IIM CALCUTA GD/PI EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

PERSONAL DETAILS: Name: Prayank Jain Education: B.E Computer Engg. Institute of Engg. & Tech. Indore University Indore. Year of passing out: May 2002. WORK EXPERIENCE: Duration of Total work experience: 33 months Company last worked for: Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) Position: Software Engg. CAT PERCENTILES: Overall: 99.23 Verbal: 96.7 Quantitative: 97.7 DI/Reasoning: 97.7 IIM C calls: PGDM/PGDCM/BOTH Final calls: C (Both) , L, I, K GD/PI venue: Delhi GROUP DISCUSSION: Topic of the GD: Cats are better than Dogs. No. of participants in the GD: 10 Time Limit and any other instructions: 10-12 minutes. Whether asked to summarize the GD: Summarize or add new points in 60 seconds at the end. Whether a written summary of the GD was asked: No. THE GD EXPERIENCE: (please provide at least 5 lines of description) Panel welcomed us in the room. They were talking very politely and made the candidates feel comfortable. The topic was abstract. People brought in variety if points. One guy compared the Cat and Dog families. Also talked about sariska tiger sanctuary (tigers been part of feline family). Lot of time was spent on comparing Cats and Dogs as pets. It never became a fish market and neither did it become a dull and boring GD. Everyone was asked to speak for a minute at the end to add new points or summarize the discussion.

How would you rate the Chaos level in the GD (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being most peaceful 10 being most chaotic): 4/10. Any observations on mistakes you committed in the GD: I feel the GD went pretty well. Couple of candidates made standard mistakes like - Reading out the points directly from the paper on which they had made notes. - Not keeping eye contact while speaking. - Looking at the panel while speaking. Any observations of what you could have done better in the GD: I was the last guy to be asked to summarize. My summary could have been more power packed. Any tips for GD preparation: Cal had given abstract topics in most cases. Even the direct/current affairs topics were framed in slightly abstract manner. It pays to be alert and listen well. Even if you cant think of new points, other candidates will leave a lot of open threads for you to pick up and substantiate. PERSONAL INTERVIEW: No of interviewers in the Panel: 3 List of the questions asked and your responses: (Intro questions/acad based questions/work experience based/general awareness/personal questions) The interview started off with the standard opening question Tell me about yourself. I went with the standard answer that I had prepared. I said that I come from a business family. They asked why I wanted to leave the family business and go for a job. I gave the reasons and they were convinced. They started talking about my work-ex and for next 7-8 minutes kept on discussing that. On of the questions that popped up was what is the importance of mentoring in entrepreneurship. I gave some globe answer and talked about Narayanmurthy, the panel looked satisfied with the answer. Finally the third panelists (he was just verifying my documents till then) asked me how good are you in mathematics. I told him that I have left maths about 5 years ago. He still went on to ask me a sitter in maths. He asked me to convert a binary number to a decimal number. I did it neatly i.e. by writing on the paper (20 + 21 types). That was the last question. Overall the interview was very chilled out. Any observations on mistakes you committed in the PI: No real blunders. The panel also never tried to stress me so things went well. Any observations of what you could have done better in the PI: Irrespective of your work-ex, be prepared to face some basic maths (CAT level). Any tips for Personal Interview preparation: I can only talk from the perspective of a guy with lot of work-ex. Try n lead the interviewers towards your work-ex by talking about it in your Intro. I was asked if I was good at maths in C and L interviews. I honestly said that I have studied maths last 5 years ago. The panels accepted my response. Make sure that you are abreast with some hot topics in current affairs. During feb/march 2005, Supreme Court and parliament were at locked horns on the Bihar assembly and governor issue. One group had this as a GD topic.