XAT Notification | XAT 2026 Exam Date

To learn in detail about the latest XAT 2026 exam, read this article.

XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test) is a national-level test conducted every year in the first week of January. It is held by XLRI on behalf of Xavier Association of Management Institutes (XAMI).XAT scores pave the way to MBA admissions in the prestigious B-schools of the country like XLRI, IMT Ghaziabad, XIMB, SP Jain, KJ Somaiya, TAPMI, etc. Apart from 11 XAMI member institutes, over 150 other renowned academic institutions accept XAT Scores for their management programmes.

Important Updates:

General Knowledge (GK) Score: The GK section score will be used solely by XLRI Jamshedpur in its final selection process.
Analytical Essay Writing (AEW): This year, AEW will be administered during the Group Discussion & Personal Interview (GD / PI) processes.

XAT Notification 2026

One of the toughest management entrance exams, XAT tests the candidate's ability in verbal, quant, data interpretation, decision-making and general knowledge. It is a computer-based test of 180 minutes and comprises 95 MCQs. In order to score well in XAT, students need to have a proper preparation and exam strategy in place.

All the essential information like XAT exam date, registration, result date, etc. will soon be available on its official site (www.xatonline.in). Accordingly, the aspirants are required to submit the application within the stated deadline and download admit cards for the exam day. For your convenience, we have given the dates of XAT 2026 below:

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Recent Changes in XAT 2026 Exam

Reduction in the overall number of questions: Earlier XAT used to have 101 questions which have been reduced to 95 questions that will be in the MCQ format.

Reduction in GK questions: Gk section will now have 20 questions instead of 25. This section will include 12 questions on current affairs and 8 questions from static GK ensuring a balanced assessment of candidates' current awareness and foundational knowledge.

Changes in Exam time: The total XAT 2026 exam time is reduced to 180 minutes instead of earlier 210 minutes.

XAT exam in 2 parts: The XAT 2026 exam has been divided into two parts. Part 1 is allocated 170 minutes and Part 2 is solely on the GK section which will be conducted in 10 minutes.

Removal of Analytical Essay Writing (AEW) Test: Analytical Essay Writing (AEW) has been removed from XAT 2026. This component section has been integrated with the Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GD/PI) stages of the XLRI selection process.

GK Score: The score from the General Knowledge section will be exclusively utilized by XLRI Jamshedpur for its final selection process.

XAT Important Dates 2026(Tentative)

Events	Dates
XAT Notification Date	July, 2025
XAT Application Start Date	July, 2025
Last Date of XAT Application	November, 2025
Admit Card Release Date	December, 2025
XAT Exam Date	January 2026 (2:00 PM to 5:00 PM)
XAT Answer Key 2026	2nd week of January 2026 (Tentatively)
XAT Result 2026	Third/Fourth week of January 2026 (tentatively)

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Did you Know: Established in 1949, XLRI is the oldest B-school of India.

Additionally, you must know about the basic facts related to XAT.

XAT 2026: Brief Overview

Exam Name	Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT)
Conducting body	XLRI Jamshedpur
Exam type	National Level Post-Graduate exam
Periodicity	Once in a year
Score/Percentile Validity	One Year
Mode of the Exam	Online
Duration of the Exam	180 min.
Annual No. of Test Takers	90,000 - 1 lakh
Exam Pattern	Objective questions
Number of questions	95 MCQs
Syllabus	Verbal and Logical Ability, Decision Making, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, General Knowledge
Negative Marking	0.25 marks for each wrong answer & 0.10 marks after every 8 unattempted questions (*No negative marking for GK & Essay sections)
Programmes Offered by XLRI	Business Management (BM), Human Resource Management (HRM) and General Management Programme (GMP)
Official website	https://xatonline.in

* Analytical Essay Writing (AEW) component will be administered during the GD/PI stages of the selection process, rather than as part of the XAT 2026.