The Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) 2026 exam was held on January 4, 2026 . This is a national-level exam conducted every year by XLRI Jamshedpur . Students who pass XAT 2026 can get admission to management courses in over 700 business schools across India. As candidates wait for their results, this article explains the expected XAT 2026 marks and what percentile they might achieve.
Your XAT percentile shows how well you performed compared to all other students who took the test. For example, if you get the 90th percentile, it means you scored better than 90% of all test takers. This percentile depends on three main factors:
- Your own score in the exam.
- The total number of students who took the XAT exam.
- How difficult the exam paper was.
XAT 2026 Expected Marks vs Percentile
Based on past exam trends, students can get an idea of their expected XAT 2026 percentile. The XAT exam has a maximum raw score of 75 marks , excluding the General Knowledge (GK) section. A score between 35 and 38 marks is considered a good score in XAT 2026. Students scoring 35 marks or more can expect to achieve a 95 percentile .
Here is a table showing the expected marks and the percentile a student might achieve:
| XAT 2026 Marks | Expected Percentile |
| 15+ Marks | 70 Percentile |
| 18+ Marks | 75 Percentile |
| 21+ Marks | 81.5 Percentile |
| 24+ Marks | 84.5 Percentile |
| 27+ Marks | 87 Percentile |
| 30+ Marks | 90 Percentile |
| 33+ Marks | 93 Percentile |
| 36+ Marks | 96 Percentile |
| 39+ Marks | 98.5 Percentile |
| 42+ Marks | 99.5 Percentile |
| 45+ Marks | 100 Percentile |
Students aiming for top business schools should target a high percentile. For instance, achieving the 90th percentile can help students get seats in institutes like IMI Delhi , IMT Ghaziabad , and XIM Bhubaneswar . Many other well-known business schools also accept XAT scores for their management programs.
How to Calculate Your XAT Percentile
Students can use this formula to calculate their expected XAT 2026 percentile:
- Percentile = [(Total Candidates (N) - Candidate's Rank (R)) / N] × 100
Here, 'N' stands for the total number of students who took the XAT exam. 'R' is your rank among all those students. For example, if 10,000 students took the exam and your rank is 1,000 , your percentile would be 90% . This calculation is `[(10000 - 1000) / 10000] * 100 = 90`.
Important Note on Predictions
These marks versus percentile predictions are based on previous years' data. They are for guidance only. The actual percentile for your specific score might change. This can happen due to factors like the overall difficulty level of the XAT 2026 paper and the total number of students who appeared for the exam.
XAT 2026 scores will be used for admission to over 700 B-Schools . Students should check the official XAT website for final results and admission updates.
