GK - Current Affairs (December 2015)

The Yash Chopra Memorial Award was conferred upon Amitabh Bachchan with C Vidyasagar Rao, the Governor of Maharashtra.

Union Ministry of Consumers Affairs announced to set up Grahak Suvidha Kendras. The Kendras will provide counseling to consumers in redressal of their grievances and assist them in registering their complaints in the appropriate consumer forums.

India won gold in World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad held in Hungary.

Union Government observed 25 December 2014 as Good Governance Day.

The Union Govermnet conferred the Bharat Ratna on Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya.

Union Government set up Mathur committee to examine constitution of SIT on 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

South Indian filmmaker Kailasam Balachander died on 23 December 2014 following a heart attack.

India exported CGS Barracuda offshore patrol vessel (OPV) to Mauritius which is the first warship ordered by a foreign country from shipyard of India.

Section 309 Indian Penal Code (IPC) was in news recently as Union Home Ministry decided to remove 309 Section. According to the section, any person, who attempts suicide, will be treated as committing a criminal offence and any person charged with section 309 of IPC will face up to one year in prison and a fine.

Gujarat to host 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January 2015.

Shiva Keshavan won Silver at 17th Asian Luge Championships

Sachin Tendulkar appointed as ambassador of Cricket World Cup 2015

Jyotsna Suri elected as the President of the FICCI

India observed National Mathematics Day on 22 December to commemorate birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Surat Municipal Corporation partnered with Microsoft to transform Surat into smart city.

The Indian men’s Kabaddi team and women’s Kabaddi team won Kabaddi World Cup title, by defeating Pakistan and New Zealand, respectively.

Pakistan became Associate Member Sate of CERN

Veteran Gandhian and freedom fighter Chunibhai Vaidya passed away on 19 December 2014 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat following brief illness.

Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan bailed to Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the main accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution recognising Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai as symbol of peace.

Minorities Rights Day observed across the world on 18 December

Tashi and Nungshi became world’s 1st twins to climb the highest peaks on seven continents.

India’s heaviest GSLV Mark-III rocket and the human crew module successfully test-fired by ISRO.

Reverend Libby Lane was on 17 December 2014 appointed as the first female bishop of the Church of England. She will become the new Bishop of Stockport.

The Marathi film Kapus Kondyachi Goshta nominated in the best picture category of the 87th Academy Awards, Oscars.

Tehreek-e-Taliban militants attacked Army-run school of Peshawar, Pakistan and killed at least 141 people including 132 students.

Music composer A R Rahman nominated for Oscar Awards in Music Original Score Category. He was nominated for the films Million Dollar Arm, The Hundred-Foot Journey and Indian film Kochadaiiyaan.

Name of mascots of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympics Games were revealed. They have been named as Vinicius and Tom.

Dineshwar Sharma, Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau, appointed as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Viswanathan Anand defeated British Grandmaster Michael Adams to win his maiden London Classic title.

Vivek Hallegere Murthy was on 15 December 2014 appointed as the 19th Surgeon General of America. He will be the first Indian-American to hold the post.

Indian film Jal nominated for Oscar contenders of 2014 in two categories. The two categories are Best Picture and Best Original Score.

Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling became longest serving Chief Minister of India. He completed his 20 years in the office on 12 December 2014.

Miss South Africa Rolene Strauss crowned Miss World 2014 at the pageant's final in London. 2013 winner Megan Young of the Philippines crowned Strauss.

Germany won the 2014 Champions Trophy of Hockey after defeating Pakistan by 2-0 margin at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Ruhi Singh of India won Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 at Beirut, Lebanon.

Playback singer Asha Bhosle was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival held in Dubai.

Ebola fighters collectively were named as the TIME’s Person of the Year 2014 on 10 December 2014 by the TIME’s magazine for their tireless acts of courage and mercy..

Samsung appointed HyunChil Hong as President of Southwest Asia

Human Rights Day observed globally on 10 December

Richard Rahul Verma became first Indian-American to be appointed as US Ambassador to India

Samsung Electronics appointed Pranav Mistry as Global Vice President

India set Guinness Record for largest human formation of a national flag in world

Indian Blind Cricket team defeated Pakistan to win the fourth edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup (BCWC) in Cape Town, South Africa.

India observed Mahaparinirwan Diwas on 6 December 2014, death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.

UN declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on 5 December 2014 named as the Asian of the Year 2014 by Singapore’s leading newspaper The Straits Times

The Time to Start

As teachers who prepare students for various post-std 12 entrance exams, we're often asked different variations of the same questions:

'What is the right time to start preparing for entrance exams?'
'How much time is required to prepare for an entrance exam?'

There is no simple answer to this question.

I've tried to list some factors which you might consider before making a choice.

1. Which entrance exam are we talking about?
Some exams (like the Engineering or Medical kind) are very technical in nature. On the other hand, entrance exams for fields like Law, Hotel Management or Business Management, are general in nature. General aptitude tests examine your basic aptitude for language (primarily English), numbers and logic.

2. What is your aptitude level?
Some students have a natural aptitude for language and/or numbers. The education imparted at School level is often adequate for them. As their fundamentals are in place, they find it very easy to crack aptitude tests without any extra preparation. On the other hand, some students either fail to get adequate fundamental knowledge at school level. The reason for this could be a fault in either the school system or the student's ability/interest in learning. Such students may require additional coaching if they are serious about cracking entrance exams.

3. How much time do you take to grasp concepts?
Some students require a longer period of time to learn, understand and internalize basic concepts. Some students feel a time crunch when it comes to striking a balance between preparation for entrance tests and school board exams. Such students can start their preparations well over an year in advance. Those students who can manage their time for entrance test preparation and board exam preparations can afford to start preparing for entrance tests at the same time that their Std. 12 begins. Those who do not feel comfortable in devoting time for entrance test preparation along with board exam preparations; but are confident that they can grasp concepts in a short time; can opt to start intensive preparations for entrance tests in the 4-6 weeks that may normally be available between the end of boards and the entrance exam date.

All in all, it's a matter of personal ability. Students (and their parents) must analyze their strengths and weaknesses and then make the choice of selecting the appropriate preparation time period.

As usual, one must NOT blindly follow FRIENDS or TRENDS.

All the best!

The importance of Std. XII

For students who are currently in their Std. 12 of school, it is probably the most important year of their life. This is the time when they are on the verge of completing their basic education and are preparing to step towards a more focused education towards achieving their career goals.

While many students plan to choose their college based on their 12th standard board exam results, others opt to appear for various entrance exams (like IIT JEE, AIPMT, CLAT, IHM-JEE, SET...) and compete at a national level.

This post is intended for the students opting for the later route.

Over the years, I've observed that many students started preparing for various entrance exams and tend to neglect the preparation for their school board exams. The rationale behind their decision is, they are anyway preparing for professional courses. The eligibility criteria for such courses (as far as the 12th standard marks go) is a mere pass class or 60% (for example). So why waste time on preparing for school exams.

However, this is not the right attitude.

What students fail to realize is the entrance tests are not a done deal. While there are a few hundred seats in each course, there are literally thousands (if not lakhs) of aspirants competing for them. If the student is not able to clear the entrance test, they will have to fall back upon their 12th standard marks to be eligible for other colleges.

The wise thing would be to be serious in preparing for both. A good grade in 12th std. exams along with a good performance in the entrance tests is not all that difficult. In fact experience tells me that students who are good at one, invariably manage to be good at the other too.

Additionally, while 12th std. marks may not have much weightage in some of the under-graduate selection procedures, they are often considered vital during post-graduate and job-selection processes.

Moral of the story: learn to manage time; do well in all aspects of education!