XAT 2025 Topper Ishan Tripathi: How this Fresher with US University education cracked XAT and CAT to achieve 99.97 Percentile! MBAUniverse.com Interview
XAT Results were released on January 17, 2025. MBAUniverse.com presents exclusive interview with XAT Topper. Meet XAT 2025 Topper Ishan Tripathi, who completed undergraduate studies in the US where he studied Statistics and Liberal arts, and cracked the XAT 2025 exam with 99.97 percentile on his very first attempt. Earlier he had cracked CAT exam too with same percentile – 99.97! In this detailed MBAUniverse.com interview, Ishan shares his preparation journey and strategies, and his dream B-schools. Read edited excerpts from the interview.
Q: Congratulations for scoring 99.97% in XAT. Can you share your XAT 2025 results details? Please share section wise and overall Score and Percentile…
A: Thank you so much! My overall score was 48.75/75 and my sectional scores and percentiles were as follows:
- QA&DI: 19.25 at 99.841 percentile
- VA&LR: 18.5 at 99.9021 percentile
- DM: 11 at 90.1162 percentile
- GK I got 10/20 on the general knowledge section
Q: Did you take other exams like CAT? How did you score?
A: Yes, I took the CAT. Coincidentally, I scored in the 99.97 percentile in CAT too!
My sectional performance is 99.96/99.96/97.17 for VARC/DILR/QA respectively.
I also took the NMAT in which I scored a 257.
Q: Congrats for cracking CAT as well. Please share about yourself…
A: I did my undergraduate studies in the US where I studied Statistics and Liberal arts. I am a fresher so I have no full-time work experience. I have some experience through Internships and research at my University but those don’t count officially in this process. I come from a business family. Both my parents have their own business.
Q: So, what inspired you to attempt the XAT exam?
A: In my view, XLRI Jamshedpur is in the same tier as the BLACKI IIMs, maybe even ABC IIMs. Being the oldest business school in India with an excellent alumni network and faculty, it has a level of prestige that would make it a school for any candidate to consider. So I gave the XAT exam to give it my best shot for XLRI Jamshedpur.
Q: Ok. So how did you approach your XAT preparation?
A: I had spent 2.5 months preparing for CAT. So, to be honest, I coasted on this preparation in large part. But I did take past year papers to get a sense of the test format. This helped me acclimate to the XAT format. The most important thing I learnt from taking previous year XAT papers is that timing is not as much of an issue in XAT as it is in CAT.
Q: Did you do self-study or took coaching?
A: For XAT, I relied on self-study, since as I mentioned, I was counting on my CAT preparation to follow through in this exam as well. There was a significant overlap in the skillsets that were tested, so I felt comfortable keeping my preparation focused on some past year papers.
Q: Can you elaborate on your section-wise preparation strategy for XAT?
A: The first thing I figured out was which order I was going to give the sections in since XAT thankfully allows us to switch between sections, unlike other entrance exams. The most obvious choice here was to leave QADI for the end so that I could dedicate all my remaining time to it.
I decided to start with VALR which I considered a strong suit of mine. My strategy for VALR and DM was to attempt every question (which may have been a mistake for my DM section), especially considering the negative penalty for every question unanswered after the 8th one. In terms of preparation, again, I relied on the past years’ paper and went through the answers along with the reasoning various coaching institutes gave for them.
Q: What major challenges did you face during your preparation? How did you overcome them…
A: The biggest challenge I faced was the duration of the exam! It was harder to commit myself to giving practice attempts when dedicating 3 hours to it. This was in part due to the 1-2 hours duration I had gotten used to with the other entrance exams.
The DM section was another challenging aspect of the preparation since I had not encountered something quite like it in my preparation till that point.
I overcame the mental fatigue of a 3-hour long exam by taking the past years’ papers and getting myself used to answering questions for that duration. For DM, I tried to follow the logic given in the answers and I found that the correct answer was most often the one that directly addresses the problem being brought up, is ethical, and is not too complicated.
Q: How did you maintain the motivation during exam preparation period?
A: I saw the XAT as another opportunity to prove myself and replicate similar results as CAT. Further, as a fresher without a stellar academic record, it was clear that I could not take the admission process for granted and had to aim to convert as many top schools as I could. This realization, and the reassurance of a good performance in CAT, motivated me through this period.
Q: Learning from your experience, what advice would you give to future XAT aspirants?
A: My advice to future XAT aspirants would be to focus on “strategy” just as much as “content”. XAT has a unique structure and scoring pattern compared to other exams, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with its nuances. My other suggestions are:
- Make sure you’re comfortable with decision-making (DM) questions, as this section can be tricky.
- Practice past year papers and analyse the solutions carefully to understand the reasoning behind each answer.
- Also, time management is crucial, even though XAT is slightly more forgiving than CAT in terms of timing.
- Use your mock tests to figure out the best order to attempt sections, and have a clear plan going in.
- Above all, believe in your preparation, stay consistent, and trust the process.
Finally, remember, every aspirant’s journey is different, so play to your strengths and keep a calm head during the exam. You’ve got this!
Q: Are there some myths about XAT preparation that you’d like to debunk!
A: Yes, there are two XAT myths I’d like to debunk:
“XAT is much harder than CAT.”
This is a myth. While the decision-making section and GK make XAT different, the difficulty level of the core sections (QA, VARC, etc.) is comparable to CAT. The challenge lies in adapting to the XAT-specific question patterns, not in the difficulty itself.
“GK doesn’t matter.”
While yes, GK doesn’t count toward your percentile, it’s still an important component for the final selection process at XLRI and other institutes, especially if you get the call for the next round. Ignoring it entirely is a mistake. I personally could have prepared better for this section.
Q: So, what’s next for you! What is your Dream B-school? Why…
A: My dream convert would be IIM Calcutta (IIMC). It is the oldest IIM with a beautiful campus in Joka. I also have some family friends who are IIMC alumni and I have heard them say great things about their time there.
Along with IIMC, I am hoping to be able to convert FMS Delhi and XLRI Jamshedpur and those are amazing institutions in their own regard and are in the same tier as the BLACKIs.
XAT Topper Ishan Tripathi’s journey offers invaluable guidance for XAT aspirants aiming for top percentiles. As Ishan aptly puts it, “XAT aspirants should focus on “strategy” just as much as “content”. XAT has a unique structure and scoring pattern compared to other exams, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with its nuances.”
MBAUniverse.com wishes the very best to XAT Topper Ishan Tripathi for getting into his dream B-school.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more such exclusive interviews and content.