XAT 2023 was held today. Check out XAT 2023 student reactions and question paper review to know the difficulty level of the exam this year.
XAT 2023 exam review
XAT 2023 exam was conducted today from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM at various test centres across India. Shiksha visited a XAT test centre in Delhi to know student reactions and reviews of the question paper. According to XAT 2023 students’ reactions, the question paper seems to be of moderate to high difficulty level. The students shared that Decision Making section was easy and so was Verbal Ability section. Quantitative Aptitude was tough with lengthy DI questions. GK was moderate, they said.
Most of the students Shiksha spoke to, said that XAT 2023 was easier than CAT 2022.
Read below XAT 2023 student reactions and reviews from a Delhi test centre.
XAT 2023 Student Reactions and Reviews
Nishtha
My exam was good. Quantitative Aptitude section was easy, English section was also easy, but Decision Making was average. One set in the Decision Making section was difficult. There was a question in which we had to calculate the preparation time of dishes, which was difficult. Two of the three essay topics were easy and one was tricky.
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The XAT exam was quite easy. I found VA section difficult and Quant section easy. Decision Making section was easy too. I chose risk management as essay topic. This is my first XAT attempt but I am expecting to score in 70s-80s.
Q: How many questions were there in XAT 2025?
Q: Is there in any change in XAT exam 2025?
No change has been announced in the XAT exam. The test will be administered just like yesterday. The duration of the exam will be 210 minutes and the questions will be in MCQ format. There will be a total of 100 questions on Decision Making, Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation, Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning and General Knowledge.
There will be one essay-based question too. XAT 2025 will have a sectional time limit which means candidates will have to complete a section of the test within the given time limit.
Marking scheme is also the same as last year. For each correct answer, candidates will get 1 mark and for each incorrect attempt, 0.25 marks will be deducted. The XAT result will be based on several correct and incorrect entries. The essay will be evaluated for PI selection process only.
Q: Is there any negative marking in the XAT exam?
Yes, the XAT exam has negative marking of -0.25 marks for wrong attempt. Unanswered questions have no negative marking but if there are 8 consecutive unanswered questions, 0.10 marks will be deducted. Thus, the candidates must select questions to solve very carefully in the XAT exam. They should solve only those questions which they know they can solve accurately. The XAT exam has sectional time limit too, so you may not want to waste time on a question that you cannot solve accurately. You stand to lose both time and marks. So be careful in selecting questions in the XAT exam. The sectional cut off for XAT is usually 80 percent accuracy. Practice a lot of mock tests to develop this skill.
Prachi
My exam was good. This was my first attempt. Section wise, I found Data Interpretation tough. English was easy and Decision Making was moderate. The GK section was also moderate. I wrote on risk management. I am not keeping any expectations in terms of scores, but I hope my hard work pays.
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Vaibhav
My exam was good, but not the way I had expected. Decision Making was the easiest section for me and Quantitative Aptitude section was toughest for me as I am weak in Maths. GK has questions related to FIFA, Indian Navy, etc. so it was overall good.
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Sehej
My exam went well. I found the XAT 2023 to be easier in comparison to previous years. Overall the difficulty level was moderate. There were three Essay topics and one of them was - people with lower IQ make more money. I found XAT the easiest in comparison to other MBA entrance exams that I gave.
Q: What is the XAT section wise weightage?
XAT exam is more Quantitative Ability and Verbal and Logical Ability based. Which is why these two sections have more weightage than rest of the section. And between these two, Quantitative Ability has more weightage. In terms of marks too, the Quantitative Ability has maximum weightage, i.e. 28 marks, followed by Verbal and Logical Ability with 26 marks, General Knowledge carries 25 marks and Decision Making carries 22 marks.
XAT Sections | Number of Questions | Total Marks |
|---|---|---|
Decision Making | 22 | 22 |
Verbal and Logical Ability | 26 | 26 |
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation | 28 | 28 |
General Knowledge | 25 | 25 |
Essay Writing | 1 (out of 3 options) | To be evaluated at the time of shortlisting |
Q: What is the marking scheme of the XAT exam?
XAT is an MCQ based test and all questions carry equal marks. The total marks of the exam is 100 and every question carries 1 mark. Decision Making carries 22 marks, Verbal and Logical Ability carries 26 marks, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation carries 28 marks and General Knowledge carries 25 marks.
