The most crucial stages for MBA admission includes Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) round. Here are 32 most commonly asked questions in the PI round.
Personal Interview Questions: For MBA admission, candidates must appear in the Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GD/PI) rounds of B-Schools. Preparing for top MBA entrance exams is not as difficult as preparing for GD/PI because every exam has a syllabus from which questions are asked. One only needs to devote a good number of months to cover the MBA exam syllabus. However, for GD/PI, there is no predefined syllabus or pattern. Candidates may be given any topic in GD and asked any question during the PI round.
It takes confidence and presence of mind to clear these rounds as one doesn't know what will be asked and what will be the most appropriate answer. While preparing for MBA admission, candidates often wonder what the top questions to prepare for clearing the PI round are.
While preparing for MBA entrance exams is a priority now. It is equally important to keep preparing for the PI-WAT round. WAT-PI round of the IIMs and top B-Schools are conducted between February and April, so it is wise to start preparation alongside the exams. Questions in PI round of MBA colleges are mostly connected to the candidate's academics or job/internship that they mention in their resume.
Chances of facing questions based on hobbies, past jobs, projects and areas of interest are very high in the personal interview round for MBA admission. However, 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. Candidates preparing for MBA admission must prepare these common PI questions well.
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:
- Tell us something about yourself.
- Why do you think should we give you admission in our college?
- What are your key skills/ greatest strengths?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What is your greatest achievement?
- Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
- What are your career goals?
- What are your short-term goals?
- What are your long-term goals?
- Why do you want to join this College/B-school?
- Why MBA?
- Why marketing/ finance/ etc. specialisation?
- Why this particular programme?
- What are your hobbies and interests?
- Who is your role model?
- Who inspires you?
- What is the difference between a good manager and a good leader?
- Why should we admit you?
- What are some reasons to reject your application?
- Walk me through your resume/profile.
- What is your biggest failure or challenge?
- How will you contribute to the class if we choose you?
- How will you contribute to the campus if we choose you?
- How will you add value to the campus if chosen?
- What is your expectation from this MBA programme?
- How do you deal with failures?
- How do you deal with criticism?
- What have you learnt from your failures?
- Discuss a situation when you were a leader.
- Where else have you applied? What other calls have you received?
- What are the newspaper headings that grabbed your attention?
- Do you want to ask or know anything (about the college)?
Also Read: Personal Interviews: 5 Situations That May Stump You
GD/PI Experience of IIM Students
Check out the articles below to know how these students converted IIM Interview calls.
Student Name |
IIM |
Interview |
---|---|---|
Abhishek Roy |
IIM Lucknow |
|
Vedant Chandewar |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Harshil Satasiya |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Nishanth Pandey |
IIM Lucknow |
|
Shreshth Khare |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Satya Gopal |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
Akash |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Akansha Ghosh |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Rupesh Gupta |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Akshay Mehendiratta |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Anchal Taatya |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Ananya Mishra |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Pratham Mani |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Omkar Mukherjee |
IIM Calcutta |
|
Vaibhav Jatin Shah |
IIM Shillong |
|
Parth Agarwal |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
Anshul Aggarwal |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
Ankur Parmar |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
Satya Gopal |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
Priyanjit Biswas |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Sai Prabhu |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Ruchika Bhartiya |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Abhinav Paigwar |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Mayank |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Shreshth Khare |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Parth Agarwal |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Ankit Anand |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Pratham Mani |
IIM Calcutta |
|
Aditi Agarwal |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Gursimran Ahuja |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Biswanath Chakraborty |
IIM Indore |
|
Nishant Shah |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Biswanath Chakraborty |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Achintya Bhattacharya |
IIM Bangalore |
|
Biswanath Chakraborty |
IIM Lucknow |
|
Shubham Varshney |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
Shubham Ranka |
IIM Calcutta |
|
Dhiraj Bedi |
IIM Calcutta |
|
Wasim Khan Pathan |
IIM Calcutta |
Explore colleges based on CAT
Read More:
- MBA PI Questions: How to Answer 'Why MBA' Question? With Example
- IIM Admission & Selection Criteria 2026
- Personal Interview FAQs for Post-COVID Times
- How to prepare for GD-PI
- 13 must-do things to crack GD-PI-WAT
- How to crack GD-PI-WAT rounds of Top B-Schools
- How you dress might affect your GD-PI score
- Top 200 Group Discussion topics for MBA admission 2025
- Dos & Don’ts of Group Discussion
- Tips to Appear for Virtual GD/PI
Solving the CAT question paper is very important from preparation point of view. Since CAT is a speed based test where candidates have to read long passages, tables and charts, do multiple calculations and solve tricky puzzles, one needs to have prior practice of the same. The CAT mock tests serve this purpose. However, to know what type of passages and puzzles are there in the CAT exam, you need to solve previous years' question papers. Some of the benefits of solving previous years' CAT question paper are:
- With the help of previous year's CAT question paper, you can understand the latest CAT exam pattern and marking scheme
- Practicing CAT question papers improves speed and accuracy in solving the questions, which is critical to a speed based exam like CAT
- Practicing CAT question papers improves time management skills as you would get to know which type of questions take how much time.
