📋 Written Ability Test (WAT)/Essay Analysis Guide: Can Human Beings Truly Act Selflessly?
🌐 Understanding the Topic’s Importance
The essay explores the ethical dimensions of leadership, organizational behavior, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It’s crucial for B-school candidates to articulate perspectives on complex human motivations effectively.
📝 Effective Planning and Writing
- ⏱️ Time Allocation:
- 📖 Reading/Planning: 5 minutes
- ✍️ Writing: 20 minutes
- 🔍 Review: 5 minutes
💡 Introduction Techniques for Essays
- Contrast Approach: “While countless acts of heroism inspire awe, the question remains whether selflessness is genuinely altruistic or subtly self-serving.”
- Scenario-Based: “Imagine sacrificing your life for a stranger. Does such an act reflect pure altruism, or is it fueled by subconscious desires for legacy or recognition?”
📊 Structuring the Essay Body
🏆 Achievements
- 📜 Example: Anonymous donations reflect altruism without visible benefits.
- 📈 Statistical evidence: Neuroscience supports selflessness activating reward centers in the brain.
⚠️ Challenges
- 🔍 Issue: Difficulty in quantifying altruistic motives.
- 🌏 Comparative analysis: Variances across collectivist and individualist cultures.
🔮 Future Outlook
Suggest approaches for fostering genuine altruism, such as ethical education, cultural exchange, and systemic transparency.
📄 Concluding Effectively
- 🤝 Balanced Perspective: “Human behavior is a spectrum where selflessness coexists with self-interest. Encouraging altruism requires acknowledging and understanding this duality.”
- 🌟 Future-Focused: “Fostering genuine altruism necessitates systemic efforts, bridging cultural gaps, and addressing skepticism.”
✍️ Sample Short Essays
⚖️ Balanced Perspective
“Selflessness, though rare, exists in forms like anonymous heroism, challenging the notion that every act is self-serving.”
🔧 Solution-Oriented
“To nurture altruism, ethical education and transparency in CSR are essential.”
🌏 Global Comparison
“While Scandinavia exemplifies communal altruism, cultural shifts are necessary to globalize such values.”

