XAT 2021 Exam, Application Form, Eligibility, Syllabus, Pattern, Result

The Xavier’s Aptitude Test (XAT), is a national level exam organised by XLRI, Jamshedpur once every year for admission into MBA/ PGDM programs of over 150 B schools. This online (CBT) exam is conducted in 46 cities tentatively on the first week of January. 

Latest Update

XAT registration will commence from September 12, 2020 (Saturday) till 12:00 Midnight on November 30, 2020 (Monday). Admit card can be downloaded from December 20, 2020 onwards till day of the exam (January 3, 2021)

• To apply for XAT, candidates must obtain a recognized graduation degree in any discipline (humanities/commerce/engineering) by June of that year.
• As per XAT 2021 Exam Pattern, essay writing section was cut down and numerical answer type questions were added.
• Candidates have to now attempt a total of 100 questions in 180 minutes.
• Sectional time limit for VALR, DM, and QA is 165 minutes and 15 minutes for GK.
• Each section has different cutoff for male and female candidates depending on the program.
• Candidates who score the minimum required XAT 2021 Cutoff marks will be eligible to participate in personal interviews and group discussion rounds.

Highlights of XAT Exam

Feature	Detail	Additional Information
Exam Name	Xavier Aptitude Test	Acronym XAT
Exam Level	National	Conducted for more than 60 years by XLRI
Exam Category	Post Graduate	XAT Score accepted by more than 150 institutes
Conducting Body	XLRI Jamshedpur	On Behalf of XAMI Members
Programs Offered	PGDM (Human Resource Management/ Business Management/ General Management)	XAT Registration Fee: INR 1700 Applying to XLRI programmes addition INR 300
XAT Eligibility	3-year Bachelor’s Degree	In any discipline from a recognised college/university
Exam Mode	Online	For 3 Hour Duration
Number of Test Takers	90,000 approx.	Conducted in around 46 test cities in India
XAT Website	xatonline.in	For Online Registration,Fee payment, result declaration
XAT Helpline Number	1800 267 4008	Contact Number 0657 665 3203/04

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must fulfill the eligibility criteria in order to appear for XAT. The eligibility criteria for XAT 2021 are as follows-

• Applicants must have completed a 3-year bachelor’s degree or a recognized equivalent from any stream. The applicant must not possess any backlogs on their mark sheet.
• While candidates with Indian citizenship can apply for XAT 2021, foreign candidates and NRI applicants may register on the basis of their GMAT Scores. This does not refer to candidates from Dubai and Kathmandu where XAT centers are available.
• Applicants in their last year are also eligible to apply on the contingency that they fulfill the admission criteria before the required deadline
• Candidates from any age group are welcome to apply for XAT 2021 as there is no bar on the age limit for the XAT entrance exam.

Note: Candidates who did graduation in the 1980s with a 2-year bachelor’s degree are not eligible for XAT 2021. NRI and Foreign Candidates are also eligible to apply through GMAT Scorecard. 

Program	Eligibility
PGDM in Business Management and Human Resource Management	Candidates who have completed a 3 year Bachelor’s Degree or a recognized equivalent may apply.  Applicants whose result has been declared by June 10 of that year, can apply on a provisional basis.  NRI and Foreign students can apply directly through their GMAT Scores. Work experience not required
PGDM in General Management	Candidates who have completed a 3 year Bachelor’s Degree or a recognized equivalent from India/abroad may apply. Candidates must be employed in a full-time job and  Applications must have at least 5 years worth of experience in a managerial role by March 31 of that year, in a reputable public, private or non-governmental organization.
Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) – Doctoral Level Programme	Candidates who have completed a postgraduate program in any stream from India / abroad and centers of higher learning with at least 55% marks (50% for SC / ST candidates) with a bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification with at least 60% marks (55% for SC / ST candidates) with a minimum 3-year degree
Applicants must have completed 4 or 5 Year Integrated Master’s Degree Programme in any discipline, with at least a 55% aggregate (50% for SC / ST candidates)
Bachelor’s in Engineering / B.Tech degree with at least a 60% aggregate (50% for SC / ST candidates) with at least years of work experience
A professional qualification such as ICWA, CA, or CS with at least 55% marks (50% for SC / ST candidates)
Business Management Programme (Part-Time)	Candidates must possess a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline with a minimum duration of 3 years of education after completing 12th class (10 +2) or the equivalent. No work experience is needed for this course

