Group Discussion !!!

One of my friends Pooja Tiwari, had pinged me on Gtalk to clarify her doubt and gain a perspective on Group Discussion (GD). I am reproducing the chat, as is with her permission, as it would according to me help people get some insight into the GDs that are conducted for entrances into MBA institutes. Hope it would serves the purpose it intends to... there might be spelling errors/short forms, please ignore them an proceed with the spirit of the discussion.
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pooja: yaar i have a gd for IIF on 9th feb

2007

sachidananda: humm... good...

prepared?

pooja: i m tensed for my GD

i have never attended before

sachidananda: dont get tensed....

pooja: ya i know

sachidananda: jst relax... and u need to understand and have some practise...

pooja: how to prepare for a GD plz guide me

sachidananda: GD... well wht sort of gd will it be ny idea?

I mean case based or

news paper cutting based or

pooja: depends i do not knwo anything it could be any

sachidananda: did u ask the seniors

pooja: actually na i have no friends who have attended GD

sachidananda: humm...

pooja: so no guidance

sachidananda: wr u able to contact ppl who passed our of IIF?

pooja: bcuz they are strangers to me

so it is very difficult to get guidance frm them

sachidananda: if they have time... they will be more than willing to help u

so dont worry... jst try contacting them n see if u can get some information on the GD

well at a general level I can tell u a few guidelines

pooja: ya may bne

ya tell me

sachidananda: 2 min

pooja: ok

sachidananda: well as I told u

the GD's will be of 3 kind...

1. Case based,

2. New Paper clipping based

3. Some pseudo topic

along with these you might be asked to summarize the discussion that you had in the GD... so be ready

the 3 types need some variations in the way you prepare...

2 min

u thr?

pooja: ya i m reading ur tips

sachidananda: 2 min

Lets take the simplest of the 3 types...

Case based...

pooja: ok

sachidananda: all you have is the case and you will be analysed based on ur ability to analyse ur case...

you will be have to jot down or highlight the points in the case which you think are most important... generaly the case will be 1 page or lesser... and you will be given around 6-7 min to prepare

pooja: sounds interesting

and what type of questions are generally asked in personal interview

sachidananda: then you will have to give a good discussion on the case points u highlight and get different way to look at the case. and try and analyse the case...

will come to the PI later

pooja: ok

sachidananda: lets come to the news paper cutting

pooja: case could be anything like accident, water problem in building

sachidananda: this is a bit tougher in the sense that while in case you will limit urself to the case facts, in news paper cutting related discussion you will have to took at the current happening and discuss them well...

you might get excited and try to get ur opinions... but u need to control urself and

see that u are able to appreciate other's points as well....

so in this type of GD it would be more if ur general knowlegde and nothing more...

pooja: ok

sachidananda: coming to the 3rd type....

the psedo topics...

pooja: ok

sachidananda: u will be given some arbit topic and you will be discussing on it...

hr its more of ur creativety that is checked....

say some sentence like "Red is hot"

this is given and you will need to

think and get as many ideas a possible...

pooja: sounds crazy

sachidananda: and generally it gets out of control in this case...

if you are able to get something reallys stud level then its easire to mak it

like say you can make a small poem on the topic it would be a cracking one for u

pooja: right

yaar u r very nice guide

sachidananda: he he... thanks...

now some general fundaes...

pooja: u may proceed

sachidananda: there are 3 parts in a GD

pooja: jaise ki

sachidananda: 1... the start.. 2... the intermediation..3...completion or conclusion...

the case anchor would giv u

some instructions at the begining... wht u will have to carefully note is

pooja: k

sachidananda: whtr they would be indicating the time to start the discussion or whtr u ppl need to start off on ur own

if they would indicate then its would be easy.... if u are to start then u will have to be sure all the members have read the case

for this u would have to see if all are done and are waiting for the discussion to start... "

in such a case u can start... "From you reactions I see we are ready with teh case... and we are ready to discuss.. "

then follow it up with a small time on some way of looking at the case...

* this shows ur initiative in taking leadership... this is an important scorere...

ensure you have a valid dimention to add and not jst the case facts stated...

this is an imprt part.. dont waste the lead that u get...

after this part jst continue adding valid perspectives..tht will hlp u crk the GD...

pooja: ya yaar it sounds interesting very interesting

sachidananda: but if u dont get this chance... dont worry 2 have the most important part that is the middle part of the discussion...

gnereally the GD would last for 10-15 min...

unless it turns out to be a fish market...

