Education Guide

Preparing for Civil Services

2008-04-08T16:22:00.005+05:30

The Civil Services Exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) across India. Preparation for the most coveted service requires a focused mind, dedication, and hard work.

Eligibility
You should be a graduate in any discipline from a recognized university.

Examination

The Civil Services Examination consists of two successive stages:

Preliminary Examination – It consists of two papers (General Studies and one of the optional subjects to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects list) of objective type carrying a maximum of 450 marks.

Main Exam (Written subjective & Interview) – It consists of the following exams carrying a maximum of 2300 marks.

Paper I: One of the Indian Languages
Paper II: English
Paper III: Essay
Paper IV and V: General Studies
Paper VI-IX: Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects
Interview

The marks obtained in the Main Examination (Written and Interview) determine the final ranking. The candidates are then allotted to various services on the basis of their ranks and the preferences expressed by them.

The Question Papers are set in English and Hindi. You must begin preparations of the main exam along with preliminary exam. You can even enroll in institutes like Rau's IAS Circle, Vajiram and Ravi. This is because there is little time for the Main exam if you wait for the results of the Preliminaries.

To begin with you should consult NCERT books and go through previous year papers. A candidate is permitted 4 attempts at the examination. If you appear in the Preliminary Exam or even appears in one paper, it is counted as an attempt.

Career in Banking

2007-11-14T17:01:00.001+05:30

Banks are involved in variety of functions ranging from safeguarding money and valuables to providing loans and investment options. The changing banking scenario marks a shift towards Internet banking, just in time services and increased customer satisfaction. Banking offers a well paid, challenging and satisfying career.

Types of Banks
Banks in India are segregated as public sector banks (accounting for 78% of total banking assets) and private sector and foreign banks.

Eligibility
Banking was perceived as a career option for commerce and economics students. In reality, a majority of bank officers are from different streams of education. A course in finance, accounting, economics, marketing, or related fields serve as a good foundation. Banks often provide opportunities and encourage employees to take classes offered by banking and financial management affiliated organizations or other educational institutions. For example, The Indian Institute of Banking and Finance conducts diploma in banking and finance.

Entrance Exams
Graduates from any subject can get entry in banks through competitive exams. In general, there are two stages of the examination that an aspirant needs to clear:-

Stage I: The Written Test consisting of Objective test and a Descriptive test. The Objective test generally consists of the following papers:

Test of Reasoning
Quantitative Aptitude
General Awareness
English Language

Stage II: The Interview Round

Some banks just conduct the Interview Round for aspirants with specialization in Management, FOREX, or Finance. The Recruitment to Reserve Bank Officers Grade A/B exam is conducted by Reserve Bank of India Service Board, Mumbai.

The best way to get information on the banking jobs is to refer to the bank’s Website, newspapers including Employment News Bulletin and Times Ascent.

Preparing for Banking Exams
There is intense competition so a high level of preparation is required in order to clear banking exams. You should read financial newspapers and various competition magazines.

To clear basics one should go through standard class 10 books (RD Sharma and RS Agarwal for Math and Reasoning). For the descriptive paper, refer to model papers published in various portals and Competition Magazines. There are a number of books and correspondence courses available for bank preparatory examinations. Above all, it requires regular studies, hard work and practice.

Hotel Management in India

2007-07-06T15:58:00.001+05:30

Do you like working in exotic locations? Do you enjoy cooking and housekeeping activities? If so, Hotel Management career could be right for you. Career opportunities in the hotel industry which includes motels, resorts, and five star hotels are increasing rapidly. You will be involved with operations like accommodation, food, drink and other hotel services with the thrust on customer comfort and satisfaction.

Eligibility
Hotel management demands a friendly, helpful, outgoing personality, and a team player. The eligibility to enter a course in hotel management is 10+2. Institutes coming under the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) which is under the Ministry of Tourism offer a 3-year diploma course while private institutes offer a 4-year Bachelor's program.

Selection Procedure
The selection procedure in most of these institutes comprises of a test consisting of English, Reasoning, General Science and General Knowledge, followed by a group discussion and interview.

Institutes and Training
The best institutes are the IHMs affiliated to the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology. The hotel management courses run by hotel chains like Oberoi, Taj, and Radisson are also very popular among aspirants.

Star hotels require trained staff for all these departments:

Front Office
Food and beverage (F&B)
Housekeeping
Sales and Marketing
Recreation
Computer Applications
Financial management
Engineering
Security
Fire fighting
Public relations

Career in Management

2007-05-02T14:45:00.000+05:30

India is fast emerging as a strong global economy. Increased foreign direct investment, penetration of multinationals, and professionalism in business have led to an increase in demand for management graduates. Moreover, management is an essential aspect of corporate life. A course in management helps you to enhance your leadership and communication skills. A management degree also helps you in obtaining a senior management position.

