IIM CALCUTA GD/PI EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

PERSONAL DETAILS:
Name: Sumit Dhingra
Education: B.E Computers NSIT, New Delhi
Year of passing out: 2004.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
Duration of Total work experience: 9 months
Company last worked for: IBM Software Lab, Bangalore
Position: S/W Engineer
CAT PERCENTILES:
Overall: 99.85
Verbal: 98.6
Quantitative: 99.6
DI/Reasoning: 98.6
Initial Calls: A,B,C,L,I,K
IIM C calls: PGDM (did not apply for PGDCM)
Final calls: B,C,L,I,K
GD/PI venue: IIM Bangalore.
GROUP DISCUSSION:
Topic of the GD: something like Desire is the cause of all problems (dont remember the exact words)
No. of participants in the GD: 8-10
Time Limit and any other instructions: 12-15 minutes.
Whether asked to summarize the GD: Yes
Whether a written summary of the GD was asked: Dont remember.
THE GD EXPERIENCE: (please provide at least 5 lines of description)
Since it was a general topic the GD revolved around the point that the greed is the cause and not the desire.
People mainly concentrated on giving examples from various fields to support the above point. The group
was not aggressive and all were able to make their points. What I feel is that in such a general topic the
examples you give should stand out. I pitched in not more than 3 times but was able to give decent
examples.
How would you rate the Chaos level in the GD (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being most peaceful 10 being most
chaotic): 3/10.

Any observations on mistakes you committed in the GD: The interviewers told me during the interview
that though I made good points but did not speak much in the GD.
Any observations of what you could have done better in the GD:
Any tips for GD preparation: Read a lot and dont think much about the number of strikes you make in
the GD. What is more important is that you should put across 2-3 good points that stand out from others.
My personal strategy was to make 3 points well spread out across the duration of the GD and get out. Do
not get emotionally attached to the topic and make frivolous points.
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 us something about you. The questions
ranged from hobbies, sports, why MBA, a little about acads (if I remember correctly but not in detail for
sure), they also discussed the performance of the group in the GD and a few questions on IBM and my
work but nothing technical. Overall it was a pretty comfortable interview. No stress questions
Any tips for Personal Interview preparation:
BE YOURSELF. Do not try to be what you are not. Other than that, you need to prepare a few subjects of
your choice from your graduation. Though they can ask anything but it is good to have a few subjects well
prepared. Be prepared for a few questions on your hobby. This is one thing that was common to all my
interviews. Though the standard interview questions like strengths and weaknesses, one incident where
you showed.. were not asked in any of my interviews but one cannot ignore them. Then there is the
most haunted question Why MBA?? Prepare this really well.If you have work-ex then you can be asked
about your companys performance. You should know about the recent developments in your company as
well as details of any significant incidents/developments throughout the history of the company. I was
asked a lot of questions about IBM in most of my interviews.