CAT and MBA Entrance Preparation Module 10 – Admissions: written tests, group discussions and interviews

Current affairs and opinion questions in a PI

Answer opinion questions in an MBA interview with a position, two reasons, the other side and a condition, and prepare current affairs at the source.

Beginner
20 minutes
Examples run with Python 3.14.8 and Pyodide 314.0.7
By MySmartCoPilot

Free: An opinion answer has four parts · Prepare current affairs from the body that decided · When you do not know, say so and reason from what you do · Practise: ten questions on opinion answers. With a pass: 2 in-depth parts and 3 interview answers, about 14 minutes.

What you will learn

Answer an opinion question with a position, two reasons, the other side and a condition
Prepare current affairs from primary sources before reading commentary
Handle a question you cannot answer by admitting the gap and reasoning from what you know
Distinguish a fact you can source from an opinion you can defend

Before you start

What you’ll learn · Before you start

What you will learn

Answer an opinion question with a position, two reasons, the other side and a condition
Prepare current affairs from primary sources before reading commentary
Handle a question you cannot answer by admitting the gap and reasoning from what you know
Distinguish a fact you can source from an opinion you can defend

Before you start

On this page

A panel’s opinion question has no right answer and two ways to fail: an answer that never takes a side, and a fact that turns out to be false. Four parts in about a minute avoid both: a position, two reasons, the strongest point against you and the condition that would change your mind.

opinion question: An interview question that asks for your view on a decision or an issue. It has no right answer: a panel listens for a side, reasons it can test and honesty about what you do not know. in a PI can start from current affairs, the decisions of the months before your interview. Read those at the source, before anyone’s commentary, and when a question reaches past what you have read, say so and reason from what you know.

An opinion answer has four parts

Opinion questions in a PI test two things at once: whether you will take a side, and whether you can defend it without inventing facts. Take an original question, whether cities should charge more for parking in busy market streets, and build the answer one part at a time. The four parts are MySmartCoPilot’s method, not an institute’s marking scheme:

Interactive · stage by stage One opinion answer, built in four parts Step through an answer to 'Should cities charge more for parking in busy market streets?', one part at a time.

The drawing shows the whole scene; its 8 steps are listed below.

Every step as text

The question. The panel asks whether cities should charge more for parking in busy market streets. There is no right answer; the panel listens for a side, and for reasons it can test.
A position with its limits. Take a side and give its limits in the same sentence: yes, in the busiest market streets, if the money is spent on those streets. The limits make the position one you can defend.
The first reason. The first reason is a mechanism, not a slogan: a free kerb goes to whoever arrives first and stays longest, so shoppers circle and block the road.
The second reason. The second reason: a charge that rises with time frees spaces for short visits, which is what the shops need.
The other side, fairly. Then the strongest point against you, stated as its supporters would state it: shopkeepers fear that customers will drive to a mall with free parking instead.
The condition. End with what would change your mind: a trial on one street that showed its shops losing footfall. It shows the panel you are reasoning, not defending.
The fence, for comparison. Compare the answer that lists the points on both sides and stops there. With no position, the panel's next question goes straight back to the start: so which side are you on?
Four parts, about a minute. The complete answer takes about a minute. Each part is something the panel can push on, and you have prepared every push.

The position carries its limits in the same sentence, both reasons are mechanisms anyone can test, and the condition shows that you are reasoning, not defending. The program checks five outlines for the four parts and prints the follow-up each gap invites:

Five opinion outlines checked for the four parts Python · opinion/opinion_check.py

"""Five outlines of answers to opinion questions, checked for the four parts of the lesson: a position, two reasons,
the strongest point on the other side and the condition that would change your mind. A missing part prints the
follow-up it invites. The questions and outlines are original. Press Edit and outline your own answer in OUTLINES."""

INVITES = {
    "position": "So which side are you on?",
    "reasons": "Is that the only reason?",
    "other side": "What would someone who disagrees say?",
    "condition": "What would change your mind?",
}

