Trick Questions - IIM Interviews
Updated: May 5, 2020
A Repository of Trick Questions that require candidate's presence of mind:

IIM Bangalore, 2015:
Interviewer: If you have three, you have three. If you have two, you have two but if you have one, you have none. What is it?
Candidate: Choices.
IIM Lucknow, 2015
Interviewer: (hands over a 3x3 matrix) Can you inverse it in under 30 seconds?
Candidate: Since the determinant is zero, it is not possible.
IIM Calcutta, 2015
Interviewer: I don't like your face, get out of the room!
Candidate: Sir, with all due respect, if you can explain me how my average looks would prevent me from being a good manager, I would happily walk out of the room.
IIM Ahmedabad, 2016
Interviewer: So, you migrated from Bihar?
Candidate: No, Sir. My family has always been in Jharkhand.
Interviewer: Are you sure? Think harder.
Candidate (after thinking): Oh, Jharkhand itself was a part of Bihar, so that way - yes.
IIM Lucknow, 2015
Interviewer: Why manhole covers are round?
Candidate: A round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover could fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the hole.
IIM Kozhikode, 2017
Interviewer: Which out of the three statements is correct?
1. A penguin flies towards east.
2. The penguins flies towards north.
3. A penguin fly towards south.
Candidate: Ma'am, none of these. Because, penguins can't fly in the air.
IIM Ahmedabad, 2016
Interviewer: So you are a guitarist? Okay, there is no guitar in this room. How will you convince me that you are a guitarist staying in this room?
Candidate: If you feel my fingertips you can see that they have formed calluses - these form by practicing over time. Initially when you start playing the guitar your fingers pain a lot during fretting the strings. But gradually your fingers adapt and these hard calluses form on the fingertips.
IIM Kozhikode, 2017
Interviewer: What is the circumference of a rectangle?
Candidate: Sir, curved figures have circumference. A rectangle has a perimeter i.e. P = 2 (L+B).
This list will be updated daily, keep checking the Repository of IIM Interviews.