What if I couldn’t sail through the CAT personal interview questions even after scoring good marks in the written exam? What if I unknowingly answer something unacceptable during any of my CAT personal interview questions? What are the best ways to prepare myself for my CAT interview? We are sure you all must have very similar questions currently. Now that you have given your best at the CAT written examination, you should not shy away from a little more hard work and prepare well for your personal interview.
We at Tarkashastra, will equip you with all the knowledge and methods to ace this interview process with ease. This article will help you gain a holistic idea of the different types of CAT personal interview questions that you can expect, the importance of these questions, and things that you generally should avoid during your CAT interview.
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What a Personal Interview actually is?
In this process of testing, a candidate (the interviewee) individually faces various questions from an interviewer or a group of people known as the interviewing panel. The accessors check you on the basis of many different parameters like your knowledge about any topic, confidence while answering and ability to handle pressure along with other non-verbal parameters like your overall behaviour, etiquettes and presence of mind.
What are the different types of CAT personal interview questions?
The type of questions which are generally asked in an interview can broadly be divided into 5 different groups, these groups are explained below:
1) About the candidate
First things first, as a candidate appearing for an interview for MBA entrance, you are expected to know certain details about your own life. This particular type of questions are targeted to check your self-awareness and form the introduction of the interview. Some of the most commonly asked CAT personal interview questions are:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Tell me some interesting facts about the city you live in.
- Why are you opting to do an MBA now?
- Tell me about your family background.
- What are your career goals?
- Explain your strengths and weaknesses.
- Tell me about your hobbies and interests.
- How would your close friends describe you?
- Why do you think you should be selected?
- Give us reasons for which we should not select you.
2) Questions about your Graduation
Having completed a 3/4-year degree in certain subjects, you are expected to answer questions about those subjects. These questions are asked to check whether you actively participated in the learning process during your college days. They also check your ability to remember and explain certain topics from the subjects you learnt during your graduation. Some of such CAT personal interview questions are mentioned below:
- Why did you choose to do graduation in XYZ subjects?
- Which subject did you find most interesting during your graduation, and why?
- Which co-curricular activities did you participate in, during your graduation?
- Did you hold any positions of responsibility in your college?
- Share your best achievements during your graduation.
3) General knowledge questions
These types of questions are specifically asked to check your social knowledge and general awareness about the surroundings. The questions could range from recent news items, business-related studies and even government policies affecting the business world. You need to stay updated with ongoing current affairs to prepare for these kinds of CAT personal interview questions.
- Share any finance/marketing-related news you recently read about.
- If you were in the finance ministry and in charge of taxation, would you like to change certain policies and why?
- Which recent marketing campaign caught your attention, and why?
- What kind of automobile market do you consider India to be? Support your opinion.
- And some factual questions like, Who is the finance minister of India? Which government body is responsible for Indian start-ups? etc.
4) Work-related questions
If you have mentioned a work experience, the panel may ask you various questions related to it. They may ask you many follow-up questions to gain deeper insight into your work experience. Also, questions relating to your internships, freelance work, family business or any kind of social work are also asked under this. You should prepare for such CAT personal interview questions by recollecting the experiences you had and answering honestly. You may find a few of the relevant questions below:
- Why did you choose to do XYZ role in ABC company?
- What roles and responsibilities did you manage in the company?
- Did you face any difficulties when you started working and how did you overcome them?
- What was the company’s product/service, target market, competitors, history, finances, etc?
- Did you make any impact during your service to the company, what was it?
- What are all the things you learnt during your job/ internship/ freelance work?
- Why don’t you wish to continue working? How does an MBA fit into your career goals?
5) Miscellaneous questions
Some of the CAT personal interview questions could be asked to gain some information about your choices, decision making or presence of mind. These questions are very unique to every candidate but the objective to ask such questions remains the same. You must remain calm, listen to the question carefully and answer with confidence. You may better understand these type of questions from a few examples:
- Why are you opting for an MBA rather than gaining work experience?
- How do you explain a gap after your graduation to do an MBA?
- You did not mention any sports or extracurricular activities in your application, why did you not opt for any?
- Do you have any back-up options if you are not selected here?
- Why did you not otp for any other career paths like civil services, or government exams, defence, NGOs, etc?
- Do you have calls from any other colleges? If yes, what are your preferences and why?
- Are you an introvert or an extrovert? How does it affect your life?
- Did you face any kind of failure and what did you learn from it?
- Who is your role model and why?
- If you are given as many 200 ml water bottles as you want, how many bottles do you think can fit into this room?
These questions would have given you a strong idea as to what type of CAT personal interview questions you can expect. While preparing, do not forget to plan out the required things like documents, formal dressing, etiquettes and timely updates regarding the process. You may follow our instagram page to receive timely notifications for all such information. For a more detailed plan of action for your preparation, you may contact us at Tarkashastra and we would be happy to help you create a personalized strategy to crack your personal interview. All the best for your interview preparation and the MBA journey!
FAQs
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What are the typical types of questions asked in a CAT PI?
CAT personal interview encompasses a variety of questions ranging from personal/professional life to current affairs and social topics. The questions are generally related to the application you have to the particular college which includes your past academic record, personal achievements, family background, interests, work experience and general knowledge.
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What is the importance of the 'Tell me about yourself' question?
“Tell me about yourself” is generally the initial question asked to any candidate to introduce the candidate, understand their self-awareness, gain insight into some things not mentioned in the application and check the answering ability of the candidate. This question holds a lot of importance in any interview and must be prepared well.
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How should I answer 'Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
This is a very commonly asked question in CAT personal interviews and must be answered with utmost honesty. The reason is most likely to vary from person to person and could be related to career advancement, a natural next step, personal development, networking opportunities, etc. The best way to answer this is to self introspect and find an answer which is unique to you.
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What kinds of questions can I expect about my work experience?
A candidate with work experience is most likely to be asked questions related to the role and responsibilities they had, the company they were working in, various projects/teams they were part of, and their decision to pursue an MBA.
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How should I prepare for current affairs or general knowledge questions?
A candidate can prepare for general knowledge by staying updated with recent newspapers and magazines, reading online blogs of business related news pages and following the recent campaigns by important companies.
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How do I handle questions about my academic background?
The best way to tackle questions related to your academic background is to prepare for general questions about your favorite subjects and specializations. You could read some old notes and recollect information about your subjects and the reasons why you choose those particular subjects.
