ISB PGP Written Ability Test: topics, format and timed practice
The ISB PGP Written Ability Test gives you two prompts inside a single 20-minute window on interview day, roughly 10 minutes per response. The second prompt appears only after you submit the first, so you cannot read both in advance or shift time between them.
ISB prompts are mostly second-person situational dilemmas: a teammate proposing a shortcut, an employer offering gifts, a friend who cheated. They are not the current-affairs debate topics that fill most WAT topic lists, and practising the wrong prompt type is the most common ISB preparation mistake.
This page carries the full topic bank grouped by category, with candidate-reported prompts labelled separately from practice topics written in the same style. Start a timed simulation below and get your response scored on problem identification, decisiveness, cost acknowledgment and writing under pressure.
ISB PGP WAT timed practice
Timed practice · 20 minutes · 2 prompts
Both prompts share one 20-minute clock, and the second appears only after you submit the first, exactly as ISB PGP sets it. Target 200–250 words per response. Responses under 80 words cannot be submitted or scored.
No account needed to practise. Sign in when you want the response scored.
ISB PGP WAT format
| Structure | Two prompts inside a single 20-minute window |
|---|---|
| Time per response | Roughly 10 minutes each |
| Sequence | The second prompt appears only after you submit the first |
| Length | No stated word limit; 200 to 250 words is enough |
| Mode | Typed into a portal at the venue |
| When | Roughly 45 minutes before your interview slot |
| Panel | Can question what you wrote during the interview |
What the ISB PGP panel scores
These prompts are judgment tests, so the score follows what you decided and what you were willing to pay for it, not how much you knew about the topic. Your practice response is scored on exactly these dimensions.
- Problem identification
- Did you name the real conflict? Most situational prompts contain a conflict people miss on the first read.
- Decisiveness
- Balanced consideration is good. Ending without a decision is not, because refusing to commit reads as avoidance.
- Cost acknowledgment
- Anyone can write "I would report it." The stronger answer names what that costs you (the friendship, the team, your standing) and still chooses.
- Writing under pressure
- Short sentences, visible paragraph breaks, no hedging. A panel reads this in five minutes.
How to structure your ISB PGP WAT response
- 1Name the real conflict in one line: what is at stake, and for whom. Skip the introduction entirely and open here.
- 2Check the facts before acting. Say what you would confirm first, and why acting on an assumption would be worse.
- 3Have the direct conversation. Say who you speak to first and roughly what you would say.
- 4State your escalation threshold as a condition: "if the number is still in the deck after that conversation, I go to the professor." A threshold shows judgment.
- 5Close on what changes: what you would put in place so this does not recur, or what you took from it.
ISB PGP WAT: common questions
- How long is the ISB WAT?
- Two prompts inside a single 20-minute window, which works out to roughly 10 minutes per answer. The second prompt appears only after you submit the first, so you cannot read both in advance or move time between them.
- How many words should an ISB WAT answer be?
- There is no stated word limit. At roughly 10 minutes per response, 200 to 250 words is enough to make a case properly.
- Is the ISB WAT handwritten or typed?
- Candidates report typing into a portal at the venue. Format details shift between rounds and venues, and some cohorts report a written or fully online variant.
- What kind of topics does ISB ask in the WAT?
- Mostly second-person situational dilemmas: an ethics, team or workplace conflict where you have to decide and justify it. That is materially different from the current-affairs essay topics most WAT topic lists cover.
- Does the interview panel read your ISB WAT response?
- Candidates report that the panel can question the response in the interview that follows, so take positions you are willing to defend out loud.
Where these facts come from
Format details and topics on this page come from our own research guide, ISB Written Ability Test (WAT): Comprehensive Preparation Guide. Selection formats change between rounds and venues, so confirm against your official interview call before you rely on any timing detail.
Last reviewed 19 August 2026.
ISB PGP WAT topics: the full bank
All 73 practice topics for the ISB PGP Written Ability Test, grouped by category. 13 are prompts candidates have reported from real interview days; the rest are written in the same style for practice. Any of them can come up in the timed simulation above.
