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com 1
Prologue
This book was written, primarily, by someone who dreams of writing
an epic fantasy someday; and who, in that endeavour, stumbled upon
the beauty of story-telling. That someone also made it into IIM-Ranchi,
and is now given the privilege of guiding you.

Your entire interview process, or any process ever really, is contingent

on two factors - your experience, and your ability to express that.

If you are reading this book, chances are, you got selected for the PI
process. I congratulate you for the same; out of ~25,000 applications
in 2022 only 900 made it so far. Pat yourself on the back for having
made it into the 95+ percentile. Take a good view of how far you have
come, and smile, before you focus right back on the peak.

The reason I brought up your accomplishment is to tell you that your

hard work and determination; or lack thereof; led to this place. That
has, so far, been your IPMAT journey. Your experience. And you could
express that journey in your answers in the aptitude test. Now, you
feel the need to reach out for this book, because a journey made so
far must have a fitting end. Your interview process will be much like
your aptitude test, it’s you, and your experience of nearly two decades
on this planet, condensed and talked about in a matter of minutes.
Make it count and own the stage.

Written by Ayushman Harlalka, IIM Ranchi ‘26

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Contents
What is PI? What are colleges looking for in you? ............................... 4

What are the types of questions asked? .............................................. 4

How to prepare? ..................................................................................... 5

What questions to expect? .................................................................... 7

HR Questions...................................................................................... 7

Background Questions ....................................................................14

GA/Current Affairs questions ..........................................................14

Academical Questions. ....................................................................17

Extempore ........................................................................................18

How to use Mock PIs............................................................................19

Mental aspects .....................................................................................20

Pre-interview .....................................................................................20

During ...............................................................................................20

Post Interview ...................................................................................21

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What is PI? What are colleges looking for in you?
Personal Interview is perhaps the most ubiquitous SOP that you will
encounter when entering an organization, be it a college or a
workplace. The goal of an PI is for the organization to discern whether
you would be a fit for the same.

In the simplest terms, a PI is you and a few examiners sitting vis-a-vis,

with you being asked questions. Your answers, etiquette, composure,
clarity; everything will be checked by experienced peers. Bear in mind
that as a management student your communication skills and how
you interact will be very important as well; these traits are integral for
any future manager.

Colleges typically want a sharp mind with good clarity of thought and
communication skills. While the rubrics vary, keep in mind to be as a
succinct as can be.

What are the types of questions asked?

Broadly, it can be defined into 4 categories -

Academic Questions - These are questions directly asked from what

you have learnt in the past. These are the closest to school-esque viva
questions, and arguably the easiest to prepare for.

GA/Current Affairs Questions - General Awareness and knowledge of

Current Affairs is another attribute looked at in IPMAT aspirant. From
the happenings of the past 6-12 months to the origins of your

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city/state, everything is fair game. Read newspapers and know thy
surroundings, will be integral.

Personal Questions - These are questions about who you are and what
your interests entail. Starting from the very famous, "Introduce
yourself" to a test of knowledge in your preferred fields, these are HR
questions which you should take the time to prepare from before.

Extempore - Colleges like IIM Rohtak and Christ University will give you
specific topics that you are expected to speak on for a minute or two.
You will have around 30 seconds to prepare, and structure how you
speak to carry you to the next round.

How to prepare?
In broad strokes, there are three distinct steps to it -

Research

This is perhaps the most important soft skill that will save you through
college and even through life. It requires a lot more patience than
initially expected, but you can get through this.

To research, plan, have a strategy. Break it down.

Look into your college's interviews, see videos and other resources.
Talk to current students through LinkedIn or other social media,
especially first years. (Be polite, introduce yourself and ask
meaningful questions, they will be happy to help you). Research about
your college, it’s mottos, everything. It helps you a lot.

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Once you have a good idea of what to expect, start preparing
accordingly. Look at areas you might need further help, different
resources to refer to, and factor in insights that you got from the first
step as you start this step.

Don't forget to research yourself. By this, I mean your interests, your

achievements, your favourite subject (yes have one, somehow).
Ensure that you look at it from different sides. You may be a great
badminton player but do you know the dimensions of the court? The
Father/Mother/Parent of Badminton!? Your goal here to be
knowledgeable in all you are good at. In short, be competent.
Competence is se-attractive. For examiners. I mean. (Phew)

Lastly, and this is simultaneously the least and the most important
aspect. Invest in storytelling. Marketing, sales, management, pitches,
creative arts, you will be surprised at the number of avenues this
single skill will open up for you. For the purposes of your PI, you should
be able to "sell your story" to the examiners. Stories are the way to
appeal to a person, and your examiners, experienced as they may be,
are people in the end. If you can interest them enough to be curious
about you or want to know more about you, you have won half the
battle game there.

