Dear Readers,

Yesterday, we gave
you the following practice topic for WAT – “Of all the inventions and
discoveries in the world, which one would you have liked to do?”. This
topic had appeared in the IIM Ahmedabad 2012 admission process.

Guidelines – How to Approach this question?

The first thing
to know in subjective questions such as this is that there is no one correct
answer. The examiner does not look for what you choose as the answer but instead
looks for the logic that drove you to select it. This rationale that you use to
justify your choice is the crucial element being checked. By posing such a
question, the examiner is looking to test your logical thinking ability.

Some examples of
such questions are:

·
What is the most important
virtue that all Indians must possess?

·
What is the most crucial quality
that a person needs to become a successful business leader?

·
Which skill does India need most
in order to progress?

·
What makes a company a
credible, long term success?

For all such
questions, there is no definite answer which is correct – you may choose any
quality, attribute, etc. After presenting your choice, you should then provide
the rationale for your choice. While presenting your rationale, you may
structure it so that it addresses questions like “why did you choose this
attribute”, “why do you think this is the most important attribute” and “what
are some other important attributes that you considered”, etc. The better you are
able to address these salient questions, the more accurate and stronger your
answer would be.

How to write the answer for this topic

·
Like every WAT answer, the
ideal way to write your essay for this topic is to divide it into three parts –
introduction, main body and conclusion.

·
In the introduction, give a
general premise for the answer and then enlist 2-3 things you think could fit
the bill. You may state that you wish that you had performed the most important
invention of all time – so you now need to identify potential candidates for
the most important invention. These could be different for each candidate but
most candidates may include milestones like electricity, steam engine, internal
combustion engine, major medical advances, the computer, etc.

·
In the last sentence of the
introduction, present your top choice.

·
Once you have made the
selection, you need to explain why you picked it over others. This is what you
should do in the main body of your essay. Elaborate on why you think your
choice is the most critical invention in the history of mankind.

·
Here, you could explain the
impact of this invention and the difference it has made in the world. While doing
so, you should ensure that choosing it over the other inventions is fully justified.

·
In the conclusion, summarise
all your points in 2-3 lines and re-emphasize why you think it was the most
important invention. In the end, you can provide a quote (if you can recall
any) or a line from a book, etc. which explains how the world would have been
without it. This may make your essay stand out.

·
A brief example: If you are
citing electricity as the most important invention, you should give a concrete
reason for this choice. While other things like computer and telephones have
also redefined the human race, electricity is the source and the foundation of many
machines and other inventions. You may mention that electricity has had the
maximum impact in improving our quality of life, etc.

This is one
approach that you may use in answering this topic.

The next
practice topic is: “Today’s popular TV serials depict a life different from normal life. Why do you think realism is absent from them?” (IIM Indore, 2013 topic)

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