Ace the IIM WAT-GD-PI Interview: Complete Guide to Prepare for IIM interview!.
Introduction to the IIM WAT-GD-PI Interview
Before diving into the preparation, it's important to understand the three components of the IIM WAT GD, and PI interview. The primary purpose of the group discussion is to evaluate your ability to work collaboratively in a team, communicate effectively, present your ideas coherently, and come up with an amicable outcome. Personal Interview focuses on assessing your personality traits, subject knowledge, and understanding the fitment to the classroom. The Writing Ability Test is to check a candidate's ability to think critically, organize thoughts coherently, and communicate the same while looking at everything coherently. We have broken down the content in the below format:
1. Understanding the GD, WAT, and PI process
2. Preparing for the GD, WAT, and PI process
We’d urge you to go through the topics, and in case you need any further guidance, reach out to CAT credentials :
https://Resource.prepcrazy.com
1. Understanding the process
A. Group Discussion
The group discussion or GD is a platform provided to showcase your knowledge understanding the pros and cons of the topics. Usually the baby IIMs, IIFT, IMT Ghaziabad, TISS and other top institutions have this as one of their qualifying round.
The you will be divided in a group of 10-12 people. This group will be then summoned in a round table conference room where everyone will be made to sit in front of their names in any random order. There will be a moderator and a scorer in the room from the institution to assess all the candidates. The moderator will then provide all the candidates with the instructions about the process and provide with a topic.
Usually the GD will be for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the group. You will be asked to introduce the topic, explore the various aspects and then come to a common conclusion thereby ending the GD. All of this is expected to be done amicably without creating ruckus. There are high chances that if the discussion deviates and/or becomes too difficult to handle, the whole group may get scrapped.
How to prepare:
1.Ensure that you are reading newspaper thoroughly everyday for the year of the preparation. There are high chances that the moderator may pick up any relevant topics from the recent news. (E.g.: One of the recent GDs had a topic “Elections in PoK”)
2. Always prepare your topics and break those down into 3 bodies:
- Introduction to the topic
- Discussing the basics of the topic
- Conclusion of the topic
You need to ensure that you appear at least once in all the 3 instances to share your view
3. Make notes of the good and the bad when you give a mock GD. This will help you focus on your strengths and help you not bring up your weaknesses in the discussion
4. Listen First: Listening always comes first to speak. In case you miss out on the bus of initiating the discussion, you can carry forward the topics someone else must have started. This will help you put comparatively less effort in building topics but you will still be in the game
5. Always have a balanced approach. Never go headstrong even if this means you have a bias towards a certain topic. This shows you are open to different views and will be a good candidate in a diverse classroom
B. Writing Ability Test (WAT)
WAT is similar to group discussion, however, in this case, you are not presenting your views in chunks but writing an essay on the topic. This essay presents clarity of thoughts, depth of knowledge, and the composure of thoughts to pen those down in a short period.
How to prepare:
Like GD, you will need consistent reading on different topics. These can be topical, abstract, or business-related. However, the approach to writing a WAT is similar. It would be best if you broke your topic down into:
- Introduction of the topic
2. Elaboration on the topic as to why this may be relevant now
3. Looking at both sides of the story
4. Summarize your thoughts and then conclude the topic
It’s always best to be neutral when writing something. During the preparation, we’d also provide a simple suggestion of writing at least 2 essays daily not only to pen down your thoughts coherently but also to make your essay presentable. We have been so accustomed to writing over email and digital mediums, that normal English writing is rare with good grammar and spell checks. Do this consistently for a week or two and analyze your writing.
Old and the new IIMS have this process where they make the candidates sit in a hall, provide them with pen and paper, and collect the paper once the time is over. We’d recommend going with a paper pad as the table may not be in good condition.
C. Personal Interview (PI)
This is the most common process in almost all the top schools. We believe this is also a very important step because the candidates cannot make up things when they are sitting in front of the best professors in India who are the interviewers. You will be called into a room/hall where there may be 2-3 professors from the respective institutes along with an alumni to assess you. SPJIMR or SP Jain Institute of Management and Research interview is a different one as you are summoned with 2 to 4 other candidates depending on the slot. This is the most interesting round where your answers may be asked to compare with the peers in the room. Let’s take a look at how you can prepare.
How to prepare:
1. Know thyself: while this may sound obnoxious, it’s important to understand your life journey and pen it on paper. While everything is made up in your mind, writing everything on a paper with important milestones creates a difference in viewing your life with learnings and failures.
2. Prepare basic questions: You will get 100s of questions online which can be answered easily if you complete point 1 above. We at CAT Credentials teach the students what should be how these answers should be framed so that the interview can be driven as per your choice of path. We have faculty who have been through the process multiple times and bring this expertise.
3. The first impression is the last impression: You will not be asked to join the interview room. It’s your only chance to set the best impression so understand the attire. Wear plain light-colored shirts with a tie (for boys) and a black blazer (matt finish) if you already have it ready. Don’t make anything look flashy. Your shoes should be perfect as you are judged from your hair to toe when you enter the room. It would be best if you did not fiddle with the chair when sitting.
4. Prepare about your field: Ensure that you prepare your resume and the questions from your field so that you sound confident and know your background.
These prep hacks are only the tip of the iceberg and quite a lot goes into the training. We at CAT Credentials guide the student with focused attention right from building a CV to preparing for the clarification rounds. We are currently going through the last batch. In case you want guidance on these topics. To register through our website.
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