Consolidate and Practice

Now that you have everything you need to know and a lot of it in your
direct access already, it's time to start consolidating them. This is
when you sit down and start preparing for specifics, test your

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experience and expression, and repeat the process till you are a much
surer version of yourself when you walk into the interview. Practice a
lot, enough to be confident. Confidence born out of competence is a
force to be reckoned with.

Mock PI's and Filling Holes

Now it's time for you to give mocks, fill holes and gaps in your
knowledge. Things you are 80-90% sure of, you should polish to a
100. For things less than that, look at the amount of time left, your
understanding of how fast you learn and retain and act accordingly.
For big things that you don't know, learn the basics and yeet out of
there. No one can know everything, and how you accept what you
don't know is something examiners keep an eye on.

In all actuality, you will be cycling through these steps like a frenzied
octopus; but fret not. Keep calm and focus. Planning and structuring
your way forward goes a long way.

What questions to expect?

Now this is where we get into the nitty-gritties and really zone in on
what the PI process entails.

Let’s start off with Personal Questions.

HR Questions
The first kind of personal questions are your standard HR questions.
Ideally, you should be able to answer these for every interview you

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ever have. The answers should be precise, well rehearsed to the point
you can say them out with out fumbling lines.

Let's start with what is perhaps the biggest and most asked question.

Introduce yourself

Seems like a simple question, but to really introduce yourself and

describe who you are takes at least a few tries from before.
Depending on how this question goes, you may be the one driving this
interview instead of the other way around. Let's break down how to go
about answering this in terms of our old friends, experience and
expression

“’I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that

I’m simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I
can build castles.” -Shannon Hale

Experience -

Step 1 - Sit down with yourself and a pen and paper. Keep all
distractions away. Write the different aspects of you, who you are,
what made you who you are, who you want to be. Throw everything on
that sheet so that you can get around to making sense of the chaos.

Step 2 - Great! Now you have all your points in place; as Shannon puts
it, you have packed the sand. Now it's time to arrange them
coherently.

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A good flow to follow is-

1. your name and place of origin

2. your academics
3. your dreams and co-curriculars
4. your hobbies

In the end, you are still pitching yourself as a student, so its good to
emphasise those aspects and get around to who you are as an
addition to it instead of the other way around. Think about what you
want them to grab onto and make sure the order in which you tell
them about yourself has coherent thought out sense to it. If the given
template doesn't work for you, that's fine. As previously stated, you
know yourself best and know when to reject the book.

One caveat - you may feel that talking about your accomplishments
and focusing on them may be very braggy in nature. Trust me, it’s not.
You must convince them why you are the best among the best, and
that would require you to showcase all your trophies and medals and
accomplishments even if you may not like displaying the same.

Expression -

Step 1 - Take your script, speak it out. See how it flows. Fix parts that
seem jarring or lack lustre.

Step 2 – Repeat

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Step 3 - Do step 2 till you can say your introduction without hesitation
and with confidence. Of course, the words need not be verbatim; just
be coherent and confident.

Bonus Step - Incorporate storytelling into it.

A good intro is a good first impression and gives you the opportunity
to drive the interview. A lot of your interview will be centered around
you. Nail this, and examiners will be interested in you and ask stuff
from your forte, your domain. That's where you shine the brightest, so
why shy away from it? Own the stage.

Why IPM/Management?

You would be surprised at how many people just don’t know why they
do the college major they are doing.

It may be something as simple as my parents wanted me to. It's

certainly not a good reason but definitely not an unheard one.
Obviously, you would be needing a more concrete answer than that.
If you asked me for help with this question, I would point you to
researching more and more about IPM and then about more and
more colleges and courses.

You might have procrastinated research beyond suitable norms, and

it's time for the bill to come due. Look around, see what really excites
you about this course, and give an answer that is tailoured to you and
what you want in life. A caveat - it's obvious, regardless, don't mention
money and placements from a monetary point of view. Just FYI.

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Could you tell us about your hobbies and interests?