There are several factors that you must consider:

What are your career goals and how they fit with MBA?
How much time you can spend on the preparation?
Which specific area of business attracts you most – HR, Finance, Marketing?
What is your confidence level?

Eligibility
You can pursue Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) after 12th and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) after graduation. The two-year Post-graduate Diploma awarded by the Indian Institutes of Management is also equivalent to MBA .

Where to pursue MBA?
You can pursue MBA in India and abroad.

In India, you have to qualify a written test in Mathematics, Reasoning, English, and business awareness followed by a group discussion and personal interview. The MBA exams in India are conducted as CAT, MAT, CET, XAT, NMAT, and JMAT.

There is also weightage given to your academic background, your achievements, and work experience. These scores are added to arrive at a composite score that helps you enroll for an MBA institute.

For MBA outside India (US, Europe, Australia) you have to give GMAT conducted in India. For non-native speakers a TOEFL score may also be required.

How to pursue MBA?

Decide the colleges you want to try.
Make a time table and practice time management skills.
Practice mock papers especially for reasoning/mathematical aptitude.
Inculcate a reading habit emphasizing on business and current event.
Be focused.

MBA provides you access to brilliant mind through lectures and training. You develop application and integrative skills through real world case studies and projects. Apply for the best MBA colleges.

The MBA methodologies are sound and well structured. But, everyone using the same tools does not necessarily come to the same conclusion. This is where it matters that how you leverage your MBA learning.

Journalism in India

2007-02-23T10:10:00.001+05:30

Do you have an enquiring mind and flair to communicate your thoughts with clarity, simplicity and objectivity? Are you able to organize and express yourself both orally and in writing? Journalism is the career for people who can assimilate information and communicate using a variety of media resources.

How to prepare for journalism?

Journalism basically comes from within but there is also an academic side to it. You should have a bachelor’s degree or post-graduate degree in journalism or languages. Additional field work, training, experience or internship will add to your qualification.

While doing the course you must consider the track record of the journalism institution in terms of placement and infrastructure. Institutes like Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Jamia Milia Islamia, Symbiosis are some well known institutes.

What are the various fields in Journalism?

You can opt for the following medium:

Print - newspaper, magazines
Electronic - radio, television
Cyber – Internet

You can become a writer, proofreader, reporter, editor, translator, or a manager. You can also venture into corporate communication and become a copywriter or a public relation professional. You can also enter into growing fields like content writing, technical writing and instructional designing.

You can opt for journalism colleges in India.

Practicing Law

2007-01-02T14:39:00.000+05:30

Traditionally, law is a noble profession. Many students aspire to practice law and provide justice to the society. With globalization, law is not just restricted to practicing in a court. New areas of interests like copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property, cyber law is fast gaining impetus. Now, the real question is how to go about it.

Eligibility
You can pursue law after graduation (3 years) or after 12th (5 years) leading to BA LLB (Hons).

Colleges
Some of the best law colleges in India are:

Specializations

You can specialize in:

Civil Law: Concerns private rights of individuals, handling damage suits, breach of contract suits, wills, mortgages
Tax Law: Deals with income tax, real tax, franchises, problems of inheritance
Criminal Law: Deals with interviewing clients, conducting trials, preparing a case for defence, examining, cross examining in court
Corporation Law: Deals with advising corporations on their legal rights, obligations, privileges, studying statutes, constitutions and ordinances
International Law: Specializes on international treaties, customs and traditions
Labor Law: Deals with workers, their associations, working conditions, workers’ rights and duties
Real Estate Law: Covers conveyance of property, search records and deeds to establish titles of property, acting as trustee for property
Patent Law: Focuses on securing patents for inventors from the patent’s office

Private practice immediately after graduation is difficult, unless you have a family firm. There are law firms that employ fresh graduates as apprentices or assistants. After two years of articleship, the apprentice appears for an examination of articled clerk conducted by the Law Society. It generally takes several years under an advocate or solicitor before you are ready for your own practice.

There are also plenty of opportunities in private industry. There is also the possibility of becoming legal consultants (part time or full time) for companies. Opportunities are aplenty in government service. You have to qualify the Law Service Commission or State Public Service Commission.

Career Options

2006-12-14T11:22:00.001+05:30

Case 1: My parents want me to be a doctor or an engineer. But I can never relate to Science or Mathematics. I am not sure what other options I have?

Case 2: I have a bent for art and creativity. I want to pursue a career that can relate to my interests.

