Tips to Boost Your Basic General Knowledge in 2024

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1. Read the newspaper
   People especially, the younger generations, find it significantly boring or a waste of time to read a newspaper. But believe it or not, if you form a habit of reading a newspaper daily, even if it’s only regarding a particular topic you are interested in, with time it will fill you up with a vast wealth of information.
   
   Although newspapers contain both regional and domestic tidings, do make sure to read the sections that also contain information about the globe. The “op-ed” column will surely give you a subjective perspective and compel you to think offbeat, i.e., different than the widely accepted viewpoint.
   
   Gradually, you will witness not only a shift but a major transformation in your thinking skills and you shall be able to quickly understand the major developments around the world. The Guardian (UK), The Wall Street Journal (USA), The New York Times (USA), China Daily (China), The Times of India (India), The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), and The Asahi Shimbun (Japan), are some of the most popular newspapers around the globe.
   
   The black and white piece of paper will help you to obtain a better understanding of your surroundings and world. Alternatively, you can also subscribe to anE-newspaper and read it anywhere whether on your toilet seat or in a metro station.


2. Watch Television
   The simplest and most entertaining way is to watch television. Surely, many of you must be watching your favorite movies, dramas, or series on T.V. for long hours. Why not give a few minutes to the 24×7 News channels? The superfast morning bulletins can save a lot of your time.
   
   How about watching an informative show or documentary? You must have heard about Man vs. Wild or Planet Earth.
   
   Here is a list of channels you can watch to learn things entertainingly.
   
   
   • Discovery: Nature, wildlife, lifestyle, food, adventure, and mysteries, you name it and the discovery channel has got shows and documentaries about almost anything.
   • BBC Earth: As the name suggests, it is all about nature and earth. Some of the famous documentaries include Frozen Planet, Life, Blue Planet, and Planet Earth.
   • National Geographic: It features non-fiction, and documentaries involving nature, science, culture, and history
   • History: It airs history-based documentaries and historical fiction series
   • Animal Planet: For animal lovers and wildlife enthusiasts, this channel is a must-watch. It features series and documentaries about wild animals and domestic pets.
   • Epic: It airs drama, comedy, action, and non-fiction and fictional programs that focus on Indian history and folklore.
   
   
   These channels are goldmines of interesting information that shall keep you riveted to your television while also adding significantly to your knowledge pool.
   
   Popular T.V. shows such as “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” or the Indian version thereof “Kaun Banega Crorepati” is also all about GK. They serve the dual purposes of serving you with entertainment and knowledge, i.e., infotainment.


3. Websites and Apps
   Living in the age of the internet has made things super easier than before. You can find almost anything on the web. But beware, not everything on the web is genuine. Many websites either share wrong knowledge or do not update their knowledge base. Moreover, many sites merely chat platforms wherein people share their personal views and opinions without providing a trustworthy reference or link. Hence, you need to find reliable and credible sources on the web.
   
   Here is a list of some websites and application you can use to your benefit:
   
   
   • Britannica - This extensive encyclopedia is a pretty famous and reliable source of information. You can find GK articles available in simple and easy-to-understand language.
   • Encyclopedi - a A free encyclopedia with information on millions of topics. What else do you need to satisfy your curious minds?
   • Infoplease - I recently came across this website. What I found great about this website is that it is really interactive and fun, unlike others. For example, you can play quizzes or visit their various sections such as “the top 10” or “a day in the history page” to learn about various things as per your interests and mood.
   • Wikipedia - We all know about Wikipedia. It has been our most reliable friend when we needed to write an assignment quickly. Most of the information provided on it is backed up with trustable links and references.
   
   You can just start by downloading a quiz app providing you with simple general knowledge questions. There are also countless apps such as Wikipedia, QuizUp, Ted, gktoday, and Inshorts to widen your domain of knowledge.


4. YouTube channels
   There are numerous channels you can subscribe to on YouTube to improve your GK. However, if you are overwhelmed about what to read and what to skip in a newspaper or find a topic difficult to understand, just search it on YouTube and you can find countless videos on that topic. You can choose the channel you find the best according to your understanding and interests. So, the next time instead of watching the videos of your favorite actors or idols just doing normal mundane activities, try watching informative channels that will smarten you up.
   
   I suggest that you visit the following channels:M
   
   
   • Study IQ
   • TED-Ed
   • Mental Floss
   • Kurzgesagt
   • National geographic
   • Vsauce
   • AsapScience
   • Common sense Education


5. General knowledge books
   You must have heard that books are your best friend. If you are tired of straining your eyes by watching the screen of your laptop or mobile, just follow the traditional way of reading books and magazines. There are hundreds of encyclopedias and GK books available in bookstores (for example, Lucent and Arihant) and online platforms (such as Encyclopedia and Britannica).
   
   Editions of competitive books and magazines such as Down to Earth, The Economist, Very Short Introductions, Science Reporter, and Manorama Yearbook can be really helpful in enhancing your knowledge of a particular topic.


6. Articles and Blogs
   You can also follow your favorite blogger to know more about the things you are interested in. Reading a blog allows you to widen your range of thinking. What is more, you get to see things from more than one perspective regarding a particular topic. For example, if you are an environmentalist, you can follow blogs such as Tree hugger, Grist, EcoWatch, Inside Climate News, and BBC: Earth blog.


7. Online community groups
   Online community Q & A websites are really helpful, as you can post your queries, doubts, and problems and expect a variety of answers from real people. And if you have good knowledge about a topic, you can always help others by satiating the queries of other people too. Here are some you might want to refer to
   
   
   • Quora
   • Reddit
   • Yahoo answers
   • Stack Exchange


8. Listening to the Radio
   I know many of you must be thinking about who listens to the radio nowadays. But there are still some people who enjoy listening to it. The best thing about the radio is that you can do your household chores or office work and simultaneously gain information and news about a variety of topics.
   
   Many radio stations host quiz contests wherein you are just required to make a telephonic call and answer the questions and win amazing prizes, for example, the GK quiz that airs on 102.1 MHz Akashvani. However, if you are already an avid listener, just tune to the station and fill up your brain with all sorts of facts and figures.


9. Reading Novels and Books
   I am not talking about your regular academic textbooks here. There is much more to read in the world. You can learn about a lot of cultures, customs, lifestyles, and problems from reading books. For example, reading “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” is a reminder of the horrors of political instability from the perspective of a teenage girl suffering for reason unbeknownst to her and will surely melt your heart and goad you into thinking of the futility of hatred and political vengeance, whereas “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” is a fun and interactive book for studying the early human history.


10. Visiting places
    Experience is the best teacher you can find in the whole world. You don’t easily forget the things you experience. If you are a wildlife enthusiast, you can pay a visit to a museum to know about the history or a wildlife sanctuary to feel nature with your own eyes. If you want to know about a place or a country, you might be interested in visiting it, provided it does not cut a hole in your pocket. Also, while visiting a particular place, do interact with the local people to know about regional history, culture, monuments, legends, and folklore.

Conclusion

Good background knowledge will help you to understand things in a better way. It will make you more aware and a smarter individual. Academic knowledge with sufficient information about the world and its affairs will expand the horizon of your thinking and make you understand multiple perspectives effortlessly, and your critical thinking skills might also enhance in the process. So, what are you waiting for? Work on it from today only. Pick your favorite areas of interest and dwell in the deep ocean of general knowledge.

Also Read: 12 Study Tips for Back to School

Source: iimskills.com