Scored 98.90 Percentile in XAT After 3.5 Years at TCS. Her Biggest Advantage Was Knowing When Not to Rush
By the time Samadrita Ghosh sat for XAT, she had already spent three and a half years working as a software developer at TCS. She was also preparing after having worked on CAT, which meant the syllabus was familiar.
The difficult part was adapting to XAT.
The exam had its own rhythm: lengthy Verbal questions, tougher-looking Quant problems and a Decision Making section where overthinking could easily cost marks. Samadrita’s preparation focused on learning that rhythm through mocks, protecting time for Quant and staying mentally sharp until the final minutes.
That approach helped her score 98.9023 percentile in XAT, with a 99.6751 percentile in Verbal Ability and a 96.0598 percentile in Quantitative Ability. She received calls from XLRI-GM, MICA, IMT and XIMB, converting all except XIMB. She eventually chose MICA, Ahmedabad.
Her XAT preparation began with a familiar syllabus
Samadrita had already prepared for CAT, so most of the XAT syllabus was not new to her. The main adjustments were the Decision Making section and the way XAT presents its questions.
For Verbal Ability, she chose to attempt the section at the beginning. XAT Verbal can be verbose, and she wanted to handle it while her concentration was still fresh.
Her method was simple: take enough mocks to understand the section’s style and improve her speed naturally.
She attempted around 10 full-length mocks, along with 5 to 10 sectional tests for each subject. Her mock sources included Career Launcher, TIME and Cracku, with Cracku being the platform she followed most closely for XAT.
Why she gave Quant 90 minutes in every mock
Samadrita found XAT Quant questions longer and tougher than CAT questions. Her response was not to rush through them.
Instead, she deliberately devoted around 90 minutes to Quant in every mock. To create that time, she had to become more disciplined in the other sections.
This practice helped her build a reliable exam plan. She knew how much time she wanted for Quant and used the mocks to make that plan realistic.
“I made sure I was able to carve that time out from the other sections. It gave me a huge advantage on the actual day too.”
The lesson was less about copying her exact time split and more about testing a strategy repeatedly before the exam. By the time she reached XAT, she was not deciding her approach for the first time.
The Decision Making mistake she would avoid
Decision Making was Samadrita’s weakest section on the final exam day. She believes she became too cautious because she was worried that the questions might contain trick answers.
That hesitation affected her judgement.
Her advice for Decision Making is to solve previous years’ papers carefully and understand how the section expects you to think. While some questions may feel deceptive, she believes the most reasonable answer is often the correct one.
“The previous papers are the real treasure for Decision Making.”
Her preparation for the section came from studying past questions. Her mistake on the final day came from second-guessing what she had already learned.
Mocks also prepared her for fatigue
Samadrita’s other challenge was fatigue. She wanted to attempt a second round of Maths during the last 30 minutes, which meant she needed to keep her concentration high even after spending most of the exam solving questions.
She dealt with this by repeatedly sitting through full-length mocks.
That exposure helped her understand what it felt like to make decisions when her brain was tired. She also kept reminding herself what she was preparing for.
“It is only possible to overcome that by sitting through it.”
For Samadrita, mocks were not only about measuring scores. They helped her practise time management, section order and mental endurance.
The preparation advice she believes matters most
Samadrita does not think there is one universal preparation method. Different students find different routines that work for them.
What matters, in her view, is trusting that preparation once the exam begins.
“When you walk into the exam room, you should feel like you’re the most prepared person to ever sit for this exam, no matter what you have actually done.”
That confidence came from repeating the exam experience, learning from mistakes and staying focused until the last paper.
How she prepared for her MBA interviews
For interviews, Samadrita used ChatGPT to conduct repeated mock interviews. She asked it to keep questioning her about different parts of her background and opinions.
She also made notes on issues affecting India and the world. These notes did not give her a fixed script. They gave her enough context to frame an answer when the interview moved in an unexpected direction.
That mattered because she was not always asked the questions she had prepared for. Her preparation helped her think through unfamiliar questions instead of freezing when the conversation changed direction.
Why the MICA interview changed her decision
Samadrita describes the MICA interview as one of the most unusual interviews she had attended. The panel moved across topics, asking her questions about everything from how she made sandwiches to why she wrote what she wrote.
The conversation was unpredictable, personal and far removed from a standard question-and-answer format.
That interview became one of the main reasons she chose MICA. She had converted XLRI-GM, MICA and IMT, but the MICA interaction gave her the clearest sense of the kind of environment she wanted to join.
She is now pursuing her studies at MICA, Ahmedabad.
For Samadrita, the XAT journey came down to a few practical decisions: use mocks to make the exam familiar, protect enough time for the section that needs it, and trust your judgement when overthinking starts to take over.