XAT Program Wise Fee

XLRI Jamshedpur Fees for Programs Offered:

Program	Fee Structure
PGDBM	₹11.8 Lakhs (1st Year Fees)
Executive Diploma	₹4.1 Lakhs (Total Fees)
PG Diploma	₹20.95 Lakhs (Total Fees)
Executive	₹9 Lakhs (Total Fees)
PGCBM	₹2.9 Lakhs (Total Fees)

Application Process

XAT Registration will commence from third week of August 2020 and the extended date to apply for XAT 2021 will tentatively be somewhere in second week of December 2020. Candidates will be able to fill XAT 2021 Application Form at the official website xatonline.in. XAT Registration process primarily involves the following steps:

Step 1: Registration

• Visit the official website-xatonline.in.
• Click on the tab “Registration” and enter your Name, Date of Birth, Contact details and Email-id.
• A system generated XAT ID and Password will be sent to you through Email/SMS.
• Note down XAT ID and Password for future reference.

Step 2: Fill XAT Application Form 

• Fill in your personal and academic details, work experience, preferred course, and exam center.
• Preview your form carefully once as no changes will be entertained after clicking on “Final Submit”

Step 3: Upload Documents 

Upload scanned images of your recent Photograph and signature as per specifications mentioned below: 

Documents	Particulars
Scanned Candidate’s Passport Size Photograph	Image Dimensions: 200X230 pixels File Type: JPG or JPEG File size: 20Kbs – 50Kbs
Scanned Candidate’s Signature	Image Dimensions: 140X160 pixels File Type: JPG or JPEG File size: 10Kbs – 20Kbs

Step 4: Registration Fee Payment

Registration for XAT will be completed only on successfull payment of fees. Fee structure is given below:

• Pay XAT Application Fee by using Debit Cards (RuPay / Visa / Master Card / Maestro), Credit Cards or Internet Banking.
• XAT Registration Fee (without late fee) – Rs. 1700/-   (Candidates interested in XLRI programs need to pay an additional fee of Rs. 300/- each.)
• XAT Registration Fee (with late fee) – Rs. 2000/-    (Candidates interested in XLRI programs need to pay an additional fee of Rs. 500/- each.)
• Indian Candidates applying for GMP through GMAT – Rs. 2500/-  
• NRI/Foreign Candidates applying for one or more programs through GMAT – Rs. 5000/- 

Step 5: Download Confirmation Page

• Download XAT Application Form and e-receipt of fee payment.
• Take a printout of them for further reference.      

Note: In case an applicant did not receive the registration confirmation mail along with provisional XAT UID & Password, within 24 hours of signing up, they are requested to write to xat2021@xlri.ac.in.in citing the primary email ID and the issue or call the Helpdesk on 1800 267 4008 (08.00 a.m. till 08.00 p.m. IST)

 Exam Centers List

For XAT 2021, candidates will have the option of choosing any 2 test centers at the time of registration. The final center that will be allotted to the candidate will be present on the XAT 2021 Admit Card. XLRI Jamshedpur will release the final list of exam cities in the official brochure.

