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How to Get the Best Out of Exam Gaps

By DU Beat December 6, 2017

The five tried-and-tested ways to ensure that the precious days between your examinations are best utilised.

It is always heartening when the exam schedule comes up and you find a lot of gaps in between the papers. Pledges are made at the very moment that this time, not an hour would be wasted. But come December and the pledges are all forgotten. New plans come up and studies are procrastinated for the last day, or more specifically, for the last night.

If you feel that your current schedule needs refining, read on the five following methods to ensure that this does not happen to you this time again.

1. Make your plan on your way home

So you’re done with today’s paper and it could have gone better. Your brain would tell you not to panic as you can study better for the next exam and make up for the previous sins. Here is your moment to act. Do not let the brain’s inspiration fade- take out a pen and a paper and make study plans for the next exam, over the gaps, at the very moment.

2. Wake up early on the first gap day

The first day of the extended gap sets the tune for the remaining days. So in place of binge-watching the night after the exam, understand that the battle is not over. Hit the bed early and wake up earlier on the first gap day. Go through the schedule and start.

3. All night is good, but not night-to-morning
One really can’t help studying till 1 or 2 in the night, or even if not studying, be fidgeting with the phone. Here is the trick- step out of your study mode with the very first wave of sleep, put an alarm for the 6th hour from then, and sleep. If you extend your awake time till 4 or 5 in the morning, you’re bound to spoil the next day.

4. Don’t overburden yourself
Understand your body’s limits. Do not make plans for 18 hours of study if you normally study for 3 hours. Take it easy and everything would work out just fine. Don’t give up on yourselves even if you aren’t able to stick to your schedule on the first day. After all, every new day is a new chance.

5. Don’t allow yourselves any new plans
Everyone has those friends who party, take trips, and hang out during the gaps and procrastinate for the last hour. Do not fall into their lure and stick to your plans. Understand how much your score would mean to you, your report card and your parents.

Feature Image- WikiHow

Nikhil Kumar
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Basics of Astrophotography

By DU Beat December 5, 2017

Astrophotography means taking a photograph of an object hovering in space either with a point-and-shoot camera, a telescope, or any other instrument. The subject matter may include anything ranging from a moon to the Milky Way.

Astrophotography can further be classified into various subfields which includes Deep space, Solar system, Widefield Astrophotography, and Timelapse Photography. In the modern age of digital photography, it is more feasible to go for wide field astrophotography as it is within everyone’s reach.

As far as the equipment is concerned, a modern DSLR camera with good low light capabilities, a wide angle lens, and a good sturdy tripod will do more than enough. It is preferable to use a wide-angle lens with a large aperture like 24mm f 2.8 as this would help in capturing a wide angle shot and enable more light to enter into the camera, so that clear pictures can be shoot.

It is imperative that along with a clear sky and less pollution the chosen location can also accommodate a good wide angle shot.

Preferable settings for astrophotography:

Set camera lens to widest aperture (f/2.8 is better than f/4 or f/5.6)
Set the shutter to the 5 seconds
Set the ISO to 800 or 1600
Set the White Balance to Daylight/Sunny or put it to Custom as per the requirement.

This basic knowledge will equip you to take good quality night sky images.

Feature Image Credits: Jeremy Thomas

Akarsh Mathur

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Sandeep Samal

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Why to Avoid Texting Family and Friends

By DU Beat December 2, 2017

Smartphones and increasingly convenient apps have made it very easy to connect with long-distance family and friends. However, texting or calling them regularly can worsen things.

Mobile phones have now become as routine a gadget like any other. A product that was once deemed as luxury good has become a basic necessity over the years. The good and bad about this gadget is often debated upon. The one good thing which everyone might agree upon is that it helps us connect with family and friends anytime. However, recent studies suggest it might not be the case.

An article published on the Business Insider consisted reports of a study conducted by CHARGit which showed that out of 2000 participants, 65% claimed to feel anxious when they are low on battery, and 42% felt vulnerable if the battery is zero.

Consistently talking to friends and family makes us more dependent on contacting them and this transfers our coping skills from the self to someone else. We have access to friends and family 24/7 which means that we can share our highs and lows whenever we want to. Being able to talk to our loved ones makes us feel accompanied and helps us to lighten the burden by sharing it. The problem comes in when we look for their support in order to fight our battles. All they can do over the phone reassure us which makes us feel better. And because we are in desperation, we find solace in their words, but we miss out on two things here. One, we still have a situation to sort, and two we lose the will to handle things on our own. The loss of the latter trait is deadly in the long run.