If you thought about who you are really hard then you already know
the answer to this. This question should be thought of as your
interviewers being kind enough to issue a lifeboat to you. Said lifeboat
is being able to drive the interview. Whatever you mention here, you
will be asked about. Possibly more than anything else. It can become
more of a discussion than an interview when things go that way. It's
very liberating. But let's cut to the chase. Your interests are your forte.
You should be knowing everything about them. Ideally. That also
makes them a double-edged sword because what good's a writer who
can't name five classics. Whatever domain you specialize in, it is going
to be very vast and you may not know everything about it. You may
not even know the basics when looked at from another angle. So look
at different angles and have a good foundation of basics and experts
(especially Indians).

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

This is another question you would be asked frequently throughout

your life. You already know them, but you should have certain good
examples to be able to answer the same.

Tips to keep in mind when practicing for strengths -

1. Mention strengths relevant to the interview.

2. Substantiate your strengths with stories and anecdotes of
having used your expertise.

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For weaknesses -

1. Have a genuine weakness, don’t attempt to give smart

answers of strengths masquerading as weaknesses (jury is out
for both ways, but some interviewers get annoyed at the latter).
2. Elaborate on the steps you’re taking to overcome them.

If you get into IPM, will you be ready to leave your previous college?

The answer you say to this question is "Of course, yes," even if it is
really a no and IPM is just a backup for you. But then again, you are
reading this and investing time into prep, so am assuming you want
in to the program. On a serious note, yes. You would be willing to. But
you should know exactly what you are giving up too. If you are giving
up an IIT, know how many people make it to the IIT and how many
fight for the seat you would be giving up as you leave for IIM. Take
notes from your why IPM question, have some stuff ready for why not
engineering or whatever it is that you would be leaving behind too.
You have to be determined for them to consider you, and that must
show through to them.

You are a dropout, what did you do the past year?

This question should be something to prepare for in case you are a

dropper. Having a well-structured response with all your
accomplishments will do you good. Feel free to mention changes in
how you think as long as you can back them up with what you started
practicing as it shows that you are determined and capable of change.

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How to improve your HR questions game:

A couple of recurring issues I found while reviewing a lot of HR

questions of various students:

Have specifics; it is what separates you from the crowd.

Many aspirants had a good answer, but it had nothing to separate

them from the rest. It's really the same as calling two laptops good
when one is an i9-12k RTX 3080, and the other is an i5. The specifics
separate you from the rest. Be the i9-12k RTX 3080, don't be just a
good laptop. (Specifics also told you that I know about laptop specs
without me outright mentioning it. Shows research and competence)

Elaborate on one thing, giving everything equal importance is the

same as providing no importance.

Give the panel something that they can focus on and ask questions
about. Otherwise, everything is just noise. Fun fact, you find this in
both art compositions and prose storytelling. You need to give people
something to focus on, or else everything is just cancelled out.

Talk about your personality - you’re more than the things you’ve done.

I find many answers: I have done x, I have been y. Please talk a little
about yourself too. That you are kind or that you empathise well.
Remember to be a human and not just a CV. The achievements help
in validating your adjectives.

Focus on what you have learnt from your hobbies/your drop year.
Things about life or the world or people or yourself, especially yourself.

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It shows that you focus and introspect and that you actually grow from
the things you do.

The thing you have devoted your time to is not as important as what
you have gained from it. The teachings at the root of many things are
similar because, for most, life is similar. Focus on showing that you
could get to that root of truth. Everything else is really just set-dressing
for your dedication and hard work.

For the future, have one well-researched goal that you are working
towards. This goal can change down the line, and you can mention
that; it is completely fine. they don't expect you to have your life
figured out. But have one goal that you are consistently working
towards.

Background Questions
These are basically questions that wouldn't make sense when asked
to anyone else; they apply to just you. A good example is the question,
"Since your parents are in the Railway, how many divisions are there
in Indian Railways?" This question was asked specifically because of
the candidate's upbringing and probably wouldn't have been asked
otherwise. The reason to point this out really is just for you to think
about what can be asked about you that really applies to just you?

GA/Current Affairs questions

Phew! Now this is one scary bunch of questions, you never really know
what you are going to get going in. But before going further, let's
conclude the upbringing point. A very vast array of question lies in wait

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for you about your state and city of residence. In the GA segments that
we sorted, numerous questions were state related. A list of the
different questions asked are right below, and it is scary and daunting,
but it is what it is. Read up on them as much as you can.

