Ajay Kumar's IIM Calcutta Interview Experience || IIM Calcutta ' 21

WAT: Surveillance Cameras have now become a common thing in public places. What do you think, is it a good safety measure or is it invading our privacy? (25 mins, 300 words)

Personal Interview

There were two professors and one alumnus in my panel. I will be referring to them as P1, P2, and A.

P1 invited me inside the room and we both greeted each other while I was entering. I wished both P1 and P2, and A directed me to sit down. (Here I was waiting for one of them to direct me to sit rather than just entering the room and quickly taking a seat).

P1: He started reading my personal data form details like name, College, GPA loudly. Then He said that you have an “A” in Physics in the first year and an “A+” in Maths. Here I was just thinking whether to reply or not and then he immediately said that you must be good in Physics. Let's ask you something from Physics. He asked me what is coming to my mind when I say 8086?

Me: I replied that the first thing that is coming to my mind is the 8086 Microprocessor. Then P1 told me to keep speaking and I gave them a brief introduction of microprocessors, and how it is used in embedded systems and what is its purpose.

P1: So, you have worked from May 2017 to May 2018. What was your work profile?

Me: I told them that I was working as  Intraday Trader in European Markets and used to deal mainly with futures in 2-Year, 5-Year, 10-Year German bonds namely Bund, Bobl, And Schatz, and then I told him that I used to deal with VSTOXX Futures(The Volatility index of European Markets) Spread and have worked briefly with Euribor spread and butterflies.

P1: Why did you leave your job?

Me: I told him that I left the job because of medical reasons. He asked no further cross-questions on this.

P1: Can you tell me what is LIBOR?

Me: Here I did a mistake, I said London Interbank Operating rate and he immediately asked me if it operating or offer rate? Then I said it is offer rate to which he further questioned is it offer or overnight and at that moment I don’t know what happened but I got totally confused. And then he told me to continue. I gave him the definition of LIBOR and then he didn’t cross-question me.

P1: You said spread, can you tell me What is a spread?

Me: Sir, I will try to explain it to you using two outright contracts. Suppose we have two 3-Month outrights namely March and June Contracts and I am long in March outright and short in June outright then, (Here he cut me in between and asked what is long and Short)

Me: Sir, Long means that suppose if in a commodity contract I am undergoing long then that means that if I keep my position open till the expiry of the contract then I will have to buy that particular commodity at the pre-decided price and to undergo this contract I will have to pay some premium in the beginning. And taking the same example I explained them short. And then finally in the end completed my previous spread question.

After That “P1” Stopped asking the questions and “A” started asking me the questions.

A: Have You heard about Brexit, how is it going to impact trade?

Me: Here I Talked about the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border issue and how it is going to impact trade after no-deal Brexit is going to happen on 29th March and how it is going the affect the outcomes of the Good Friday Agreement. I also told them about how perishable goods like flowers will take more than one year to get deliver only (Here A asked me to cut short the answer as I was going in detail and quickly brief them). I was using Britain and England interchangeably then came shooting the next question.

A: What is the difference between Britain, Great Britain, and the UK?

Me: Here I got confused and told them that I know Britain is part of the UK but I am unable to recall the exact difference.

A: Can you tell how Americans can invest in Europe and England?

Me: I told him that they can do it through European exchange. Then he asked me but Europe is a continent, not a country, to which I said there is Eurex through which we can do it.

A: Are there any other ways?

Me: I don't know what happened but my mind got stuck and I was not able to think of anything and I replied Sorry Sir I am not aware of it right now.

A: Can you tell me how much investment goes from Europe to the UK and from the UK to Europe?

Me: Being clueless I told him I am not aware of it right now.

A: Can you tell me some reason for Why Brexit is happening and what will be its impact?

Me: I said that one of the reasons can be employment opportunities. Here he cut me again in between and asked do you know how many outsiders are working in the UK?

Me: I replied that I am not aware of it, then he asked me to take a guess and I gave him a decent approach on how to do the guesstimate for the same.

Then the Alumni was done with his questions. I think that this part of the Interview didn’t go that well.

Then P2 started asking me questions.

P2: Let us ask you some questions in Maths. Can you tell me what you studied in the first year?

Me: I told them about Matrices, Determinants, Equation solving using Matrices, Trigonometry, Calculus

P2: Tell me What is a determinant?

Me: Can I use a notepad? And I was about to write the formula he asked me what is non-singular matrices, first tell me that. I told him that the determinant is not zero for this one.

Then P1 also joined and asked what is an eigenvector and then I asked him should I tell Determinant first or Eigenvector first. To which he replied tell eigenvector.

I started by telling them that suppose there are three variable equations and we have to solve them then we can write them as

AX=B

I had just said that and P1 cuts me back again and asks me the equation of    Sin x.

Me: I started writing the equation of ex and he cut me again and said show me what are you doing and I told him that I am going to use ex to get the Sin x equation. And Then Both P1 and P2 started laughing and I got confused. I was pretty sure about my approach but there constant laughter bothered me. I took 5 seconds pause and then said Sir, we can get ex from the Taylor series by putting a=0 and derivative of ex  will be ex and we will get the equation and then writing eix  = Cosx + iSinx and separating real and imaginary part and equating them we can get the equation of both Sin x and Cos x. I told P1 this complete process verbally. No further cross-questions were asked on this then.

 

P1: You talked about real and imaginary parts in the previous question. Can you tell me a real and imaginary issue in our society?

Me: I asked for a minute and after 15 seconds replied that in our Indian Society in real life that is in reality everyone is screaming about equality, that they all want equality at all places but there is an underlying issue here which no one is looking and that is that the same person doesn’t want the equality. I mean that is why we all compete and fight because we ourselves don’t want equality.

After this P1 told me that your interview is over.

I have tried to be very comprehensive while writing this article. I hope that reader finds it very useful.

***

Recommended For You:

1. IIM Calcutta Interview Transcript || Nitesh Dutt, IIM Calcutta '20
2. IIM Calcutta Interview Experience 2021 - Anushka Saha, B.Com (H) Fresher
3. XLRI Interview Experience And Tips By XAT 99.976 Percentiler
4. IIM Calcutta Convert Soutik Ray Shares His Interview Experience
5. My IIM Indore Online Interview Experience | Dikshant Yadav IIM I' 22