Everything, when done in excess, is harmful. The tendency to share our problems and the need to talk to the people we love in order to feel better soon becomes a habit. And as a result, we are in more need to talk to the people we love, and ultimately we have a greater urge to use the cell phone. Talking to our friends and family after a certain point becomes our only coping skill. It’s no surprise the aforementioned study showed so many participants feeling vulnerable and low.

However, by no means does this mean that we shouldn’t text or talk to our loved ones. After all, it is very necessary to talk when we are away from home. It’s no less than a boon to be able to share our problems and to have the support of our loved ones in times of need. But we are here to live life our own way, and we need to fight our battles and cope up with our struggles all on our own.

Feature Image Credits: Association Adviser

Karan Singhania
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A Realistic Approach to an Exam Gone Bad

By DU Beat November 30, 2017

Exams are the most exhaustive sets of draining procedures that a student faces at least twice a year; there is no escape from this vicious trap. Most of the times, unfortunately, owing to whatever reasons, exams don’t go the way we want. What can be done in such cases?

Exams paint a student’s face with grim expressions and usually account for the most horrifying experiences in one’s life. (cue: class 12th Boards.) Nevertheless, students push their limits by pulling themselves out of their comfort zones to study, and that too for weeks straight. They summarise, compile, re-write, learn, and re-learn their notes. They don’t sleep (so to say) and survive almost entirely on caffeine.

Most of the times, unfortunately, owing to whatever reasons, exams don’t go the way we want it. We walk out of the examination room feeling disappointed and dejected, getting into a self-loathing mode. The thought of not performing well in an exam dramatically reduces our productivity and affects our performance in the subsequent examinations too. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to get over a bad exam and we should get out of it as soon as possible.

Firstly, it is imperative that we remain positive throughout that time. Thinking about all the other invaluable knowledge that one gains in the process of learning through continuous reading can help in lessening the brunt. There’s a high possibility that whatever you are reading now will be applied under future circumstances, or you may even get an opportunity to study the same subject in the future. Bad marks don’t define the depth of your knowledge in that particular subject, and it certainly does not measure anyone’s ability to achieve success in their aspired fields. In the long run, nobody even remembers marks.

If the above seems outlandish talk to you, just remember that there are always methods to improve your performance in the next paper. If you have a gut feeling that your answers warrant an F grade, you can appear for the same subject next year. Albeit it would be an added burden, anything is better than being rewarded a ‘back’ in any subject.

However, to arrive at the decision to reappear for any exam, you need to be thoroughly sure of your decision. Just because you think your performance was poor in any exam doesn’t necessarily mean your overall grade average would fall drastically too. For example, in the first semester, if there’s a possibility of scoring low marks in any of the Ability Enhancement Compulsory Courses, your overall marks would not be as severely affected, because the weightage given to AECC subjects is given 4 credits in comparison to 6 for the rest. Moreover, if you score near full marks in your internal examinations, the extent to which your performance in the final exam would affect your overall score would be lessened.

Despite all this, the best way to deal with a poor exam performance is to introspect with an open mind. This is where we give ourselves space to analyze how things could have been done differently. Allow yourself some emotional ‘grieving’ but don’t torture yourself. Expect to feel measures of anger, disappointment, despair or nonchalance, but move on from each stage. The time has passed, it’s best to box-up that experience and be hopeful about the future.(i.e by putting in greater efforts in subsequent papers!)

Feature Image Credits: The Odyssey

Sandeep Samal

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Events

Pearson India launches ‘MyPedia Reader Storybook’; A Book for Children, by Children

By DU Beat November 30, 2017

Pearson, the world’s learning company, launched MyPedia Reader Storybook – a compilation of 42 stories penned by young authors in a book. The book publishes the stories of the winners of MyPedia Reader Creative-writing Contest 2017, a contest organized by Pearson India. This collection of children’s stories gains a greater purpose when it is shaped as a reader for supplementing English-language learning. While it makes a great platform available to children to share their stories with the world and become published at a very young age, as an educational tool, it also creates a unique peer-learning environment which traverses one classroom and expands to classrooms across the nation.

Pearson received more than 1500 stories from students across the country. The youngest author whose story got published is as young as 8-year-old and is a student of 4^th standard. These stories were judged by a 3-panel jury comprising of award-winning author of children’s literature in English – Santhini Govindan, children’s writer – Arundhati Venkatesh, and quintessential storyteller for children – Indira Ananthakrishnan.

