Impact on GK & Current Affairs for Entrance Tests due to Coronavirus Lockdown

One of the unintended benefits of the ongoing lockdown, is that not much is taking place. Let us take a look at the key points that students will need to take care of, for April and May’s current affairs section. By Aritro Dasgupta

Students and educators alike, are right now debating in their own minds on how the immediate post COVID-19 lockdown world would mean to all. There is the big question of the pending school- leaving examinations for Class 12, students from across the national and state boards. After that, the big question would be that of the entrance exams. The entrance exams too now pose a unique challenge. There is one particular challenge unique to all aptitude exams. This list covers all entrances that test a student’s aptitude. It includes among others, CLAT, AILET, DUJAT, IPU CET, NCHM-CET and the CUET.

There is one component common to all these entrance tests. They all contain the component of General Knowledge (GK). Students’ key concern nowadays is that with exams postponed for months, does the current affairs component also get delayed. Under normal circumstances, an offline exam to be held in May would contain current affairs only until March end. Students now fear that they will need to cover the current affairs content all the way for another month or so. This fear is indeed not without justification. It will be safer for students, if they do continue their preparations for current affairs.

One of the unintended benefits of the ongoing lockdown, is that not much is taking place. There are no national or international conferences being held. So, no themes or host cities need to be memorized. No elections are ongoing, which means the older list of leaders remains mostly intact. There aren’t any sports tournaments being held, so no list of winners needs to be updated. Nor do we see any more landmark legal judgements being conferred. The slew of award ceremonies are missing. We aren’t seeing much of a change in guard at the top of corporations either, with new CEO appointments getting delayed. While important Days and Dates will keep getting updated, but not much activity is going on in them. Military exercises have also been put off or delayed, though students could make a list of the events that were nonetheless initially planned for this period.

So, let us take a look at the key points that students will need to take care of, for April and May’s current affairs section:

Everything possible on COVID-19. This includes some technical medical details, but also its economic impacts. Students must read up on the amounts that each industry is expected to reverse by. Scientific discoveries and potential antidotes could be critical.

For some exams that see descriptive type questions, such as in CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), aspirants must also run through data on some of the other epidemics or pandemics to have affected the planet over the past two decades. This would include Ebola and SARS.

For CLAT, students will also be well- advised to understand the major economic slowdowns in the past century. This would notably include the Great Depression of 1929, the Recession of 2007-09, and the 1971 oil crisis.

Rescheduled dates of all major events, if at all new dates have been set aside. Many events such as the Tokyo Olympics and the Euro 2020 football tournament have been postponed by a year. Some such as this year’s Wimbledon for Lawn Tennis and the Oktoberfest in Germany, have been scrapped altogether. Some meetings are taking place through digital means. Yet others are awaiting clarity on how the situation persists.

Economic surveys by international and national bodies are critical.

Agricultural data also needs to be scanned, to understand how the patterns will be for this year.

Students need to keep a track on the individual Indian states’ and countries’ reaction to this crisis. A lot of useful mobile apps and contribution funds have been set up, to specifically fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

OTT (Over-The-Top) platforms have suddenly become mainstream. Yes, they have been getting greater recognition over the past few years, but now with the majority of the world’s population indoors, their importance has risen exponentially. So, students would be well- advised to go through the financial performance and names of key personnel at Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hot star, TVF, Alt Balaji, Zee 5 and others.

We see overall that not much changes. Yes, students do need to keep track of current affairs for a few more months. However, as not much is happening now, there isn’t too much to cover. Students however, would be well- advised to revise all the current affairs in the usual window. It is well- known that the months of October of the previous year to March of the current year, have always been most significant from the exam perspective. Since one has more time now, the aspirants can go back to June of last year to start with their preparations, though usually very few questions are asked from that long back. It will ensure a safety window.

Also Read:

How can CAT aspirants make best use of online classes

About the Author:

Aritro Dasgupta is a Teacher, Trainer and Content Writer. He has taught at several leading colleges and coaching institutes in both India and the UAE. Several of his students have finished in the top 10 of various national level exams such as CLAT, AILET and DUJAT. He is also a prolific content writer, having written for several leading publications in India, while currently, also working for one in the USA.