For more than 75 years XLRI has conducted XAT at all India level to select the most appropriate students for management education. The XAT score is being used by more than 250+ institutes for the admission.

The following is the list of some of the good B-Schools that accept XAT score for admission into their Post-graduate program in Management:

1. XLRI – Jamshedpur and Delhi
2. IMI Delhi
3. IRMA Anand
4. IMT-Ghaziabad
5. MICA-Ahmedabad
6. TAPMI-Manipal
7. IFMR-Chennai
8. Great Lakes Institute of Management-Chennai
9. KJ Somaiya-Mumbai
10. Welingkar-Mumbai
11. LIBA-Chennai
12. XIM-B Bhubaneswar

For a complete list of B-Schools which are scheduled to accept XAT-2026 score, please check out the following link

https://xatonline.in/associate

As per T.I.M.E. B-school categorization, XLRI is rated among the Top 10 B-Schools of India; XIMB ,MICA,IMI Delhi, and IMT Ghaziabad are counted among the AA grade B-schools. IRMA ,TAPMI Manipal ,Great Lakes Institute of Management and GIM Goa are counted among the "A" grade B-Schools. IFMR, Welingkar Mumbai,KJ Somaiya Mumbai,GLIM Gurugram & LIBA are graded in the "BBB+" category.

It is usually conducted in the month of January. This year, the entrance test is being conducted on 4 January 2026. Yes, it is a computer-based examination. Registration for XAT 2025 ends on 5 Dec 2025.

• XAT Registration Fee – Rs. 2200/-
• Candidates interested in XLRI programmes need to pay an additional fee of Rs. 200/- each.

Yes, they are eligible to apply for XAT

The following is the eligibility criteria for the examination

A recognized Bachelor’s degree of at least three years' duration or its equivalent in any discipline is required. Candidates appearing for their final exams by June 12, 2026, are also eligible to apply. All Indian candidates must appear for XAT 2026. NRI, Foreign, OCI, and PIO candidates may apply through GMAT.

Yes. Candidates interested in XLRI programme(s) needs to pay an additional fee of Rs.200 for each program opted.

No

Usually the XAT Result is declared 3 weeks after the conduct of XAT.

Section	Important Topics	Number of Questions (Approx)	Time (minutes)
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning (VALR)	The VA&LR section will encompass critical & analytical reasoning, reading comprehension (including poems, cartoons & passages etc.), vocabulary, English grammar, and other related exercises such as para jumbles, cloze tests etc.	26	170
Decision Making (DM)	The DM section will present scenarios drawn from both personal and professional lives. Candidates will be required to apply critical thinking, problem - solving skills, and prioritization to make informed decisions.	21
Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation (QA & DI)	In this section, the questions are designed to assess the quantitative aptitude of candidates who possess foundational understanding of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration, modern Maths, etc. The questions on DI are about clear interpretation, summarization, and insightful analysis of the data.	28
General Knowledge (GK)	In the GK section, 08 questions will focus on static GK, while the remaining 12 will delve into current affairs.	20	10
Total		95	180

Note-

• Marks per Question: Each question carries 1 mark, with 95 questions expected. Negative Marking for Incorrect Answers: 0.25 marks will be deducted for every incorrect answer.
• You can skip up to 8 questions without any penalty. For each question skipped after the 8th one, a penalty of 0.1 marks per question will be applied.
• The GK section has no negative markings. It will not contribute to your overall percentile or cutoff score but will be considered in the selection process (only for XLRI programs).

The BM course is a regular Program which is designed to give inputs on all the functions of management (Marketing, Finance, HR etc). It is like a regular MBA program. Whereas, the HRM aims to equip the students with the knowledge and skills required for managing HRM Functions. HRM should be taken up by only those who are genuinely interested in making a career in the HR domain.

XAT contains a section by name Decision Making.

This section contains caselets which usually are business related, human resources related, management related etc. CAT students have been provided with ten practice papers for Decision Making (LAT1022608, 2609, 2610, 2411, 2612, 2413, 2414, 2615, 2616, 2617) and 8 mock tests that would give sufficient practice in this area.

There are occasions where analytical puzzles were given as part of this section. The CAT students have received the reasoning study material - SM 1002505 and 2506 for puzzles (with solutions). SM 1002605 and 2607 have two exercises for each of the topics in puzzles. The practice exercise book (SM1002515) contains exercises for all the analytical puzzles. There was a thorough discussion on each of these kinds of questions in Logic Basics - 1, 2, 3 and 4(LRHO 1002601 to 03,2004), and in LRPEs, LWHOs & LATs.

Critical Reasoning questions have been part of the course for the CAT students. They can revise these concepts by working out questions from CRHO 1002001, 2602, 2603, 2604, 2605; these handouts will sharpen the skills of students in areas like analysing and evaluating arguments, Conclusion and Inference, Assumptions and Strengthening and Weakening of arguments. CRPE 1002001 and 2002 will help the students revise the concepts. CRPT 1002001 and 2002 will help the students test themselves in a timed environment.

For the English Language part, it would be advisable for students to revise concepts pertaining to RC, Sentence Correction, Vocab- based questions (words confused), Para formation, Logical reasoning questions (especially on identifying argument structure and argument elements, and inference-based questions). Students should also focus on Figures of Speech as there have been questions on identifying metaphors, oxymorons, personification, etc. in previous years' XAT papers.

The RC passages in XAT are often based on 'off-beat' topics (passages include subjects such as Psychology, Science and Sociology). Poem-based RC questions are a unique feature of XAT.

SM1002602 (RC & CR), SM1002616 & SM1002617 have practice passages and exercises on a wide range of subjects and contain exercises on all types of CR questions and RC contexts and questions.

Refer to VAHOs 1002005 to VAHO1002011, SM10002009 (Vocab practice SM) for information and practice exercises on figures of speech;, idiomatic expressions, confusable words, etc.

OMET1002610 to 2616 and OMET1002621 give you first-hand test experience of the XAT in the form of mock XAT (including All India Mocks). Also, RCT1022601 and 602 and VAT1022602 to VAT10225604 have been designed to give the students ample practice in VA and RC sections pertaining to XAT.

For the section on Quantitative Ability, a good Preparation for CAT should be more than sufficient. Though it must be added that some of the questions in XAT tend to be pretty tricky and it would be advisable for students to be very judicious while attempting questions. It would also be advisable for students to brush up on their Speed Maths concepts as some of the questions in DI tend to be calculation intensive For preparation on General Awareness, in addition to reading newspapers regularly, it would be advisable for a student to prepare from the following sources:

Also, in the various issues of MBA Education & Careers magazine, focus on features like Business GK, Current Issues & Events, and Current Event Chronicle (this feature captures important tid-bits).

In addition to the above, please run through the GK Model Papers feature titled, Improve your GK.

Go through the GA Note (Study Material) booklet for stock GK (like history and geography). Also use the GAT papers, each with 50 questions.

Manorama & CSR Year Book - it helps in preparation for stock type questions

In Manorama Year Book and CSR, please focus on the following chapters.

• Who is who
• What is what
• Science scan
• Human body
• Computers
• Landmarks of history
• The Universe

While preparing for this section, it would be advisable for students to focus more on issues related to business, economics and politics related to the business environment.

Finally, OMETs for XAT are perhaps the best source for preparation. It comes very close to the actual XAT entrance exam paper and one should give maximum importance to these question papers. Also, going through the last few years XAT papers would help.