Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Where do we go from here

It is touching to see so many people come and say that I cannot stop the blog. It has been a splendid journey for me and I am not going to let the enjoyment of learning and teaching go. I am doing what I like best and with so much support, I have no doubt that I want to keep doing it.

Now that it is going to go on, the question comes on what to do next and how to do it best. The best way forward is to help people prepare strong for CAT next year. So let me set the objectives right, so that we can move with the execution plan
1. The basic idea is to increase knowledge and not just be exam focused.
2. It is to have experienced people sharing knowledge and also giving the best fundaes that no coaching institutes give.
3. It will be a knowledge portal and a ‘guidance’ class. Not a coaching class. What it means is that it will not compete with IMS/Time/Career Launcher etc. (I still hold a strong view that coaching classes are not necessary for cracking CAT. The material they provide sure helps in practicing tests though)
4. Ads will keep running and generate revenue based on clicks on the Ads, but the objective of the site will stay non-monetary


So now for setting some ground rules for the execution of the objectives

1. Anyone who wants to contribute can.
2. There is no bind on what you want to send. No rules, no deadlines, no work pressure. Most of you guys who will join MBA institutes will not have too much time for other things :) One suggestion is send things in areas that interest you most and where there is some learning for you too.
3. The content will be moderated for aptness and quality.
4. All the people contributing to this effort will do it purely for personal delight and self-learning. 5. Based on the quality and quantity of contribution, I may decide to send thank-you mails, e-greetings, personal cards, small gifts, books, gift vouchers or hefty paychecks as the case may be :) This will be completely funded by the Ad revenues
6. The copyright will rest jointly with me and the writer. Note that this is to make sure that people don’t misuse the content by doing a cut-paste in various websites and forums

The areas I thought would be helpful are
1. Simple math problems – these will try to give clear understanding of basics rather than being practice problems for CAT. People will be allowed to participate and answer
2. English Grammar section – will have questions so as to aid understanding and clearing the basics. People will be allowed to participate.
3. A word a day – to enhance vocabulary. Usage will be covered too
4. An article a day – The article should have good language apart from knowledge. This is to make reading a habit. This will be of great help for RC. We can have sections in this covering different areas of interest
5. We need to do something for the DI section too. Let me think on this.

These are just a few things that came to my mind. I would like you guys to come up with ideas that will help this initiative. As always, if you don’t agree with any of the above, you are free to critique/shout/’raise a hell’ and we will fight it out to reach a common ground.

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13 Comments:

Blogger Sumit Khandelwal said...

Thats a gr8 idea Gyanee...

Just to add on, I guess fast calculation techniques will be a necessary tool add should be included in the list posted by you.

A better way to manage this would be each one of us can take up the initiative of posting a problem or a question on one of the section mentioned. This could in turn be rotated among the members so that each one gets a chance to share a learning and brush his concept also. It will also give variety to the readers..

To make it a bit different from coaching institutes we can have a meet among the readers or memebers once in a while, where one can share his experience and also have a discussion or a knowledge sharing session on a predecided topic.

That will make the readers improve their communication skills early on while they meet new people.

It would be fun cum studies.

Cheers!
Sumit

3:48 AM, March 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Out of my experience courtesy CAT, I felt the need of practice more than technique....I rarely followed techniques coz remembering them was a big task...I can say this again bcoz I m good in Maths and DI but thoughts might differ...
So I also find the need of continous practice being another soln...
This can be achieved by ppl giving various kinds of problems and ppl attempting to solve them...

-PS

1:13 AM, March 08, 2007  
Blogger Arjun said...

We are already having opposite ideas and arguments. Thats a great beginning. Afterall that is what brings out the best. Keep the ideas pouring and we will evolve better

2:04 AM, March 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When do u plan to give the analysis of GD?

