It’s only natural to be a nervous when it comes to group discussions and personal interviews. The thought of speak before other students and a panel of faculty members can be a little nerve racking. Fortunately, with the right tips and a certain amount of preparation, you can fly through your GDPIs.

Here are some simple and effective pointers from ex-students who have managed to score well in their GDPI tests, so make sure to pay close attention so that you can reap the benefits as well:

Mock interviews are great! They give you a better understanding of the topic and will be of immense value if the real GD or PI is on a similar topic. Mock interviews and group discussions also help you improve your conduct, body language and posture.

“I’m an avid reader and so I was confident that subject matter wouldn’t be much of an issue. However, I had never done GDs before and so I decided to take a couple of mock interviews. I thought I had done quite well but the invigilator gave me a lot of feedback on the delivery of my arguments. These pointers helped me a great deal – I worked on my body language and on being more articulate – I believe this was of great help both on my confidence and on my actual performance in the GDPI”.  – Ronak Rao, IIM-Lucknow

Structure your topic

The main objective of a group discussion is to see how well the student is able to analyze the question at hand and the kind of inputs he can provide on it.

“Never rush while analyzing the question, make points on the topic, and structure them in an organized way when giving the answer. This helps to improve the GDPI score since the test is to check how you can present your answer on the topic.” – Kushan Shah, IIFT

Be a good listener

Group discussions are not just meant to test how well you speak, but also how well you process and react to the other individuals while they are speaking. Be respectful while having a conversation, and respond in a calm and composed way without raising your voice.

“Take notes of the important points that the other individuals have said, and try thinking of how to respond to them. It is not always necessary to counter the point, if you agree with it, you could also build on it and provide more inputs.” – Sunil Dutta, IIT Delhi

Make use of facts and statistics

Rohit Tiwari, IIM Raipur shares the importance of using statistics “Backing up your argument with facts and figures is a great way to make a strong point in a group discussion. You come across as much more professional and well-prepared once you present facts and statistics that prove your point.”

Be prepared for common questions

“I focused on giving authentic answers and not the mainstream responses that everyone looks to give, and those answers actually helped boost my GDPI score.” –Umesh Gaikwad, NMIMS

When it comes to the Personal Interview, there are some basic questions that are given to each student. Most students think that since they are common questions, they need to have a standard answer too. This does not have to be the case at all!

Candidates are usually asked about their strengths and weaknesses, their future plans, their background and interests. Therefore, having good answers to these questions is always good. If you are looking for more guidance and information about GDPIs, maybe these tips will help

However, once you are done your GDPI, your next challenge would most probably be arranging the finances for academic expenses. If so, you need not worry as we’ve got you covered in this department as well. We at Avanse provide education loans with great benefits for the students, so get in touch with us and we’ll help you with the financial cover that you need.

Hope this article has been useful to you, all the best!