself to complete the XAT syllabus.
Q: Is XAT tough for candidates from non-Engineering background?
Yes, XAT is slightly tougher for candidates with non-Engineering background as the Quantitative Aptitude section is of higher difficulty level. However, they can crack it if they work on the fundamentals of Math and practice questions of all difficulty levels. It will take time but they will be able to crack XAT's quant section if they dedicate extra hours to it. Aspirants can find XAT study material online in various online study groups. Students’ groups on Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. share study material with each other. One can also download MBA exam preparation apps to get relevant and useful study material.
The good part about XAT is that, it has different cut offs for candidates belonging to different academic backgrounds. As part of its commitment to academic diversity, the institute has lower cut offs for candidates from non-engineering background than candidates from engineering background.
Q: How can I prepare for XAT by self study?
If you are planning to prepare for XAT 2025 exam by self study, you need to start early. At least six months before. XAT exam is conducted on the first Sunday of January every year. So, if you start preparing for the XAT 2025 in June or July, you will have good six months to prepare. Make a preparation plan that includes XAT syllabus coverage, problem solving sessions, mock tests and revision. Get hold of best books for XAT. Consult mentors or previous year toppers for selecting the best books for preparation. Join online study groups where you can get the help of mentors and peers for problem solving and clearing of doubts in topics. Work in tough topics first and then move to easier topics.
Solve a large number and variety of XAT mock tests to master the syllabus. You will need to do a rigorous work on XAT mock tests as for candidates who opt for self study, have to rely on practice.
XAT Exam Preparation 2025
Given below is the brief description of every section of XAT question paper for candidates to have a basic understanding of each. To make a XAT 2025 preparation plan, it is important that they know the basics first.
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- XAT 2025 preparation: Decision Making
Decision making section is the most unique section of XAT. It is practise intensive and requires business aptitude for solving ethical dilemmas, financial issues, general management scenarios, company management issues, etc. To prepare for this section, one needs to practice a variety of sample questions.
Also read: How to Prepare for XAT Decision Making
- XAT 2025 preparation: Verbal & Logical Ability
Reading Comprehension has historically dominated the Verbal section of XAT. The major part of this section is about reasoning skills, RC and vocabulary-based questions, thus requires quick reading and ample mock-test practice to keep up with time and speed.
Also read: How to prepare for XAT Verbal & Logical Ability
- XAT 2025 preparation: Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation
Focus areas in Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation section of XAT syllabus are, Geometry, Number Systems, P&C, Probability and Functions. The key here is getting the concepts right, building upon it and applying them accurately.
Also read: How to prepare for XAT Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation
Q: What is the difficulty level of the XAT exam?
XAT is one of the tougher MBA entrance exams. The difficulty level of the XAT question paper is usually moderate to high. The XAT 2024 question paper was of moderate difficulty level. The Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation section is usually tougher than other sections. Verbal and Logical Reasoning section is usually moderate. However, some candidates find the Verbal Ability section tough as it has questions based on Reading Comprehension passages and poem. Decision Making and General Knowledge sections are moderate to easy.
Out of 100 questions, about 70-75 attempts with 70 to 80 per cent accuracy is considered a good attempt in the XAT exam. The test takers must strive to attempt 2/3 rd of the total questions in each section for a decent overall score. If a candidate scores 95 percentile, they will be in a position to get a good college.
Q: When is the best time to begin XAT preparation?
Q: Are six months enough to prepare for XAT?
There is no set time limit to prepare for XAT exam, but you need a minimum of six months for preparation. Ideally candidates need to start XAT preparation by April, however, if they start by June or July too, they can complete the syllabus within time and have ample time for practice of sample papers and mock tests. In order to utilize six months that you have for XAT preparation, do the following:
- Make monthly, weekly and daily time tables to study and don’t deviate from that routine.
- Start with subjects which you are your weak spots. We suggest start with studying Quantitative Aptitude and English.
- For Reading Comprehension, read editorials of newspapers and magazines every day. Read fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies, etc. for strengthening English vocabulary and comprehension.
- Download MBA exam preparation apps on your phone so that you can revise topics, solve reasoning or English puzzles anywhere when you get time.
Q: Can I prepare for XAT with CAT preparation material?
Q: Which is the best book for the Quantitative Aptitude section of XAT?
- XAT 2025 preparation: General Knowledge
A lot of stress is on Current Affairs too. The questions range from economics and politics to sports and literature. Reading newspaper regularly and a brushing up of Static GK will help you sail through this section of XAT 2025 exam.
Also Read:
How to prepare for XAT Exam 2025: Tips from Toppers
Let’s first understand what is the difference between XAT and other MBA entrance exams?
