Students wishing to apply for various management courses are required to go through a series of rounds before they are given the acceptance letter for admissions. The series of rounds conducted are a part of the candidate selection process and can be classified into 3 stages namely Entrance test, Group Discussion and Personal Interviews and finally end with the Acceptance Letter or final call letter giving you the confirmation that you have been selected and can proceed with the admission process.
Stage 1 Entrance Test: Every institute has a written test, either its own or through various common entrance tests conducted at the all India level or the regional level. Most management aspirants can avail the benefit of giving the entrance test in either the P.B.T. (Paper Based Test) or the C.B.T. (Computer Based Test) modes as per their comfort level. The duration of these entrance examinations are usually for 2 hrs to 2½ hrs and consists of objective type questions.
The core areas tested here are:
a) Data Interpretation – this section assesses your ability to understand and interpret the data interpreted via different types of graphs and pie charts.
b) Reading comprehension – this section assesses the candidate’s ability to provide accurate responses to questions based on passages in written language.
c) Data Sufficiency – this section tests one’s ability to reason quantitatively i.e. it checks the sufficiency of the 2 available constraints or conditions involved to come to the answers.
d) Logical and Analytical Reasoning – as the name suggests this part tests the aspirant’s logical and analytical ability in solving puzzles, teasers and deductive reasoning skills.
e) Verbal Ability – this section tests the candidate’s fluency in the language mainly its usage, vocabulary, grammar and verbal reasoning.
f) Quantitative Ability – this section assesses one’s mathematical skills and aptitude. The topics covered are Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry and Mensuration (measurement of geometric quantities).
Stage 2 Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI): most institutes conduct GDs and PIs between February and March. The GDs and PIs are conducted to check the personality traits of the candidate’s. The traits that are checked are Group Behavior, Awareness and Communication skills, Initiative, Flexibility, Leadership, Assertiveness, Confidence, Creativity and Reasoning Ability. The interview can be classified into Personal Interview, Written Test and Group Interview.
a) Personal Interview - apart from testing the applicants personality traits, the interviewer or the panel also test their academics, self awareness levels and their goals.
b) Group Interview – apart from the above mentioned parameters even the analytical abilities are assessed.
c) Written Test – this is institute specific; some institutes have essay writing or case studies to check the insights and foresights of its applicants.
Stage 3 Final Call: on clearing the above 2 stages the applicant receives the acceptance letter or the final call letter stating that he/she has been granted the permission to seek admission for the desired course and can proceed to the admission process. Most institutes ask the candidate to pay the first instalment for the course within 30 days from the call letter date.