A "group discussion" is just that - a discussion by a group of people. Typically 8-15 students sit across a table and are asked to freely discuss a given topic, while a panel of evaluators observes their discussion. The discussion topic could be virtually anything of general interest and current affairs. The discussion normally lasts for 20 minutes.

Nothing scares a student more than an interview with a senior panel of experts! For most graduates, this is the first serious selection interview they face. And the pressure that a 'bad' performance can make all your preparations go in vain is enough to make most people nervous.
Most institutes follow a similar format for the interview. A panel of 3-5 interviewers meets the student in a closed room. Normally the interviewers are from different disciplines, most are usually professors at the institute and occasionally behavioral psychologists are involved to observe how you interact.

You may find B-schools that don't follow the linear process in the second stage. Their second stage consists of various other tools. The table below lists some of the tools used by top B-schools to select candidates in the 2nd phase of admission for academic year 2006: