The suspense regarding the final biggie of the season has finally ended. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) has come out with its shortlist of candidates for the next round to be conducted in the final week of May. We at Learningroots, attempt to identify a few aspects with regards to the process, and touch upon the DOs and DON’Ts of the GA, PI and WAT.
Weightage to written score:
Till last year, when students used to get into JBIMS post the Centralized Admission Process (CAP), there used to be a significant weight given to the written score. Till 2013 when the GD/PI processes were conducted, the weightage used to be as high as 83%. So, it cannot be completely ruled out this year too irrespective of the autonomy of the process. However, as is seen across campuses that give a high weightage to written scores, people bordering on the cutoffs do make it into these institutes. The conversion rate would be lower but the chances of making it through a solid performance in the coming stages cannot be undermined. So, if you are right on the edge, instead of wondering what the weightage would be, we would urge you to use this period to the fullest and make a strong case with regards to your candidature.
How to crack the WAT?
The Written Assessment Test/Written Ability Test is a tool that is usually used to understand your personality and your thought process. It is particularly useful to negate the shortcomings of a Group Discussion. Considering that the admission process would ideally want you to showcase your ability to think deep and express yourself, the topics are generally broad and open to perspective. Of course this does not mean that a well read and aware candidate has no advantage.
A few things that can be done to improve your skill would be:
Brush up on current affairs topics: The panelists who set topics for the WAT would look for something that is relevant and recent and so, it would be a nice idea to go through a few current topics from the last few months.
Write a one page summary of a few topics to make sure you get the flow right: Typically any written assignment will have an introduction, a body and a conclusion. In the introduction part, you will have to give an insight into the topic and an overview of what would be covered in the subsequent paragraphs. In the main body, you can split the content into smaller fragments either as positive or negative impact or on the basis of the event’s social, political, economic, legal, technological and environmental impact and so on. The conclusion can be a summary of your views or a stand that you intend to take in case the topic demands you to do so.
If the topic is in the form of a question, you would have to take a stand on the basis of your arguments: After the body of your essay is written, you would have to conclude your thoughts on the topics and come up with a final stand or ‘solution’ to the main statement/question. While it is understandable that deep issues cannot be answered through a 15-20 minute writing assignment, the reason for it is to understand what steps you take while dealing with ambiguity. Is it a data driven approach or a practical approach or a radical one or if you have overlooked certain important factors while forming your conclusion and so on.
Use as few cliches as possible and keep the language as uncomplicated as possible: It is a misconception that flowery language and poetic rendition of the topic gets brownie points. At the end of the day, the objective is not to understand if your vocabulary is up to the mark. So, it is better to break down your ideas into smaller, grammatically correct sentences instead of using too many ands, ors, whiles, sinces, semicolons and commas and the like. Let your essay be as crisp as possible so that it makes the maximum impact.
How to crack the GD/GA?
The basic idea of a GD/GA is to understand if you can function in a group or not. Content and communication are two aspects of a GD/GA that are important from a panelist’s point of view. For content, you can follow the same steps as you would for WAT. When it comes to communication, it would be helpful if a Group Activity can be thought of as a role play to determine whether an individual understands his/her role and if s/he does justice to the role that is being played. Broadly, the role play would be as follows:
The moderator: Moderates the group, brings the group back to the main discussion if the members deviate by a bit, allows other individuals who haven’t participated to participate in the discussion, keeps a track of time, notes down the points and keeps summarizing from time to time, etc.
The idea generator: Ideally someone who has a lot of handy facts pertaining to the discussion, generates an argument to be discussed by the group, probably the most glamorous role in a GD which a majority strive to don although it could negatively impact one’s candidature big time if not played well
The antagonist: Someone who differs from the general consensus and puts forth strong arguments for the same, allows a discussion to happen so that multiple aspects of a topic are covered, can get carried away and get into an argument mode which can impact the individual’s candidature negatively
The supporting cast: Side with either the idea generator or the antagonist and come with supplementary points, most of the time there is significant repetition though and so, it is very difficult for someone to top the GA by being in this bracket
The martyr: The silent spectator, oppressed by the group, not allowed to speak or does not have any points to contribute or is too shy to enter a GA, every GD/GA looks like a fish market to this individual and would end up, in all probability at the bottom of the points table
There would be multiple characters in every GA and to gain from the exercise, one has to understand which bracket one falls in and then, improve accordingly. While building content is difficult at this point in time, one can easily enter the moderator’s group and showcase a bit of content as well to at least stay safe during the process.
How to crack the interview?
Most of the candidates lose out on a final admit in the first two minutes of their interviews. The two most common questions, which every aspirant prepares for ironically eliminate quite a few candidates from the process. The two questions are “Tell us something about yourself” and “Why MBA?” While the answers seem pretty straightforward, there are quite a few undertones one might miss on if one does not get the answers reviewed to get an external perspective. One might feel that the answers are perfect but there are certain things that might unintentionally be conveyed through the answers that are prepared. Also, many a time, over preparedness and rehearsed answers are frowned upon which might tempt the interviewer to throw you out of your comfort zone and turn the interview into a stress based one. So, the bottom-line is, get your answers reviewed from a few, competent people. And practice the tone, pitch, expressions, gestures, etc. in front of a mirror on in a mock interview to get rid of the butterflies. In addition to these questions, you should prepare for the important personal questions including your strengths and weaknesses, examples of leadership, biggest success and failure, an achievement you are proud of, something you did that you regret, example of conflict resolution and so on.
To start with the rest of the interview prep, you can draft a 2-3 page CV highlighting your academic/extracurricular/professional achievements. Include as many of your achievements as possible and try grilling yourself to at least two levels of questioning. For example: if you have mentioned a project that you had done, make sure that you structure the same in a linear format to avoid getting jumbled up during the interview. You can start with the decision behind picking up the project (make sure that you come across as someone who has enthusiastically picked the project and it was not imposed on you, even if that is indeed the truth), the manner in which you proceeded, the outcome and the follow up. Then, be ready to answer any questions related to the core content of the project and so on. This will bring a structure to your answers and you would be able to put forth your achievements in a better manner. Again, it would be a good idea to ask some experienced hand to run through your answers and modify them accordingly to avoid any unforeseen circumstances during your interview.
Given the time frame and the stakes involved, it is extremely crucial to make sure that you start your preparation as soon as possible and improve significantly with each coming day.
All the best for the process. In case you want to have your profile reviewed or simply want any assistance with regards to personal answers/interviews, you can drop a mail to [email protected]
