Skill development in College Students

Gone are the days when jobs used to be delivered at your door based on academic merit. We now live in an age where the mantra of success is 'survival of the smartest'. Yes, the job market is now of a different kind where skills, expertise and experience matter the most. So, what skills do we develop while in college to transform ourselves to the so called smart aspirant for jobs. Here's a list of them:

• Soft skills, with special emphasis to oral communication
• Internet skills - the ability to work with the www domain
• Computer skills
  
• Team work capabilities
• Last, but not the least a reasonably good academic track record

Graduate students need to develop these during their college days. Soft skill development needs lot of effort on one's part and hard work is required to master the art of communication, oral and written. More and more work now a days takes place in the electronic domain, especially through the world wide web (www). Online applications, online examinations and online discussions are becoming the norm rather than an exception. So, guys whenever you get free time hook yourselves to the net and learn the art of sending emails, browsing for information, accessing web sites and online chat. Team work skills can be developed by joining creative clubs, forums, social service organisations like the National Service Scheme, NCC and Scouts and guides.

Career engineering is what every one must be doing after carrying out a SWOT analysis for a meaningful professional life.

For any assistance in developing these skills, feel free to write to jaitvm@gmail.com

Good essay writing skill - the formula of success in competitive exams

English essay writing is an integral part of most competitive exams. Essays in english and subject papers need to be carefully written to score maximum marks. In most cases candidates write flat essays without the right punch that should be there in a good essay. In fact, if your product needs to be competitive and distinctive, you need to master the skills of writing a good essay. Approaches are different for general essays in the English paper and the essays in subject papers. Friends, let’s have a quick tour of some important components of a good essay.

A good essay is like the perfect flight of an aircraft piloted by a professional pilot. The take off is smooth, the long flight is trouble-free and the landing is soft. An essay should take off like that with a good introduction that takes the reader to the topic, a comprehensive and clear body that dissects the topic in detail with personal view points and a powerful conclusion that sums up the opinions expressed. A bad essay could be as bumpy as a plane piloted by a trainee pilot with a jerky start, shaky travel and a poor landing.

Well, the aspects of a good essay can be summed up thus:

Ø The title of the essay should always be kept in mind. If it has parts like ‘merits and demerits of…..’, due weightage should be given to the parts.
Ø The punch in an essay can be given by quotes by famous personalities, anecdotes and proverbs (in the case of general essays).
Ø The body needs to be organized into small paragraphs with short and clear sentences that convey points very well (for subject papers sub headings for paragraphs would be better).
Ø Systematic flow of points is the soul of a good essay. It’s advisable to organize your points before you start an essay.
Ø Every general essay should have a personal view point that is supported by solid facts and arguments.
Ø Finally, the conclusion should be one which underlines the points and opinions expressed. Quotes and proverbs add style to a good conclusion.

This what a good essay is about. So, if you want to win in exams, do these things:

Ø Read good essays (The Hindu editorial page is good to start with)
Ø Practice writing essays (You need some one to evaluate your skills)
Ø Don’t just vomit the essays that you read from guides or books.

Congrats to all who qualified for the UPSC Geologists Exam Interview

Friends, get ready to visit New Delhi for the interview which might take place by Oct/Nov 2007. It's your verbal skills as well as your grasp of the subject that matter now. Discussions with successful candidates of previous year, mock interviews and some brushing up of the topics are the need of the hour. As it happened last time, there will be mock sessions for the interview this year too which will be conducted by a panel of professionals. If you happen to be one of the candidates going to face the interview, feel free to write to jaitvm@gmail.com.

All the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION - PERSONALITY TEST - A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Congrats to all those who made it to the final stage of the prestigious examination of our country.

From now on its your nerves and skills that matter. For the first-timers who do not have a taste of the Civil Services Personality Test, here are some useful tips based on first hand experience.

First of all, don't think that this is a conventional interview based on correct answers to the questions posed. As the UPSC manual says, this is a Personality test, a half an hour or so dig at one's mental set up. That's why you'll find a Psychologist sitting among the 4-5 members. Want to know what are all tested here?

Your general attitude, perception, value-orientation, problem-solving and communication skills.

