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What is Group Discussion?
Group discussion is a communicative situation where participants are brought together to discuss a specific issue at hand by listening to all the points of view.
There could be a formal situation or an informal situation, wherein you are sitting with a group of friends and expressing your point of view, listening to the other’s point of view, considering it and analyzing their perspective, have a healthy discussion around it and reach a conclusion.
The faculty members in the Arya College Jaipur admission process consider it as an important requirement before admission. The discussion enriches you as:
- You gain more knowledge by the end of it.
- It may help you get more clarity on the subject.
- It also allows you to speak and organize your thoughts.
- Helps you flush out your fear of public speaking
- Get more confident with time.
- Helps you to learn to respect others’ opinions.
- Behave in the right manner when you don’t agree with them.
Formal Group Discussion or GD
Formal GDs are conducted mostly by institutes to select a candidate and by organizations as a means to filter prospective employees. It is used as one of the preliminary elimination rounds used by the organizations to filter out a large number of participants in one shot. The ones who successfully cross this impediment, are led to the next round of technical and personal interviews.
Even if a candidate is extremely academically inclined and has done an internship from the most relevant of profiles and organizations, yet the candidate can’t escape this challenge of sitting together and sensibly debating on a topic within the given guidelines and timelines. t reveals several aspects of a student’s personality-
- It tests how well-read he is.
- Is he aware of what is going around him?
- Communication skills.
- Their ability to hold onto his opinion is supported by facts and logical arguments and not low down even as the pressure mounts.
- It tests their tactfulness while disagreeing.
- His endurance as a leader as well as his conduct as a team player is on display during this particular round.
What can a student do to be able to qualify and reach the next round of interviews? A lot and lot can be done during the three to four years of college, without really stressing about it. Here are a few pointers to improve upon your GD skills:
Read
Can’t overemphasize one thing and that is reading. If you intend to qualify for the dream company and the dream job or that MBA institute, which you aspire to study then you need to read. Make it a point to read at least an hour a day. One designated hour will give you enough and more material needed as content for the GD, provided you read the right material.
From the very first year of college at the best engineering college in Rajasthan, you may like to subscribe to either a newspaper or an app which keeps you updated on the events around you, make sure you give about half an hour of dedicated time for the task. Slowly it will build on your knowledge and will improve the quality of your discussion even with your friends and family. Read top 5 to 10 classics of the genre of your choice and on the most likely topics of GD. Read on a variety of topics.
Speak
Work on your communication skills, if you read enough this will help you with your vocabulary and use of words and sentence structure. Join Toastmasters and other such forums which are primarily organized to develop your communications skills, your interpersonal skills, and your leadership skills.
You can also participate in Speech contests etc. to hone your communication skills and confidence. Participating in various public-facing events helps one to gain confidence and interpersonal skills.
Rehearse
Collect a group of friends to form an indigenous group. Pick up a topic of debate/GD and have a formal debate on such topics. Make sure that this is not just a one-off event, but a weekly occurrence. This could be not just educational but extremely fun.
Write
You may like to collect your thoughts around GD topics by not only reading but also writing your thoughts down, this will help you organize your thoughts and give them a concrete form.
Dress up
When you dress up properly in formal attire it gives you confidence and a very professional appearance. It takes just the first 3 minutes to form an impression and make it a lasting one.
Body Language
During the GD at the top b tech college in Jaipur, it’s good to be assertive about a certain opinion you hold, yet the same needs to be conveyed very respectfully and pleasantly and not by stamping on other participant’s feet or banging your fist on the table. The body language has to be extremely relaxed and positive but formal to give an impression that you are in control. You can’t shout or lose your temper. But make sure that your voice is well heard and it doesn’t get swamped in the noise all around.
Lead
Usually, when the topic is announced by the moderator, there is a pin drop silence of a minute or so since everyone is hesitant and nervous. Gather your thoughts and plunge right in if you think you have a point to make. It creates a positive impact and establishes you as the leader. But in case you want time to gather your thoughts let someone else lead.
It’s better to participate at a later stage with a strong proposition than a weak start.
Clarity and conciseness in the presentation of your opinion are the keys to the formal conversation. No emotional overflow, please. Speak objectively without getting impassioned. Beating around the bush takes away precious time and the argument may venture into unwarranted territories. These should be kept in mind while in a group discussion.
Facts and Figures
In a group discussion, whenever possible using facts and figures makes your argument more objective and difficult to disprove, the more logical and fact-based your arguments the more well-read you appear and it’s difficult to supersede it.
