Abhishek
Abhishek Dhawan
Assistant Manager – Editorial Content
Updated on Feb 11, 2026 23:36 IST
Common questions asked in PI round - It is not easy to guess what questions will be asked in a PI round of a B-School. But there are a few very common questions that are asked at almost all kinds of interviews. See list of common questions asked in a Personal Interview (PI).

MBA admissions in India is divided in multiple stages starting with an entrance test. Usually, candidates are shortlisted for GD and PI based on their entrance exam scores. Check common Personal Interview questions to prepare for the PI round.

Personal Interview questions

Personal Interview Questions: Most MBA admissions across India and abroad require candidates to appear for Personal Interview rounds. Sometimes, preparing for a Group Discussion and a Personal Interview round becomes tougher than passing an entrance exam for MBA admissions. One can easily tackle PI process with the correct preparation strategy. Candidates who are shortlisted for admission rounds must start by prapring with the most common questions asked in Personal Interview.

Questions asked during a PI round for MBA admission typically revolves around the theme set in the resume. A candidate with a work experience may be asked about the industry he/she was involved in. Freshers may find more predictible questions. Candidates who are shortlisted for MBA admission process must prepare for common PI questions. Check some most common PI questions here.

Top 32 Personal Interview Questions for MBA Admissions

A personal interview round for MBA admission is a personality assessment test in which the admission panel has a good opportunity to know a candidate and the candidate has a good opportunity to present their best aspects. It is more of an interpersonal interaction which includes professional as well as personal questions. Here are the most commonly asked questions in MBA personal interview round for admission:

  1. Tell us something about yourself.
  2. Why do you think should we give you admission in our college?
  3. What are your key skills/ greatest strengths?
  4. What is your greatest weakness?
  5. What is your greatest achievement?
  6. Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
  7. What are your career goals?
  8. What are your short-term goals?
  9. What are your long-term goals?
  10. Why do you want to join this College/B-school?
  11. Why MBA? Also Check: MBA PI Questions: How to Answer 'Why MBA' Question? With Example
  12. Why marketing/ finance/ etc. specialisation?
  13. Why this particular programme?
  14. What are your hobbies and interests?
  15. Who is your role model?
  16. Who inspires you?
  17. What is the difference between a good manager and a good leader?
  18. Why should we admit you?
  19. What are some reasons to reject your application?
  20. Walk me through your resume/profile.
  21. What is your biggest failure or challenge?
  22. How will you contribute to the class if we choose you?
  23. How will you contribute to the campus if we choose you?
  24. How will you add value to the campus if chosen?
  25. What is your expectation from this MBA programme?
  26. How do you deal with failures?
  27. How do you deal with criticism?
  28. What have you learnt from your failures?
  29. Discuss a situation when you were a leader.
  30. Where else have you applied? What other calls have you received?
  31. What are the newspaper headings that grabbed your attention?
  32. Do you want to ask or know anything (about the college)?

Also Read: Personal Interviews: 5 Situations That May Stump You

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   Which CAT slot has the toughest question paper?
A: 
There is no pattern to which CAT question paper can be the toughest. The CAT question paper of every slot has unique questions. The examination body strives to maintain the same difficulty level of the paper across all slots but it may happen that a question can be more difficult from another. It is seen that, to keep the uniqueness of the question paper intact, the examination authority also changes the topic wise weightage a little bit across the exam slots. In most of the previous years, it is seen that the morning slot of the CAT exam is tougher than the rest two. However, candidates must not worry about the difficulty level of the slots as, the scores of all the candidates are normalised on a common scale to root out the possibility of advantage or disadvantage to any student due to difference in difficulty level. To know how the CAT scores are normalised, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/understanding-cat-normalization-process-blogId-9386.
Q:   From where can I download CAT question papers?
A: 

CAT question papers are released within a week of the exam in the form of a PDF as a response sheet and answer key. Candidates who have appeared for the test are able to access the CAT question paper and answer key. The question paper of every slot is released on the same day along with candidate response sheet and official answer to all question. If any candidate needs previous year CAT question papers for preparation purpose, then they can download them from Shiksha website. We have hosted last five years' CAT question papers for aspirants to download and practice. These official CAT question papers are available for download free. You can download the CAT question paper PDFs at this link: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/cat-exam-question-papers Candidates must check and practice the latest CAT question paper to know the latest exam pattern and difficulty level.

Q:   Is it mandatory to attempt all the questions in CAT?
A: 

No, it is not mandatory to attempt all the questions in CAT. Candidates can choose to attempt questions as per their preparation. It is not possible also to attempt all the questions due to time limitation and difficulty level. Reading dense RC passages often take up a lot of time. In DILR and QA too, some questions are time taking and calculation intensive due to which not much time is left in hand to attempt all questions. The aim of every test taker should be to attempt about 2/3rd of the total questions in all the sections of CAT. 

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Check CAT Cut offs and predict calls from IIMs and other Top MBA Colleges, whether your CAT score is 70 percentile, 80 percentile or 90 percentile. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and eligibility of all MBA Colleges by clicking the link below:

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About the Author
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Abhishek Dhawan
Assistant Manager – Editorial Content

Abhishek is a content writer and editor with 7+ years of experience in education journalism. He completed his graduation from University of Delhi with a BA Degree. At Shiksha.com, he handles content for MBA, BBA, an

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