GK in the last one and a half month!

By Praveen Dwivedi -
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53803

Asad forwards us interesting emails these days. Our favourite, of course, had to be this one:

“Sir, plz sir, tll me wt i shd b doin in z lst 1 1/2 mnth of prep, sir, plz tll me.”

If you did the following:

a. Read the newspaper daily

b. Did the CG weekly compendiums and

c. Read the monthly Pratiyogita Darpan

Then stop reading this post, and go do something fun (or study another subject). If you did not. Well, well.

Anyway, we’d say, if you guys have been fairly thorough in your Current Affairs, then give your GK prep minimal time, so that you can spend more time with other subjects (in which you might be relatively weak).

This one month, you should rely on augmenting your GK and NOT worrying/panicking about them.

For people who have done nothing more than procrastinate, here is what you SHOULD be doing:

1. START NOW!!!!

2. Get yourself an yearbook (NOT Manorma) – preferably, Pratiyogita Darpan’s or Penguin’s: and MAKE notes. (The “memorable points” section in the end will come to your rescue)

3. And, get hold of ‘The Hindu – Diary of Events’ and do it thoroughly!

4. If you think you should abandon the newspaper, you’re wrong. Pick up the habit now, and read it properly. You’ll get a grip on ongoing issues.

5. If you’ve signed up for any of the Mock Tests – then, do them properly. And redo them properly. Like, thrice, at least.

6. Don’t try and memorize everything, just make connects, get the rough idea and keep that in mind.

7. Please don’t panic, if you couldn’t panic in the last 6 months, you shouldn’t be doing it now. Keep a calm mind and spend reasonable time with the subject.

8. Divide time properly between other subjects that you haven’t really worked hard on, it should be proportionate to your weakness in it. (So, if you are studying for 10 hours and you have 3 subjects in which you are weak, GK being the worst – then, GK should get about 4-5 hours of it, depending on how good you are with the other two)

9. What you’ve studied in the morning, go through it during the night, in your head. And when you think you’ve forgotten something, get up and refer to your notes. Trust us, you’ll never forget what you’ve remembered this way.

10. Don’t think making notes isn’t viable, just make them anyway. And make them in a way that you can revise and refer to them later on!

PS – If you don’t start working now, you should make plans for a good, long pilgrimage. Maybe the God that you believe in might come to your aid.

For people who have worked hard (or at least worked), here is what you MUST do:

1. Chill. Half of your job’s done. So, be happy.

2. Revise and Refer. Revise and Refer. Lather, rinse, repeat.

3. Go through your Mock questions, and try solving them. Self-Evaluate, and list out what you don’t know.

4. Don’t stop what you should have continued to do so far – you might reduce the amount of time you spend with, say, your newspaper, but DON’T abandon these habits.

5. Sit with your monthly notes (if you have made them), or your PD and go through one month at a time, list out the important issues. Do this till April 2012. What you’ll have is a reference manual that you can constantly revise and be thorough with. It’ll give you a sense of genuine satisfaction.

6. See Point 9 of the previous section.

7. If you feel satisfied with your GK prep, you’ve a head start, so concentrate on most of the other subjects, on which you think you aren’t as good.

8. If you rate your GK prep to be on the scale of 7 (or more) than 10. Then, your GK prep should be in breaks: between two subjects, for breakfast, etc. And NOT substantive padhai.

9. If you study in a group, then assign each other a past month for each day. And each person should get 40 substantive questions of that month, and quiz each other. (X and Y study together. On Monday, X will prepare questions for Jan, and Y for Feb. Quiz each other)

10. Try Pink Floyd, good music! (Iyer is in love with Yellow by Coldplay, though)

All the best!
See you in Justice City!
Iyer, Aymen & Apurv
(The authors suffer from severe insomnia and chronic joblessness despite Law School happening)

PS: For the people who have sent emails on the lines of “How to do GK, please help” a month before the exam, please click here, here and here, alternatively, you could also click here


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79 COMMENTS

  1. “”Try Pink Floyd, good music! (Iyer is in love with Yellow by Coldplay, though)””

    I guess it was Aymen for the larger part 😛

    Thanks guys..

    I literally love you guys at CG, the L.O.V.E. wala love 😛

    See ya.. want to see you guys “zinda”, coming NALSAR this year, pakka! 😛

    Keep doing the good work,. :))

  3. Sexxxxy work! The part about making notes on a monthly basis and revising them in the end giving you a genuine satisfaction is very true and about studying in groups, it can really be very beneficial if you are serious with your preparation!

  4. ”You pick the place and I’ll choose the time
    ”And I’ll climb
    The hill in my own way
    just wait a while, for the right day
    And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds
    I look down hear the sound of the things you said today”

    Awwwww man.. Pink floyd \m/

    • @Abhinav – – And they sing the Liverpool anthem “You’ll never walk alone”! Awesome only!

      Okay dude. Stop Gilmour worship and go to some Chris Martin as well. Ever heard ‘Clocks’?

      • @Aymen: Most of it. I had their discography until mid-2010.
        @Karthik: Yeah Fearless is one hell of a song 😀 And yeah, heard ‘clocks’. ColdPlay isn’t a bad band, in fact some of my friends swear by it. But I’ve always felt they couldn’t raise the bar higher than Yellow. Bands like Collective Soul & Dishwalla have done better. To each their own, I guess. [And your article on staying cool about clat is ace-stuff!]

        • Coldplay is a great band, but Viva la vida somehow spoilt it for me. Its really sad. My playlist, everyday, is Stairway, Dance of Death, Hey You, TMK’s Dudukugala/other Pancharatnas, Wherever I May Roam/Master of Puppets, Learning to Fly, Octavarium/Change of Seasons. Mostly when I’m doing English/Vocab. COMPLETELY lets me unwind.

