Scored well in your CAT Exam, so now it’s time to prepare for GDPI & WAT round with some effective preparation tips to secure admission in your dream MBA college. It is crucial for the candidates to prepare for GDPI & WAT round from starting to avoid any hustle in the end. Performing well in GDPI & WAT Round plays an important role in the final selection process to ensure seat in a good MBA college.
The top-B schools have three times the number of candidates as seats, which means only one-third secure seat. Therefore, it is important to excel in GDPI & WAT to stand out among competitors.
GDPI-WAT PREPARATION: IMPORTANCE
Importance of GDPI-WAT preparation is as follows:
- Master key concepts: Understand and focus on key concepts related to GDPI to perform well.
- Enhance your communication skills: Strong verbal communication skills is highly crucial for GDPI round.
- Improve your writing skills: To excel in WAT round, it is important to have for writing ability to express your thoughts in well-structured and systematic way.
- Most Important factor: Both rounds GDPI-WAT are important to crack to secure seat in top-B school.
Explore more to know about various valuable resources, concepts, preparation tips and strategies including tips and insights that will guide you to navigate the intense competition and excel in these two important rounds that will decide your admission.
Let’s delve and examine some of the critical elements under the 3 main areas:
HOW TO PREPARE FOR GDPI ROUND?
To excel and achieve high in GDPI round, candidates should build a strong foundation of knowledge on diverse topics including current affairs, business trends, and diverse topics through regular reading of newspapers and other relevant resources. Joining GDPI mock sessions, and seek feedback from mentors or experts will help in building up areas of improvement. Balancing your preparation across individual performance and group dynamics is the ultimate key to success.
PREPARATION TIPS FOR GDPI ROUND
- Share thoughts clearly
Respect and value others point of view also while communicating yours.
- Focus and pay attention to discussion
Engage in positive discussion, be assertive and calm. Avoid any sort of arguments or debate
- Team work and collaboration matters
Highlight and focus on teamwork instead of solely focused on individual achievements
- Assessment of criteria
The overall assessment is evaluated based on individual performance and group involvement.
- Well-Preparation
Engage in regular reading newspapers, journals and expand on knowledge on diverse topics.
- Be assertive
Avoid aggression and express points confidently
- Evaluation parameters
Evaluation is based on decision making skills, team word, decision-making, analytical thinking, presentation skills and body language.
WHILE PREPARING FOR GD ROUND, KEEP IN MIND THE FOCUS AREAS
It is important to understand the areas that evaluators will prioritize in the GD round. This mainly includes the communication skills, leadership skills, personality, and well-structured valid arguments.
The table below has provided comprehensive details about the various aspects, focal areas and effective DG preparation tips:
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ASPECT
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FOCUS AREA
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ANALYTICAL REASONING
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Showcase your ability to think logically and analyse the situations
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READ MORE
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Read newspapers, journals, magazines, research reports on daily basis to expand your knowledge of latest business trends and global events. Read diverse topics, different perspectives and insights for better knowledge and understanding during discussion.
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EXPRESSION OF RELEVANT CONTENT
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Provide well-researched, appropriate, and relevant inputs during the discussion round
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ORGANISED AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
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Introduce the flow of ideas systematically and clearly, explain your statement with well-organised reasoning, brief your focal points to ensure effective communication and easy to comprehend
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SKILLFUL ARGUEMENTATION
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Put you inputs with some relevant facts, statistics and real-life examples which strengthen your viewpoint
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GOOD LISTENING
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Express your opinions after listening to others carefully, respect and value others viewpoint and contribution
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EFFECTIVE TEAM COLLBORATION
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Maintain a respectful environment, value diverse viewpoints. Guide discussions positively and allow others to put their points
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PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE PLATFORMS AND FORUMS
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Get involved in online forums and gain valuable feedback from experts thus improving skills
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TIPS TO PREPARE FOR WAT ROUND
To prepare well for WAT round, it is important to have a practice of writing essays on diverse topics and maintaining the structure of writing. Time management is very crucial ensuring that you should complete the essays within the time limit. Below are certain tips that will help you to prepare for WAT round:
- Topics ranges from abstract to current topics
WAT topics can range from abstract concepts (For e.g.: Describe the colour pink and blue) to current affairs and trends (e.g.: Growth stories of India).
- Stay Updated
Develop a habit of reading newspaper, journals, articles, publication like Economic Times, Business Standard etc. Referring to editorial of newspaper can help in providing deeper insights.
- Evaluation Criteria
Skills like language proficiency, articulation skills are being tested. It is important to maintain content relevance and clarity.
- Structure of essay
Essay can be written in 3 paragraphs including: Introduction (context and introduction), Body (Examples, facts, argument, and analysis) and Conclusion (summary and conclude).
- Writing tips
Organize the flow of thoughts systematically and derive logical arguments with clarity and accuracy.