Does your thoughts match the cases cited above? There are many new options available after 12th other than traditional options like Engineering and Medical. You can enter into a variety of field such as:

Law
Journalism
Public relations
Nursing
Advertising
Fashion
Management
Modeling
Travel and tourism
Hotel management
Call centers
CS/CA/ICWA
Academics/Research
Civil services
Defense/Paramilitary forces

I’ll discuss each of these options in detail in my future posts. You can match your interests and expectations. Once you enter the field of your choice, trust me sky is the limit. If you are not careful in making the right choice you may spend your life cribbing or complaining about your professional life. So make and early start and plan your career.

Medical Entrance Examination

2006-11-23T14:27:00.001+05:30

Do you want to be a doctor and serve sick and needy people? What you require are good grades all through school. You should start preparing for medical entrance exams by class IXth. There are postal as well as dedicated coaching offered by premier institutes including Brilliants, Akash Institute and Sachdeva.

There are many kinds of doctors. You should also decide whether you want to be a family and general practitioner or you want to be a specialist. General practitioners treat common problems while experts treat specific problems. For example, Pediatricians are experts who care for children and babies. Heart surgeons operate and heal heart diseases.

Who should opt for medicine?
Medicine is a suitable filed for students with interest and excellent background in biology, physics, and chemistry.

How to take admission in medical colleges?
Entrance examinations to Medical colleges are conducted on an All India basis as well as state wise basis. Apart from this, some national level institutions also conduct their own entrance tests.

The Central Board of Secondary Examination, Delhi conducts an All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Exam to select the candidates at an all India level (except in the states of Jammu & Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh ) for admission to roughly 15% of the total seats in the colleges of each state. Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir do not admit students from other states.

Engineering Entrance Examination

2006-11-01T13:50:00.001+05:30

Is mathematics and science your favorite subjects? Are you wondering whether to opt for engineering or medicine as your career options? Discuss with career counselors or teachers in your school who can guide you or simply map your liking and aptitude to make a decision. I’ll provide brief information on the two fields. Let’s begin with engineering.

Engineering is the application of mathematics and science to commerce or industry. A study by Duke University in North Carolina suggests that U.S. colleges produce roughly 750 engineers per million citizens, compared with 500 in China and 200 in India. To remain competitive in the global market there is a wide scope for engineers.

Who should opt for engineering?
Engineering courses are suitable for students with interest and excellent background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

What are the various streams in engineering?
You can opt for any of these streams of engineering:

Aeronautical and aerospace Agriculture
Automobile
Computer
Civil
Chemical
Electrical
Industrial
Manufacturing
Marine
Mechanical
Metallurgical
Mining
Textile

How to take admission to engineering?
The engineering entrance exam is conducted on all India or State level. You can apply at either undergraduate (BE/BTech) or postgraduate level (ME/MTech). You can refer to previous IIT papers to check your aptitude. You can opt for engineering entrance examinations including AIEEE, IIT-JEE and GATE.

It is important that you should be regular in your studies. Solve as many test papers as you can before the exam. Time management is the most important factor. No one can solve the entire paper in the prescribed time. So practice, practice, and practice. Some books that are recommended for engineering are ResnickHallidayWalker, NCERT, Mathematics by RD Sharma and ML Khanna.

Innovations in Education

2006-10-26T14:37:00.001+05:30

Innovations in information and technology can make education and learning accessible and interesting. This fact is supported by the recent step taken by 200 government schools in Delhi who used animated character Pokemon to teach lessons to primary class children. In Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district, children from 170 deprived families call a boat their school. This is a brilliant example of teaching children close to their parents and the environment they can relate to.

Another major step, “India’s Curriculum of Tomorrow” promoted by Jiva Education publisher based in Faridabad is an enterprising step in constructive learning. The new curriculum is designed to bring about a fundamental change in traditional and obsolete syllabi.

Internet services provided by n-Logue in Indian villages is another commendable step in imparting learning. With the help of n-Logue local service providers recruits local entrepreneurs to open kiosks in small cities and rural areas.

These innovative measures have to deal with social and cultural challenges as well as slow creative development in India. Teaching, schooling, and learning are generally rigid and change resistant systems. There is also a lack of infrastructure and finance. Let’s imagine a condition where all students go to school, the school building will explode.

In spite of all the odds, Internet technology and e-learning can help to bring innovation in learning by making learning more user friendly. A teacher residing in any part of the world can teach hundreds of students through virtual classrooms. Students have high quality study material that they can refer to any number of times at their own pace. Teachers are also left with more time to interact with students.