Ujjwal Singh, Vice President – Products & Innovation, Pearson India, along with renowned author Vineet Aggarwal unveiled the book. He spoke about the importance of nurturing children’s imagination and innate creativity and encourage them to think critically. Commenting on the launch, Ujjwal, said “Imagination and creativity are crucial educational to adequately equip the next generation for their future. Children are the powerhouse of talent. Each one of them has different skill and if nurtured properly, they can certainly grow up to do wonders in their respective fields. We, at Pearson, love stories, and have designed MyPedia Reader which is an endeavour to share these stories with the world. While each story we received was beautifully crafted, but the ones that made it to the book brings a fresh new perspective”.

He added, “With MyPedia Reader we wanted to create a fertile ‘children-learning- from-children’ atmosphere that encourages and nourishes the innate imagination and creativity of children. We provided a platform to children to share their stories and ended up with a path-breaking learning solution for reading and writing of English language.”

The stories in MyPedia Reader come from different geographies and different cultures, thus creating a robust reading list that is rich, eclectic, diverse and cross-cultural. These stories stem out of children’s own experiences, their issues, and aspirations. They are told from children’s viewpoint and perspective. Thus, putting together a reading list that the learners can (i) easily relate to, (ii) enjoy and (iii) get inspired from.

The platform gave the children an opportunity to register their achievements outside of academic expectations. It captures their ‘bold ideas, wild creativity and optimism’ in the shape of stories that are true to their viewpoint, issues, hopes and aspirations and builds them into a rich Reader. Kids wore the cap of a storyteller and penned wonderful stories on interesting themes such as – science-fiction, folktales, and history among others.

“A reader, a guide or a game book?MyPedia Reader seems to be all the three rolled into one thoroughly entertaining, spellbinding English reading resource that will soon become the ‘new normal’. Children would love to read it as they would easily relate to the young authors and their stories. It would initiate and encourage them to write with a replenished zeal. Prompts for critical and creative thinking will help children to broaden their imagination. Scribble pages will trigger free expression. The games are going to add that extra charm. Inspiration wall is really inspiring. Best part of all is the Charts and Checklists that guides children to write impressive stories. In short, MyPedia Reader is holistic. As an educational product, it is honestly like a breath of fresh air!” ? Meghana Munsunuri, Founder & Chairperson, Bodhivriksha Educational Society

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Understanding the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

By DU Beat November 25, 2017

The United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is an occasion for international institutions and non-governmental organizations to raise awareness about violence against women. It has been observed on 25th November each year since 2000.

O 25th November , 1960, three sisters, Patria Mercedes Mirabal, María Argentina Minerva Mirabal and Antonia María Teresa Mirabal, were assassinated in the Dominican Republic, on the orders of the then Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabel sisters faced this only because they fought hard to end the dictatorship. Activists on women’s rights have since observed a day against violence on the anniversary of the deaths of these women, from 1981. 25th November was designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by the UN General Assembly in 1999. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) lists various forms of violence against women: rape and sexual harassment, child marriage, wife-beating, prostitution, female genital cutting/mutilation, dowry-related violence, trafficking, sexual violence during wars, forced sterilisation, and bride kidnapping. Violence against women also takes many forms of psychological abuse, intimidation, and harassment.

However, long after the Beijing Declaration in 1995 and many years after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was embraced, some countries like Iran still don’t recognise feminist organisations, India denies armed conflict and caste, and everyone is disinclined to respect sexual rights for women, differences in sexual orientation, and gender identities.

Has violence against women become so run-of-the-mill in India that we have ceased to take note of it? Do we need anniversaries, like 16th December, to remind us of something that happens every day? Gender violence happens every day, everywhere in every form. Yet, we only take note when something horrific, like the gang rape in Delhi, happens, which reeks with barbarity. It mobilised people, who had never before been out on the streets, to shout that this culture of violence must end. That was five years ago. Today, that culture of violence remains ingrained still. It is terrifying to think that women will get beaten up on the pretext of being witches, and that girls, no matter how many years old, will be assaulted physically. It includes crimes that we don’t read about in the newspapers. Violence has been normalised in India and elsewhere, because it takes place behind closed doors where there are no eyes and no cameras.