          Oh GK doesn’t make me want to pee my pants, but it does induce a certain heaviness in the bowels. Still reading CSR and Manorama, and my notes are so messed up. AND I haven’t caught up with any of your mocks after number 3. This LST crash course is such a waste of time, everyone’s way too laidback for my liking. Sigh.

          Thanks for the post though, guys.

        • uh

          “When you try your best, but you don’t succeed
          When you get what you want, but not what you need
          When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep
          Stuck in reverse

          And the tears come streaming down your face
          When you lose something you can’t replace
          When you love someone, but it goes to waste
          Could it be worse?”

          cold play = kick ass.

      • Pappu, I am laughing at what you have said. (Was that meant to be a joke, seriously?) :p
        If yes, then uhh uhh. If no, then pls stop blabbering 😀

  5. i’m able 2 hold gk section quite well but the CR section is a point of wory which is really a daunt 4 me at dis peak time can u give us some tips 2 hold off dis section as well esp argumentative nd assumptive questions where we need 2 infer something from de passage.. etc

  6. Do try going on a CHARDHAM hearing Pink Floyd! g8!
    What do u hold abt NLU-Orissa 2010 when compared to NLU-Delhi papr?standard of ques. asked?

      • Orissa is the toughest paper of all the entrances. However, this time, it might be a bit more ‘relevant’.

        • since i had taken de nlu(D) entrance paper i can say i had a first-hand experience …. Nlu(D) 2010 was not at par with nlu D 2008 nd 2009 paper … most of de legal reasoning part was from Nlsiu past year papers … on whole 20-25 can be easily score …. most tuffest section was CR in which i felt i had lost all my grip … maths again was of gud quality which nlu-d is well known for …time factor is de intrinsic part of nlu-d paper which i fell short off …. i hope i can rectify dese mistakes nd try 2 decode nlu -d this time … I will be very pleased if Aymen can share his views/thoughts on cracking de nlu-d paper .nd plz tell us how 2 allot time 2 various sections esp… LR nd CR

          • I’d say you concentrate on finishing GK off within the minimum time, move on to reasoning and then English. Always keep math till the end.

  7. is it necessary to take notes despite the compendiums?
    and is the paper enough, or do we need to have the pratiyogita darpan too?

    thanks 🙂

    • Notes are important, nothing can supplement notes that you have made yourself. The paper+PD is what we’ve suggested so far.

      • Well..i dont take any notes…i am too lazy for such stuff.If u have a good memory and interest for quizzes,ull do well in gk!!

  10. Woa… A great article.. U guys have listed each and every way of tackling gk… Now that shud reduce the no. of PANIC mails u receive by half! 😀

  12. Well, it’s a good thing then. Because I’m relatively strong in the other sections. I have too much stuff for gk – PD year book, Insti gk notes, class notes, the pds, your compendiums… lol I don’t think that I’ll miss out on anything after reading all that! 😀 Also, group study helps if the other two are really strong in gk. That’s what I’m doin.

  15. I want 2 know how u handle cr section well i’m not comfort with cr section it takes a lot of time 10 questions in just 15 minutes .. I’m practising hard but still dere is no ray of hope , guys pls., help me!! 🙁

  16. Is it enough to go through hindu diary of events…i mean, take up one event, understand it’ context and background and then go ahead? +i’m doing your compendiums also.

    do i still need to go through PD? It has just too much info on every issue, i’m unable to sort out what to learn and what not to.

    • i am also doing smthng same i have prepared some monthly notes upto december,i have PD,i am going thru hindu’s event diary also….is it enough?

  18. Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!! 😀

    It was a TREMENDOUS help. I’m in LOVE with CLATGyan 😀 😀 😀

    Thanks!!!

  20. “please click here, here and here, alternatively, you could also click here” – the last link is hilarious! hahaha. Awesome!

  24. Thanx ………………. i needed it badly ,and idea of group studying is gr8 ! though i had tried group studying last summers but it didn’t workd but this time i will do in other “istyle” ……………….in clatgyan way ……….and yes your articles are always endearing and humorous ………..keep spreading your great ideas among us ……..

  25. You are an awesome motivator, thanks for this, n ya, the last link wont be there as an option in our list……

    chao… 🙂

  28. HEYYY 
    what r d expectations in clat 2012???? 
    lk the lst yr clat 2011 ppr ws set by wbnujs n hd quality questions bt 
    since ds yrs being set up by jodhpur wht type of questns r 
    expected?????? 
    is eng expected to contain more vocab qustns??? 
    or is it expected dt mst questns wl b 4m guides lk (nexis-lexis, 
    universals etc)

    • Read the notes you have made.
      If you haven’t made notes, I am sorry.

      I got 99 problems, but GK ain’t one! =P

  34. In lexis-Nexis,which all chapters are relevant?
    I mean do i have to cram up the whole GK and current affairs given in it,as otherwise,I am refering Pearson’s concise GK for the same.?
    Also,is LST legal module combined with the MCQ’s given in LExis-Nexis sufficient for the legal section of CLAT-2013.?

  36. Sir,
    Now that they are going to ask static GK too in CLAT, so will it be relevant to study the affairs of Jan-March 2012?
    Also, what should one do for static GK at this time?

  37. can u please give me a link to the weekly compendiums?!
    umm..also im really confused as to how to start my prep?!
    HELP?!?!!?
    thanks 😀

  40. Screw CLAT… Come to Symbi! The best pvt. Law school in the world! Message me if u guys need some Clat prep tips. I’ve given Clat twice…

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