XAT Analysis – 2026
XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) 2026 was conducted online on January 4, 2026, between 2 PM and 5 PM. The test had almost the same structure as last year.
The structure of the test along with suggested time allocation, good attempts, and estimated cut-offs based on the feedback from IMS students and experts are in the table below:
The Question Paper consisted of:
| Section | No. of Questions | Marks per question | Total marks | Suggested time allocation | Good Attempts |
| PART – 1 (170 minutes) No Sectional Timing within Part – 1 | |||||
| Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning | 26 | 1 | 26 | 55-60 | 13-14 |
| Decision Making | 21 | 1 | 21 | 50-55 | 12-13 |
| Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation | 28 | 1 | 28 | 55-60 | 16-17 |
| Total | 75 | 75 | |||
| PART – 2 (10 minutes) No Negative Marks | |||||
| General Knowledge | 20 | 1 | 20 | No Negative Marks | 10-11 |
Part-1 questions invited negative marks of – 0.25 for each incorrect response. In addition, there was a penalty of -0.1 mark for every unattempted question after 8 unattempted questions.
VERDICT
Overall, XAT-2026 was similar in difficulty level to XAT 2025. The DM Section was on par with the same last year with a few questions in DM being difficult. The VALR section was similar in difficulty to XAT 2025. In the QA-DI section, the QA portion was more difficult than XAT-2025, and the DI portion was also more challenging than XAT-2025.
Based on the inputs received from students and IMS mentors who appeared for the test and based on the actual cutoffs over the last two years, we estimate the following cut-offs for XLRI BM and HRM programs:
XLRI BM Program
| VA-LR Section | DM Section | QA-DI Section | Overall (Part 1) | |
| Male candidates – Eng | 8-9 | 10 | 7-8 | 29-30 |
| Female candidates – Eng | 8-9 | 9-10 | 6-7 | 26-27 |
| Male candidates -Non Eng | 8-9 | 10 | 7-8 | 29-30 |
| Female candidates -Non-Eng | 8-9 | 9-10 | 6-7 | 26-27 |
XLRI HRM Program
| VA-LR Section | DM Section | QA-DI Section | Overall (Part 1) | |
| Male (Engineers) | 10-11 | 10 | 6-7 | 29-30 |
| Female (Engineers) | 8-9 | 7-8 | 5-6 | 26-27 |
| Male (Non-Engineers) | 10-11 | 10 | 5-6 | 28-29 |
| Female (Non-Engineers) | 8-9 | 7-8 | 5-6 | 25 |
SECTIONAL ANALYSIS
Note: For both BM and HRM programs of XLRI, the overall cutoff is significantly greater than the sum of the sectional cutoffs. Therefore, the number of good attempts for different sections has been estimated from the point of view of a student who wishes to maximize the score in that section.
Part-1
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning Section (26 questions)
There were 15 Reading Comprehension questions, 2 poem-based questions and 9 Verbal Ability/Reasoning questions. The Verbal ability/Verbal Reasoning questions were a fair mix of grammar, vocabulary, and reasoning-based questions (Critical Reasoning and Jumbled Paragraphs). The RC questions were distributed among five passages and one poem. The five passages were of 300 – 550 words each approximately; they had a mixture of mostly medium to difficult questions. Many of the questions were inferential and application-based.
| Area/Questions | No. of Qs. | Level of Difficulty |
| Grammatically correct sentence | 2 | Medium |
| Fill in the blanks (4 blanks) | 1 | Medium |
| Jumbled Paragraphs (5 statements) | 2 | Medium |
| Critical Reasoning | 2 | Medium |
| Main idea/message of the given image | 1 | Medium |
| RC Passages – 5 (300-450 words) | 15 | Medium-Difficult |
| Poem-based passage | 2 | Medium |
| Miscellaneous (Contradictory ideas) | 1 | Medium |
An attempt of about 13-14 questions in this section in about 55-60 minutes, with about 75-80% accuracy would be considered a good attempt.
Decision Making (21 questions)
This section consisted of 21 questions. Just like 2025, there was no Quantitative DM set in this year’s test.
The section consisted of 7 sets of 3 questions each. As usual, some questions had a fair deal of ambiguity – in that either no answer seemed correct or more than one option appeared correct. Overall, the questions were of medium difficulty. Therefore, the choice of sets/questions to attempt would have depended mainly on your personal preferences and strengths.
In about 50-55 minutes, an attempt of about 12-13 questions with about 75-80% accuracy would be considered to be good.
Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation (28 questions)
Out of the 28 questions in the section, 19 were on Quantitative Ability and 9 were on Data Interpretation.
In Arithmetic 1 question was on Profit & Loss, 1 question was on Time Speed and Distance, and 1 question was on Race in a Circular swimming pool. The only question in Algebra was based on equations. In Geometry, 1 question was on Concentric circles, 1 question was on Circle and Tangent, 1 question was on Triangle & Rectangle, 1 question was on Triangle and Square, and 1 question was on Height and Distance. In Modern maths, 1 question was on Probability, 1 question was on Function, and 1 question was on 3D Venn Diagram. There were 7 questions from Numbers. One quant question on Divisibility was of Data Sufficiency type. Quite a few questions had been framed based on the maximum or minimum possible values.
There were three sets of Data Interpretation with 3 questions in each set. The DI sets were lengthy and tricky. One set was based on a combination of Numbers, Geometry, and Logic. One set was based on a Sunburst chart, involving multiple levels of segregation of a company’s employees and their locations, etc. The third set was a Logical DI involving a data table.
As a whole, the QA portion was more difficult than XAT-2025, especially the DI portion was really challenging.
Following is the break-up of the questions in the section:
| Quantitative Aptitude (19 questions) | ||||
| Easy | Medium | Difficult | Total | |
| Arithmetic | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Geometry | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Modern Math | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Algebra | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Numbers | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Total QA | 5 | 7 | 7 | 19 | Data Interpretation (9 questions) |
| Combination of Numbers, Geometry, and Logic | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Set based on Sunburst chart | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Average based set | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Total DI | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| Total QA-DI | 6 | 11 | 11 | 28 |
An attempt of about 16-17 questions (with about 80 percent accuracy) in about 55-60 minutes would be considered a good attempt.
Part-2
General Knowledge
The 20 GK questions comprised 11 current affairs questions and 9 static GK questions. As usual, the questions covered a wide range of areas and gave no special advantage to specialists in any one area.
To maximize the score in this section, one should attempt 10 – 11 questions seriously. Additionally, as there was no negative marking in this section, all the remaining questions should also have been attempted. A score of 5 – 6 would be a good score in this section.