Checked 30 September 2026. Medium. The 2027 pattern is on xatonline.in, but the site calls the counts "expected" or approximate, and the linked instructions and overview are still the 2026 documents. Re-check when XLRI posts 2027 versions or the admit card instructions.
XAT 2027 is a 95-question paper: about 75 questions in Part 1 (Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning 26, Decision Making 21, Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation 28) in 170 minutes, then 20 General Knowledge questions in 10 minutes. There is no essay. Every official XAT paper from 2018 to 2024 had 25 GK questions, and four of those seven papers carried essay prompts. This guide lays out the 2027 pattern as XLRI states it, then counts the sections and question types in each official paper so you can see what has held steady and what has moved. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of XLRI Jamshedpur, which conducts XAT for the Xavier Association of Management Institutes (XAMI), nor of any institute that uses XAT scores. Every rule here is quoted or summarised from xatonline.in, xlri.ac.in or the institute's own admission page, and they decide every case.
XAT home page and the instructions linked on xatonline.in. The site calls the counts expected, not fixed.
Where other pages get this wrong
XAT 2027 has no essay and 20 GK questions, not 25.
Commonly published instead: Older pages, and the syllabus tab on our own XAT page until it is corrected, still list "Essay Writing" as a section and describe a 101-question paper.
The XAT 2027 pattern table on xatonline.in lists four sections (VA&LR 26, DM 21, QA&DI 28, GK 20) totalling 95. The instructions linked for 2027 describe 95 questions in two parts and mention no essay.
The XAT 2027 pattern
| Part | Section | Questions | Time | Marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning (VA&LR) | About 26 | 170 minutes for all of Part 1, no sectional limit | +1 / -0.25; -0.10 per blank after 8 |
| Part 1 | Decision Making (DM) | About 21 | (shared) | (same) |
| Part 1 | Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (QA&DI) | About 28 | (shared) | (same) |
| Part 2 | General Knowledge (GK): about 8 static, 12 current affairs | About 20 | 10 minutes | +1, no negative marking; outside the percentile; used only by XLRI |
| Total | Four sections, five options per question, English only | 95 | 180 minutes | Single-slot, computer-based, 3 January 2027, 2:00-5:00 PM |
Inside Part 1 you choose the order: the FAQ says there are no sectional time limits and you can begin with any section and switch between them. At 170 minutes Part 1 locks and GK opens. Candidates with a benchmark disability get 20 extra minutes per hour, which the 2026 instructions set at up to about 226.67 minutes for Part 1 and 13.33 minutes for Part 2, with an exit window between 180 and 240 minutes.
Section counts in every official paper since 2018
XLRI publishes seven past papers on xatonline.in, for 2018 to 2024, without answer keys. We counted every question in each paper by section. The counts are ours and can be checked question by question against the PDFs; XLRI publishes no such breakdown. The 2027 row is the official pattern table.
Our count of the official papers on xatonline.in; the 2027 row is XLRI's pattern table. Essay prompts are counted as printed: in 2023 and 2024 the paper offered several alternative prompts and a candidate wrote on one.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Section | 2027 (official) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | VA&LR | 26 |
| 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 21 | Decision Making | 21 |
| 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | QA&DI | 28 |
| 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | GK | 20 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Essay prompts | 0 |
Three things stand out. The Part 1 sections have barely moved in seven years: VA&LR has been 26 every year, DM 21 in six of seven papers, and QA&DI 27 or 28. GK was 25 in every paper and is 20 in 2027. And the essay came and went: one prompt in 2018, none from 2019 to 2021, then two in 2022 and three in 2023 and 2024, where the prompts were alternatives and the 2024 paper set a limit of 250 words.
When did the essay go and GK shrink?
We cannot date the change from an official paper, because xatonline.in stops at 2024: the 2025 and 2026 papers are not published. What we can say is this. The instructions and overview for XAT 2026, which the site still links as the 2027 documents, already describe 95 questions with GK at 20 and mention no essay. So on our reading of XLRI's own documents the change was in place by the XAT 2026 sitting in January 2026. Whether it happened in 2025 we cannot tell from official sources, and we have not relied on coaching-site accounts for it.
Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning: what the papers contain
The official description of VA&LR covers critical and analytical reasoning, reading comprehension (including poems, cartoons and passages), vocabulary, grammar, para jumbles and cloze tests. Our count of the seven papers by question type:
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Type | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | Reading comprehension | 87 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Critical reasoning (short arguments) | 35 |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Grammar, usage, vocabulary | 30 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Para jumbles | 15 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Poem-based questions | 15 |
Reading comprehension is about half the section every year, and a poem has appeared in every paper since 2018, usually as two questions. That is the one VA&LR item that most general MBA preparation does not cover.
Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation: what the papers contain
The official description names arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration and modern maths for QA, and interpretation, summarisation and analysis of data for DI. Our count by type (some 2020, 2021 and 2023 questions are images in the published PDFs and could not be typed, so the named types are minimums):
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Type | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 9 | Data interpretation and sufficiency | 61 |
| 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | Arithmetic | 36 |
| 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Geometry and mensuration | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | Algebra | 24 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Number system | 18 |
| 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Modern maths (counting, probability, sets) | 10 |
| 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | Image-only, type not readable | 15 |
Data interpretation is the largest single block in every year. Geometry has shrunk from six to eight questions in 2018 and 2019 to two in each of the last three papers, while algebra has moved around from one to six. With 28 questions, those year-to-year swings are a few questions either way; we would not read a trend into them beyond the steady weight of DI.
