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IIM CAP Interview Experience ft. Tirthadeep Das, IIM Raipur
Tirthadeep Das was a B.Com fresher from St. Xavier's when he appeared for CAT 2016. He scored 97.26 percentile and appeared for the IIM CAP interview, which he has shared ahead for the reference of CAT aspirants. Though he didn't join any IIM that year, he finally chose to pursue MBA in Marketing and Operations from IIM Raipur and is expected to graduate by 2021.
IIM CAP Interview Experience
This is my CAP interview experience for new IIMs namely, Amritsar, Bodhgaya, Kashipur, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Sambalpur, Trichy and Udaipur.
Background:
Academic Scores:
10th ICSE: 88% all subjects
12th ISC: 84% all subjects
B.Com from St. Xavier's: 69%
Work Experience: nil
CAT 2016:
97.26 Percentile
Written Ability Test
A general topic on "How air pollution has affected Delhi and other cities in India. What steps should be taken and what are your views?"
Suggested Readings: WAT Topics New IIMs WAT Writing Skills
Interview Experience
Venue: IIM Calcutta
26th February, 2017
Morning Slot: 8.30 am
I was the second person to enter (Panel 4). The person who went before me came out crying. Had his interview for four LONG minutes. You can imagine my condition.
I enter and greet them.
There were three panelists, all males. (M1, M2 and M3)
M1 was very calm and had a smile throughout the interview. M2 was probably a faculty member of IIM Calcutta. M3 was the most serious person on the panel. Of course, I had to keep smiling.
M2: Tell me something about yourself. What do you do ?
Me: Told. I am from Kolkata, the city of joy (while smiling). I graduated last year (2016) and wanted to work in the meantime while preparing for CAT but couldn't due to some reasons (they didn't stop me, so I continued). I have done a few internships, one of them interested me a lot because it was with ITC and I had to work on the business model of Grofers, the hyper-local delivery startup.
M3: So What is the Business Model of Grofers ?
Me: Told.
M3: Why was ITC suddenly interested in it?
Me: (cannot reveal the details) Shared whatever I could.
M1: So, what are your favorite subjects?
Me: Economics and the sub branches of Marketing Management (my college major).
M2: (started asking questions from Economics, started with basic ones) What is a demand curve? Draw it. When will it become positive and why?
Me: Did as asked.
Suggested: Economics Questions
M1: Other basic questions about Marketing like why is Patanjali so famous?
Me: Told.
M3: What do you think of Reliance Jio and its Business Model? Why they dropped their prices and offered free services? What are the consequences?
Me: Told. Added what happens if they keep doing that. Explained using Economics.
M1 and M3 seemed satisfied. M2 was not.
M2: What are your hobbies?
Me: Told. Directed the answer on how and why I thought of MBA.
Suggested Video:
M2: (out of the blue) Draw a graph of x² and x³ .
Me: When I was done with drawing the graph of x³, M3 interrupted and asked which is the dependent. I answered it correctly.
M3: Do you read Newspapers?
Me: The normal ones that are interesting and have some quality news (made a mistake of saying 'normal').
M3: Are there any abnormal newspapers?
Me: (with a friendly smile) No, Sir. What I meant was that I read relevant newspapers that interest me and avoid the ones which print news just to fill the gaps. I certainly don't read Page 3.
M1 & M3: Tell me some of the business news you read in the past few days.
Me : Told about Snapdeal, Paytm and Mobikwik, about Infosys (just one line). The latest reports that hint that GDP growth is approaching 7%. Drifted a bit and told how ISRO successfully launched 104 satellites in one go.
Suggested: GK Building
Unison: Okay, thank you. We are done. :)
Duration: 16–17 minutes. They didn’t offer the toffee or the kaju :p
Verdict -
Converted: Udaipur, Kashipur, Raipur
Waitlisted: Rohtak
Rejected: Ranchi, Trichy.
Joined IIM Raipur in the Batch of 2021 for MBA in Marketing & Operations.
Hope his interview questions are of help to you. You can check out more questions using the Repository of IIM Interview Questions. If you're currently preparing for CAT, it's better to focus on the shortlist right now. You can use the blog posts written on CAT for the same.
You can also check out the YouTube Playlist on CAT Preparation.