XAT Decision Making 2026, Preparation Tips, Cutoffs, Questions

XAT Decision Making Question Types

XAT decision making section essentially tests four basic types of questions. Four types of scenarios are given and the aspirant has to choose a situation that is best suitable for that situation.

Type 1: HR Policy Based Questions

• You would be asked to decide if you were a company's HR. For example, you would be asked whether you should fire an employee of your company. Another instance is whether you hire an employee for your company with given attributes.
• HR should never take extreme steps like firing an employee. But, a person must be fired if he has breached the unethical code or crossed the red line. For example, if he has stolen money.
• In the rest of the instances, HR should choose a win-win situation.
• Always choose an option that balances the needs of different stakeholders.
HR Policy (XAT 2023 Question)

Type 2: Behaviour Based Questions

• Here, a personal issue is given and asked to choose an option to handle the problem.
• This question is primarily given for testing your maturity only. So, only choose an option that describes how balanced you are.
• Also, in another variant of these sets, you would be asked to choose the order of priority to complete a task or solve an issue.
• This is asked to test the maturity and moral code of the candidate.
Behaviour Decision (XAT 2022 Question)

Type 3: Organisational Policy Based Questions

• In these kind of sets you would be asked to make a decision if you are the CXO or the CEO of a company. Here, a decision has to be made which affects the entire group.
• The best decision would be to think:
1. If I make this policy how would the group react?
2. If I make this financial incentive change would employees cope-up with this?
Organisational Policy (XAT 2021 Question)

Type 4: Quant Based DM Questions

• For these kind of sets you would be asked whether you would take up a business proposal.
• For dealing with questions like this you would basically need critical reasoning skills and quantitative skills.
• Should be able to do break-even analysis.
Quant (XAT 2023 Question)

How to Approach XAT HR Policy Based Questions?

Newspaper test: This test is the litmus test to take before deciding. It checks if you can defend your decision if it comes in the next day's newspaper.For instance, check if you can defend if you fired someone from the company.If your decision does not pass scrutiny, then that decision should not be chosen.

XAT DM Checklist Before a HR Policy Decision

• Check if the decision is fair and transparent
• Check if the decision is discriminatory
• Check if the decision can be defended if displayed in the next day's newspaper

How to Approach XAT Strategy Based Questions?

You need to understand what information is required to tackle this kind of set. Understand the extent of the opportunity and evaluate the opportunity.

• Size of the market
• Players in the market
• Types of Customers
• Market Share - know whether the market is fragmented or a dominant player consumes the entire share
• Know How To Reach a Customer - Know the customer's demographics, age, location, and spending ability
• Think of your product and think of the selling price - The price at which you will sell and think about how you will reach it

Think of all these verticals to consider which strategy to take up or to consider a business proposal

XAT DM Question Formats

Single Question Prompts

Here, a single paragraph is followed by a single question. Questions like these must be answered as they don't take much time. These sections require critical reasoning skills.

Two to Three Questions per Prompt

A longer case-let is given, followed by 2 or 3 questions. Moving whenever you find yourself stuck between two options is advisable.

Four to Five Questions per Prompt

These formats are the longest ones among the three. A long case-let is given, followed by 4 to 5 questions. This section requires reading comprehension skills as they are long.

One must learn to move to the next question whenever one gets stuck between the two options.

What are the Skills Required for the XAT DM Section?

• Critical reasoning skills are majorly tested in this section
• Managerial skills are also tested. It is not that you need to be a manager with hands-on experience. It needs someone pragmatic who can manage people and bring the team together. Someone who can understand the dynamics of the team
• Also, it tests how mature a candidate is—and checks whether the candidate can maintain his composure in moments of need
• Tests whether the candidate is an extremist

For instance, a CEO/CXO can not suddenly cut down perks on the sales executive of a company. This decision will cause an imbalance in the company because their budgets will be allocated personally based on the company's policies.

XAT Decision Making Cut-offs (Last 5 Years)

XAT Cut-offs keep changing every year. It depends on the level of difficulty of paper. An easier exam would have a higher cut-off and a tougher exam would fetch lower cut-off.

Year	Cut-Off
2025 (Expected)	70% ile
2024	70% ile
2023	75% ile
2022	74% ile
2021	70% ile
2020	78% ile
2019	80% ile

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