Expert Guide to Cracking the Symbiosis Interview Round  Preparing for the Interview  Face-to-face interviews are where decisions are made! It may seem obvious, but dress professionally and come prepared. Bring several copies of your resume, writing utensils, a notebook, references, questions, breath mints, a comb, and anything else that will make you feel comfortable and prepared.  What the Interviewer is Evaluating  During the interview, the interviewer evaluates:  Mission  Vision  Logical Thinking  Knowledge  Planning  IQ  EQ  Ability to Bear Stress  Presentation  Communication  Clarity in Thought  Rational Argumentation  Confidence  Personality    Guidelines for Answering Questions  Listen carefully. If you feel the question is unclear, ask politely for clarification. Pause before answering to consider all facts that may substantiate your response. Always offer positive information.  Get directly to the point. Ask if the listener would like you to go into great detail before you do. Discuss only the facts needed to respond to the question.  Do not open yourself to areas of questioning that could pose difficulties for you. Be truthful, but do not offer unsolicited information.  Focus and re-focus attention on your successes.    Common Interview Questions  Tell me something about yourself. This is how most interviews begin and this is one question you cannot afford to be unprepared for. To frame a good answer, it is always helpful to know what the interviewer wants to know about you. They would like to know about your educational background, strengths and achievements, family background, and your academic and professional journey. Be short and crisp about all the points mentioned above. If the interviewer needs elaboration, they will ask.       2. Why do you want to join this institute?  Answer this honestly and pragmatically. Ideally, you should choose an institute based on certain criteria, such as ranking/placements, courses offered, fees, and location. A little research on the institute, its placements, and specializations will help convince the interviewer that you are sincerely interested. =. It also helps you in identifying parameters critical for you while choosing the particular institute.       3. Which other institutes have you applied to?  This question is very much linked to the previous one. Be well-prepared with a planned response about what to disclose.        4.How will you add value to this institute if you make it through?  This is an opportunity to showcase your strengths, supported by related achievements. Your background and circumstances can also be strengths. Remember, an achievement doesn’t necessarily mean a prize. It can be successfully coming out of a crisis situation or managing a small project.        5. What do you consider your biggest failure?  CAUTION: This is not an opportunity to pour out your darkest secrets. This is a question that is best played down. For example, if you are overweight, you may mention — “I have been trying to shed weight for the last few years but couldn’t do it still.” The answer should be framed so that it does not reflect badly on your career thus far, or your future career.  Another way of answering would be a smart statement: “I have never allowed failure to drag me down. I just got up, took my lesson and picked my way forward.” Here it would help to have a certain experience picked out.          6. Why have you chosen this career?  Provide a mature and realistic answer based on your aptitude, desired social, professional, and personal environment, background, achievements, motivations, and interests.  People choose their career based on several reasons, such as:  ~ What is your aptitude?  ~ What kind of a social, professional and personal environment do you desire? ~ What is your background and achievements?  ~ What motivates you?  ~ What activities do you enjoy?          7. What is the last book you read?  If you know the ins and outs of the book and the author, that’s great, but it’s also fine to read for fun. Just ensure your answer is natural, convincing, and rational. If asked for more detail about the author, you can say, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t read much about the author. But I liked this book because…”            8.How will you contribute to this campus if we select you?  This is a question that directly relates to your strengths and aspirations. Highlight the qualities and aspirations that will benefit the college academically, culturally, or in other ways. Use this question to show your enthusiasm and commitment.           9.Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?  Focus on the roles and responsibilities associated with desired positions, rather than throwing in fancy designations. If the question specifically asks for your professional goals, stick to it. Otherwise, balance it with personal goals.            10. Who is your role model?  Your role model can be anyone—a public figure or someone from your family. Focus on the qualities that inspire you and how you try to inculcate those qualities. Explain why they stand out from their peers. It is important to focus on the qualities that inspire you and how you try to inculcate those qualities in yourself.            11. Do you have any questions for me?  A “No” would be a bad answer. Have a few questions ready about the academic and cultural environment of the institution to show your enthusiasm. 0 Facebook 0 Linkedin 0 Pinterest