Here’s a list of things you should look up and learn about your
city/state -

1. CM, Deputy CM, Governor, Deputy Governor

2. Number of districts
3. What it’s famous for (Could be anything - from an alternate
name to being an origin of a freedom fighter or a temple)
4. Tourist Spots
5. MLA of your state; MP of your constituency; number of seats in
Lok Sabha by your state
6. Rivers, state animal, state flower, etc.
7. Origins of state, origins of name of state (same for city/district)

The next part is GA which isn't personal anymore, and that can have
important world leaders, women entrepreneurs and even the names
of different PMs or Presidents of the country. You could also be asked
from history; the kind of history that you were taught in High School
classes. The same goes for science or other subjects.

Now comes Current Affairs. This is arguably the easiest and hardest
segment, and that's because it requires you to do the extraordinarily
tough task of being consistent, that too with a newspaper. People
would ask you to read up and know the CA of the entire year, or at

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least of six months prior to the test. That is the best way to go about
it. But in case that's too taxing, then as AceIPM, we will let you in on a
secret; the majority of CA questions we sorted through in 2021 came
from just 4 main topics - Farmer Protests, Mizoram State Conflict,
Olympics and the Afghanistan-Taliban Issue. Of these, only the first
was a CA that had been persisting for months and for a longer time
period than just 1-2 months close to the interview. What this implies
is that you must identify the really big news discussions of the time
and be knowledgeable about them. While we do discourage you from
reading up on just a few topics and ignoring the rest, it is definitely a
strategy to employ if you are short on time.

Lastly, two important points.

Always expect follow ups, so read and understand accordingly. You

may be asked for your opinion (which should be knowledgeable from
both sides of the coin) or cross examined for your answers. You may
also encounter GA and CA questions together, like how you may be
asked about the latest processor which launched recently in the
market (CA) and then be followed up about different models and
differences between them (GA).

It's perfectly fine to not know something. Don't fake knowledge and
take a wild guess. No one in this world knows everything, and that's
perfectly and completely fine. Be calm and accept your gap in
knowledge gracefully.

Let’s head onto the segment which we have all given vivas on.

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Academical Questions.
Before I continue, there is one question I must introduce to you -

What is your favourite subject?

This question is similar to your interests; it is both a life boat and a

double-edged sword. When preparing for Academics, ensure to have
one subject you excel at and know everything in. Make sure you are
well prepared with both class 11 and 12 knowledge.

Here is the subject-wise topics we curated through our students as

well as external sources. The key topics are identified, but they are
supposed to be the start and not the end.

Accountancy
Indore - Concepts, Depreciation (slightly more class 11 oriented)
Rohtak - Shares, Company Records, Ratios (slightly more class 12
oriented)

Business Studies
Principles of Management and Types of Businesses

Economics
Macroeconomics - Inflation, Keynesian Economy
Microeconomics - Demand, Supply Graphs, and Market Forms
Look at graphs a lot, especially of demand and its different forms.

Maths
Indore - Probability, Calculus, Graphs - more exponents related
Rohtak - Well rounded questions from entire class 12 syllabus,

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Graphs - more modulus related
Prep extremely well in calculus and graphs (especially exponential
and logarithmic graphs)

Physics
Indore - Electrostatic and wave optics
Rohtak - Motion in Straight line and Electrostatics

Chemistry – Prep well in Organic chemistry

Biology – General Questions

IP/Computer Sciences – Coding Questions are frequently asked.

Statistics – General questions, read up once before interview.

Extempore
This is a part of the PI prep that is almost exclusive to IIM Rohtak
among the IPMs (but other UG colleges have it too). It checks your
spontaneity and how clearly you can communicate something. There
is one key aspect of extempore - Structure. In fact, we have an entire
class on structure and how to give extempore.

You should introduce the topics and how you feel about it. Then
elaborate or go on to the other side. The clearer you are, the better.
At the end, conclude or summarize. These give your speech an order
that will give you brownie points.

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How to use Mock PIs

"The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed

in war." - Norman Schwarzkop

Mock PIs are a great opportunity to see how prepared you are, and
give insight as to how you handle topics outside of your comfort zone.
You should focus on three aspects during a mock PI-

1. What you are good at

2. What you could be better at
3. What caught you off guard

These three aspects can be thought of in two dimensions; your

experience and your expression. You may have topics where you
fumble one and not the other, and you should look at all aspects along
those two axes.

