#524 Viva voce

 Viva Voce

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The title refers to any examination performed orally, not in any written form. I am not going to count the number of viva-voce that I’ve appeared so far in my life, which I think is uncountable. This topic will give me another chance to walk down memory lane which I never miss to do. That’s something that I should feel grateful for.

The first official viva voce that I faced in my life was the test taken by the class teacher in my nursery. I was prepared by my mother and aunty through a mock test. I lived in a joint family and was fortunate to receive love, care, and affection from my uncle, aunt, and grandparents. I call that viva voce an official one because I don’t consider those which were taken by the relatives or guests when they visited us. As class ascended, those viva voces got converted into the written form and as an introvert, I was more comfortable with written tests. Later, I remember giving one viva voce during the 12^th class for Physical Education as the external examiner asked us a lot of questions related to the sports of our choice.

            During my graduation days, some marks were awarded for practical exams which were based on viva voce of that test. Sometimes the viva voce was done one-on-one, other times with a small group of students. During my campus placements, initial rounds were based on aptitude, logical reasoning, or English language comprehension tests but final rounds were based on one-on-one interviews and HR rounds. During my preparation phase for government examinations, I realized that almost all exams had a round of viva voce at the end when one cleared the initial written tests. I appeared to some of those after clearing the preliminary rounds and my stress during the initial days got converted into excitement and hope of clearing them. Those tests checked the presence of mind, personality, confidence along with knowledge of the subject. I got a lot of chances to appear for such viva voce during my job hunting in India and abroad. With increased experience, I realized how important it is to express oneself and present those qualities that the interviewer was searching for. My latest viva voce was taken by an AI bot that was asking me questions based on my resume and it was one of the most unique interview experiences for me. This shows how quickly technology is revolutionizing our lives.

Each viva voce that I appeared in, whether I passed through that or not, gave me a perspective of the interviewer that I was unaware of. At the same time, I got exposure to my shortcomings as well as that side of my personality which I was unaware of.

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Swati Sarangi

29.04.2024

P.S: This post is a part of #BlogChatterA2Z 2024Challenge for Alphabet ‘V’