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WAT Topics - IIM Ahmedabad
Updated: May 4, 2020
This post contains the list of topics that have been asked for the Written Ability Test (WAT) in the IIM Ahmedabad interviews conducted to date at different venues:
2019
Author claimed that the Cursive Handwriting practiced in early childhood days in school is of no use and is a waste of time in this Tech-Savvy world these days. He suggested the schools to focus more on sports, music and other creative activities and advocated for Introduction of Technology in Writing.
All news anchors are the same. There is no real news anywhere. They invite guests on their shows and ask aggressive question like, "In a country where leaders like Gandhi Ji lead their lives for the country, you are talking about potholes". They try to sensationalize every issue. Govt. should control media as soon as possible.
Development in metro cities is resulting in broken families and making people insensitive toward one another.
A passage about CSR Activity, indirectly stating that smoking and alcohol companies should not do CSR as it is just an eye wash.
School uniform should not be made compulsory as school cannot decide what to wear. Also, it restricts the individual thinking so at first place uniforms in school should be removed.
India's middle class is growing rapidly with 29% in 2015 to 44% in 2025 according to a McKinsey report. Discuss its implications on the economy and society.
Mobile phones are invading our lives and reducing human interaction.
2018
Ragging breaks barriers between juniors and seniors. Ragging also makes colleges culturally unique. Therefore ordinance banning ragging is bad and should be reversed to preserve identity of the college.
Technology impacts how children think and feel. They tend to think superficially and lose creativity. The ones who spend too much time online tend to lose focus. So they should be kept away from technology till they are 12 years old. We had to take stand for or against it and explain.
Political parties are increasingly using social media platforms to target and influence specific set of people. The argument was that it created a level playing field for everyone, and that it is overall good for humanity. We had to identify the claims made by the author, the line of reasoning, and also analyse if the argument was strong/weak and provide reasons for the same.
Money is very important in present world and it can buy you happiness. It does not matter how that money is earned because irrespective of the source of its generation, you can use it in myriad of ways to fulfill your needs and wishes. People who deny this fact do so to hide their inability to earn more. Money can give your children education in prestigious colleges and can help you enjoy exotic vacations. If you earn good money, you can even retire early from your job and enjoy a good life ahead.
The "#MeToo" campaign has been quite an exaggerated one. It is ruining the foundations of our society and worsening the current situation regarding trust on men. These allegations on men, who were respected in the society otherwise, could be disregarded until these numbers become sensational.
The Kannada Development Authority recently protested against the conducting of a Staff Selection Commission recruitment exam in Karnataka and Kerala to fill the posts of clerks, assistants and data entry operators as the exam was conducted only in English and Hindi. The KDA felt that it would put the local aspirants at a disadvantage as they wouldn't be able to attempt it in their mother tongue. SSC countered by saying that the jobs being central government based, would be subject to transfer to other states, where they would be at a disadvantage. The conducting of a language test before moving to other states is not feasible. Hence candidates should know Hindi to attempt the test.
Cleanliness is something which the western world follows out of ethics and an efficient waste management system. While some other countries follow it due to imposition of draconian laws. India follows neither- and hence the leads to unhygienic public places. Children follow the cleanliness only if they are taught about it. What India needs is a proper civic education system. But who will impart this lesson? The schools and teachers are neither interested nor are willing to take up the challenge. It seems impossible that cleanliness will be taught to students. We should stop hoping for a Clean India.
The topic presented to us an argument about how we should not care about the environment as once we have reached the pinnacle of our development we can take care of it anyway.
Topic was based on ‘Chalta Hai attitude of Indians’.
A Case study on a Beverage Company’s Cola drink. There were strong allegations against the company for using acids above the permissible limits set by foreign authorities in their Kola drink. Whereas there were no such permissible limits set by any governing bodies in India. Due to a high level of acidity in the drink, children were suffering from illness…etc.. You are the Marketing Manager, who is on leave for 2 days to look after your daughter who is sick, might be because of drinking the same Cola drink. As a Marketing Manager, how would you handle this situation after joining back? What would be your plan of action?
Something on a pedestrian accident and analyzing the relevance of a measure introduced to prevent its recurrence.
A brief passage regarding the inappropriateness of GDP as a measure of a country’s welfare followed by a few questions seeking views on the correctness of this claim. (250-300 words in 20 minutes)
A case study on freedom of expression. Should there be limits or not?
IITians are offered subsidy for their education and it is taxpayers’ money. They end up taking management jobs and hence it is a wasteful expenditure on them. Write the claim of the author, whether you agree or not and why?
It was a passage about how social media and internet reflect the ideas and behavior that our society reflects and identifies with. The passage mentioned about a fictional character on twitter with the name ‘Pakalu Papito’ has so many followers on twitter and retweets, even more than most of the celebrities. How he tweets mostly about money and his tweets portray an exhausted and demotivated guy. His huge following means that he strikes a chord with the world. So, this implies that our society is also demotivated and exhausted. Hence we can conclude that we have no future as a society.
2017
What will you do if you become the Prime Minister of India?
The argument given to us was on the workweek which is 5 working days and 2 holidays currently and how it is beneficial to switch to a 3-1-2-1 workweek.
A case study on replacing all the cars with self-driving cars due to advancement in algorithm based technology - We were supposed to critically analyse the author’s assumptions and point out merits/faults in author’s suggestion.
Non violence in today’s world.
2016
People nowadays tend to lead rather than work. Write your views about it in 200 words.
We had been given a long statement on how tourism leads to corruption of societal values/morals etc., and that it should be restricted to certain parts of the year. We had to give our own analysis, support and weaken the argument, consider the assumptions made and think what other data points could help us support/weaken the argument.
The relationships between employees and their organizations are becoming transactional in nature. This is leading to increased stress and burnout at the workplace and a decline in employee loyalty. Thus, to improve employee loyalty, organizations should strive to create a better workplace environment and invest in the learning, development and well-being of their employees.
A case based on the views of an employee in the firm regarding a research. We had to find out Assumptions, arguments to support and weaken the statement.
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