Be Updated. That's It.

Hi this is Krishna passout of EJ 2010-11. Always wanted to be a journalist. So if you are not serious – please don’t occupy a seat of other deserving candidate who might not be as lucky as you. Currently working with Business Standard and based in Mumbai. Krishna is heading Membership Drive of IIMC Alumni Association in Maharashtra Chapter.

A newspaper a day lands you in IIMC right away. I would describe this as a mantra which brought me to Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

People in the media fraternity might criticise Times of India tooth and nail but I owe my admission in IIMC to ToI. No no... please don't interpret this as if I'm a great ToI fan but the point I want to make is even if you read one newspaper a day carefully, there are bright chances of you securing admission in IIMC or say at least cracking the first hurdle -- written test.

I didn’t study a single book apart from reading the newspaper daily, anytimein my preparation for IIMC. You might wonder how’s that possible? But definitely it is possible. You must be very well aware with the question paper pattern by now (Question Paper 2005 | Question Paper 2006 | Question Paper 2007 | Question Paper 2008 | Question Paper 2009 | Question Paper 2010 | Question Paper 2011 | Question Paper 2012). Paper pattern isn’t intended to test your academic knowledge but precisely your knowledge about your surroundings. Reading a newspaper will give you the fair idea about that.  And it will also help you to opine you in the questions where you have to take positions (first two questions).

But one thing is very clear. You should be able to defend the position you take and that will come from your knowledge about the topic. Attempt the topic which you know. And yes be careful about the word limit as there is no extra sheet provided. Roughly one line of the answer sheet can accommodate 10 words, so for 150 words 15-16 lines should be the maximum limit of your answer.

If you are attempting for English journalism, grammar is an important part, therefore I would advise you if to brush up that part if you are not strong here. Even I wasn’t strong here (I’m not still) and didn’t pay attention to this part, I believe that I lost few marks in this section.          

Most of you must also be attempting RTV exam. The basic premise of that exam is not much different from that of journalism. It's easy to crack both the exams on the common preparation.

I won’t go much beyond this, as in journalism, it’s very important to be simple, precise and to the point. All the best folks. Will come back for the interview tips.

P.S: I’ve a fantastic interview experience to share.  Wait for it.