Rajneesh Singh Legal Reasoning can be a sticky puddle if you don’t know the proper ways to steer out clean and score well in this section. Well for starters, one must understand that Legal Reasoning does not necessarily mean that one must have intricate knowledge in the field of Law, rather having an understanding of the reasoning and the sense of logic is important. The basic knowledge of some common laws and legal current affairs  helps in solving Legal Reasoning questions with a better speed.   The Reasoning Mind All That you Need  CLAT core committee made it very clear in CLAT 2016 while hearing to the objections on correction of the answers that they take you as a CLAT aspirant who does not have any prior knowledge of law. CLAT has been setting the answers assuming that and not that you are a law school student. You have to act as a judge, who has to pass a judgement based on the wisdom (reasoning mind) without violating the constitution (principle/rule).  For example if the principle uses a term “foreseeable”, it is your your reasoning mind will decide whether it was foreseeable or not and certainly not the rule/principle. Do not put the load on the principle to decide the answer. Principle is just a restriction which can not be violated. It is the reasoning mind which will decide the answer.    Solve Past Year Papers   Solving past year papers helps in getting a better grip of the subject matter and also helps in gaining experience on the same. You also develop an eye for identifying high frequency questions, and solving them helps you to find the common mistakes that are usually made with these kinds of questions. You can also increase your accuracy with these questions. Solving past year papers of the old pattern will also be of a great help. NLSIU conducted it’s own exam for 20 years before CLAT was conducted for the first time in 2008. Solving these papers will also be of immense help.   STICK to the Principle/Rule But do not become STICKY   The golden rule is, you must stick to the principle, but, you need to just check that your answer must not violate the principle/rule. Often principle has no role and it is all about reasoning, common sense and rational assumptions. Question setter often tries to trap you by making a redundant principle which is catchy enough to deviate you. A principle is like a circular boundary which restricts you to be within the boundary. One has to remain inside that to get the answer. Often people are so STICKY to the principle that they keep trying to find the answer by sticking on the line (principle). Whereas answer can be anywhere within the circle. Answers are often result of applying correct reasoning, common sense and rational assumption (being within the principle/rule)    Enhancing Speed Attainment of optimal speed is an art which needs to be learnt well. Never try to go beyond the optimal speed which is based on your present speed. There should not be any compromise on the accuracy. Also because now the questions are just 120 in total. Off course calculated risk may be taken from time to time. Speed enhancement can be mainly done with help of familiarity with the topic of the given passage. This can become the single reason for the speed to become even upto double the present speed of reading. A good hold on the common principles (like vicarious liability) and the legal current affairs (like Rahul Gandhi defamation case) can dramatically enhance your speed.    Quality Discussion  This is the only way to improve your reasoning mind gradually. This will make your mind more rational and unbiased. Refrain from some stupid discussions mainly of a social forum. Interestingly people go on for a long fight over a stupid question which does not have a distinct answer. There are many materials which have wrong answers, pathetic explanations (as if you are already a law school student) and poor quality questions. This can make you diffident and adulterate your correct reasoning mind. Focus on Rules/Principles  While reading the given principles, make sure the entire focus must be on the rules and not the related facts. Plethora of less important information may clutter your mind and may deviate you from the main agenda. When you start solving questions and start reading the incident, the accurate recall of the principle will help to save the time and maintain a good accuracy. This way, you will not need to go back to the passage again and again.  Focus AreaLegal Reasoning                – RulesLogical Reasoning             – The  Main Argument.Reading Comprehension  –  The main Message/Opinion     Tie Breaker Myth It is true that CLAT uses Legal Reasoning marks for breaking tie of students with same total score, but it would be a big blunder if you focus only on maximizing your score on Legal Reasoning as this section may be tougher sometimes and the questions may be lengthy as well. Please increase your score by attempting the easier questions from other sections in such case. Remember, a higher score is more important to secure a higher rank, rather than breaking tie with a lower rank.   Select Study Materials Carefully  Please ensure you buy the right set of books for practicing Legal Reasoning questions. A lot of bad materials are available in the market so be sure to buy good books for this section.   0 Facebook 0 Linkedin 0 Pinterest