Group Discussions ..... Make your mark !!. Review on Successful Preparation for MBA Entrance Tests

Umm … lemme start from the basic question that why do we need to have a GD in a selection process … ??

That’s a thought worth pondering and I also had the same views as u that “its about communication skills and how much and how well can u speak ….”

Perfect !!

But then , its MUCH more than that !! “Well” doesn’t mean fluent and articulated .. it means … how much WEIGHT does your argument / point carry ! How CLEARLY have u understood the PROBLEM and how well have u sailed towards a solution / recommendation !!

You do it well , exhibit your analytical skills , team member spirit and problem solving attitude and boom ... there u go !!

Lets start with the kind of GDs you can have

1. Case based (which IIM-A and IIM-I normally have)

   
   




2. Current affairs (Politics , sports etc etc) (like India cannot perform at Olympics .. why ?)

   
   




3. Social (eg. Do women make better managers ?)

   
   




4. Abstract (eg. A yellow submarine in green sea ….. sounds weird … that’s why its abstract)

   
   

The essence of a GD is to find a problem / objective ! Sounds so simple … isn’t it ?? (Here I am referring to the case kind of GD of IIMA as the sample which is also normally used by IIM –I and a few institutes time to time).

The GD case would be “ XYZ were in P place and A thing happened and blah blah …. PQR wanted this … STU wanted that … “ and on and on …. In case there is a leading question , it would be “what should u as a part of XYZ do” (or something similar). Basically its about taking an INFORMED decision. (In most of the cases , its about taking an INFORMED path towards a decision)

It’s a sum total of a lot of things which include

1. Could you define a problem / objective clearly ? (or atleast if its already decided by group , then do ur thoughts exhibit that ?)

   
   




2. How clear r u in ur thoughts ?

   
   




3. Are your ideas / thoughts original and lead towards a better discussion ?

   
   




4. Can you think in an unbiased way ? Can you empathize with the protagonist ?

   
   




5. Are your recommendations backed up by logic ?

   
   

And also, how much and how clearly do you speak. But these are basics and are more of “Have to be” rather than “Better If its there”. Even if you stumble , it doesn’t make ur chances die. The word is CLEAR and not FLUENT although fluency does help but doest help if there is no substance.

I can also say that it rarely happens that you are selected on the basis of your GD , but it may happen that you are not selected on the basis of your poor performance in the GD. GD is never an eliminating round. Hence try to be having a good GD and make your presence felt.

What do I mean by that ? Follow the above mentioned points (which are incidentally totally my creation and again I would not vouch for them but then that’s what I feel).

I know I had been referring to the case based GD only but then the points go all across all kinds of GDs (except abstract offcourse which I will deal later)

In social topics / current affairs too , you need to define the problem / objective unless the topic doesn’t need you to. (For example , the topic which I quoted as an example for social , women make better managers than men , its difficult to do this)

One more thing , please make sure you are a good LISTENER. That’s extremely important. Basing your point on what others have spoken is a good idea. Its simple that a discussion cannot happen with 10-15 unrelated thoughts. They need to be inter-twined. Hence don’t make your statement as an independent island but make sure you use others points as a backup / lead generator.

MAKE POINTS : wow , here comes the teacher ..thats what u thought ... rit ?? . But I am not kidding , when 5-10 minutes are given to you in the starting , make points of whatever you would like to cover and keep updating it with whatever other have spoken.

Now comes the most important and practical advice. Please remember that the evaluators DON’T KNOW YOU. Hence don’t carry any baggage of thoughts with you. If you do well in your 20-30 minutes , you have done it , if you cannot , its all fruitless.

Hence , do the following :

1. Look attentive (lean a bit forwards , make a point whenever required , DON’T LOOK LOST)

   
   




2. DON’T use personal comments / pin point

   
   




3. Look thoughtful and evaluative listening carefully to what others speak

   
   




4. Even if you have thought over a point while you appeared to listen to others , make sure that evaluators don’t think it as an IMPULSIVE answer

   
   




5. Look patient. Don’t grind your teeth and tighten your fists if you are unable to get attention. Trust me , everything is noted by evaluators.

   
   




6. Look at the group and not the person when u r speaking. Address the group. Remember … its not a dialogue but a group discussion.

   
   




7. Look knowledgeable and graceful. Don’t be agitated. Now this one’s tricky. See, the poise on your face can do wonders. This is also the reply to the famous question .. What if I don’t know anything about the topic ?. Try to catch hold of a few strings here and there and frame your discussion. It only takes around the first 10 minutes to get a feel of the discussion. (In fact you only have this option in such case .. so better do it well)

   
   




8. Dress in formals / semi formals (unless already specified for something specific). Wear comfortable and soothing colours and clothes. Your appearance adds a lot to the perception of your persona.

   
   

Before I end , a bit about abstract topics.

Try to be CREATIVE and LOGICAL.(Wow that’s like go towards NORTH and SOUTH …. Ha ha ha …. Not exactly .. you need to manage that balance actually).

That’s the only key to this. I cant give you tips on them because they are different on case by case basis. I can always give you topics for example , like “pack of cards” , “GREY” , “Sound of silence” etc etc. These are not very popular but I have heard about IIMB giving them some time back.

Try to relate it to an incident / thought that’s more clear (Like Grey to intelligence (remember grey hair ??), be as creative as possible.

One more thing , what about external data ? (Its like , if an year is specified in the topic / case and u know that something has happened in that year in the world , but not mentioned in the case , should u use it in your discussion ?)…. Hmmm .. a SAFE way is .. define your assumptions in the starting ….. assumptions like “So , we assume that this will take around 6 days as a normal work like this takes around the same time) … its like laying a plot in the starting …. Else its really safe to use the data (if it forms a part of your point and you don’t wanna spill the beans in the starting and be left with nothing)

Phewww .. I guess I have covered whatever I had thought of. It’s already been around an hour and a half that I have been writing this. I guess that’s all for now … will write additional stuff in the comments in case I remember something that may have missed out.

Remember : GD is normally not an eliminating round. Hence try to be having a good GD and make your presence felt. Best of luck !

Will write on PIs later. Lots of work pending at office :)

Ciao people. Please write your comments and let me know your thoughts on the same.

So long

~Hitesh