1. Did you know the answer? Were you able to express it well?
2. You knew that answer, but why couldn't you express it? -
signals a need for revision
3. That question was new, what can you learn more about the
topic?
4. Was your body movement appropriate?

Introspect, ask your mock interviewer for how they felt, and improve.

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Mental aspects
Pre-interview
Let's break it down further into two, namely, your mental state leading
up to the date of the PI and your mental aspect right before it.

Leading up to the interview, you should be in a state of constant

exploration and introspection. Your research will tell you where and
how to direct your time, which would then be built upon by practice.

A frenzied state of mind is perfectly understandable; however, your

goal must be to remain steady and slowly develop confidence. A lot
has already been discussed in the research section, and thus, to
reduce redundancy, here is the crux.

Be comfortable with who you are but constantly build on the self.
Think of the interview as a product pitch with yourself as the product
if it helps. Be somebody they would be interested in knowing more
about.

On the day of your interview, don’t panic. Ensure that you are in a
peaceful frame of mind. Tell yourself that your days/weeks/months
of hard work have paid off and all that's left now is a simple
conversation with your future teachers. Listen to your favourite music,
talk to the people you love the most and breathe deeply. You got this.

During
The interview is a mythical beast lottery. You may get anything from a
dragon to a pixie to convince in front of you. The only way you will

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dazzle those far bigger than you is by shining brightly with potential.
And that requires you to be calm. No one is expected to know
everything, even your very interviewers would not know everything
under the sky. It’s ok to not know. And that is why when you can’t
answer, you have to still remain calm. In the professional world you
will be facing crises after crises where you won't have all the variables
in place. This is a kinda sorta mock for the eventual happening of that.
(The number of hurdles in modern life, I tell you!)

Be calm, be composed and if you can, be witty. College loves smart

people (unlike school). But be witty in moderation (for obvious
reasons, dragons may like wit, pixies won't). Be how Rudyard Kipling
wants you to be in the poem If. Read if you can.

Post Interview

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same"
-If, by Rudyard Kipling.

The sad truth is that irrespective of whether you soared or flunked

your interview you are gonna be giving it again and again to different
people for different reasons (Redundancy smh). Maybe you flunked
one college interview and are scheduled to give another one.
Irrespective of what happened, you must take it as a learning
experience. You should be asking yourself most of the questions

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talked about above in the Mock PIs part, but there should be an added
epiphany.

In the end, there is a sheer difference of stakes between Mock PIs

and the real thing that just can't be bridged. Your actual PI has
accentuated your experience in a way that Mocks never could have.
Thus, your expression must change too. You have survived, and now
your focus must be on growth. Give a better interview next time.

What not to do and how not to panic

1. First off, let's go in with some of the basics-

2. Don't be late and don't be shabby
3. Make sure you have your documents with you.
4. If the PI is online, check your mic, audio, video, lighting etc. etc.

Now, let's go for how you should present yourself.

Don't try to be fake. The examiners in front of you are very experienced
personnel who have been in the industry for a long time. They can see
when someone is faking it. Don't try to be so smart that they know it's
fake. Stick to what you know. Define yourself, don't try to redefine
yourself. The time for that is before and after the PI phase.

Don't make assumptions or give random answers. If you don't know

an answer to a question, which you won't, because, well, no one can
know everything, then you need to accept that with grace. Again, be
yourself, don't be fake. Accept it. Say that you will certainly look it up
and learn more about it. That leaves a good impression and shows
that you are willing to learn.
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To prevent yourself from panicking, you need to realize something;
chances are that you will panic. And most people would. Even we did.
The trick is to recover quickly. Take a moment to recollect your
thoughts and then go about being a calmer person. College admission
processes are usually such a practical exam with so many variables
that somewhere or the other, you are bound to receive the short end.
Perhaps you will be the first interview and the panel will be energetic
and attentive, or you may get someone who is naturally hard to
please, or even someone who asks things beyond or completely
different from your preparation. That's just how it is.

So how to go about having a good interview? Be calm the best you

can. Some examiners will be forgiving of you not knowing something;
some will egg you further so that you lose your composure. But
regardless of everything, keep your composure. A valid argument for
the PI process is that since you made it this far, they already know
that you know your sh-stuff well. So, what they are evaluating now is
not your knowledge, rather your personality, mindset and your
composure. Keep calm and you will do alright.

Remember that a calm you - is a strong you

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