9:51 AM, March 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is 1 more thing I want to say and that is, let us keep this knowledge session flowing...This will help the aspirants to prepare for GD (as it is not something which can be developed in 3 months)
I feel that we can discuss 1 current affair issue daily (pros and cons) to know the insight of it....This will also help the people going to B Schools to keep themselves updated....
Also, some1 can chip in with latest technological inventions...I may sound a little selfish but it will help us stay updated with the latest hapenings in the world...
After all, learning has to go on

-PS

6:55 PM, March 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is 1 more thing I want to say and that is, let us keep this knowledge session flowing...This will help the aspirants to prepare for GD (as it is not something which can be developed in 3 months)
I feel that we can discuss 1 current affair issue daily (pros and cons) to know the insight of it....This will also help the people going to B Schools to keep themselves updated....
Also, some1 can chip in with latest technological inventions...I may sound a little selfish but it will help us stay updated with the latest hapenings in the world...
After all, learning has to go on

-PS

6:55 PM, March 08, 2007  
Blogger Atul said...

a nice idea.. i will try to post some material but don't know it will be relevent to which section. presently lacking any ideas but will surely communicate them the moment the bulb will glow..;-)

10:34 PM, March 08, 2007  
Blogger Himanshu Gupta said...

Hi gyanee, nice idea but I'd like to put some points about its execution here:

1) We can post articles but it would be better if that's done as a separate blog post. Posting an article in comments would make it less readable. One idea that can be done is you can make people team members on blog, who are interested in contributing to content. You can always choose whether to publish their content or not, or whether to modify them. An example of the same is http://indianeconomy.org/

2) Your blog's layout is white fonts on black. I don't whether others are comfortable with it but i don't particularly find it soothing to eyes. Blogs involving lots of photographs and Advertisements might go for black background but i feel reading a text isn't very conducive in this layout. Please change the template of blog where black text is inscribed on white background. We can have other's suggestions too on this as this is just my personal opinion.

10:56 PM, March 08, 2007  
Blogger Arjun said...

1. Analysis for the last GD has been pending for a long time and the reason being my lethargy and GD/PIs for many institutes getting over. Anyway will shake my dust and give it by tomorrow.

2. PS, I shall keep the knowledge sessions flowing as you have suggested. One a day may be too much, but let us do atleast 2 per week.

3. Atul, you can send me anything and everything you want to. Dont bother too much about the end result of that. Only thing is I will be a little choosy :)

4. Himanshu, Posting as a new post better than comments. Agreed. Currently I am planning to move to a website rather than blog so that the whole thing is more streamlined and controlled. I have registered www.catfundae.com and it currently links to the blog itself. You shud see some action in a month or so.
Suggestions and help on websites in terms of design, technology are welcome

5. Himanshu, compaints on the template accepted. This is the second time I am getting it, so will change to a more soothing combo soon :) and will take care of it in the website too

Till the website is up, things in blog will keep flowing, albeit at a slower pace that before. The support of all of you is very important for me to make a website that will be useful to many people.

11:50 PM, March 11, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,

Since some of the exams have GK as a section, we could have a quiz every week with a variety of questions from politics, business, finance, medicine etc.

We could take turns in preparing the quiz, am sure we would learn a lot!

Plus, to see that it doesnt become a mugging session, some of those questions could be spawned into a full discussion for GD as suggested.

Aparna

10:31 PM, March 14, 2007  
Blogger Arjun said...

Hey Aparna,

Thats a nice idea. We will have good sessions on GK and I am sure you guys have a lot to contribute

3:13 AM, March 15, 2007  
Blogger knots n crosses said...

i dun see nythg being implemented here..m i missin sumthg?? :(

4:37 AM, March 26, 2007  
Blogger Arjun said...

Hey go-getter,

Since CAT is a while away, things have been on the backburner. Things shud start hotting up in a month or so and I plan to have a small website doing what we did on the blog. Just to give that extra bit of independence and help more people contribute too.

I shud also admit that things have been a little bust at work. But the plan for the website and the CAT prep stuff is on the way. As soon as things get on, you will hear it first on this blog (And hence on the catfundae google groups and the RSS reader).

In the meanwhile, if you have any ideas or inputs or anything for that matter, drop in

4:46 AM, March 26, 2007  

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