OUTLINES = [
    ("Should cities charge more for parking in busy market streets?", {
        "position": "Yes, in the busiest market streets, if the money is spent on those streets.",
        "reasons": [
            "A free kerb goes to whoever arrives first and stays longest, so shoppers circle and block the road.",
            "A charge that rises with time frees spaces for short visits, which is what the shops need.",
        ],
        "other side": "Shopkeepers fear that customers will drive to a mall with free parking instead.",
        "condition": "I would change my mind if a trial on one street showed its shops losing footfall.",
    }),
    ("Should offices keep one day a week free of meetings?", {
        "reasons": [
            "On one side, people get long hours for focused work.",
            "On the other, urgent decisions may wait a day.",
        ],
        "other side": "Some teams depend on daily contact.",
    }),
    ("Should every college require one internship before graduation?", {
        "position": "Yes.",
        "reasons": ["Students learn what work is like before they choose a career."],
    }),
    ("Should railways raise fares to pay for faster trains?", {
        "position": "Yes on the busiest routes, where faster trains save the most hours, but not on suburban lines.",
        "reasons": [
            "Time saved is worth most to the travellers who make long journeys most often.",
            "Fares that pay for the upgrade keep its cost off travellers who never use it.",
        ],
        "other side": "Higher fares push the poorest travellers onto slower, more crowded trains.",
    }),
    ("Should small shops be required to accept digital payments?", {
        "position": "Yes, with a few months to prepare and no charge on small payments.",
        "reasons": [
            "A shop that cannot take a digital payment loses every customer who carries no cash.",
            "A record of payments helps a shop show its income when it applies for a loan.",
        ],
        "condition": "I would change my mind if the costs of accepting payments fell on the smallest shops.",
    }),
]

for n, (question, outline) in enumerate(OUTLINES, start=1):
    gaps = []
    if not outline.get("position"):
        gaps.append("position")
    if len(outline.get("reasons", [])) < 2:
        gaps.append("reasons")
    if not outline.get("other side"):
        gaps.append("other side")
    if not outline.get("condition"):
        gaps.append("condition")
    print(f"{n}. {question}")
    print(f"   {4 - len(gaps)} of 4 parts" + (": complete" if not gaps else ""))
    for part in gaps:
        print(f"   missing {part}; likely next: {INVITES[part]}")

Output

1. Should cities charge more for parking in busy market streets?
   4 of 4 parts: complete
2. Should offices keep one day a week free of meetings?
   2 of 4 parts
   missing position; likely next: So which side are you on?
   missing condition; likely next: What would change your mind?
3. Should every college require one internship before graduation?
   1 of 4 parts
   missing reasons; likely next: Is that the only reason?
   missing other side; likely next: What would someone who disagrees say?
   missing condition; likely next: What would change your mind?
4. Should railways raise fares to pay for faster trains?
   3 of 4 parts
   missing condition; likely next: What would change your mind?
5. Should small shops be required to accept digital payments?
   3 of 4 parts
   missing other side; likely next: What would someone who disagrees say?

Recorded with Python 3.14.8 on macOS 26 arm64. To run it yourself: mise exec python@3.14.8 -- python3 opinion_check.py

Only the parking answer is complete. The meeting-free day sits on the fence, with points on both sides and no side taken; the internship answer is a slogan with one reason, and the two answers on fares and payments each leave out a part the panel will ask for.

Key idea

Take a side with its limits, give two reasons that are mechanisms, state the other side as its supporters would, and say what would change your mind.

Checkpoint

Check: An opinion answer in four parts

Question 1 of 2 "On one side, people get long hours for focused work; on the other, urgent decisions may wait a day." What is missing, and what will the panel ask?
Choose one answer.

The other side, and "What would someone who disagrees say?" A second reason, and "Is that the only reason?" Nothing, since it is balanced A position, and "So which side are you on?"

Show the answer: Question 1 of 2

Answer: A position, and "So which side are you on?"

This is outline 2 of the program, which printed both of its gaps: no position and no condition. A balanced answer still has to say which way the balance tips, and when.
Question 2 of 2 Why end an opinion answer with the condition that would change your mind?
Choose one answer.

It lets you change sides if the panel disagrees It shows you are reasoning from evidence, not defending a side, and names the fact that would settle it It is a polite way to avoid a position It makes the answer longer

Show the answer: Question 2 of 2

Answer: It shows you are reasoning from evidence, not defending a side, and names the fact that would settle it

A position with a condition is a tested view. It tells the panel what evidence you respect, which a slogan never does.

Prepare current affairs from the body that decided

For an interview, current affairs are the decisions and events you may be asked to judge, so every fact you use must survive a follow-up. A primary source: The document of the body that made a decision or collected the data, such as a ministry's release, the Budget documents or the Reserve Bank's minutes, as against a summary or a commentary about it., the document of the body that made the decision, gives you what a summary can leave out: the exact decision, when it applies, the body’s own reasons and sometimes the case against it. Start from these:

Topic	Start from	What it gives you
Government decisions	the Press Information Bureau’s releases	each ministry’s own announcement
Public finance	the Union Budget documents	the Finance Minister’s speech and the statements behind it
The state of the economy	the Economic Survey	chapters by subject, from employment to urbanisation
Interest rates	the Reserve Bank’s resolution and minutes	the decision, each member’s vote and reasons

The Press Information Bureau is the Government of India’s agency for informing the media about its policies and programmes, so a release gives you the government’s own account: one side, stated exactly. The Reserve Bank publishes the Monetary Policy Committee’s resolution after each meeting and, on the 14th day, the minutes with every member’s vote and reasons, so a question on interest rates comes with both sides from the people who decided. Read commentary after the source, to collect the arguments against, and log what you use as the general-awareness method does: each fact with its link and its date.

