IIM Admission 2023: Umang Shares Tips to Convert IIM Bangalore Admission Call

Umang Agarwal from Bareilly converted IIM Bangalore admission call for PGP Business Analytics. Check his PI and WAT experience here.

Umang Agarwal, a 99.79 percentiler in CAT 2022, converted PGP admission calls from top IIMs, including IIM Bangalore. Besides IIM Bangalore, Umang received calls from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, FMS, Delhi, IIM Lucknow, and XLRI, Jamshedpur. Apart from a top score in CAT 2022, he achieved 720 marks in GMAT.

With a Bachelor of Technology degree from Manipal Institute of Technology, Umang Agarwal has worked in top companies, including Capgemini. Lately, he has joined an internship as Business Consultant at EY. Sharing his PI and WAT experience, Umang told Shiksha about how one should stress less to ace PI WAT at IIMs. Scroll down to know how Umang converted IIM Bangalore admission call.

IIM Bangalore PI WAT Experience

The selection process at IIM Bangalore involves the candidates to pass WAT and PI rounds for PGP admission. These selection rounds have been conducted for candidates shortlisted based on CAT exam scores.

• Written Ability Test: Abbreviated as WAT, Written Ability is similar to the Analytical Writing Test (AWT) conducted for IIM Ahmedabad PGP admission. IIM Bangalore conducts WAT to evaluate the logical and reasoning skills of the candidate. Along with the WAT/AWT, several b-schools have been conducting Group Discussion rounds. While several candidates have been conducting both GD and WAT rounds for MBA admission.
• Personal Interview (PI): Unlike WAT and GD rounds, almost all MBA colleges have been conducting interview rounds to select candidates for admission. Typically, two panellists ask questions to gauge the overall readiness of the candidate to pursue the MBA course.

IIM Bangalore WAT Experience

IIM Bangalore selects CAT qualifiers based on the multiple selection rounds, including the Written Ability Test. Every candidate appearing for WAT at IIM Bangalore gets a new topic to express their thoughts on the same. Candidates must express his/her thoughts on the topic. WAT topics are typically based on any socio-political event.

WAT Date at IIM Bangalore: March 8, 2023

Place for WAT: Online

Also Read: Written Ability Test (WAT): Your Next Step to IIMs

IIM Bangalore WAT Topic

I was given a topic in context to farmer suicides in India. I had to answer my thoughts on the topic with what the Government can do in this matter.

Also Read: WAT/GD Topics of top B-Schools over the years

WAT Answer for IIM Bangalore

I tried to cover all about the topic within the allotted word limit. The key areas I mentioned in my answer, included

• Causes of farmer suicides
• Government schemes 
• Improvements that can be implemented

IIM Bangalore Interview Experience

IIM Bangalore conducts Personal Interviews for all shortlisted candidates. Umang was shortlisted for IIM Bangalore selection rounds based on CAT 99.79%ile score. The space below mentions Umang’s PI experience at IIM Bangalore.

• Date of Interview: March 24, 2023
• Place of Interview: IIM Bangalore Campus
• Number of Panellists: 2 
• Duration of Interview: approximately 20 minutes

IIM Bangalore PI Questions with Answers

(Exchanged greetings and sat down)

Q: Tell us something about yourself?

A: Since this was the most common question asked in any interview, I had prepared an answer for the same. I mentioned the key points in my entire life journey till now, including my graduation, work experience, etc. I also mentioned my hobbies.

Q: What is the difference between Poisson and binomial distribution?

A: I was able to answer this question; however, multiple followup questions were asked on Poisson and binomial distribution. I was able to answer most of the questions.

Q: Write a series of numbers where mean>median>mode.

A: I was able to think of a series. The basic thought process is to select a few numbers for mode as the first numbers in series and then select a value for median which is greater than the previous two numbers. Finally, the last two numbers should be much greater than the first three numbers so that the mean is greater than the median.

Q: Why do you want to go for MBA BA? It's a specialised MBA program?

A: I indicated towards my graduation degree, that is BTech in CSE and how Business Analytics aligns with CSE and my career aspirations and goals.

Q: Do you read about business news?

A: I answered yes and then a few questions came up on the recent developments related to Credit Suisse bank. I answered the questions. A few follow-up questions were asked, including how will it affect people working in Credit Suisse In India etc.

I was able to answer most of the  questions related to Credit Suisse.

Q: What other recent developments have you been through lately?

A: I mentioned the Geopolitical issues in Europe, rise in inflation, recent union budget, government spending on capex, production-linked incentives etc.

Q: What are economies of scale and economies of scope ?

A: I was able to explain it to them with examples. Further, no follow-up questions were asked on this topic.

Verdict: Converted

Thoughts on IIM Bangalore Interview

The interview went on for 20 minutes. I had a fairly good experience attending the PI round at IIM Bangalore as the conversation was smooth. I was able to explain my motive behind pursuing MBA in Business Analytics and was able to answer most of the questions. I ensured to stress less during the Interview, even if I am unable to answer any question.

Read More MBA Interview Experience

The table below mentions the links for the MBA PI WAT experiences at top b-schools in India:

Name of Candidate	College Name	Link for Interview Experience
Aditya Singh	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Bharat Karena	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Yash Kaviya	XLRI, Jamshedpur	Click here to read the full interview
Pratyush Adhikary	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Avi Shrivastava	XLRI, Jamshedpur	Click here to read the full interview
Sujit Kumar	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Siddharth Lilani	XLRI jamshedpur	Click here to read the full interview
Saurabh Wani	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Lavisha Taneja	XLRI, Jamshedpur	Click here to read the full interview
Kushagra Dash	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Eshwar Naik	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Saara Mehta	IIM Ahmedabad	Click here to read the full interview
Kislaya	IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore	Click here to read full interview

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