XAT - SPLessons
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XAT Introduction

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On behalf of Xavier Association of Management Institutes (XAMI), Xavier School of Management (XLRI) conducts the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) exam. The XLRI is dedicated to conducting this exam for the past 60 years and is conducted at all India level to choose the most appropriate students for management education. The score so provided from the XAT exam is used by more than 150 institutes for admission all over India. The exam is conducted at many centers of many Indian cities, including; Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Guwahati, Sambalpur, Trivandrum, Tiruchirapalli, Udaipur, Jammu, Amritsar, Delhi, Goa, Varanasi, and many more cities.
XLRI is a management school founded in 1949. It offers courses in management and trade unions and is the oldest Indian management school. There are numerous courses offered including full-time, 2-year program, a post-graduate program in fields of business management, personnel management, industrial relations, global business management, full-time courses, doctoral fellow program, and several executive programs. There are also part-time business management programs for working executives and business owners who want to pursue the course along with their work duties.
For complete information on XAT, one can visit the website: XAT Website

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XAT Eligibility Criteria:
As prescribed by XLRI Jamshedpur, management candidates who wish to apply for XAT must fulfill the following eligibility criteria:
  • The candidate must have a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognized university or institute such that the minimum duration of the degree program pursued must be three years.

  • Final year graduation students are also eligible to apply only if they complete their program within the stipulated time period.

  • There is no fixed age limit to apply for the exam.

  • Non-Residents Indians or NRI's and foreign nationals are required to apply through the GMAT scores.

  • XAT is also conducted in Dubai and Nepal. The candidates from these two countries are exempted from applying through the GMAT scores.

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XAT Registration:
The registration process for the XAT exam is available online. Candidates are required to apply for the exam by filling the form online along with a prescribed fee before the last date of the application process appears. The steps for the application process are:
  • In order to register, the candidates are required to enter their basic information in the prescribed registration form correctly.

  • Then the candidates shall receive the login credentials that will be used to log in to the website.

  • Once the login process is complete, the application form shall appear. The candidates shall fill the form with the personal, academic, and professional details correctly as mentioned in the documents that shall be provided later.

  • Photographs and signatures are uploaded.

  • Prescribed fee amount has to be paid online through credit card, debit card, or net banking. The application process is conducted in two stages; early and late. The application fee is higher for the late stage.
  • The candidates who have successfully completed the application form along with the fee shall receive an admit cars later that can be downloaded online. Remember to carry this admit card on the date of the test. Entry to the test center is bared without admit card.

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Application Fee:
The application fee for the XAT exam that is submitted at the time of application form is INR 1700. This does not include the late fee.
  • The applications submitted after the deadline shall pay the application inclusive of a late fee amounting to INR 2000.

  • For each XLRI program, the candidates are required to pay an additional fee of INR 300 and if the application is submitted beyond the deadline, a late fee of INR 500 shall be charged.

  • The candidates applying through the late application window, the application fee for XAT shall be INR 2000 and XLRI program shall be INR 500.

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Pattern of Exam:
The exam is a computer-based online test. Therefore, it is expected that the candidate has some knowledge of computer operations and is fluent in the English language. The duration of the test is 180 minutes in which the candidate is expected to complete all the four sections. The table below shall better explain the exam pattern and syllabus:
Section Topics Number of Questions
Verbal & Logical Ability Vocabulary, reading comprehension, sentence correction, fill in the blanks, grammar, questions on paragraph formation, and other such topics 26
Decision-Making Arithmetic mathematics, Analytical reasoning, situational questions. 22
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation Percentage, time & distance, profit & loss, equations, polynomials, time & work, bar charts, permutations and combination, and so on. 27
General Knowledge History, currency, national capital, famous personalities, important dates, business affairs, current affairs, books and authors. 25

Each correct answer shall bring in 1 mark and the ¼ mark is deducted for each wrong answer. For every 8 unattempted questions, there is a negative marking of 0.05 marks. One should be careful while answering the questions. Do not guess at all.

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Result & Cut off:
The result for XAT is declared online. The result is announced in the form of a scorecard and sectional score is mentioned there. The XLRI Jamshedpur also sends the hard copy of the scorecard on the registered address of the candidates. Candidates are expected to preserve there admit cards until the complete admission process is over.
After the declaration of results, a cut off list is declared. Here is a check of the cut off for various programs of XAT 2018:
Verbal Ability Decision Making Quantitative Ability Overall
Males (BM Program) 79.460 76.840 88.700 94
Females (BM Program) 75 75 82 94
Males (HR Program) 79.660 71.628 70.070 92
Females (HR Program) 75 70 65 92
GMP Program 68

The cut off percentile is dependent upon the level of exam, the number of test takes, and the number of seats that are offered in various programs. The cut off is declared separately by different participating institutes. These institutes may either be from XAMI or non-XAMI.

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Selection Procedure:
The selection procedure begins only after the announcement of the results and the cutoffs of the respective institutes. It is important that the candidates know the selection criteria and process of their target institute as it varies among different business schools. Usually, it is a two-step process:
  • Shortlisted candidates are called for the Writing Ability Test (WAT) or Essay Writing.
    Some institutes prefer to have a Group Discussion instead.

  • Followed by it is the personal interviews.

The selection criteria for different institutes is different, which includes, work experience, academic records, and the overall candidate's profile. There is no centralized counseling done by XLRI.