XAT is more inclined towards application than rote learning. XAT exam has a section which is not there in other management exams – Decision Making. This section brings in a measure of creativity and test the knowledge one has built over time and not by cramming. The Verbal Ability section too, has unique type of Reading Comprehension passages including a poem.
Now, let's look at key tips from previous years' XAT toppers.
Siddharth Lilani, XAT 2023, 99.64 percentile
"I believe that every candidate is different and there is no formula to crack any exam or interview. Working hard is definitely essential and so is consistency. But in the end, results matter and how they come becomes less relevant (unless they come from unfair means). So, every candidate must work on developing a process that works well for them - physically, psychologically, and intellectually." Read full interview
Farzan Shaikh, XAT 2021, 99.95 percentile
"I started preparing on my own (thought NITians don’t need help), quants from books like Arun Sharma, Sarvesh Sharma. I solved DM questions in XAT using past year papers. I Solved 3-4 DILR sets daily. Actively read and summarised articles, books and essays from Aeon, The Economist, WSJ, etc. in my own language to improve my reading comprehension." Read full interview
Suresh Jadia, XAT 2020, 99.31 percentile
"I started XAT preparation seriously by mid-August or September and realised that there wasn’t enough time to go through the entire syllabus thoroughly … so I went for the mock analysis approach which means I gave as many mock as I could and invested even more time in analysing those mock."
"I focused more on Verbal Ability and Decision Making for which I developed more of an intuitive approach where in, in RC passages and Decision Making the answers should come from one’s own inference."
Sarthak Kumar, XAT 2019, 99.95 percentile
"My strategy was to solve as many questions as possible and give as many mocks as possible. One thing I always believed was to stick to my strength which was Quantitative Ability. So I focused more on that but at the same time made sure not to neglect the decision making and verbal sections."
"To prepare for Decision Making section, my strategy was to focus on previous years’ XAT questions, I would match the answers with their answer keys and understand the rationale behind those answers."
Aditya Ganesh, XAT 2018, 99.4 percentile
"I decided to take the test quite late so I had two months to prepare, so I decided that I really have to focus on my strengths. I first strategised and covered all the concepts that were necessary for the examination. After that, I focused mainly on practicing as many questions as I could. I created a conducive environment at my home so that I could take a lot of XAT mock tests and using this I could figure out my strengths and weaknesses."
"In decision making you need to think of solutions which are practical from business sense and ethical," he added.
"On exam day strategy, Aditya said, "In a competitive exam like XAT, you need to ensure that you convert all the questions that you know. By maximising all the questions that you know, you can ensure that you can get a good percentile."
Neha Jaggannath, XAT 2017, 98.76 percentile
Verbal Ability section
"For Verbal Ability section, you need to acquaint yourself with reading of variety of articles. Secondly, you could familiarise yourself with basics of Grammar like figures of speech, root words etc. Apart from that solving questions from sample papers or mock tests will suffice."
Decision Making
"Since you don’t have any precedent to follow viz. this section, the key to crack this section of XAT exam is solve as many previous years papers and mock test series as you can, because these will help you familiarise yourself with the kind of questions that are asked which are mostly common sense based."
Quantitative Ability
"Improving your calculation speed is always the key, because it helps in the examination and also improves you mental agility in general. Other than that, keep a note of the important formulae. During the exam, it is important to know which formula to use for which question."
General Knowledge
"I brushed up on my current affairs knowledge. I made sure to keep reading newspapers and apps on a regular basis. Apart from this, there are certain key points about our nation or international world that aren’t really current affairs but topics you should be knowing. So brushing up on some static GK also helps."
Also Read:
- How to Prepare for XAT 2025 in 6 months
- How to Prepare for XAT 2025 in 3 months
- How to Prepare for XAT 2025 in 1 month
Rajas Yotikar, XAT 2017, 99.98 percentile
“In the last month, there is not much left to prepare. You just have to get in the zone and keep solving the mocks. You don’t have to do anything special in the last one month. In the last month, I stopped solving questions on subjects and switched to mock tests.”
Priyadarshi Dasgupta, XAT 2017, 99.72 percentile
“For the Quant section, my strategy was to read through all the questions once and figure out which questions will take a larger amount of time and which questions I could do quickly. So I would target the questions that I could do quickly first, because that would give me a chance to maximise my score and I would come to questions that required more time.”
“My strategy for Verbal Ability section was to attempt the questions as quickly as possible after one reading then re-read my questions. I found this useful as there were many details that I might have missed in my first reading. So I read them a number of times to catch these details."
