So, what time is it?

It’s panic time!

January second week is when the number of emails in my inbox is at an all time high. It’s wonderfully frustrating to reply to all of these mails, especially because most of the authors of these mails are people who are so worried that they forget to use any vowel that should have been used.

So, well. Chill. CG’s GK is here for adding fuel to the panic fire and at the same time sustaining the minimum calmness that is required.

Reality Check # 1: It IS Late

“I ws 2 bsy doin nthn, it iznt lte 4 me 2 strt nw, rite?”. Well, it is, little ray of sunshine. But it isn’t late enough to give up hopes of entering the gates of Justice City. Are you one of those who still hasn’t started the GK prep, yet? Read on, read on.

First, take stock. Find out areas where you are weak. Let’s assume that you are just brilliant in English, Math and Legal – that leaves Logic and GK. And assuming that you are going to start studying from the 15th of January. Set out a target of weekly hours – a reasonable target would be 30 hours a week. In these two weeks, you will have to concentrate only these two subjects. For the next two weeks. Finish off all the pending work, practice your life out in reasoning, solve so many reasoning questions that it shouldn’t take you more than 30 seconds to crack even the world’s most difficult problem (okay, 30 seconds is pushing it, but…).

Reality Check # 2: It is NOT Difficult

The aforesaid plan is NOT difficult at all. All it needs is a lot of patience and, well, dedication. Arrange your study plan in such a manner that you know what you are going to do, properly. Arrange it around fun things, or things that don’t require you to compromise on the enjoyment that GK prep is supposed to be. So, after two hours of rigorous Reasoning practice – take half-an-hour off to finish the day’s newspaper. Or maybe, when you’re having your breakfast, or evening tea – read the newspaper simultaneously, just arrange it properly.

Reality Check # 3: Two Weeks is Enough

Yes, it is enough. And how are you going to go about it? March 2011 to December 2011: 10 months. Procure the Pratiyogita Darpan issues of all of the months – one PD a day, and you’ll be left with 2 days to spare – revise and revise during these two days. This, you can do by splitting your work into 5 months – one month a day – and after 5 days, take a day to revise whatever you have studied. You can also finish all 10 in 10 days and revise for two days. If you’re more dedicated than the normal standards, or if you’re one of those who’ve the world’s time – finish the whole thing in as many days as you can, and move on to reasoning – your call, really.

Reality Check # 4: There is Static

Calm down, now. There is static GK in terms of relevance. You begin to comprehend what I am saying when you start reading the newspapers properly. Relevance? What relevance? Let’s take the example of the Fukushima disaster in Japan – was it the first nuclear disaster? No. Which was the most famous of them all? It was, of course, the Chernobyl disaster.

And of course, NLUD is important. To believe that you’d want to forego this place for the lower-rung CLAT colleges is an insult on humanity’s collective intelligence.

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GK is important. As we’ve emphasised again and again, 50 easy marks. And since each question will not take more than 30 seconds, you will be left with a lot of time for other relatively less important, and more time consuming stuff. Here’s a list of things that ought to remember when you are doing GK-for-CLAT:

1. Connect things – again, take the Fukushima incident – it brought up a debate to fore: “Is Nuclear Energy really the future”. And what happened? India announced that it’d set up a new regulatory body; Germany began phasing out Nuclear plants, etc. Create topics and sub-topics.

2. Make Notes – You don’t necessarily need to “go back” and read all of the stuff. Just write them down, writing stuff down, in your own words, helps you to remember stuff. Divide your GK notes into neat categories – Sports, Misc., Politics, International, Awards and Achievements, etc

3. Revise – We’re not very good with our memory. Hence.

4. Targets – Don’t make them too bulky. Make them all the same, and chase them!

5. Create methods – To retain and remember.

6. Cut down on the b*ll$h*t – Get serious about partying/facebooking/texting/9gagging or get serious about your career. Choice, as the Merovingian said, is an illusion.

7. GK can’t wait – Don’t sacrifice GK for other subjects. Fit in at least an hour of GK somewhere. 

8. Boards? Oh, yes, I remember. When the pre-boards start, STOP CLAT prep. Do not risk your board exams for ANYTHING. However, you will continue to eat food, “take breaks”, etc – time to read the newspaper while you take care of your oral health my frands (no puns intended).

9. Don’t overburden yourself – or complicate matters – For your own good, keep it simple and straight. Current GK with relevant Static GK – leetle googling, and leetle CG help – and you’re there.

10. Compendiums – They have never failed, they will not fail you now. We’re in the process of compiling monthly compendiums for the rest of the months, and also compiling a 200 most important questions – but that is subject to the vagaries of our lives. However, the Tests will take care of your GK prep to a very great extent.

11. Do not overlook the obvious – Haan, so Barack Obama is the first ____ to be elected president, so what? No, no, no. Read the blank too. It might just help you make the connect.

12. There are previous GK posts too, read them, they’re much more comprehensive. And I do not want to repeat myself.

13. And, yes! – Action plan. Contact us at clatgyan@gmail.com with the following details:

a. How many hours can you give in a week for CLAT prep?

b. Dropper or 12th?

c. Coaching? If yes, where?

d. What access to material do you have?

e. Where do you stand in GK?

f. What has been your approach to GK so far?

g. Any other details.

Make them nice and long, your emails. The more detailed they are, the better our response to you would be. An action plan would involve feedback, and a proper, detailed time table for you to be able to not miss the CLAT train.

See y’all at Justice City (well, not all – we no have high intake).

CGK