Versions of Group Discussion

Yes I know, you must have gone through this topic atleast a million times if not a zillion. You would be thinking what new thing are you going to learn today. I would say nothing new but yes you would be able to visualize it from a new horizon. To cut the long story short, I have encountered more than 50 odd GDs in my life & out of the half century encounters, I was able to classify the "Group Discussion" into 4 major categories:

1. Factual GDs: Factual topics means practicality, in novice terms, things which an average Joe is aware of & that happens in his/her day-to-day life. Typically these are like socio-economic topics which affect your life on an everyday basis. These topics can be current(like the fuel hike that has taken place from today) or can unbound from time like Indian Political scenario from Independence till now.

So what are they trying to check in Factual GDs? They are testing whether the person is aware of the bare necessary information around him, cause these things affect your life significantly, so if you do not have interest in the Congress Vs BJP saga, its high time you check out the political scene of India.

2. Controversial GDs/Butcher GDs: As the name suggests, every participant becomes a butcher with a knife in these GDs, just waiting for the opportunity to slaughter the goat(topic). Controversial topics are argumentative in nature, just like our members of the Lok Sabha who just need a spark to go off like that Diwali Rocket whether it be "Reservation" or it be "Rising Prices of commodities" & the favorite topic for kicking each other's butt is "Corruption" for our Golden men(Political heroes).

Controversial topics are generally given to check the mental stigma of a candidate. As an MBA a person makes rational decisions rather than flowing into someone's emotions. So, controversial topics are a test of the same to check on a continuum where do you lie. So, if you get a topic like "Reservation is good for India" then you know that you will have to be rational & give logic behind your opinion rather than being personal & emotional.

3. Abstract GDs: These GDs are my personal favorites, as it brings all the candidates on a level playground. Knowledge, current affairs & blah, blah take a backseat here & how well have you stimulated your mind plays an important role here. Topics here witness a lot of variation from being a one word "RED" to being a line from a popular nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle lil' star". Nothing is wrong & nothing is right here, it just checks your lateral thinking & creativity.

4. Case based GDs: They were not much into fashion, but off late they form a major part of the Group Discussion exercise especially followed by the IIMs. A one pager case is given, usually from HBR or maybe a balance sheet, account statement & even God does not know what all & the basic purpose behind this to stimulate a real life scenario.

The next topic we have on our plate is "Why do we have GDs". If you guys want any other topic, feel free to request for the same.