The XAT exam is one of its kind in that it presents a different set of challenges as compared to the other big fish in the ocean which is the Common Admission Test(CAT).XAT is a three-hour-long exam but perhaps most importantly has no sectional time limits which give you the flexibility to formulate your own battle plan depending on the section you are most confident at.
The Verbal section in XAT is perhaps a notch higher than the standards set by CAT and is comparable to that of the GMAT and it is pretty low scoring and thus scoring anything north of 8-9 in a normal year would take you places. XAT has its verbal options very similar to each other and thus it requires you to eliminate options and read the passage and questions carefully.
This puts the onus on you to pick the easy questions and solve them in your first iteration through the section.
Come back to the questions you would have deemed solvable but which might take some time and solve them in the second iteration.
It is advisable to complete a passage and its questions completely in any iteration as coming back and re-reading would eat up your precious time
In all spend 50-55 minutes in this section
Coming to the DM section in XAT which is the elephant in the room as far this exam is considered.
Keep in mind that it will be difficult and tricky and thus it is advisable to pick and choose your battles with this section and preferably solve this section after your Verbal and Quant section as they are more scoring compared to the rest.
Pick caselets on the themes you are familiar and comfortable with, the key with this section is to get into the depth of a few caselets that you can most relate to and solve most of them , if not all so that you can maximize your score in this section
A score of 7-8 would keep you in good stead and help you clear the cutoffs comfortably.
Allot 45-50 minutes to this section and pick your caselets wisely to score more in this tricky section which has befuddled many aspirants.
Coming to the most scoring section in the paper: The Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation section also abbreviated as the QADI section can elevate your score and percentile by many notches if done properly.
It is thus advisable to allow maximum time for this section as there is a very high scope of getting your answers right due to there being less ambiguity.
Follow the iteration method here as well. Scan the paper for a few minutes and then solve the questions that are doable and which would take less time to complete. Knock these questions off the park in 15-20 minutes.
Use the next iteration of 20-25 minutes to solve the medium level of difficulty questions and move to the most difficult questions and try to solve them in the remaining 20-25 minutes.
All in all , time the session at 55-60 minutes at max and ensure you have a score of more than 10+ to land a good percentile in this section.
Finally give yourselves a buffer of 10-15 minutes to skim through the paper and solve 1-2 questions here and there and revisit doubtful questions. In the case you are done with this and still have some spare time left , then move to the section where you feel you might miss out on the cutoffs and try to maximize your score there.
If you seem to have a gut feel that you are getting a balanced score and would clear the cutoffs of all sections then it is highly recommended that you try to add a few more questions in your kitty from a section where you feel it is possible to score more .
Finally relax and take a deep breath if you have completed the above(which is usually difficult) and prepare yourself for the GK and Essay section as they have some weightage for the final list of selected candidates.