Education

MBA Admission 2022: How to crack Group Discussion and Personal Interview?

Not only cracking the cut-offs is enough to get into the premium B-schools but candidates must also crack Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds. Only 2-3% of total CAT aspirants make it to IIMs cracking these rounds. Group Discussions, Personal Interviews, and Written Assessment Tests are the major personality assessment tests. Strong communication, problem-solving, decision-making, leadership, and analytical skill are required to crack these rounds.

GD and PI are an integral part of MBA Admission into all top business schools in India. Along with this, some colleges conduct WAT (Written Assessment Test) to check the written and intellectual skills of candidates in which candidates need to write around 250-300 words in 20 minutes. WAT may be in the form of an essay writing round that tests knowledge and understanding of the topic and the clarity of thoughts. Most of the IIMs have made GD and WAT a major screening process.

Major tips to crack Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds to get into top MBA Colleges are mentioned below:

Group Discussion

A very updated information on current affairs is required in the group discussion round. It is recommended to regularly read newspapers or listen to the news to have enough information.
Speaking skills must be polished. The candidate must be very clear about when to speak and how to keep their point during the discussion. Whenever someone takes a pause or completes their point, try to counter them keeping a valid point.
Try to keep the convincing points in the discussion and keep your points firmly.
It is not necessary to prove others wrong as it is not a debate. You can also be assertive with your opinions and facts and figures you have.
Keep only the relevant and logical points in the discussion. Try to elaborate your points with facts and figures if possible.
Major skills required to perform well in group discussions are Communication skills, leadership skills, team management, logical reasoning, and analytical skills.

MBA Admission 2022

Personal Interview

Become clear about your knowledge of a topic. If you don’t have enough information, be confident to say ‘I don’t know’ to a question.
Prepare your introduction very well as it is a standard question. Talk briefly about your family, goals, education, interests, hobbies, plans, and life journey. The answer must be compact.
Another thing is to be clear with your reason to join MBA. MBA is a fast-growing and high-paying career in the corporate sector. The answer to this question must be meaningful and present your interest in doing the MBA.
A common interview question is ‘Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?’. Prepare this question very well as it impacts your impression of the interviewer.
Be formally dressed and confident throughout the interview.
This round is conducted to check intellectuality, confidence, communication, and managerial skills.

Along with this you must keep yourself well-groomed and updated to crack the GD and PI round. Some tips to enhance your interpersonal skills are mentioned below:

Try to have some active hobbies and interests to keep yourself good in those fields so that you can cope with all sorts of questions there. This also depicts your extra-curricular activities.
Know yourself very well and be comfortable with yourself. This skill will help to answer the situation-based questions efficiently
Actively participate in Debates, discussions, presentations and all sorts of activities related to public speaking to enhance speaking skills.
Develop a habit of reading books and newspapers to know the current affairs and General Knowledge very well.
Also, develop your writing skills which help in having clarity of thoughts and increase your presentation skill.
Evenly distribute your preparation time so that you also prepare for GD and PI rounds along with your CAT written round.
Keep on appearing for mock tests and interviews which will provide you genuine feedback and help to improve in the weaker areas.
Be prepared for all the questions which can be framed out of your CV as they are a must
If you lack public speaking, try to join a personality grooming or CAT GD preparation classes once CAT results are out.

Important Books for GD-PI Preparation

Some major study materials that can be used for Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds are mentioned below. These learning resources can be used to ace your performance in the screening rounds.

For Group Discussion rounds following books can be useful