Flashcard Maker Make one card per decision: the question on the front, the decision, its date and its link on the back.

Checkpoint

Check: Current affairs from primary sources

Question 1 of 2 For a question on interest rates, which source gives you both sides from the people who decided?
Choose one answer.

The committee's resolution alone A newspaper's summary of the decision A Press Information Bureau release The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee, with each member's vote and reasons

Show the answer: Question 1 of 2

Answer: The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee, with each member's vote and reasons

A primary source can hold the case against a decision as well as the case for it. The minutes are the clearest example: the members' own reasons, side by side.
Question 2 of 2 A Press Information Bureau release describes a new scheme. What does it give you, and what does it not?
Choose one answer.

A neutral judgement of whether the scheme works Nothing useful, since it is official The government's own account of what it decided, but not the case against it, which you collect elsewhere The opposition's view

Show the answer: Question 2 of 2

Answer: The government's own account of what it decided, but not the case against it, which you collect elsewhere

Use the release for the facts of the decision, and commentary afterwards for the arguments against, each fact taken back to its source.

When you do not know, say so and reason from what you do

A panel may ask about something you have not read. Inventing a figure is the one mistake you cannot recover from, because the next question asks where it came from. Admit the gap in one sentence, then reason from what you know. Step through one such exchange:

Interactive · message by message A question you cannot answer, and the honest way through it Step through an exchange about a rule you know only from a headline. Each step says what the reply does and why.

The drawing shows the whole scene; its 6 steps are listed below.

Every step as text

The question. A member asks what you think of a rule announced last week. You saw the headline and have not read the decision itself.
The tempting move. The tempting reply invents a detail to sound informed, a figure or a date. The next question would be where it came from, and there is no good answer to that one.
Admit the gap. Say it in one sentence: you have seen only the headline, so you will not guess at its details.
Reason from what you know. Then reason from what you do know: whom such a rule is meant to help, who pays for it, and what would show whether it worked.
The push. The second member pushes for a side: are you for it or against it? A position can still be conditional on facts you would check.
A conditional position. You are for it if it does what the headline says, against it if its cost falls on the people it means to protect, and you name what you would read to settle it: the decision, on the deciding body's own site.

The admission cost one sentence. The reasoning that followed, who the rule helps, who pays and what would show it worked, is what the panel was testing, and a conditional position kept the answer on a side.

Inventing a fact to sound informed

A guessed figure or date holds only until the next question. Say what you have not read, and argue from what you have.

Checkpoint

Check: When you do not know

Question 1 of 2 What is the first thing to say when a panel asks about a decision you have not read?
Choose one answer.

A figure that sounds about right That you have only seen the headline, in one sentence A long apology for not keeping up Nothing; ask for the next question

Show the answer: Question 1 of 2

Answer: That you have only seen the headline, in one sentence

Admit the gap, then reason from what you do know: whom the decision helps, who pays and what would show it worked.
Question 2 of 2 After admitting that you have only seen the headline, how can you still take a side?
Choose one answer.

Make it conditional, for it if it does what it says and against it if its cost falls on those it means to protect Pick the side most people seem to take Invent the details you need You cannot, so decline to answer

Show the answer: Question 2 of 2

Answer: Make it conditional, for it if it does what it says and against it if its cost falls on those it means to protect

In the stepped exchange the candidate was for the rule on one condition, and named what he would read to settle it: the decision, on the deciding body's own site.

Practise: ten questions on opinion answers

Ten questions without time pressure: on the four parts, on primary sources and on what to say when you do not know. Your weakest area opens the session, and a question you miss is put to you again later.

Ten opinion questions answered three ways Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Ten original questions, each answered three ways: the fence, which lists both sides and takes none; the slogan, which takes a side and nothing more; and the four-part answer. A program checks and times all thirty.

In this part:

The fence and the slogan, question by question
The four-part answers, question by question
Thirty answers checked and timed by a program

1 runnable example (Python) · about 7 minutes

Opening this part with your pass…

This part opens with any MySmartCoPilot pass.

Pro pass · 1 week₹79$2.99
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One payment; a pass never renews. The price shown is the total you pay: no fees or charges are added at checkout.

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It also opens every other in-depth part in Learn and every Pro tool. Sales are final, except where the law gives you a right to withdraw, for example in the EU and the UK (refund policy).

Recovering from a question you cannot answer: five annotated exchanges Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Five situations in which the honest answer starts with “I don’t know”, each with the weak reply, the recovery and why it works. One of them, a fact the panel corrects, is stepped through at the end.

