Let us get something very clear at the start of our discussion on the personal interview round. PI is difficult. Very difficult. This is the first and the last time the college gets to interact with you before they take a call on your candidature. Therefore they will do whatever is necessary – including testing you in ways you simply have not imagined – to ascertain that you are the right candidate for a seat in their college. The greater the competition at a particular institute, the tougher the PI, and the more the unexpected questions. The second factor that complicates the

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As the exam season comes to an end and the Group Discussion stage usher in, we can begin our preparations for the round two by looking at some basics of the Group Discussion (GD) process. In this article we shall explore the process of the GD, different formats of the GD, the evaluation criteria, and the background preparation required to give us a firm foundation in whichever GD we participate in. Having been an integral part of the selection process until the last few years, the GD has been replaced by WAT (Writing Ability Test) at most IIMs. However, IIM-K still conducts the GD along wit

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Group Discussion is a very important part of the whole selection process for entering into a B- School. The first question that arises as we start to think about Group Discussion stage is - What could be the probable topics for GD? It is a common notion that only current affairs based topics are given for GD. This is not the case. There are various kinds of GDs like abstract topic based, opinion seeking, case based, facts/knowledge based etc. We at HandaKaFunda have curated a list of the absolutely crucial topics for your GD preparation. Group Discussion - Current Affairs Based:

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Often after the announcement of CAT/XAT results, MBA aspirants starts getting confused regarding the B-school selection. A lot of data is available about Old IIMs in public domain regarding various parameters like academics, profiles offered etc. But in case of Private B-schools barring MDI, SP Jain, information on all parameters is incomplete. Situation gets even trickier when two similar colleges are compared. Aspirants log on to various MBA related websites, Facebook and Pagalguy group of colleges. These sources can be good for knowledge about institutes but they have a risk of objectivit

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Group Tasks, though not as common as group discussions and WATs, present us with challenges of their own kind. A group task aims to evaluate the candidate on psychological parameters so that the evaluators can understand the candidates’ comprehension, communication, decision making, and leadership quality within the dynamic context of a group. Working in a group, the candidates also demonstrate their social and interpersonal skills to the panel. The objective of a group task is to perform a clearly-defined exercise within the stipulated time, by using the available resources and en

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Most of the questions that one encounters in a B-school personal interview can be classified into the following categories: A – Introductory questions B – Academic and work-experience related questions C – Current affairs and general awareness questions D – Personality-based questions E – Goal-related questions F – Stress questions Let us begin by looking at these types, and the common questions that are asked under each type. Please note that while most interviews begin with introductory questions, no particular order of question types is followed by the panel as regards

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Having looked at the pre-interview preparation in the previous post, we can now focus on what happens in the initial stages of the personal interview. There is one factor of your PI performance that invariably shapes your first impression in the minds of the panellists even before they meet you. Can you imagine what it is? It’s not your CAT score, or your academic scores, or your work-experience, or your hobbies and interests. It is your punctuality. Whether or not you turn up on time for the interview greatly influences not only the panel’s first impression but also your own

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Personal Interview Tips: I must have interviewed at least a few thousand candidates in my time. Every time I feel that I have seen it all and I have met them all, a Higher Power Up There intervenes and restores my humility by presenting a sample that I have never seen before. I share with readers these samples in the (absolutely vain) hope that they will not repeat these cases, and make their own new mistakes so that my life remains exciting. I just pray that you make those new mistakes in the mock interviews and not in the actual ones! Sin No 1: Negative Body language and Attitude: Thi

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When I said in the previous post that you must write at least 100 essays, I was not joking. There are a number of reasons why this must be done. First, writing, unlike speaking or reading, is not a natural process we follow every day. Therefore, when we sit down to write, we are filled with self-doubt. Second, every writer, on most occasions, needs to motivate themselves to write. In the case of a WAT taker, the perceived disincentive for writing a bad essay outweighs the perceived incentive for writing a good essay. In other words, most WAT takers feel that a bad essay can do more damage

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If we all had the right guidance, the requisite reference material at hand, and unlimited time to write and revise the essays that we write, quite a few of us would eventually be able to produce satisfactory essays. The same task becomes infinitely more difficult when it is presented in the form of the WAT, which must be accomplished in approximately 15 minutes, and which must be produced entirely from references in one’s memory. When we are ultimately faced with the final WAT assignment and a blank paper, several factors begin to weigh heavy on our minds. There is the complexity of the t

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