Quiz Masters

Sachin Ravi, George Mathew and Raghav Chakravarthy, law students of Symbiosis Law School, are all set for their first trip to Sweden. Thanks to the Nobel Memorial quiz they recently won, this visit will be fully-funded. This holiday is not the only reward they won from this victory. All three have learnt a lot about Sweden and Nobel laureates in all disciplines. The quiz also helped inculcate in them the right team spirit and sharpened their communication and presentation skills.

The trio at Symbiosis are old hands at quizzes and have won a series of competitions. "I have won many quizzes in the past - dealing with subjects as diverse as management and information technology," says Ravi.

Such triumphs only add to Ravi's knowledgebase and make him a better informed person, able to hold his own in competitions, and life in general.

Prof BL Handoo, an education innovator, agrees. "These competitive activities make you better in basic life skills and help develop your endurance, impart thinking and emotional skills. These accomplishments give you an edge over others at the time of employment also. When we hire teachers, I don't only look at candidates' marks. I see if they have some hobbies which they inculcate among kids," he says.

These soft skills -- as Prof Handoo calls them - are referred to as twenty-first century skills by people like Meera Balachandran, former principal of Ramjas School, RK Puram. "These co-curricular activities (read quizzes) enhance communication skills and confidence in students. They add to your emotional intelligence (EQ), which is considered more important than your intelligence quotient (IQ). You become successful in life because of this (EQ)," she says.

Quizzes also develop a practice of reading from multiple sources -- newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Ravi regularly reads papers (online) and magazines, and keeps himself updated on myriad subjects. "It's the cumulative knowledge which comes handy in quizzes," he adds. The cumulative knowledge is evident from the streak of wins he is credited with. In Class 12, he won an IT quiz organised by a software giant and some time back, he was runner-up in the regional round of a popular management quiz which got him R35,000 as prize money.

Those who have crossed the threshold of academics and are now working in the industry also acknowledge the usefulness of quizzing. Ranjeet Varma, an avid quizzer, who works in the branding department of Hard News, a media company, believes that the habit of voracious reading he picked up because of quizzing stands him in good stead. "The excessive reading keeps me abreast of new technology, trends, happenings in the world. The corporate dynamics which I understand and can even implement is not something that is understood by my colleagues working in similar positions in this company," says Varma, a position holder in regional rounds in many national level quizzes such as All India Management Association (AIMA) and Tata Crucible. He sometimes even takes leave from office to pursue his passion for quizzing.

Popular contests

• Tata Crucible quiz for students is a national level quiz. Visit www.tatacrucible.com/campus/index.html
• Another popular national level quiz is organised by the All India Management Association. For details, visit www.aima-ind.org/National_Student_Management_Quiz.html
• For more quiz related information one can visit www.dare2compete.com

 

Author: Vimal Chander Joshi (HT Horizons)

Date: 4th November, 2010

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