"The conventional wisdom unconventional way" keep yourself updated with latest mind boggling questions and & new methods of solving problems.

Showing posts with label GDs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GDs. Show all posts

Why Should You Worry About GD/PI now?

Its just the beginning (or maybe the middle, depending on when you started!) of the CAT prep season for the 2008 year. And you are probably concentrating on the Big Daddy of all subjects...Math/ Quant. For some strange and unknown reason, most of us tend to take English as the Small Cuddly Bear that "We will tackle anyways".

So, the point is: Is this really any time to think about the GD/PIs? I have been interacting with students since 1999 when I joined from the K campus. And, invariably, I found the one quality lacking in most students at all places (and I have seen students in Delhi, Lucknow, Bangalore and now, Pune)- Public Speaking Confidence. And I am not referring to a stage fright here! Its plain and simple "Standing in front of the class and saying a few words..."!

I must say this one time...Wake Up! Get Ready for the next phase NOW! Assuming your best dreams coming true, you will get about 2 months' time to get ready for a GD and PI call. At that time, if you are at the current communication levels of not knowing what to say about yourself, or where to get that economic "current" data from, I can promise you that it will a really uphill task.

I have a concise bulleted list to help you start:

1. "Think in English"- If you are in the habit of first thinking in Hindi/ Marathi etc. and then translating into English, you are wasting time. And more importantly, you are not "feeling" the language.
2. Reading Practice- I know I am violating the golden rule of RC by asking you to read aloud. But you need to read aloud in front of a mirror, though the RC reading still has to "mann mein"!
3. Read the Editorial of a newspaper from the first to last word- Its really hard, but its inevitable. And do this practice also for one business magazine. Slowly, you will start understanding it too:)
4. Understand both sides of the coin- Try and understand all aspects of a statement. The quality of your participation in a GD is guaged by the way you respond to other people's viewpoints. Can you think of points going against the conventional standpoints? For instance, think of points in favour of Dowry, Child Marriage or Reservations. Once you understand the other person's views, you can present better counter-arguments!

There is a lot of work to do, and the time is not too much, considering you have grown up doing things the easier way. The good news is...there is enough time to make amends :)

All the best!

Indian Union Budget 2008 Analysis

Indian Economy

An interesting dope on Sethu Samudram Project

With the CAT coming closer, I thought this could be an interesting aspect to the Sethu Samudram Project. I am guessing that this could be one of the topics of GDs this year!

Read the full article 'The Sethu Samudram does not make nautical sense' at
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/01inter.htm

Please don't miss the responses from the readers to get ready for objections from the other GD participants.

I found the following response most witty:


Motives getting mixed up!
by Indian Indian on Oct 09, 2007 01:50 AM

We don't want mariners looking into all this...because then, the motives get mixed up. They seem to be just thinking straight-forward... Whereas, in the eyes of the DMK, the project has enormous benefits: One, the immediate and obvious advantage of some 20% as bribes, i.e., 20% of Rs. 2400 crores, that is, Rs. 480 crores. Will Captain Balakrishnan give this money to Karunanidhi and TR Baalu?

Secondly, DMK sees this as one more opportunity to destroy a Hindu heritage, so that they can make their Muslim support even stronger (and, strangely, this does not come at the cost of losing Hindu support, because Hindus think straight-forward and get confusesd by all the glib talk by DMK politicians, and still vote for the destroyers of Hinduism)... Will the Captain ensure better Muslim support for DMK, if this project is dropped?

Search This Blog

The Contributors

RAVI's KNOWLEDGE CENTER
View my complete profile

Blog Archive

Distributed by eBlog Templates