Tricky situations in IAS interview
Dear aspiring officers, many times the board puts you in very tricky and difficult situations through its questions, because such questions clearly have neither right nor wrong answers. If you cope with these successfully, your chances of scoring good marks during the personality test become stronger.
Questions related to your height, weight and age
Many times the board members want to put you in trouble with their questions. They want to create a feeling of panic in you so that you come under great pressure. They will ask you a question which only you can answer and in fact only you should answer it but there is a high possibility that you will not be able to answer that question. For example, they may ask you your exact height in inches and centimeters. Similarly, they may ask you your exact weight in kilograms and pounds. Similarly, they can ask your exact age on that day. Which means your exact age as per that day in years, months and days. You have to be prepared for all such questions.
Questions related to personality test day
On many occasions the board members try to distract you from the very beginning. So they bombard you with strange questions like how many stairs you climbed to reach the interview room, how many vases were placed on the way, the number of the car/taxi/bus you traveled in to reach here, the number on your shirt. How many buttons are there, what is the color of your shirt, tie, suit, saree etc. The question is how to face such situations.
One way is to start counting all the objects on the way and take care of each object. Which is almost impossible (if you are not already in this habit). Plus, doing so means more unnecessary stress during a stressful day. Therefore I do not consider it practical.
Another way is to simply answer “Sorry, sir, I didn’t notice.”
I didn’t count. Although, this is a true answer but still not the best one. I am saying this because the board may appreciate you for not lying. But they may also get disappointed by this because such questions can be asked, hence you should have come prepared for them.
So, let me suggest you a way which I think is a suitable solution for such situations. In such a situation, firstly your answer should be based on the circumstances. For example, firstly it is simple and secondly it is also quite desirable that you know some things like the number of the vehicle (for safety perspective) or the number of buttons (awareness about yourself). You should have advance knowledge to answer this to the board.
They may ask you the question “Do you do this every day or is this your special preparation for today? If you have even a little habit of this then you can say “Sir, since this is a necessary thing. So generally I keep these in mind. But if you have prepared it for that day only, then you should clearly state that “Sir, as I was expecting that I might be asked this question by the Honorable Board, hence today I You have tried to do this with caution. Such an answer will be a reflection of your honesty.
Apart from this, there are some other questions like the number of vases on the path etc. Normally, we do not pay attention to things like this, nor is it necessary to do so because there is no point in doing so. For such questions, you can simply say, “Sir, I have not counted them.”
On this, they can ask you the next question that it seems that you are a very careless person and you are not aware of your surroundings. You can probably answer this in the form of “Sir, although I am not aware of the particular question asked, but I am aware of some important events about me like the number of the vehicle by which I reached here and the time I got here.” There is information about how much time it took to reach here and also the roads through which I reached here. By mentioning the activities around you to them, you will show that you have knowledge about the surroundings. Also, you are an intelligent person. Who know what to cherish and what to leave behind. Because the information you did not have. You haven’t lied on that, so you are also an honest person.
your weaknesses
Often this tricky question is asked by the board, what are your weaknesses? While answering this question, candidates often make one of the following mistakes.
The candidate tries to show that he does not have any serious deficiency or
The candidate cites a shortcoming that makes him/her unsuitable or undesirable for the job, such as “I cannot trust my female colleagues at my workplace.”
- Another type of mistake which candidates often make and which I have named as positive deficiency, for example ‘I am a perfectionist in nature’