In all the competitive examinations, examiners stress mostly upon the General Awareness section, whether it is CAT, Civil Services etc. But yes, students are tested on the scale of General Awareness, in the personal interaction round. Almost all other tests would like to assess how aware a candidate is of events- social, political, economic etc, as regards Indian and International arena. General Awareness about the varied issues plays an important role in understanding things as well as taking decisions.



The question that surfaces here is how a student can equip himself to handle this section. One needs to try to capitalize on this section as it is less time consuming and less brain-storming (i.e if the answers are known) to solve compared to other sections in those crucial hours. Therefore, if one directs one’s efforts in correct direction then great benefits can be reaped not only for the entrance examinations but for group discussion and interviews as well.



The first and foremost step in the direction of General Awareness is self assessment. Depending on how actively a person reads newspapers and periodicals and also whether the person follows news on TV, current level of GA/BA will need to be assessed. Attempting a few questions in almost any GK/GA magazine will support a candidate’s assessment be more objective. Thereafter, one need to realize what the weak area, some engineering students is might find GA well, but weak in BA (Business awareness, economical terminology, etc). There are students who may be weak in understanding of issues, as these have never read newspapers regularly.



Developing their interest is also a foundation stone for having strong framework of general awareness. Student from science stream may face some difficulty and therefore need to make determined efforts initially to develop inquisitiveness about happenings. Newspapers have to be read meticulously each and everyday focusing on political, social and economic section chiefly. Analysis and preferably discussion of what has been read is also important. This would help in gathering the course of building awareness about the happenings across the world.



What are the topics that need attention of students?



•    Starting with the editorial pages, usually the center two pages of a newspaper. Read the key editorials, fascinating facts, underline new terms. Typically this is the heart of the paper contributed by the best brains of the Journalism society. Underlining the terms and words will surely help candidates in increasing their vocabulary. Even if the student do not looks up for the meaning, the next time he/she reads the article again in a different context, their understanding will increase.



•    Always read the economics and business affairs pages. Again, if the candidate is a new reader and does not understand lot of its terminology, he/she needs to be patient as in long term understanding of business scenario on the whole will increase.



•    Always go through international affairs and sports page



•    Do not spend too much time on either the first page or supplements that are largely film/city news related.



Reading a magazine, weekly or fortnightly will improve the understanding of issues better as it would offer with in-depth analysis and with opinion, rather than just news. Similarly, discussion with friends, family etc also helps. Infact sections can be divided amongst each other as per the interest. This will make learning interesting as well as stimulating.