There is negative marking too in XAT, that you should be aware of. Check below the marking scheme of XAT.
- One mark is awarded for each right answer
- 0.25 marks is deducted for each wrong answer
- 0.10 marks is deducted for more than eight unanswered consecutive questions
- There is no negative marking in General Knowledge section
- Scores of General Knowledge section will not be considered for calculating XAT score
- The score of Essay Writing will be taken into consideration at the time of PI shortlisting
Q: Which section of XAT 2025 exam paper will have the maximum number of questions?
The Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation section of Xavier Aptitude Test 2025 will have the maximum number of questions that is 28, followed by Verbal and Logical Ability with 26 questions. General Knowledge will have 20 questions while Decision Making will have 21 questions in the Xavier Aptitude Test. For more details, you may visit the Shiksha Xavier Aptitude Test exam pattern page. (https://www.shiksha.com/mba/xat-exam-pattern). I hope this will help you.
Q: What type of Reading Comprehension passages are there in XAT?
In XAT, Reading Comprehension passages are usually taken from Philosophy, Psychology, History, Art, research articles. Sometime, the XAT RC section also has poems. These areas are chosen to test the candidates, who are largely Science, Commerce and Engineering graduates, on their ability to come out of their comfort zone and adapt to unfamiliar situations. Out of 26 questions, about 14-16 questions are based on RC passages or a poem. Candidates must target solving about 10 questions accurately to score well. XAT has negative marking so do not mark an option as your answer if you are not 100 percent sure of it.
Q: How many questions are there in the Quantitative Aptitude section of the XAT exam?
Smriti
My exam was okay. I found the DI part slightly lengthy. Overall the paper was moderate in terms of difficulty level. I chose the essay topic on risk factor. I found XAT 2023 and IIFT 2023 moderate and CAT 2022 and SNAP 2022 tough.
Sonakshi
My exam was good. I think Quantitative Aptitude section was tough and Decision Making was moderate. Overall, I would say, the paper was moderate to difficult.
Harshita
My exam was good. The overall difficulty level of XAT 2023 was moderate to difficult. Verbal questions were easy but Reading Comprehension was tough. I found Data Interpretation part time consuming. Decision Making questions were easy. XAT 2023 was easier than CAT 2022 but little more difficult than IIFT 2023.
Also Read:
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XAT 2023 analysis and expected cut offs
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 15 hours ago
With a percentile range of 65-70 in the XAT exam, you have several good options for pursuing an MBA. Here are some colleges that typically accept candidates within this percentile range:
Top Colleges
1. Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore: Known for its comprehensive
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 4 days ago
Surely! Several MBA colleges in India take XAT scores and charge minimal fee structures. Here are some you might want to look into:
Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Technology and Management Offers MBA and PGDM courses with a total fee between INR 1,10,000 and INR 1,80,000.
Abasaheb Garware Institute
T
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a week ago
Yes, XAT is required for MBA at Shanti Business School.
S
Contributor-Level 7
Answered a week ago
Yes, XAT is among teh emultiple national-level entrance exams accepted for admission to the PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) courses at Shanti Business School. In addition to XAT, the school also accepts other entrance exams such as CAT, MAT, CXAT, and ATMA for admission to its PGDM progra
N
Contributor-Level 7
Answered a week ago
With a percentile score of 65.5 in the XAT, you have several good options for pursuing an MBA. Here are some top colleges that typically accept candidates within this percentile range:
1. Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB): Known for its excellent faculty and strong industry connecti
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 2 weeks ago
Jiwaji University PGDM admissions are granted based on various national-level exam scores, including XAT. As per the institute's cutoff data for 2023, the XAT cutoff percentile for General All India category students stood at 50.
Students must note that this cutoff can vary depending upon the diffic
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks 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 3
Answered 2 weeks 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 3
Answered 2 weeks ago
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 of 85-90 for cons
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 3 weeks 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 3
As per the latest XAT exam pattern, there will be 95 questions in XAT 2025 in MCQ format.
There will be no essay writing this year. It will be conducted during the selection process.
It is not mandatory to solve all the questions. Candidates should solve only those questions which they can solve correctly as there is negative marking in XAT. During the exam preparation, focus on the chapters from which majority of the questions are added. This will help them in achieving the sectional and overall cut offs are required.