IIM Admission 2023: Bharat Karena Breaks Down IIM Ahmedabad AWT-PI For You

Bharat Karena converted the IIM Ahmedabad admission call for PGP’25. He recalls his path in converting IIM-A PI and AWT admission call below.

Bharat Karena Breaks Down IIM Ahmedabad AWT-PI For You

Bharat Karena, a 96.7 percentiler in CAT 2022, converted PGP admission call from IIM Ahmedabad. Besides IIM A, Bharat got calls from IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Indore. He completed a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Surat. Bharat has been working at Asian Paints as a Senior Executive position. With an experience ranging four years, Bharat has a stellar profile for IIM Ahmedabad’s flagship PGP course. In a conversation with Shiksha, Bharat shares his PI and AWT experience at IIM Ahmedabad.

Additionally, he focuses on what matters the most while appearing for a personal interview round, irrespective of college, score, or any other factor. Read Bharat’s PI AWT experience at IIM Ahmedabad.

IIM Ahmedabad AWT-PI Experience

The selection process at IIM Ahmedabad involves the candidates to pass the AWT and PI rounds converted for the shortlisted candidates. IIM Ahmedabad selects CAT qualifiers based on the selection rounds, including Personal Interview (PI), and the Academic Writing Test (AWT).

• AWT: The acronym for Analytical Writing Test, is identical to the Written Ability Test. IIM Ahmedabad conducts AWT to gauge candidate’s logical and reasoning skills. Several b-schools have ditched Group Discussion rounds to conduct WAT/AWT for MBA admission. However, several b-schools conduct both GD as well as WAT/AWT under the selection process.
• Personal Interview (PI): This is among the most important MBA admission round in all the b schools. A group of panellists come along to gauge the overall readiness of the shortlisted candidate to pursue the MBA programme from their institute. Several questions and cross-questions are asked from the candidate to know whether he/she is a right fit for the institute or not.

Also Read: IIM Ahmedabad Admission

IIM Ahmedabad AWT Experience

To answer the AWT question, I decided not to focus on complex writing and using complex vocabulary. I wrote my thoughts freely and not much in fancy or formal language.

IIM Ahmedabad AWT Topic*

Since teenagers today use little lies in relationships to impress the date. Relationships are not the same for them as it was before. Contrary to this Gen Z considers it to be honest and confident. It is better to be rejected than lying. 

Give the assumptions made by author, arguments in support and counter to it.

*It was a complete paragraph discussing dating and relationships in today’s age.

How was AWT Answered?

I was required to put my assumptions forward, be it in favour or against the topic. Here are some brief points that were included in my answer:

In favour of the topic, I mentioned how honesty plays a key role in the relationship. I mentioned that honesty in a relationship might not give a desired short-term result, but will be beneficial in the long term. It builds strong trust between two individuals.

Opposing the topic, I mentioned how truth should have an appropriate time. Why one shouldn’t speak the truth at the wrong time. Although, I mentioned truth must be conveyed in time.

IIM Ahmedabad Interview Experience

Date of Interview: February 4, 2023

Place of Interview: IIM Ahmedabad Campus

Duration of Interview: 28-30 minutes

Number of Panelists: 2 (1 male and 1 female)

IIM Ahmedabad Interview Questions with Answers

Q1: Tell me something about yourself. Were you able to manage the transition of language from 12th to graduation?

Ans: While answering this, I mentioned about my hometown, academic qualifications, work experience and my hobbies.

Q2: As a mechanical engineer, have you studied fluid mechanics?*

*additional questions were put forward relating to Mechanical Engineering, such as Bernaulli's equation, Reynold's transpose theorem, Euler's equation.

Ans: I answered what is Bernaulli's equation; following my explanation, two follow up questions were asked. I was not able to recall subsequent answers so said ki I am unable to recall.

Q3: What were your favorite subjects in UG?

Ans: Thermodynamics and heat transfer

Q4: Why do you like heat transfer?

Ans: I mentioned that while studying the applications of heat transfer, there are less assumptions and the subject can be visualised practically.

Q5: What is the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

Ans: I was unable to recall exact definition of the law; however, was able to explain the meaning of the law.

Q6: What is entropy and what is it's significance?

Ans: Told in brief but again many counter questions like entropy of fluid and liquid. I was able to partially answer the cross questions.

Q7: What are some of your learnings from your work at both technical and personal level?

Ans: I mentioned about my first experience in the corporate world, including what I learnt. I also emphasised on how the corporate world teaches professional relationships, mental toughness, and more.

Q8: Why do you want to do an MBA?

Ans: Told about career learning, growth and career aspirations.

Also Read: How to Answer Why MBA? With Sample

Q9: Who are the competitors of your company? Why does your company hold such a large share, is it quality or something else? What are the things your company is doing to grow?

Ans: Told some of the competitors of Asian Paints, market share and two reasons for high market share. Additionally, I also mentioned about the business diversification strategies.

Q10: What is the price comparison of products at Asian Paints and similar product of competitors?

Ans: I mentioned that I am unaware of the competitors pricing.

Q11: What kind of inventory management models do you use at Asian Paints?

Ans: I told the panelists about the use of past consumption data by the company. Additionally, I mentioned how we manage the additional demand if any large scale project arises. No formal model is used for inventory management.

Q12: Why did you change the organisation?

Ans: Told about change in role, more responsibility and good salary hike.

Q13: What is your role currently? What kind of tools do you use for project monitoring?

Ans: Told about project execution. Told that I know a software named Primavera for project monitoring; however, we primarily monitor the status via excel sheets or via pen-paper approach.

Q14: Apart from regular work, how do you stay updated with the new trends in your fields?

Ans: Told about some aspects of vendor interaction. But the panellists asked about my personal approach to get aware of new trends. I told that I do not indulge in any additional thing to keep myself updated, I just update my knowledge by referring to various standards which already exist.

Q15: Suppose I and my colleague want health insurance, what are the factors you will consider to decide the premium?

Ans: I told three such parameters; however, the panellist asked to write four more parameters that I think should be considered. I was able to tell four more but that was a mere guess, I didn’t know if it was correct or not.

Q16: Where have you travelled outside South Gujarat (I have been studying and working since the last 7.5 years in a nearby area)

Ans: I mentioned two cities I visited for the athletic competition and SSB interview.

Verdict: Converted

Thoughts on IIM Ahmedabad Interview

Overall I had a mixed experience after the interview. No questions were based on current affairs, hobbies, strengths, and weaknesses. A lot of emphasis was on academics despite my work experience of more than 3.5 years. In my opinion, the things which matter in an interview is the confidence, attitude, approach and vision. 'How you proceed further when you don't know the answer' is something of great importance. Not knowing 2-3 objective things won’t make a huge difference if you have the right attitude. Top IIM interviews have some questions in which we are not very comfortable.

Read More Interview Experiences

The table below mentions the links for more interview experiences.

Read More:

• IIM Shortlist 2023 - 2025 OUT: Check PI Status, Final Result, Wait List, CAP, Cut Off, WAT-PI Dates
• Top 32 Questions to Prepare for Personal Interview (PI)
• 80 Group Discussion (GD) Topics for MBA
• Understand GD-PIWAT Process for MBA Admission
• MBA Interview Preparation Guide 2023
• 5 MBA PI Situations that may Stump You
• IIM Admission & Selection Criteria
• 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