- When you practice CAT question papers, you gain confidence that you can solve all types of CAT questions. This confidence helps in performing better in the exam.
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.
The CAT VARC section is dominated by RC questions. Out of 24 questions about 14-16 are based on Reading Comprehension passages and the rest of them are based on parajumbles, para completion, etc.
CAT has about 12-16 RC question. Since, it is not mandatory to solve all the questions, candidates can maximize their scores by leaving out the questions related to the passage they find the toughest. There is negative marking in CAT so candidates must ensure that they mark only the correct options or do not mark any option at all.
The key change in CAT question paper 2024 was increase in number of questions in DLIR section. Till 2023, the DILR section used to have 20 questions. In 2024, it had 22 questions. The time limit for it was the same and no other section had less questions. Which means, in CAT 2024, candidates had to attempt 68 questions instead of 66 to solve in the same time (120 minutes). DILR sectional time limit was 40 minutes as in previous years. There was no other change in CAT 2024, the difficulty level was same as previous years.

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Student Forum
Answered a week ago
With a 300 SC category rank in CAT, your chances for NIT Trichy MBA are relatively high. Based on 2025 data, NIT Trichy generally shortlists SC candidates with CAT percentiles around 60-65. To achieve a 300 rank under SC category, you would need about a 65-70 percentile, or a score of roughly 60-65
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
PGCET and CAT serve distinct purposes. The PGCET is primarily conducted for MBA admissions in colleges in the state of Karnataka, specifically for government colleges and private universities with lower fees. CAT is a national level exam for top-ranking B-schools and colleges such as the IIMs that h
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks ago
That's a wonderful goal to push your son toward right at the start. To obtain previous CAT model papers, you can check many available popular exam preparation books in any bookstore or online store. Coaching interest such as TIME, IMS, Career Launcher, etc., usually have mock tests and sample papers
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 weeks ago
Yes, you can get admission to Jaypee Business School (JBS), Noida for MBA even if you don't have CAT. JBS accepts scores from several other exams such as MAT, CMAT, XAT, GMAT, ATMA, and also CUET-PG. Just make sure you have a bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks, then apply with any of those va
Answered 3 weeks ago
I
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 3 weeks ago
For candidates pursuing MBA, the eligibility criteria includes merit and entrance based selection. Whereas, for BBA, candidates must qualify Class 12 with a minimum aggregate. JIIT CDOE MBA on the other hand, is offered based on the minimum aggregate of graduation. However, for the final admission,
M
Contributor-Level 8
Answered 3 weeks ago
Yes, students can get MBA admission into Galgotia University without CAT. The university accepts other national entrance exams for MBA programme. The university accepts entrance exams such as MAT, CMAT, XAT, SAT, and other. It is mandatory to qualify one of the entrance exams.
K
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 3 weeks ago
Yes, students can get admission in Greater Noida Institute of Technology without CAT. CAT is one of the accepted entrance exams at Greater Noida Institute of Technology. The other accepted entrance exams are MAT, NMAT, XAT, CMAT, and others. If a student's CAT score is not good, worry not other acce
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 3 weeks ago
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi offers various programmes and specilisations across various streams. For obtaining IIFT Delhi admission, candidates are required to appear for the prescribed entrance tests. Students can visit the official website of the IIFT Delhi to learn more regarding the
U
Contributor-Level 8
Answered 3 weeks ago
No, candidates can not get into Management Development Institute, Gurgaon without CAT as the college offers admissions to students on the basis of their entrance exam scores. The college accepts various national level exams such as CAT, MAT, XAT, GMAT, etc. for admission to its PGDM programmes, foll
A
Contributor-Level 8
Till 2014, there were only two sections in CAT. Quantitative Aptitude was clubbed with Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning was clubbed with Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. In 2015, the Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning were clubbed together and Quantitative Aptitude and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension made two individual sections. Since 2015, the sectional segregation has remained the same but the number of questions have come down from 100 to 66. The exam duration has also been reduced. Until 2019, the CAT exam was of 180 minutes and the total number of questions were 100. However, in 2020, the question paper structure was revised due to COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the total number of questions came down to 76. In 2021 and 2022, the number of questions were further lowered to 66. For the last two years, CAT is conducted for 2 hours, and the number of questions is 66. In CAT 2024 however, the number of questions were increased to 68.
The latest CAT question paper structure is: Total questions: 68 Number of sections: 3 Order of sections - 1. VARC 2. DILR 3. Quantitative Aptitude Sectional time limit: 40 minutes VARC questions: 24 DILR questions: 22 Quantitative Aptitude questions: 22.