In this part:

Five exchanges, from a missing figure to a doubtful premise
A correction, stepped through

1 diagram · about 4 minutes

Opening this part with your pass…Pro part. It opens with the same pass as the part above.

Interview questions

Three questions take the method to harder cases:

Fresher to mid

The panel asks whether India should move to a four-day working week. You see strong points on both sides. How do you answer without sitting on the fence?

Model answer, Pro. Model answers open with any pass; prices are in the notice on this page. First step and follow-ups
Fresher to mid

A panel member asks for your view on a Budget announcement. You remember one figure from a news summary, but not its source or its year. How do you answer?

Model answer, Pro. First step and follow-ups
Fresher to mid

Midway through your answer, a panel member gives a fact that undercuts your second reason. What do you do, and how do you decide whether your position still stands?

Model answer, Pro. First step and follow-ups

Not affiliated

Based on public information about the Press Information Bureau, the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India. MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with the Press Information Bureau, the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India, and the Press Information Bureau, the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India’s real procedures and publications may differ from what this lesson describes.

Flashcards · 5 cards

Recall it, then check

Say the answer to yourself before you look: recalling it is what makes it stick.

What four parts make an answer to an opinion question?

A position with its limits, two reasons that are mechanisms, the strongest point against you as its supporters would put it, and the condition that would change your mind.
What are the two ways to fail an opinion question?

An answer that never takes a side, and a fact that turns out to be false. There is no right answer to fail with.
Where should you read current affairs for an interview?

At the body that decided: PIB releases, the Union Budget documents, the Economic Survey and the Reserve Bank's resolution and minutes. Read commentary afterwards, for the arguments against.
What do the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee publications give you?

The resolution after each meeting and, on the 14th day, the minutes with every member's vote and reasons, so a question on interest rates comes with both sides from the people who decided.
What do you do when a panel asks about something you have not read?

Say so in one sentence, then reason from what you know: who a rule helps, who pays and what would show it worked. Never invent a figure; the next question asks where it came from.

Key takeaways

Answer an opinion question with a position and its limits, two reasons, the other side and a condition.
Prepare current affairs from the body that decided, and read commentary afterwards for the arguments against.
The Reserve Bank’s minutes give each member’s vote and reasons, and a release gives the government’s own account.
When you do not know, say so in one sentence and reason from what you do know; never invent a fact.

Terms in this lesson

opinion question: An interview question that asks for your view on a decision or an issue. It has no right answer: a panel listens for a side, reasons it can test and honesty about what you do not know.
primary source: The document of the body that made a decision or collected the data, such as a ministry's release, the Budget documents or the Reserve Bank's minutes, as against a summary or a commentary about it.

References

About PIB (Press Information Bureau, Government of India)
Union Budget (Ministry of Finance, Government of India)
Economic Survey (Ministry of Finance, Government of India)
Monetary policy: overview (Reserve Bank of India)
Reserve Bank of India (Reserve Bank of India)

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In this module: Admissions: written tests, group discussions and interviews

How IIMs shortlist after CAT: composite scores Free lesson, Pro answers: 15 minutes
Final selection: how WAT and PI scores count Free core, Pro depth: 5 of 15 minutes free
Written ability tests: WAT and AWT explained Free core, Pro depth: 5 of 15 minutes free
Writing a WAT essay in 30 minutes Free core, Pro depth: 5 of 15 minutes free
Group discussions and group exercises Free core, Pro depth: 5 of 15 minutes free
GD topics and case discussions: a method Free core, Pro depth: 5 of 15 minutes free
The MBA personal interview: what panels assess Free core, Pro depth: 7 of 20 minutes free
Answering 'Why MBA?' with your career goals Free core, Pro depth: 6 of 15 minutes free
Questions on your degree and your work Free core, Pro depth: 7 of 20 minutes free
Current affairs and opinion questions in a PI Free core, Pro depth: 6 of 20 minutes free
Statement of purpose and references for MBA Free core, Pro depth: 7 of 20 minutes free
Mock interviews: practise and get feedback Free core, Pro depth: 6 of 15 minutes free

Your country

Current affairs and opinion questions in a PI

What you will learn

Before you start

What you will learn

Before you start

An opinion answer has four parts

Prepare current affairs from the body that decided

When you do not know, say so and reason from what you do

Practise: ten questions on opinion answers

Ten opinion questions answered three ways Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Recovering from a question you cannot answer: five annotated exchanges Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Interview questions

The panel asks whether India should move to a four-day working week. You see strong points on both sides. How do you answer without sitting on the fence?

A panel member asks for your view on a Budget announcement. You remember one figure from a news summary, but not its source or its year. How do you answer?

Midway through your answer, a panel member gives a fact that undercuts your second reason. What do you do, and how do you decide whether your position still stands?

Key takeaways

References

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