How to Crack XAT 2025 in First Attempt

How to Crack XAT 2025 in the first attempt? - It can be hard to crack the top MBA entrance exam for candidates appearing for the first time. It similarly applies to the XAT 2025 MBA exam as well. But this is not always the case, anyone who has not appeared for the XAT exam before can crack the XLRI entrance exam in the first attempt with a proper study plan and strategy. Right from how to practice, important tips to prepare, the best books to study to everything that it takes to crack the XAT 2025 entrance exam is covered in this article.

New: XAT registration form 2025 Out; Apply Now

Latest: XAT Sectionwise Preparation Tips

Suggested: XAT Sample Paper, Topic wise Questions with Solution

This Story also Contains

1. XAT exam pattern
2. Tips To Crack XAT Exam
3. XAT 2025 section-wise preparation strategy tips by toppers
4. Recommended Study Material for XAT 2025

Is XAT tougher than CAT? XAT preparation is not that much different from CAT. However, the question paper of CAT is more difficult than XAT exam considering the syllabus and CAT exam pattern, one needs to manage their time in the right way during the exam. In this article of Careers360, we have shared some basic and important tips to ace XAT exam in the first attempt. Read the full article to know how to crack XAT exam 2025 in the first attempt along with preparation tips to crack XAT 2025 on the first attempt.

XAT exam pattern

The XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) is an important entrance exam conducted by XLRI for admission to various management programs. It is a three-hour online test comprising five main sections: Verbal and Logical Ability, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, General Knowledge and Analytical Essay Writing. Each question carries one mark, with a penalty of 0.25 marks for incorrect answers in the first three sections and a 0.10 mark deduction for more than eight unattempted questions. The complete XAT exam pattern is given below:

Tips To Crack XAT Exam

• Having a good understanding of the XAT syllabus and pattern of the XAT exam - XAT, being one of the tough MBA entrance exams, requires hard work and dedication. To crack XLRI's entrance exam in the first attempt only, it is necessary to start preparation six to seven months before the XAT 2025 entrance exam. To start their XAT preparation from a good point, aspirants should clearly understand the syllabus and pattern of the exam they are going to attempt on the exam day.
• Syllabus of XAT 2025 - This year, XAT will be comprised of only one paper which will consist of objective or Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). The questions will be asked from the four sections, namely- Verbal and Logical Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation and General Knowledge.
• Pattern of XAT 2025 - The exam pattern of XAT will specify the number of questions section-wise as well as the total time duration. The XAT exam will be comprised of 26 questions of Verbal and Logical Ability section, 22 questions in the decision-making section, 27 questions of quantitative ability and data interpretation and 25 questions of general knowledge. The time allotted for the XAT 2025 exam is 130 minutes and there is no sectional time limit this year. As per the XAT marking scheme this time, one mark will be awarded for each correct answer and 0.25 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer and 0.1 marks will be deducted for more than 8 unattempted questions.

The benefit of getting well-versed with the syllabus and pattern of the exam is that the candidates become capable enough to practice and prepare for the exam in a regular manner.

• Emphasize important topics - Aspirants should more emphasis on those topics specified in the XAT syllabus. Here, from the important topic, we mean the topics in the section that cover a major part of a particular section. Focusing more on important and high-weightage topics would lead you to score more.
• Make effective use of online platforms - Nowadays, online available classes, test series, and study materials have become the panacea. Hence, students should go for online classes for effective preparations if they are preparing by themselves at home for the exam and not going to physically established coaching centres. Aspirants may join online study groups as well and can find a mentor to guide them throughout the preparation.
• Take XAT mock test and sectional tests - Without any doubt, it can be stated that XAT mock tests are a must to crack this competitive exam. Therefore, students should dedicate plenty of their time to taking XAT mock tests and analysing them as it would allow them to assess their growth during the preparation.
• The magic of note-making - Regular, precise and good note-making proves to be the most effective weapon for the XAT last-minute preparation. Aspirants should start making notes from various resources, from the very start of their preparation. Mostly, note-making plays a vital role to ace the general knowledge section of XAT and aspirants must inculcate the habit of note-taking on a daily basis from various sources like newspapers, monthly magazines, etc to strengthen their General knowledge.
• Practice from XAT previous year papers - Aspirants, may go for practicing XAT previous year's papers to get an idea about the questions of easy, moderate, and difficult level questions asked in XAT.

XAT Exam Time Management

Time management for the XAT exam is the process of planning and organizing on how to divide time between different activities. If a candidate is able to manage their time while writing XAT 2023=4, a candidate will end up working smarter, not harder, to get more questions done in less time- even when the time is quite tight and XAT exam pressure is high. Achievers usually manage their time exceptionally well.

XAT 2025 section-wise preparation strategy tips by toppers

Vandan Shah, who belongs to Surat, Gujarat scored 99.7 percentile in XAT 2020. In an interview with Careers360, Vandan shares his section-wise preparation strategy. He says “I practiced a lot from past years XAT question papers. Apart from that, regularly giving the XAT mock tests helped me to decide on how much time I need to allot to each section”. Here is Vandan’s section-wise XAT preparation strategy.

• For VARC - This section is a tad tougher than other exams and a lot of questions are inference based as you can see from the past year's trends. So the key is to devote some quality time while reading passages and comprehend them well.
• For QA and DI - This section is pretty much similar to other exams like CAT, so just practising questions can help you get the job done.
• For DM - This is a make-or-break section for me. I regularly solved past year's papers and analysed how my thinking was different from or aligning with the answer key.

Recommended Study Material for XAT 2025

While preparing for XAT 2025, candidates can refer to the below-provided books suggested by experts and toppers. Check section-wise XAT preparation recommended study material.

Best Books for XAT QA & DI

• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal
• How to prepare for Data Interpretation by Arun Sharma
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by Abhijit Guha

• Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit K. Sinha

Recommended Books for XAT 2025 VA & LR

• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension by Ajay Singh
• A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal
• Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey
• Word Power Made Easy Book by Norman Lewis
• High School English Grammar & Composition by Wren & Martin

Best Study Material for XAT DM Section

• Analytical and Logical Reasoning by Arihant Publications
• Target XAT 2025 (Past papers & Mock tests) by Disha experts
• Jabbing the XAT (with solved papers) by R.K Jha

Quick Links-

• Best books for XAT preparation
• Best study material for XAT

XAT 2025 General Knowledge Preparation Material

For the XAT General Knowledge section, candidates need to focus on History, Geography, Politics, Science and Technology etc. Candidates can also read magazines, newspapers and journals while preparing for the XAT General Knowledge section.