IMPORTANT FOCUS POINTS FOR WAT ROUND
Some of the most important points and preparation tips for WAT are being listed below for reference:
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IMPORTANT FOCUS POINTS FOR WAT ROUND
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ASPECT
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FOCUS AREA
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|---|---|
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CRITICAL THINKING AND READING
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Stay updated with day-to-day current affairs, global issues, and other important diverse topics
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ESSAY WRITING AND COMPOSITION
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Essay should be written well with introduction, body and conclusion providing relevant information
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PROPER TIME MANAGEMENT
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Practice essay writings within certain time constraints to improve time management skills.
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PREPARE A DRAFT
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Its always better to start with an outline to organise and structure the ideas clearly
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REVISION
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A thorough revision is good to ensure that no grammatical mistakes are being done.
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FEEDBACK
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Seek feedback from your peers, mentors and analyse areas of improvement
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HOW TO PREPARE FOR PI ROUND?
To prepare well for PI round, have thorough research on the B-School and self-reflection. It is important to understand one’s strength, achievements, weakness, goals, and ambitions and communicate it to the interviewer confidently.
Below are few effective preparation tips for PI round that will help you to strategize your preparation:
PREPARATION TIPS FOR PI ROUND
- Be honest
Answer honestly about your profile and questions, straightforward answers are accepted while maintaining good communication.
- Lead your interview
Drive and direct your interview to by your unique stories, achievements, strengths.
- Duration of interview
The interview may vary from 20-25 minutes which may vary.
- Revise your academic concepts
Its better to revise the concepts related to your field and academic background.
- Be honest about uncertain answers
In case if you are unable to answer a question, its better to admit that you don’t know and will look into it rather than giving baseless irrelevant answers.
- Prepare yourself about personal questions
Prepare on common questions about your academics, personal information, about yourself and profile well.
IMPORTANT FOCUS POINTS FOR PI ROUND
PI is also an important step that decides your selection and is based on certain aspects and how you present yourself. The 20-25 minutes of interview have a significant weightage to determine your admission in your dream college.
The table below will provide comprehensive details about the key preparation tips for PI:
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IMPORTANT FOCUS POINTS FOR PI ROUND
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ASPECT
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FOCUS AREA
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REASEARCH THOROUGHLY
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Research well about the B-School well about its history, achievements and align the programme with you career goal
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PERSONAL QUESTIONS
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Highlight well about academics, experiences in work and achievements, strengths, and extra co-curricular activities.
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BE PRESENTABLE
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It is very essential to be presentable before sitting for an interview. Punctuality, neat formal dressing, politeness, and good personality should be maintained.
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MOCK INTERVIEWS
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Join sessions conducting mock interviews and seek guidance from peers and experts and focus on areas of improvement.
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IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO BE NOTED FOR GDPI-WAT
The GDPI-WAT preparation measures your personality, clarity of thoughts and knowledge. There are few most important questions that are common but judge a candidate’s first impression in front of the interviewer.
Here is a list of key questions that candidates should prepare to excel:
- Tell me about yourself?
Introduce yourself properly while presenting your journey like a story, touching on your academics and professional life, life journey including past, present experiences and future aspirations. Highlight key milestones that showcase your unique experiences and personality
- Why MBA?
While answering this question, emphasize on how it aligns with your career goals and the value you seek to add your profile and your interest in joining MBA which is inclined towards leadership skills, networking opportunities and knowledge expansion.
- Where do you see yourself five years from now?
While answering this question, highlight your ambition to grown in the field chosen by you while contributing meaningfully to the organization enhancing skill development, increasing responsibilities.
- Personal Information
Answer the question in a proper manner by mentioning about yourself, your family and hometown. Be prepared for all the types of questions that you may face like meaning of your name, speciality about your hometown, etc.
- Education
Discuss and mention about your academic details (place, score), most favourite subject, and reason for choosing that specific course (degree/specialization). Be prepared to answer all questions related to your academics and why you choose and in case if you have switched your field, be specific with your answer.
- Extracurricular achievements
Highlight your participation in extracurricular activities that you have achieved and experienced.
- Work Experience and Internships
Be prepared to discuss about your job role, post, company learning, key responsibilities, challenges faced, skills developed during your internship or work experience. Describe the skills and strength you have developed and improved.
- Hobbies and Interests
Share your interests and hobbies you love to do and enjoy the most by highlighting the reason for the same.
- Future Plans
Be ready to answer the questions about your future after choosing MBA with specific specialization. This will show your foresight and alignment with your present and future goals.
- Current Affairs
Stay updated about the current affairs and be ready to share your opinions as questions may arise on certain political or social issues to share your perception.
Rehearse yourself well for the basic personal questions and stay updated with the current affairs and trends.
GDPI-WAT FAQs
- Union Budget
- National Educational Policy
- Indian Economy
- And more can be the topics
Be aware with the topics and concepts
Practice good speaking and expand knowledge
Leadership, Decision making, personality development, good speaking are key skills required.