After the initiation, in this section u will have different ways the Gd is goin on...

1. some times it might run out of control...

2. sometimes it might jst be going in one direction...

3. sometimes it might be revolving around the same point...no new perspective...

4. some times it might be that every one is pulling the cart in all different directions and no one is able to pull the cart for too long...

pooja: ok

ya i agree with u

sachidananda: the way u handle these 4 situation would be different

1. in this case whr the grp is out of ctrl... u need to try and get it under a smooth proceeding...

say u act as an arbitrator... and ensure then communication goes on well...

pooja: i knwo this kind of step will earn bonus points for me

sachidananda: then u cant rest... u need to be the leader after this point ... dont waste the lead you get....

pooja: exactly

sachidananda: add some vital points and continue frm thrn...

now to

2. in this case wht will diffentiate you is ur ability to get a different perspective to the whole discussion...

and this has to be giving a complete new perspective... and this would brk thr monotone...

this as u say will give an adv again...

coming to 3.

in this case u have 2 approaches...

one of them is adding a new D as in th e case 2...

or you will have to expand the same point of discussion...

these 2 will give u the same head start as u mentioned...

are u on the same page??

pooja: ya i m

sachidananda: k now the last point...

pooja: i m reading ur words by heart

sachidananda: 4. In this case the best you can do is adding new perspective on each idea and expecting some thing will be most valid which would take the grp further....

I mean add new ideas on almost all the prespectives and expect the grp will keep the momentum going on...

pooja: ya affcourse and if u do so moderator is impressed

sachidananda: this will give u an advantag...

rt...

I think I got admission...

mostly based on this...

in my IIMB interview...

pooja: gud

sachidananda: well thr are other things to be taken care of...

pooja: so u cleared the CAT in one go

sachidananda: nope...

it was my 2nd...

pooja: yes what r t things to be taken care of

sachidananda: some generlly used breakers are...

once u think there is a vital point... be quick to add to that by say "I agree with...and would like to add", "Exactly...", "I would like to add to that point..."

and its advantageous to keep a tab of the discussion....I mean keeping a note of the points discussed... this will help you know if you can add some more presp in case u get them later...

but to begin with you will have to keep a note of the topics/poins you have in mind and would like to discuss...

there is no use jst supporting the points you always need to add...

pooja: r we allowed to note down those points in our writing pad during interview

sachidananda: during GD some let u.... some will ask u to put them on the case paper... some will also ask u to summarize..

interviews.. will deal in some time... cool relax

pooja: ya i have also heard that at the end of GD some one is normally asked to summarize the discussion

no prob

first i will get my self prepared for GD

sachidananda: humm good...

pooja: sachin i want to request u one thing if u dont feel it right reject it i will not mind

sachidananda: but remember the

saying...

"the proof of the pudding is in the eating..."

so its am must to practice...

pooja: right

sachidananda: well now tell me

no issues...

pooja: actually i was thinking if i will give u my no will it be possible for you to give me a call

to conduct my telephonic interview

sachidananda: humm.. thikn that should be ok...

pooja: i want u to conduct my telephonic interview

sachidananda: sure.. will do that....

but guess it might take some time...

pooja: no prob

sachidananda: well for the interview its importatnt to have ur own opinios and stick to it...

pooja: ur choice whenever u r free let me knwo that now u want to conduct my interview

sachidananda: sure... will do tht...

pooja: i know i want u to give me some topic or situation then i will speak on that

then u can judge where i stand

sachidananda: k...

sure....

but be prepared with these 3 Qs...

1. tell me about urslf

pooja: alright

sachidananda: 2. y mba...

3. why our institute..... why this splz(as the case might be)

this should help u a lot... well another thing.... prepare a SOP and send it over to me...

might b of help if u are to answer the last Q

ok?

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Just to inform the reader that this is not the complete set of preparations...I might have missed a lot the suggestions on this topic through the means of comments might help to make it more comprehensive... Over the years there might be a lot of improvements but this is what I know about, so the discussion is limited by the my ability to keep myself updates and Pooja's ability to ask questions.
All the best guys... let me know if this was helpful.