Agra	Ambala	Amravati	Bhatinda
Bhilai Nagar	Bokaro Steel City	Dibrugarh	Durgapur
Ahmedabad	Dehradun	Kanpur	Rourkela
Allahabad	Delhi	Kolkata	Sambalpur
Amritsar	Goa	Lucknow	Surat
Bengaluru	Greater Noida	Mangalore	Tiruchirapalli
Berhampur	Gurgaon	Mumbai	Tirupathi
Bhopal	Guwahati	Nagpur	Udaipur
Bhubaneswar	Hyderabad	Nasik	Vadodara
Chandigarh	Indore	Noida	Varanasi
Chennai	Jabalpur	Patna	Vijaywada
Dhanbad	Jaipur	Pune	Visakhapatnam
Coimbatore	Jammu	Raipur	Ernakulam
Cuttack	Jamshedpur	Ranchi	Gandhinagar
Gorakhpur	Gwalior	Hooghly	Hubly
Kannur	Kota	Kottayam	Kurnool
Kurukshetra	Ludhiana	Madurai	Mysore
Rajahmundry	Roorkee	Siliguri	Thiruvananthapuram
Tiruvallur	Udupi	Warangal	–

Exam Pattern

Candidates must be thoroughly familiar with the exam pattern of XAT so avoid any surprises in the exam hall. XAT pattern has witnessed a few changes over the years.

• XAT 2021 exam will be conducted online as a computer based test which is conducted in a single slot.
• Each correct answer will be given one mark and each wrong answer will reduce 0.25 marks each. Negative marking however is not applicable for General Knowledge section.
• The exam is divided into 2 parts Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 is for 165 minutes and It consists of 74 questions in total.
• Part 2 is of 15 minutes and all 25 questions stem from General Knowledge.
• Candidates can switch from one section to another in part 1 but in part 2, no switching will be allowed.
• Any candidate who leaves over 8 unattempted questions will receive a penalty of 0.05 marks on every question.

Question	Number of Questions	Time Limit
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation	27	165 Minutes
Decision Making	21
Verbal and Logical Ability	26

Part 2 is of 15 minutes and it includes:

Question	Number of Questions	Time Limit
General Knowledge	25	15 Minutes

Syllabus

XLRI does not prescribe any official syllabus for the entrance test. XAT 2021 syllabus is based on past trends of question papers and syllabus, drawn from the topics which have been asked in previous exams. However, their composition, format, and number may change with each subsequent edition of XAT.

It is an objective type paper covering Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability, English Language and Reasoning, and Decision Making. An indicative list of topics covered in these sections are:

Subject	Important Topics
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation	Geometry, Tables, Graphs, Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Statistics, Profit & Loss, Speed and Distance, Clocks, Probability, Algebraic Function, Mensuration -2D and 3D
Verbal and Logical Ability	Grammar, Para Jumbles, Para Completion, Vocabulary, Reading Comprehensions, Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, Completion of Sentences
Decision Making	Analytical Reasoning, Situational, Case sets, Data Arrangement,
General Knowledge	Current Affairs, Politics, Literature, Sports, History, Awards and Recognitions, Business, Economics, International Relations, Society, Merger, and Aquisition

XAT Seat Intake

The following table demonstrates a list of the Top MBA Colleges accepting XAT Score along with their Seat Intake and respective Program Fees:

NAME OF THE INSTITUTE	NUMBER OF SEATS	PROGRAM FEES (IN LAKHS)
XLRI Jamshedpur	360	23.00
XIM Bhubaneswar	360	17.30
SPJIMR Mumbai	276	16.00
IMT Ghaziabad	180	17.50
TAPMI Manipal	285	16.90
MICA Ahmedabad	180	18.50
IRMA Anand (Gujarat)	180	12.10

Merit List

The Merit List of XAT 2021 is created by including different components such as XAT 2021 score, performance in GD & PI, academic records, work experience, and the overall profile of the candidate. The weight of these different components in XLRI is tabulated below. This division of scores applies to all the programs offered by XLRI.

COMPONENT	WEIGHT
XAT 2021 score (Part A)	65%
GK (Part B)	10%
GD/PI Performance	20%
Academic Profile/Work Experience	5%

It should be noted that post-XAT 2021, there will not be any centralized counseling procedure. Candidates will have to individually apply for each of the member Institutes of XAMI or other participating institutes of with their scorecard.