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

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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:   How many RC questions does CAT have?
A:

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.

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

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IIM Ahmedabad

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IIM Ahmedabad

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IIM Lucknow

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IIM Bangalore

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Satya Gopal

IIM Kozhikode 

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Akash

IIM Ahmedabad

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Akansha Ghosh

IIM Ahmedabad

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Rupesh Gupta

IIM Ahmedabad

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Akshay Mehendiratta

IIM Ahmedabad

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Anchal Taatya

IIM Ahmedabad

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Ananya Mishra

IIM Ahmedabad

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IIM Ahmedabad

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Omkar Mukherjee

IIM Calcutta

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Vaibhav Jatin Shah

IIM Shillong

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Parth Agarwal

IIM Kozhikode

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IIM Kozhikode

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Ankur Parmar

IIM Kozhikode

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IIM Kozhikode

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Priyanjit Biswas

IIM Ahmedabad

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IIM Bangalore

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IIM Bangalore

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Mayank

IIM Bangalore

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IIM Bangalore

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IIM Bangalore

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Pratham Mani

IIM Calcutta

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IIM Ahmedabad

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IIM Bangalore

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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:

Predict IIM & Non IIM Calls

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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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Student Forum

chatAnything you would want to ask experts?
Write here...

Answered Yesterday

Yes, candidates can efficiently prepare using the books recommended for CAT exam preparation or any other MBA entrance exam. The syllabus for these entrance exams is mostly similar, covering Language Skills, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Skills.

S

Shruti Shukla

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 days ago

IIM Lucknow MBA cutoff for the general category generally goes upto 90 percentile. Students must aim to score 90 & above to get admission in the institute. For other categories, the cutoff is generally lower and ranges from 60 percentile to 85 percentile. However, this changes every year. Students c

...Read more

N

Nishtha Hazarika

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 2 days ago

Students can get admission in IIM Lucknow without CAT score. But only for courses, such as EFPM, FPM, EPGP programmes. Those seeking flagship PGP/ MBA course admission must have valid CAT score. The IIM Lucknow courses for which CAT is not needed are as below:

  • IPMX
  • PGPX 
  • FPM

A

Anupama Garg

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 2 days ago

Candidates who have not appeared in any entrance test should have a Bachelor's Degree with at least 55% marks.  They will have to give a written test: same as I-CET. Students have to qualify  in Written Test, Group Discussion and Personal Interview for taking admission in MBA at Vignan's Foundation

...Read more

R

Raj Priya

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 3 days ago

No, there is no mention of CAT scores being accepted to decide MET Institute of Management MMS admissions. The institute only mentions accepting the scores of the MAH-CET to admit candidates for the MMS course.

Thus, candidates with a valid CAT score must appear for MAH-CET to be eligible to apply.

S

Saurabh Khanduri

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 4 days ago

Major topics under XAT and CAT syllabus are similar. Common sections include Quantitative Aptitude, Data Interpretation, and Verbal Ability. While the sections are same the syllabus is not identical. XAT also includes unique sections, namely Decision Making and General Knowledge.

V

Vikram Tyagi

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 4 days ago

Students of GIBS Business School participate in internships and live projects which are cross-functional opportunities to gain practical experience in key functional areas (marketing, sales, finance, HR, business development, and operations). Students engage in internships to gain practical exposure

...Read more

M

Mohammed Maqsood

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 4 days ago

No, candidates can no longer appear for the CAT to qualify for Prestige Institute of Global Management PGDM admissions. Candidates who wish to apply for Prestige Institute of Global Management admissions must now wait for CAT 2027 or any other entrance exam to qualify for the Prestige Institute of G

...Read more

S

Saurabh Khanduri

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 5 days ago

Check CUSAT CAT exam pattern below:

Subject

Total Questions

Marks

Duration (Minutes)

Mathematics

90

360

75

Physics

75

300

60

Chemistry

60

240

45

Total

225

900

180

A

Abhay Aggarwal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 5 days ago

The CUSAT CAT question paper will have 225 questions from Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or Biology. Candidates will get three marks for every correct answer, while there is a deduction of one mark for every incorrect response.

M

Manori Karan

Contributor-Level 7