"Decision Making is unique to the XAT exam and there isn’t a lot of material to prepare from, so I gave a lot of mock tests in which they would give him sectional cut offs so that he would know my strong and weak areas."
"Keeping in touch with current affairs helped me a lot in GK section as most of the questions were from current affairs."
Also Read:
Best Books for XAT Preparation 2025
Below listed are some of the best books for XAT exam preparation:
| XAT Books |
Author Name |
|---|---|
| XAT XLRI – MBA Entrance exam A/4 |
Chandresh Agarwal |
| Target XAT Simplified |
Disha Experts |
| Jabbing the XAT with Solved Papers |
RK Jha |
| Koncepts of Numbers in Quantitative Aptitude for XAT and Other Quantitative Exams |
Gajendra Kumar |
| Solved Papers for XAT |
Gautam Puri |
| Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency |
Ananta Ashisha, Arihant Expert (Author) |
Also Read: Best Books for XAT Preparation
| Free VARC Questions with Answers for Practice | Free DILR Questions with Answers for Practice | Free Quantitative Aptitude Questions with Answers for Practice |
Take XAT Mock Test by Shiksha
Shiksha has created a free online XAT mock test for aspirants to attempt and assess their preparation level. The mock test has been created on the basis of questions asked in previous years’ XAT exams. Take the free XAT mock test by Shiksha, below.
| XAT_Mock_Test_1 | XAT_Mock_Test_1_Solutions |
| XAT_Mock_Test_2 | XAT_Mock_Test_2_Solutions |
Read More:
XAT topper quotes courtesy XLRI, Jamshedpur and xatonline.
Vipra is a massive Breaking Bad fan. When not watching crime drama series, she spends time in updating the list of places she wants to visit and people she wants to meet, but she is happiest in the company of dogs. ... Read Full Bio
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 18 hours ago
XAT 2025 exam had only 2 sections in the question paper, Part 1 had Quantitative Aptitude, Decision Making and Verbal Ability. Part 2 consisted of General Knowledge section. Essay Writing has been removed from the entrance test. It is a part of XLRI PI selection process. The total time duration of X
P
Beginner-Level 2
Answered 19 hours ago
XAT 2025 exam was of moderate difficulty level. The students who had appeared for the exam last year, said the XAT 2025 question paper was not much different. Section wise, Quantitative Aptitude questions were on the tougher side, Verbal Ability and Decision Making were easy to moderate and GK was e
S
Beginner-Level 2
Answered Yesterday
Best would to be to use the free college predator tool in Shiksha.com.
https://www.shiksha.com/college-predictor
Fill your details and it provides detailed results and it also gives you option to filter colleges according to your preferances.
G
Contributor-Level 8
Answered 4 days ago
Dear Sanjevani,
A XAT percentile of 7.2471 is approximately equivalent to a score of 17-18 out of 100. This score is below the typical cutoff for most top MBA colleges that accept XAT scores. For instance, institutions like XLRI Jamshedpur and MICA Ahmedabad generally require a minimum percentile o
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 6 days ago
Yes, it is possible to crack XAT exam in first attempt. But for that, one needs to have a proper plan and start the preparation about 9-10 months before the exam. XAT is a high difficulty level exam and one needs to cover the exam syllabus end to end to be able to score well. Covering the entire XAT
A
Beginner-Level 2
Answered 6 days ago
Candidates can take reference of subjects and topics from CAT study material for Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Aptitude, but XAT preparation has to be exam specific and must include exam specific study material. Aspirants can use CAT sample questions too for practice purpose,
E
Beginner-Level 2
Answered 6 days ago
XAT syllabus for Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Aptitude are same as CAT syllabus. Decision Making and General Knowledge syllabus are not a part of CAT syllabus. Thus, XAT aspirants have to study more than CAT aspirants, which is why one needs to have a XAT specific preparation
N
Beginner-Level 2
Answered 6 days ago
There are no non-MCQs in XAT. All the questions are in MCQ format with four options to choose the correct answer from. There are neither Type in the Answer and nor subjective answer type questions. Earlier, there used to be essay writing which required candidates to type a short essay on screen.
S
Beginner-Level 2
Answered 6 days ago
As per the latest XAT exam pattern, the question paper has only 2 parts. Part 1 consists of VALR, DM and QA DI questions. Part 2 consists of GK questions. Essay Writing is not a part of the online test. The total time duration is 180 minutes or 3 hours. Part 1 is of 170 minutes and Part 2 is of 10 m
P
Beginner-Level 2
Answered a week ago
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 X
S
Beginner-Level 2
How was XAT 2025 different from XAT 2024?