So, in a nut shell, its a half an hour chat with you to know whether you've the capabilities to handle the job pressures of the Civil Services. My advice is: take as many mocks as possible- mock sessions handled by those who have some exposure to the ICS.

You may be asked to respond to questions that tests your opinion forming ability, awareness about current events of national and international importance, positive attitude, mental toughness, coping skills and decision making abilities.

Sample questions

Do you think that the ongoing Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan will help improve the bilateral reations between the two countries?

What is your perception about the hanging of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein? Has the execution changed the geo-political situation in any manner.

When a vast majority of the Indian population are poor and below the poverty line, the country is investing huge sums in Space Research? Do you think that this is a right policy approach of the Government of India?

Here are some simple tips that can help you in managing the show without much problems.

• Listen questions carefully, organise your answer in 4-5 seconds and then confidently answer them.
• Speak with a moderate voice and avoid mannerisms such as hand gestures.
• Be frank and sincere in your answers as the interviewers are very senior personnel who can see through any half baked and untrue responses.
• By politely saying no to totally unfamiliar questions you stand the chance of getting more familiar ones.
• Salutations are equally important and you have to learn how to conduct yourselves through the exercise.
• Don't get disheartened if you get a few alien questions. The next ones could be from your favourite area.
• Don't interrupt or argue with the interviewers.

As it has already been mentioned, mock sessions would do a lot good to you. All of you can expect certain bio-data related questions which can be predicted to a certain extent. These questions may lead the entire interview also. All help is on voluntary basis.

Best of luck

Thumb rule for success (Focus on B.Sc final exam)

It's quite common to hear some one saying, " I wrote the exam well, but got poor marks". Have you ever thought about the reasons. The answer is simple. Mere filling up of the answer sheet with whatever you studied is not the right approach.

Want to approach examinations in the right manner? Follow these simple instructions:

Read question carefully to answer well - If it's a question to define something, then your job is to give the definition for that. Not more and not less!!!!

A common error that students commit is to overwrite answers. A one mark question demands a one or two sentences answer, a two marks question needs not more than five sentences containing points and a for a five marks question, one page is the maximum limit. You don't gain anything by writing one page for a two marks question.

Organise answers before writing. For example, for a five marks question, "What are folds? Differentiate between plunging and non plunging folds.", write answer in two parts. In the first, define fold. Write two or three sentences about parts of a fold including hinge line. In the second part, differentiate between plunging and non plunging fold (with small figures)

In Structural geology, Geotectonics, Palaentology and Stratigraphy, labelled diagrams add value to answers. By drawing a good diagram about the concept, you can even reduce the size of the written part.

Time management is most important. Utilise time properly. Allocate time between essays, short answers and one words. Don't waste time if you get stuck somewhere. Leave some space in your answer sheet and come back at the end if you have extra time.

Write as neatly and clearly as possible. Don't write too close or too wide. Leave some margin on the left hand side.

If you feel that a question is out of syllabus, just attempt it and you may be given marks.

In essays,write short paragraphs, underline important headings or points and write sub headings wherever possible.

Best of luck friends !!!!!!!!!!

How to improve your Communication skills?

A deliberate attempt is the only solution to build solid communication skills in English. Here are some tips based on practical experience.

Communication is like making a tasty dish at the kitchen. Two things needed for making a good dish are
1. the raw materials
2. cooking skills

In communication also you need two things.

1. Vocabulary
2. Ability to use the right words at the right time

So, get started friends and focus your efforts towards these two things. Want to know about the way you can acheive these. Follow some simple steps and you got it!!!!!

1. Regularly read a good English paper (preferably The Hindu) and listen to the BBC news hour either on radio or on T.V. Collect new words and make a mental note of them.

2. Listen to good interviews in English in BBC or CNN T.V. channel

3. Put whatever you learned to use. Find out a non malayali or a new friend committed to the same purpose and with whom you can experiment your new language skills.

Follow this for an year at least and the results will automatically follow.

Best of luck friends!!!!!

