IBSAT introduced essay component last year and XAT has had essays almost since eternity. XAT essays are generally out of the box and hence give you lot of scope to use your knowledge rather effectively. Whereas with IBSAT, essay topics are general in nature and are directly related to what is happening around you.

Last years essay topics in IBSAT, were rather straight forward and one was supposed to write an essay on one of the five topics given. 400 words essay in 30 minutes should not be too difficult. Following were the topic choices,

• Global warming
• Appropriate retirement age
• Effects of immigration on social and economic balance
• Retirement age of politicians
• India’s bid for 2020 Olympics

This year, you can brush up following issues to make sure that you are in a good position to attack essays,

• Climate change
  • Kyoto pact
  • Copenhagen and its outcomes
• Economic Slowdown
• Regionalism

Above were just some pointers, I could think of. You can always share, what you have in mind in comments section below.