Reported dilemmas (13)
- In a case competition, your teammate suggests taking a shortcut. What do you do?Candidate-reported
- Your team in a case competition wants to use a competitor's confidential strategy. How do you respond?Candidate-reported
- An employer that hired you and your classmates for internships offers high-value gifts on project completion. Some of your peers have accepted. What do you do, and how does it affect your relationship with the employer and with your peers?Candidate-reported
- A usually reliable team member is under stress and their performance is affecting the team. What do you do?Candidate-reported
- A team member is repeatedly late and taking frequent time off. Others are visibly frustrated but nobody has raised it officially. What steps do you take?Candidate-reported
- You made an error in a simulation that could affect your team's performance, and your instructor may not notice. Do you tell them?Candidate-reported
- You are leading in a diverse environment and some people are not being heard. What do you do to change that?Candidate-reported
- You find out a close friend cheated on an exam or plagiarised an assignment. What do you advise, and how?Candidate-reported
- In a peer review, you have to give critical feedback to a colleague who takes negatives very personally. How do you handle the conversation?Candidate-reported
- A friend who has helped you often needs sensitive data from your part-time job for a class project. What do you do and why?Candidate-reported
- Two friends in your study group are in conflict and it is affecting the whole group as finals approach. What do you do?Candidate-reported
- Your group is inflating data to improve results, arguing that everyone does it. How do you respond?Candidate-reported
- A key team member makes an error that could affect your grade, and the professor suggests replacing them. What do you do, and how do you get the project finished?Candidate-reported
Ethics and integrity (6)
- Your manager asks you to adjust numbers so results look more favourable.
- A vendor has offered a colleague a commission to push a deal through faster.
- A classmate is using AI tools for internship work meant to be original.
- A client offers a personal favour in return for prioritising their project.
- You find errors in a report just before submission and your manager says there is no time.
- You could publish a paper using restricted company data that would strengthen your profile.
Team and leadership (6)
- Two team members disagree on approach and the conflict is delaying delivery. You lead.
- A teammate contributes less but expects equal credit.
- You lead a remote team and communication gaps are hurting deliverables.
- Your team has missed several deadlines through poor coordination.
- A strong performer dominates every discussion and others have stopped speaking.
- You are asked to mentor a friend for a competition you are also competing in.
Campus and workplace (6)
- A peer has plagiarised part of a group assignment you are all submitting.
- A classmate is struggling academically and hiding it out of fear of judgment.
- You are the only one who sees a serious flaw in a plan seniors already approved.
- During an internship, your manager presents your idea as their own.
- Your team wins an award, but the result depended heavily on an outsider.
- A team post is drawing criticism for a remark that was not intended the way it landed.
Business and economy (13)
- Startups matter more than large corporations to the growth story.
- Startups should prioritise profitability over growth to be sustainable.
- Fintech will make traditional banking obsolete within a decade.
- The growth of fintech is a systemic risk, not just competition.
- Physical retail will not survive the dominance of e-commerce.
- The gig economy is reshaping employment, and traditional sectors carry the risk.
- Remote work is permanent, and firms that resist it will lose talent.
- Business ethics has to sit inside strategy, not with compliance.
- Public markets now resemble gambling more than investing.
- Central banks are losing relevance in managing the next crisis.
- Localisation should take priority over globalisation.
- Trade tensions have permanently reshaped supply chains.
- Governments should intervene more aggressively in shaping future business models.
Technology (8)
- Automation and AI will define the future of work more than any policy decision.
- AI will create more problems than it solves.
- Data privacy is the biggest challenge facing business today.
- Cybersecurity capability will decide national competitiveness this decade.
- Quantum computing will redefine strategic power.
- Data governance now has to evolve faster than business models.
- Technology has shifted power in society more than any other force.
- Does technology make us more human, or less?
Society and policy (13)
- Free speech is under threat on social media platforms.
- Social media has done more harm than good.
- Mental health should be a mandatory subject in higher education.
- Universal basic income is a workable answer to poverty.
- Gender equality can only be achieved through policy and quotas.
- Education reform is the foundation of the next phase of growth.
- Corruption remains the single biggest barrier to economic potential.
- Diversity and inclusion are not optional for effective leadership.
- Immigration is reshaping national identity faster than politics can absorb.
- Nationalism is undoing decades of cultural exchange.
- Climate change is the defining challenge for the next generation of leaders.
- Space exploration is hard to defend while basic problems remain unsolved.
- A demographic dividend becomes growth only if employment keeps pace.
Abstract (8)
- Change is the only constant.
- Critical thinking matters more in an age of information overload than ever before.
- When information conflicts, the idea of truth itself comes under pressure.
- Do we control our choices, or do our circumstances?
- The pen is mightier than the sword, even now.
- Art and technology together will define the future of creativity.
- Leadership today demands empathy and agility more than authority.
- Success is a ladder you cannot climb with your hands in your pockets.