Geologists' Exam 2007 Winning strategies

Here are some tips for clearing the examination

• Most of the candidates ignore the English paper which can fetch a good margin of marks. Study of Wren and Martin English Grammar will enable you to score about 80 marks in this paper.
• Studying is only half part of preparations. Learning how to present essays is the other half of preparations. Presentation styles can make or break your answers. So, give some time to learn the art of presentation.
• Go through the last five years question papers and you'll know about the important areas that have to be focussed during preparations.
• Taking some practice tests before the examination and analysing your answers with the help of some one can really help you.
• Written part of the examination carries more weight than the personality test in terms of total marks and hence you have to give maximum importance for it.

Geologists' Exam - Important areas

Economic Geology

Important theories of ore formation

Hydrothermal
Magmatic
Metasomatic
Sedimentary

Controls of ore localization

Structural
Stratigraphic

Fossil fuel deposits in India

Gondwana basin and coal deposits
Tertiary coal in India
Petroliferous basins in India
Formation of coal and petroleum

Mineral belts and basins of India

Singhbhum Shear zone and mineralization
Khetri copper belt
Malanjhkhand Porphyry copper deposit
Banded Iron Formations in the Precambrian
Zawar Pb-Zn deposit
Sedimentary copper deposits
Beach placer deposits

Mineralisation associated with formations

Mineralisation in the Cuddapah basin
Mineral deposits of green stone belts
Minerals in the Vindhyan basin
Gold mineralization in the Precambrian
Stratiform and stratabound deposits
Metallogenetic epochs and provinces



Indian Geology

Cretaceous sedimentary basins
Deccan flood basalts
Tertiary basins in India
Sargur schists and Dharwar gneisses
Basement cover relations in the Archean
Cuddapah and Vindhyan systems
Granite-green stone terrains
Palaeozoic formations in the Himalayan basin

Palaeontology

Paucity of organic remains in the Precambrian
Conditions for fossilization
Evolutionary trends of important families such as trilobites

Exploration geology

Geochemical, biogeochemical and geobotanic explorations
Exploration programme – eg Copper
Terms such as: anomaly, primary and secondary halo, indicator and pathfinder
elements and reconnaissance survey

Remote sensing

Application of aerial photos and satellite imageries in mineral and ground water
exploration.
Principles of air photo interpretation
Multispectral scanning, stereopairs, spatial resolution, ground truth
IRS, Landsat imageries

Geotectonics

Plate tectonics and mineralization
Sea floor spreading
Terms such as subduction zone, hot spots, plate boundaries

Environmental geology

Green house effect and global warming
Waste disposal (including radioactive wastes)
Acid rain, ground water contamination, effects of tsunami
Disaster management, environmental management,
Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA)

(Few papers are incomplete)

Communication dilemma of students

Want to succeed in the present day work environments? Teach yourself how to communicate. Communication is what we lack, so says job managers. If you sincerely wish that you want to improve your communication, then i would say, you have half succeeded. My experience tells me that with a sincere and planned effort, one can acquire good skills in a year or two. But, the important thing is, participation should be from one's own side. View this blog a week after for a post on "How to improve communication skills?"

Contribute your share to reduce city traffic

TRAFFIC JAM: A scene in front of St. Mary's Higher Secondary School, Pattom. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar, The Hindu article dated Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

City roads are unmotorable during peak hours, thanks to the long queues of single passenger cars, vehicle parking on road sides, impatient bus commuters standing on the roads and what not!! As responsible citizens, we can contribute our share to reduce the congestion and thus free the arterial roads.

Here are some tips.

Use public transport system as far as possible.

Share autos and there by reduce the number of vehicles on road

Use bus waiting sheds wherever possible rather than standing on roads waiting for bus

Don't park cars and jeeps on busy road sides. There is always a less busy corner which only a few steps away.

If you happen to be the passenger of a bus that stops on the middle of the road at bus stops, ask the driver to park at bays. Public voice is the loudest and the most powerful.

Most important: share these ideas with as many as possible

I can keep my hand over my heart and say that I follow all these when on road.

Civic Sense is what we lack?

The capital city of literate Kerala is at its best on the roads, in public places and offices. Drunken drivers holding mobile phones and navigating cars and autos through the busy city roads, five men protest marches and religious processions holding high way traffic even, hartals at the drop of a hat and fund raising campaigns by one and all have become the order of the day here. There are no noise, pollution or hooliganism limits here. Is it overdose or lack of civic sense? After 50 years we can say proudly that we have taken 5 steps backwards.