Congratulations on being shortlisted. Do not take the interview lightly or become complacent! You have students who scored 200s having a higher rank than 240s too. Interviews last from 5 minutes to 35 minutes, generally the average is 10 to 20 minutes.

<aside> 💡 AfterBoards Flashcards of PYQs. Here are more interview transcripts.

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Hygiene factors for any IIM Interview:

  1. Be confident and relaxed during your interview. Smile. This will set a good impression. Start the interview with a polite and enthusiastic greeting. You don't have to rush to answer, take a couple of seconds after their question.
  2. Understand that the interviewers are professors who want to know you better. This is not a conversation where you need to "win". Being humble goes a long way. Being egotistical leads to a straight rejection. There's a difference between 'confidence' and 'cockiness'.

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CV/Resume/Portfolio: 9 out of 10 times, the professor will not look at your CV. They’ll look at your mark-sheet and start grilling you academically. However, there’s no harm in taking one. We personally recommend taking a portfolio instead where it’s a binder/file with your marksheets, 1-2 top certificates, and 1-2 pages that show new angles to you (you like to paint? take the IIM Indore’s golden arches been drawn, wildlife photographer? you get the gist — but then be ready to answer questions connected to it!)

Introduction

Give a succinct introduction about yourself. This could drive your interview. Please don’t provide irrelevant information. Mentioning your school name for 3-4 seconds is an example of that. Be snappy, and get to the point immediately. See an example of the introduction provided in the following image:

Highlight your achievements in a clear and concise manner. Don't shy away from saying it.

<aside> 💡 AfterBoards live workshop. We have provided an example of an introduction which can be used even if you don't have some out-of-the-world ECA.

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Note: NGO/online course certificates don't have much impact due to them not having any barrier-to-entry/completion. This was stated by Prof. Siddharth Rastogi (IIM Indore) publically.

However, you can mention it to drive the conversation in a particular direction:

Sir, I have completed Game Theory 101 from Economics School" (be ready to back-it-up by answering questions of that domain.)

Here is Vani’s (IIM Indore ‘27) introduction:

Vani’s IIM Indore PI Introduction

Types of questions

  1. Academic questions from 11th and 12th grade subjects