Key Differences Between CAT and XAT Exams

Updated on April 24, 2025 Written By Shreya Shukla

Key Differences Between CAT and XAT Exams

When a management aspirant begins preparation for an MBA, they frequently wonder which exam is more important, the CAT or the XAT. The most common questions are about the difficulty levels, the similarities and differences in their syllabus and whether they should prepare separately for the two exams. Another significant question is which colleges accept CAT or XAT scores. This article answers all of the questions about this subject.

Table of Content

Highlights of CAT & XAT

The table below contains essential details such as eligibility criteria, exam pattern, exam sections and the marking system of CAT and XAT.

	CAT	XAT
Full Form	Common Admission Test	Xavier Aptitude Test
Conducting bodies	IIM A, B, C, K, I and L on a rotational basis	XLRI Jamshedpur
Started Year	1984	1949
Top colleges accepting the score	All IIMs and IITs that impart management education and almost all govt/private colleges/institutes that do not conduct their separate entrance exams	XLRI, XIM, IMT, IMI, Great Lakes, GIM etc
Eligibility Criteria	Bachelor’s degree from a recognised college/university with 50% (45% for SC/ST and PwD/DA) marks	Bachelor’s degree from a recognised college/university
Exam Date	Last Sunday of November	First Sunday of January
Sections	Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) Quantitative Ability	Part 1 Verbal ability and logical Reasoning (VA&LR) Decision Making (DM) © Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation (QA&DI) Part 2 – General knowledge
Total Time Duration	120 Minutes	185 Minutes
Sectional Time Duration	40 minutes for each Section	Part 1 – 170 Minutes Part 2 – 10 Minutes
Options to every question	4	5
Total Questions/Maximum Marks	68 Questions / 204 Marks	Part 1 – 75 Questions, Part 2 – 20 Questions Max marks- Part 1 – 75Part 2- 20
Marks for the correct Answer	3	1
Marks for the wrong Answer	(-) 1	(-) 0.25, (-) 0.1 mark for each unattempted question except 8 No negative for Part 2 GK Section
Difficulty Level	Moderate to difficult	Moderate to difficult
Total exam fees	Rs 2200+ Rs 200 for each XLRI Program	Rs 2500 for General Candidates Rs 1250 for SC, ST and PwD candidates (This includes application fees for all IIMs except IIM Rohtak, Vizag and Amritsar)

CAT Vs XAT

Which exam is easy and which is difficult CAT or XAT?

This is a popular question among MBA candidates but there is no clear answer. This question can be addressed in the following ways:

1. Experts' opinion on the difficulty level of CAT and XAT

Considering the three sections of the CAT and the three sections of Part 1 of the XAT (as general knowledge in Part 2 of the XAT is not considered in percentile calculation and is only applicable to the XLRI section process), the following conclusion can be reached.

1. When comparing CAT's VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) to XAT's VA&LR (Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning) most experts agree that XAT's VA&LR is more difficult than CAT's VARC.

This difference arises because the CAT is administered by the IIMs, which are government-funded autonomous institutes. These institutes attempt to bridge the gap between schools with advanced English curricula and those with foundational grammar education. However, students with a strong English background will benefit more from the XAT's VA&LR section.

2. When comparing the Quant and DILR sections of the CAT to the Quant section of the XAT (which includes both quant and DI) it is clear that this section of the XAT is easier than the CAT's QUANT and DI. This section of the XAT is suitable for aspirants who lack advanced mathematical and intensive calculation skills.

The Quant Section in XAT requires more analytical thinking than the CAT. The questions asked in the XAT cannot be classified into a specific topic and there is no hard and fast rule for determining the solution. For candidates who do not know the formula but have strong analytical thinking skills XAT is a better option. Many experts believe that XAT is a better exam for smart test takers.

3. The decision-making section of the XAT is a make-or-break section (there is no such section in the CAT) and is considered quite difficult because it assesses aspirants' ability to solve problems that arise in the workplace.

Such questions are uncommon elsewhere so there is not much of a question bank available aside from the previous year's XAT questions.

2. What percentage of marks are CAT and XAT toppers scoring in these exams?

Although the difficulty level of both the CAT and XAT exams as well as the difficulty level of different sections of these exams varies from year to year, it is extremely difficult to predict how much percentile will be based on how many marks without checking the paper.

However, after analysing previous years' papers, it is possible to conclude that in order to score 99 to 99.9 percentile in both the CAT and the XAT, one must score 45% to 55%.

Even with this perspective, it is impossible to say which MBA entrance exam is easier or more difficult than the CAT or XAT.

Conclusion

After reviewing the information presented above, it is impossible to say which exam is easier or more difficult between the CAT and XAT but the following conclusions can be drawn:

The VA and LR sections of the XAT are more difficult than CAT's VARC.
XAT's Quant section is easier than the CAT's Quant and DI.
DILR of CAT and Decision-making of XAT are make-or-break sections.
CAT scores are accepted by more prestigious colleges than XAT.
The XAT exam is better suited to those with a higher English standard than Quant and the opposite is true for the CAT.

Key Differences Between CAT and XAT Exams