Schooling in India

2006-10-16T14:27:00.001+05:30

Schooling in India is an expensive proposition. There are various boards that conduct exams (Xth and XIIth) in India:

CBSE Board

CISCE/ICSE Board

State Boards of India

Now you must be wondering which board is better? Varying level of evaluation between state and central boards makes it difficult to assess which board to opt for. In each state majority of states are affiliated to the state board while a few are affiliated to CBSE and ICSE board. However, best schools in India are affiliated to ICSE– Welhams, Doon, Mayo, CJM, etc. Some students may find ICSE board difficult. CBSE system provides uniform learning across India and is suitable for children of employees with transferable jobs. Some students also hold the opinion that entrance exams like engineering and medical are more closely modeled on CBSE syllabus.

Major concerns that are related to schooling and examination system in India can be sumarized as:

There is thin line between what is taught and what is learnt. A change from mugging to applying is required.
The percentage scored determines student’s admission to a university or employment. There should be inclusion of other means of evaluation based on extra curricular activities.
A recent World Bank survey found that 25% of government primary school teachers in India are absent from work. There should be strict enforcement of teacher-student ratio of 1:40 and the attendance of teachers along with students.
Schools books seem to teach everything. There is a need for a general reassessment of curriculum of textbooks keeping the student’s requirement and applicability in mind. It involves decentralization of curriculum design involving more teachers and educationist.

Planning Your Career

2006-10-06T17:11:00.000+05:30

Are you puzzled about your future?

Case 1:
Riya opted for both Maths and Biology after class X because she wanted to be eligible for both medical and engineering entrance exams. Medicine and engineering are two different fields and require thorough planning to clear the entrance exams. She is now a dentist and remembers the dilemmas she faced earlier.

Case2:
After completing his MCA Raj joined XYZ firm as a pogrammer. He only worked in this field for a year, because he realized he was more interested in interacting with people than working at his desk alone. He got a new job in software support which was a better match for his interest and skill.

In order to have a satisfied and successful career it is important that we have a proactive career approach. These are some questions you should put to yourself:

What subjects you should major in?
What do you really want to be?
How to gather indepth knowledge of various career options?
What are skills and experience required to get into that field?
How to understand the demands, responsibilities, and objectives of the career option?
What are your competencies, strengths, and weaknesses?

It is important to understand yourself and then take steps to plan and act. These are some suggestions:

Analyze your current situation and available resources.
Try to match your skills and interest.
Prepare startegies to move your career in the right direction.
Take help of career counselor, talk to people in the industry, and read career guides.
Learning by doing is a valuable way to research possible career paths - look for summer jobs or project assignments.
Gather information to evaluate your options and make the right decision.

Education and Career Handbook

2006-10-05T11:51:00.001+05:30

With changing nature of learning in India there are many questions that come into a student's mind.

What career should I pursue to be successful?
What is engineering?
What is the scope of medicine as a professional career?
Whether I should opt for computers, law, or management?
What are vocational and diploma courses?
What is government cadre A,B, C, D?

My blog aims at linking education and career. My blog will act as a career guide to industries by providing information on professional courses, competitive exams, vocational and non-formal education, career options in government and private sector, etc. I also encourage inputs, queries and suggestions from readers of my blog. You can mail me at richasmita@google.com.

Illiteracy in India

2006-09-28T12:02:00.001+05:30

The Constitution of India advocates free and compulsory education of children below the age of 14. So why is more than half the population in India illiterate? Is ignorance really a bliss or is it the limitations of our resources?

I was going through a recent survey conducted in five states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan on basic education system in India (Public Report on Basic Education). The report points that parents are willing to send their children to school. So what is holding them back?

Life in India or in that case in any part of the world is easy if you have resources (money and infrastructure). Moreover, social and economic factors slows you down. While driving back home you must have seen children selling books or flowers. Estimates cite figures of between 60 and 110 million working children in India. Child labor is a source of income for poor families. Is it poverty responsible for child labor or is it the inadequacy of school system in India?

One solution I can think of this moment is the realization that we all can contribute in some way or the other. A small step taken by us can make a big difference. You can contribute by:

Volunteering or donating money to NGOs for child education.
Opening a library or donating books to your city library.
Promoting the concept of earn and learn.
Providing vocational or job oriented education.
Educating atleast one child during your life.

Education and Confusion

2006-09-27T14:35:00.003+05:30

I am a science graduate with degrees in computers and management. By profession I am a technical writer. At times when I look behind, I feel that my journey to the right career has not been easy.

As a student these are some of the questions I was always unclear about:

What subjects should I study?
What professional course I should opt for?
What are the various career options?

I feel these are the current dilemmas of many students in India. A diverging fact is that in our country around 6 crores children are out of school, and many who go to school are confused and unsatisfied. Right from school to college students are not sure what subjects and courses to enrol in. In big cities there are career counsellors and other educationist who aim to help students. But how successful these efforts are and how satisfied today's youth is a question to ponder on!