Meanwhile, as women and historically suppressed communities have (just about) started to gain a toehold into the mainstream through political representation, ‘hyper chauvinism’ has reached newer heights, still. The increase in violence against women and minorities and attempts to criminalise alternate sexualities orientations and vehement moral policing and discourses on ‘love-jihad‘ are all part of a backlash against discerned threats to male supremacy. What is to be done, then? Feminism is not a challenge to the men of the society; it is a challenge against patriarchy.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign spanning from 25th November through 10th December (UN Human Rights Day), is taking place this year against the backdrop of global outcry. Millions have marched as part of the #MeToo campaign and have exposed the sheer quantum of sexual harassment and other forms of violence that women everywhere suffer, each day. At the center of this year’s theme, “Leave No One Behind – End Violence against Women”, for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November), it is the imperative to support those who are particularly vulnerable, and to even reach out to the last woman. This November 25, break the silence on gender violence. Women need to thrive, not survive.

This post was aided by information from here and here.

Feature Image Credits: UN

Oorja Tapan

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My First Semester in DU as a Fresher

By DU Beat November 23, 2017

Today while I was laying on my bed half conscious, I realised that I have been riding the bus of ‘Delhi University’ for six months now. Delhi University or perhaps the ‘Dream’ University for many students, was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It all started from the trial rooms of the Extra Curricular Activities quota. The first two months went by in running from one college to the other for my trials; it was probably the most challenging phase of my academic career. After going through the rigorous ECA trails, I made it to the University of Delhi through the Photography and English Debate ECA trials.

And once DU’s journey began, I knew it was not going to be a cakewalk. In all these months, DU showed me it’s various feathers. In all these months, DU showed me it’s various feathers. I dined with a different culture each day, bunked classes, and witnessed the clashes between the Red and Saffron. I also mastered the art of arrangement by assembling notes for the internals, hunting for a pen during the class, and counterfeiting attendance (proxy).

It dawned on me on the last day of the semester that I left behind my school life around nine months ago. In these six months of college, I have made friends that I will cherish for a very long time. I have been acquainted with their habits on which we sometimes laugh, and the rest never judge. My seniors are always there to guide me about any and every situation whilst giving advice about assignments and tests. They are more mature than I am and give self-improvement advice like nobody else. I look forward to having another six months of bonding with them and loving them for a lifetime.

Delhi University as a whole has proved to be a boundless ocean of opportunities if only you have the eye to look out for them. There are opportunities that take you out of your comfort zone and responsibilities that teach you more skills. You’ll expand the horizons of your mind and your personality will become more versatile. I look forward to having the best three years of college life at Delhi University filled with memories, laughter, and deadlines.

Feature Image Credits: IAS Paper

Prachi Mehra

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Naimisha

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Attainability of New Year Resolutions

By DU Beat November 23, 2017

New Year resolutions often end up being made with a lot of hope and promise, but end up being discarded about halfway through January.

New Year’s resolutions are very hard to keep. What starts off as an extension of the idealistic “New Year, New Me” ideas is then supposed to carry onto a whole year, which sounds just impractical. The idea that we can instantly, magically transform ourselves only at a particular time of the year defeats the purpose of self-improvement. Sure, for those who are able to accomplish these self-defined goals might see their value, but for most of the general population they seem unattainable.

Maybe, it has to do with the fact that the motivation for resolutions comes only once a year. After that initial push and flurry of excitement towards accomplishing a newly put forward goal wears off, we lack the motivation towards fulfilling that task. However, what must be understood is that instead of seeking constant motivation towards achieving something, we should instead look for discipline. On days when we don’t find the motivation to do things, we needn’t stop and hope for it to arrive by itself. We should continue preparation towards it constantly, even when we don’t feel like. So that, on the days we have the motivation, we are prepared to utilise it the best way possible. Even keeping realistic, easily achievable resolutions becomes difficult when we wait for things to just go our way. Instead, let’s work in a way so that we progress daily, little by little, by keeping our discipline, and not running after motivation. That way, we won’t need the push of “New Year, New Me” or other catchy slogans to remind ourselves of the fact that we hold the power to change, any time we want.

Feature Image Credits: Beyond Entertainment Blog

Rishika Singh
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Higher Education and The Amount of Stress it Causes

By DU Beat November 22, 2017

If you type the words “University makes me” into a google search bar, the predictive text would read- depressed, anxious, miserable, sad, and suicidal. Higher education is a major stressor and most students experience a deep sense of anxiety and discomfort in college.

College life is an over-glamorised concept across all cultures. While Bollywood films portray college as a place where you dress up, drive sports cars and meet the love of your life, American films portray it as four-years of alcohol, debauchery, and fun. Imagery like parties, pranks, bonding, is recurrent in films related to college life. As a consequence of this conditioning, most of us are not prepared for college life. We anticipate higher education to mean lots of fun and freedom with a healthy dose of learning. However, it turns out to be a challenging experience where deadlines, attendance, and scores, matter more than ever.

