Life after CAT -7 (MOCK GDs-I)

Well, GDs are probably that part of the admission process which people are least prepared to handle. Blame it on lack of maturity (of applicants) or whatever GDs don’t end up serving the purpose they were meant to.

Infact it seems some of the institutes don’t have GDs and others are removing them from their admission process because of this very reason. XLRI doesn’t have GD, and from what I have heard some of the IIMs did away with the GDs this time.

Still, TIME left no stone unturned in preparing us for the GDs.

Gyaan Segment

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There are three or four types of GDs

• Article based GDs -> Group is asked to discuss a given article.

• Case Study base Gds-> Probably the most popular form. Group is given a case and then asked to discuss it

• Abstract Topics -> Group is asked to discuss an abstract topic.

• Table/Chart based Gds -> Group is given a Table or a chart and asked to discuss it

In a GD you are supposed to present logical points on a topic with total conviction (without taking sides for as long as possible), be prepared to listen courteously to what others have to say while at the same time ready to be forceful to make your point if the situation calls for it. And obviously the impact of a positive body language cant be emphasize enough.

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The Mock GD sessions started off with a mentor assigning the group a topic and then telling the group about the format for the discussion (time for thinking, discussing and summarizing) and then backing away till the end of the discussion. At the end of the discussion he would give us his inputs about the discussion, about the totally irrelevant points made by the group (there were too many of them) and about what could possibly have been discussed (and was missed).

While some mentors concentrated only on teaching how to analyze the topic properly (Mr. Bala, Director TIME Chennai; a big time follower of this approach) while others concentrated more on Group Dynamics.

Funny thing, this group dynamics. People tend to behave strangely when sat alongside others and asked to discuss a topic.

While some just pull themselves in a shell and refuse to utter a word while others get hyper excited and are impossible to stop. They vehemently make their points, get irritated when cut short by someone, try to get back to that person and more often than not get into top of their voice arguments with other members of their group. (Doesn’t it paint the picture of someone you might know?)

Well I was thinking of putting some of my GD experiences in this post but it seems it is getting too long. Will post the details of mock GDs in another post after couple of hours.