Students’ Speak: What areas should one focus on during GD preparation

By: Abhishek Desai

The Group Discussion (GD) is a vital round for the panelists of any reputed B-school to decide which candidates deserve to get enrolled in their MBA/PGDM course. And preparing oneself for a GD is quite easy and simple, only if one does it diligently.

When it comes to preparing for any GD, giving a couple of mock GDs before the actual one is quite crucial since it helps a candidate in knowing whether they are able to put in the right points properly and how. Awareness about the current affairs of the past six months comes in handy here, especially when there is a related topic asked. Watching relevant YouTube videos, and going through the Internet articles would prove to be quite useful, too.

One should make a note of the important pointers of any particular topic (for example, CAA, rising inflation, Section 370, NRC, etc.), which includes the various “for” and “against” points while doing a detailed analysis of that topic. Here, the candidate must ensure to keep the points crisp and clear so as to make an instant impact during the GD. One need not put in a lot of points during the GD; up to three strong, logical points of up to 30 seconds are sufficient.

Presenting facts, figures (both accurate as well as estimates), and relevant examples will always help a candidate gain an edge over the others who would just blabber a statement without any rationale to back it up. Maintaining proper data of such facts and figures, hence, becomes quite imperative to get that edge.

During the mock GDs, one must pay attention to his body language, hand gestures, and voice. The voice should sound more polite but assertive in nature (it’s just a discussion after all!), whereas the number of hand gestures should be minimised to the least possible amount. Taking relevant feedbacks after every GD, working on them, and tracking the entire progress is vital to clear the GD round with flying colours.

Enrolling into a coaching class that conducts regular mock GD and PI workshops can prove to be quite useful for a candidate to ace the interview rounds of any B-school. Their help and guidance would ensure you are fully ready and appear for the final GD-PI with full preparation and no major stress. This preparation would lead to a smoother sailing during the GD round.

About the Author:

Abhishek Desai is currently pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) in e-Business from Welingkar Institute of Management. He has done his Summer Internship in the field of Market Research with 'TimesofMoney'. He's also served as 'Secretary of the Green Committee' at Welingkar.