Most students in college seem to be exceptionally unhappy with how things seem to be turning out. The truth is college life, from its very beginning, sets us up for disappointment. In a rat-race fuelled competitive world, only a few of us are able to make it into our dream college. Those of us who do are disillusioned by how different it seemed from what we had expected it to be; while those who don’t spend a long time fixated on their loss. Once we move out of the initial shock of not being where we wanted to be, the idea of engaging and participating in multiple activities beyond lectures comes forward. Students are repeatedly told to make the best out of college life; they must seek participation in as many activities as possible. This results in a second rat race of better internships and opportunities that need to be grabbed. More often than not, these jobs are unpaid because of how readily available the interns are. Parallel to this runs the academic perspective where professors simply do not teach in as much detail as school teachers did. College means making your own notes and finding your own explanations. The spoon-feeding that was encouraged in schools is over and we are supposed to deal with the sudden academic baggage of doing everything independently. This sudden shock of transitioning from school to college, adapting to a completely new environment, making new friends, and learning to become independent can be too much for a lot of us. A lot of students also start living independently during college, which means managing things like health and well-being, waking up on time, cleaning and staying organised and budgeting, all of which become our sole responsibilities.

College is one of the most major life events. It takes us out of our comfort zones and throws us into the deep end of the pool without second thoughts. It is one of a unique life experience but it can very easily turn difficult one if we are not careful. To expect students to smoothly transition from schools into college without a hitch is completely unreasonable. Parents, college authorities and society at large need to recognise that college is an extremely challenging and stressful phase where students require immense external help and attention. To brush-off the challenges faced by college students is fairly easy, after all, popular culture does not even portray college as stressful. This is another significant reason why college life is so difficult because our expectations from it are very different from what it finally turns out to be. College is that phase when our metamorphosis from a child to an adult gets completed and to recognise its relevance and the challenges that come with it are important. College students are under the pressure to adjust to their new lifestyle, maintain good grades, and excel in extra-curricular activities, along with seeking experiences which would make them employable. This transition is not a cakewalk and mainstream media does gross injustice to college students struggling with the workload and academic pressure by projecting their life as one drunken party-haze. The acknowledgment that college is stressful and requires work is important because this prepares and gives a more realistic image of what college is to school students. More importantly, this allows college students to feel more comfortable in their current state and also busts the myth that their anxieties and insecurities which they had initially thought only plagued them. College is a life-changing experience, but for this experience to be beautiful, peer support, acknowledgment and validation are pivotal factors. They aren’t luxuries that college administration should provide if they so desire, these are necessities that must absolutely be met in order to ensure well-being and happiness amongst the student body.

Feature Image credits: Kinjal Pandey

Kinjal Pandey

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How to Have a Productive Winter Break

By DU Beat November 22, 2017

Half an academic year is over, and now you have a few weeks of leisure before the next semester begins. How can this period be utilised for maximum efficiency?

Before the season of examinations begins, and as soon as one opens their books and readings, there is a strong urge to make plans regarding the post-exam season. The mind wanders off towards things that cannot be done then- the shows and movies that cannot be watched, the restaurants that cannot be gone to, the pointless sleeping that cannot be done, and so on.

Now the word ‘productive’ has different interpretations for different people. It can mean taking up multiple internships and earning, doing social work, spending time on hobbies, and so on. But no matter what you hope to accomplish, unless it is pointless sleeping, you should set a pattern to your activities. What usually ends up happening is that with multiple priorities, we end up having only a rough idea of what we want to do. There is never any clear structure given to things. Periods like a winter break begin with a lot of hope about what all we hope to accomplish. However, with a lot of things happening in our heads, combined with the inertia we have regarding starting a task, not a lot ends up happening. We meet a few people we wanted to meet during exams, watch the same three movies rather than diversifying our tastes, and end up saying how bored we are. It needn’t be like this. After you get done with exams, you can start by making a structured layout which should include things like the order of your priorities, their urgency in terms of completion time, and the tasks you need to do in order to cater to them. Make further divisions on what you hope to achieve the most and set deadlines and timeframes for those activities, to achieve them realistically.

It’s only through making concrete, time-bound plans that you will be able to accomplish all you want this break, and nothing is more satisfying than a period where one can proudly claim of time well-spent.

Feature Image Credits: Law School Toolbox
Rishika Singh
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