This article is a part of a series of articles on Interview Experiences. Check out our blog for more such pieces.
IIM Indore offers a very unique program for students right out of school. It offers a 5-year Integrated Program in Management (IPM) in which the students will study a wide range of subjects over the first 3 years and then join the regular PGP in Management (their MBA program) for the last two years. To read more about the program click here.
This article will share with you the interview layout and experience of a candidate as part of the admission procedure for the IPM program. The interview is the last step of the admission procedure after having cleared an entrance test (IPMAT) and having written the Written Ability Test (WAT). There were a total of 120 seats in the program with over 50% in reservation.
Interview Setting
It was a 3-on-1 interview with 3 interviewers and 1 candidate. The panel consisted of a professor from IIM, a professor from IIT, and a 3rd interviewer whose identity was not revealed. The interview lasted 20 minutes. The interview held 35% weightage in the overall selection process; remaining 65% weightage to the IPMAT(50%) and WAT(15%). The candidate was from a science background (studied PCM+CS).
Interview Flow and Questions
Q1. Introduce yourself.
Q2. You mentioned photography:
What does a DSLR stand for?
How does a camera work? Explain the mechanism
What is aperture? How is it controlled? How does it impact the image?
What is the shutter speed? What property of the image does it control?
Q3. Questions on Physics:
Write all the Maxwell's equations
Discuss the significance of each equation, their meaning, who identified it, and what it is used for.
Q4. Questions on Mathematics:
The candidate was given a few basic graphs to plot (eg: greatest integer function)
Give an example of a function that is continuous but not differentiable.
How to identify the points of maxima and minima.
Discuss how the second derivative test works. What is the logic behind it?
Q5 Current Affairs:
There were 4 very specific factual questions based on the current affairs of the 2 months preceding the interview date.
Seeing that the candidate could not answer these questions, the interviewers didn’t probe further.
This concluded the interview.
Result: (Selected) Candidate received an admissions offer from IIM-Indore for the IPM program.
Observations and comments on the interview
It was a completely technical interview. Most of the questions were deep conceptual questions linked to the educational background of the candidate. Despite applying for a management course, there were no questions related to that. Apart from the introductory question (Q1), there were no other questions to know more about the candidate.
The candidate was weak in current affairs, however, based on the result it appears that it did not drastically impact his candidacy as the candidate had performed very well in all other parts of the interview and the rest of the selection process.
Note: The candidate had also carried a folder with certificates which each of the interviewers took turns to view during the interview. However, they didn’t ask any questions based on that.
How to prepare for such an interview
It is important to adopt a strategic and comprehensive approach to prepare for your interview. Any interview can be cracked by covering 7 areas of preparation. This article has the complete details: How to prepare for any interview | The 7 key components. It will walk you through a comprehensive preparation plan.
In the coming weeks, new articles with experiences of interviews from different colleges and job interviews will be posted.
Wishing you all the best for your upcoming interviews! Feel free to get in touch with any queries or connect for a session as well.
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