Students’ Speak: I prepared well, I failed to give my best attempt In my GD.

By: T. Deepthi

If you are the leader of a group discussion, there are number of challenges you will have to face. Being able to successfully overcome these challenges will measure the difference between the success and failure of your group.

A Group Discussion is a process where a topic is presented by the host and everyone is asked to share his/her opinions and views and ideas and one who comes with the most reasonable response wins a great time. It assesses the leadership skills, social skills, problem-solving skills and one’s presence of mind.

Here ‘group’ and ‘discussion’ are two different words wherein group means a number of individuals who may or may not have interacted before. Discussion means exchange of information on a certain topic. The Biggest challenges faced are avoiding put-downs, connecting solutions, listening for data, and summarizing ideas.

If you are the leader of a group discussion, there are number of challenges you will have to face. Being able to successfully overcome these challenges will measure the difference between the success and failure of your group. In this article, I will present strategies that can allow you to overcome them. In the GD we come across many difficulties. In order to overcome them, we must and know and understand the topic. One must have precise and sharp thoughts, should communicate one’s clearly, take the initiative, have good knowledge about the topic and, understand the dynamics and statics of the group. Logical thinking and logical answering and also, ending with a better and perfect conclusion will be quite helpful in a group discussion.

If we fail, we should not be discouraged. “Failure is the stepping stone to success” - We must and should remember this quote throughout our journey.

As you all know, a group discussion is a part of the selection process in institutes and other colleges providing professional courses and for software or hardware jobs. It is used to eliminate people, so we have to manage this elimination by raising our voice or by managing things in a different manner or by giving exact answers or proper responses to a situation. This won’t come in a day or two, mostly it comes from practice.

The most important types of group discussions are knowledge-based and case-study based. Most of the people find it difficult while facing these types of group discussions. At first you have to know the basic difference between these two.

• Knowledge-based group discussions: In this type of group discussion, you should have a thorough understanding of the topic which is presented to you to debate upon. Here in this GD, you must proceed ahead with facts and figures and the information you provide must be substantial enough to convince everyone in the panel. Moreover, you should speak with confidence and you should maintain this confidence till the end of the session. Therefore you must know what you are saying to support your views and opinions regarding the topic. This also includes conceptual topics, controversial topics and opinion seeking topics. By knowing these topics we can easily overcome the level of difficulty in a group d
• Case-based group discussions: This type of group discussion is commonly followed by the topmost i Here, a situation or a problem is given to the candidates to participate and they are asked to resolve them. Here, discussions between an employee and a manager are presented in order to judge the decision making and team handling capacity skills of the candidates.

Finally, we people must and should stay up to date with the things which are going around us. And we must observe them closely and prepare well for the group discussion. Go through a lot of sources like theInternet, English newspapers, magazines, etc, then practice mock group discussions with your close friends. You can also practice before a mirror.

Coming to my experience, I prepared well for my group discussion but due to lack of confidence and practice, I failed to give my best attempt. I panicked and could not even put my best points forward. Although I started speaking with a lot of confidence but could not continue with the same spirit. Later I recalled and recognized each and every mistake of mine and started practicing and preparing with my whole heart. Although I was devastated by the experience I continued working hard for the next attempt. My suggestion is that you should keep on moving with a lot of confidence.

About the Author:

T. Deepthi is a student at Sri Padmavati Mahila Vishvavidyalayam Tirupati. She is pursuing Bachelor's in Technology with a specialisation in Electronics and Communication.