Odd items in the recent papers
Two recent papers carried one-off items outside the usual sections, both noted from the official PDFs: the 2024 paper had a typing item (question 76), and the 2023 paper had an image-only item with a free-text answer (question 77). Neither appears in the 2027 pattern table. The 2024 paper also ran its sections in a different order from earlier years: QA&DI first (questions 1 to 28), then DM (29 to 49), then VA&LR (50 to 75). Since you may start Part 1 with any section, the printed order matters less than it looks.
Timing and exam-day rules
| Rule | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 time | 170 minutes for VA&LR, DM and QA&DI together; no sectional limits; switch freely | Home page, FAQ, instructions |
| Part 2 time | 10 minutes for GK; opens when Part 1 locks at 170 minutes | Home page, instructions |
| Calculator | On-screen scientific calculator (FAQ); "in the QA&DI section" (instructions); physical calculators not allowed | FAQ, instructions |
| Language | English only | Instructions |
| Options | Five per question, one correct | Instructions |
| PwBD time | 20 minutes extra per hour: Part 1 up to about 226.67 minutes, Part 2 up to 13.33 minutes | Overview, instructions (2026 texts) |
| Slot | Single slot, 3 January 2027, 2:00-5:00 PM | Home page, XLRI admission page |
| Admit card | 20 December 2026 (tentative) | Home page, FAQ |
| Official mock | Link appears in the application dashboard after you apply | Mock-test page |
The instructions that set the PwBD timings and the calculator rule are the XAT 2026 text, linked on the site as the 2027 instructions. They agree with the 2027 pattern table on everything that table covers. If a separate 2027 instruction sheet appears with the admit card, it governs.
What the pattern means for your preparation
Our reading, not XLRI advice. Part 1 is 75 questions in 170 minutes, a little over two minutes a question, and the clock is shared, so a section you find slow can eat into the others. DM is the section most candidates have not met before; it gets its own guide in this series. GK is small and outside the percentile, so it matters only if XLRI is on your list, and there it matters only at the final stage. And because every question has five options and blanks past the 8th cost marks, the marking guide in this series is worth reading before your first full mock.
Practise it, don't just read it
The pattern is stable where it counts: reading comprehension alone is about 12 of the 26 VA&LR questions in every paper since 2018.
One XAT quiz is live on ProSyllabus today: Reading Comprehension Inference Questions Fundamentals, 10 questions. Its questions carry four options where the real XAT paper has five, so treat it as reading practice, not as a mock of the 95-question paper.
How many questions are there in XAT 2027?
About 95: VA&LR 26, Decision Making 21 and QA&DI 28 in Part 1, and GK 20 in Part 2. XLRI calls the counts expected.
Is there an essay in XAT 2027?
No. The 2027 pattern on xatonline.in lists four sections and no essay. Essay prompts appeared in the 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024 papers.
How long is the XAT exam?
180 minutes: 170 for Part 1 and 10 for GK. Part 1 has no sectional time limits.
How many GK questions are in XAT?
About 20 in 2027, 8 static and 12 current affairs. Every official paper from 2018 to 2024 had 25.
Can I switch between sections in XAT?
Yes, within Part 1. The FAQ says you can begin with any section and switch between them. GK opens only after Part 1 locks at 170 minutes.
Is a calculator allowed in XAT?
An on-screen calculator is. The FAQ calls it a scientific calculator; the instructions place it in the QA&DI section. Physical calculators are not allowed.
Where can I get official XAT previous year papers?
xatonline.in links the official papers for 2018 to 2024. No answer keys are published, and the 2025 and 2026 papers are not on the site.
When did XAT drop the essay?
No official paper dates it. The XAT 2026 instructions already describe 95 questions with no essay, so on our reading it was gone by the January 2026 sitting.
Sources
- official — XAT home page (xatonline.in) — XAT 2027 dates, pattern table (VA&LR 26, DM 21, QA&DI 28, GK 20), marking (+1, -0.25, 0.1 per skip after the 8th), GK outside the percentile, 250+ B-schools, 100+ cities, single slot, new associates and XAMI member
- official — XAT FAQ — admit card 20 Dec 2026 (tentative), result about three weeks after the exam, no sectional time limits, on-screen scientific calculator, final-year dates, work-experience rules, separate XLRI application, BM covers both campuses
- official — Important Instructions for XAT 2026 (linked as the 2027 instructions) — 95 questions, five options, English only, Part 1 170 minutes and locks automatically, Part 2 GK 10 minutes, calculator in QA&DI, PwD timings
- official — XAT 2026 Overview (linked as the 2027 overview) — section descriptions, Part 1 and Part 2 marking, skip penalty under Part 1, GK used exclusively by XLRI, PwD 20 minutes per hour
- official — XAT mock-test page — DM "ethical dilemmas through decision-making scenarios"; GK as general awareness; mock link in the dashboard after applying
- official — Official XAT 2018 question paper
- official — Official XAT 2019 question paper (the published file is a scan)
- official — Official XAT 2020 question paper (each section numbered from 1)
- official — Official XAT 2021 question paper
- official — Official XAT 2022 question paper
- official — Official XAT 2023 question paper
- official — Official XAT 2024 question paper (header: 7 Jan 2024, Shift 2; order QA&DI, DM, VA&LR)
- official — XLRI — Admission procedure through XAT: PGDM (BM) and PGDM (HRM) 600 seats, PGDM (GMP) 120 seats, BM/HRM and GM timelines, shortlisting and final-selection wording (re-checked 30 Sep 2026)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
