Of Midnight Oil and Daytime toils

Deepti Gahrotra is from the ADPR batch of 2011-2012. After a brief stint with 20: 20 MSL she is currently the Communications Manager at Score Foundation in New Delhi, and happy to be using her PR skills in a domain she loves.

IIMC was one of the best years of my life so far. It is one of those experiences I will cherish forever. I laughed, I cried, I made others cry, and well finally I found my little place beneath the sun. Which is why when I was approached to write this article I was overjoyed to be talking about one of the few places I call home, it truly is my Alma Mater. Mind you however, this despite the fact that I had never heard of this blog before last week! Unlike one of my successors who professes to having "religiously" followed this blog for months on end before the exam, I'm now somewhat embarrassed to say I had no idea it existed.

But that in no way discounts the fact that I DID study at IIMC, so I guess I'm trying to say at some level it takes more than all the preparation in the world to make it to IIMC, it takes a knack for words, a clear and sound thinking process, and opinions... lots and lots of opinions. You need to be really opinionated to be heard among 6000 people who apply and then the 75 students in your class. This of course pertains more to ADPR than to other courses, simply because I am not an authority on the others.

This post in particular deals with how one can prepare for the written exam, however, in case any of you want to, I have also written a couple of blogposts (yes by a couple I mean exactly 2) about my time at IIMC on my own blog. If any of you are in two minds about going to IIMC or any other institute, I would like to think at least one of the posts might help you.

http://imjinxd.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-first-day-of-rest-of-my-life.html

http://imjinxd.blogspot.in/2012/06/you-see-i-did-my-post-graduation-in.html

Coming back to how you should prepare I'll answer this in two parts. Back when I sat for the entrance exam I sat for all three exams ADPR, EJ and RTV. Yes I know what your are thinking, "fickle ain't she?" but having a bachelors in Journalism and Mass Comm I was not sure at the time which of the three I wanted to do. Coming back, I cleared the written for all three. So I guess I am as a good an authority as anyone to talk about at least the entrance for all three.

For the EJ and RTV exams keep abreast of current issues. Read alot. A lot of different perspectives on an issue will help you form your own opinion and that is all they will ask you for in the exam, YOUR opinion.

Suggested reading includes: the online version of The Economist, the editorial of The Hindu and The Economic Times as well as The Indian Express. A helpful tip is to read the Sunday edition of the ET religiously. It is a tabloid sized "magazine" as they call it, and super overpriced if the accounts administrator at my office is to believed, but I promise it is worth the paper it is printed on. This should keep you set.

Personally did not read all of these. I used to read a general daily and get a hang of news. I would then Google the topic and read any editorial I found on it. Now that I'm a whole year older and wiser, to simplify the process for you I suggest reading the above.

Apart from this be sure to read one general daily everyday, you know TOI, HT, The Hindu that kind. Just pick one and ruffle through it to be sure you know whats going on in the world. In an earlier post someone suggested reading Brand Wagon which I admit is pretty useful, however since I did not start reading it till after I passed out of IIMC I guess you can get through without reading it.

Apart from this, you need to have a knack for writing. All the preparation in the world will fall flat if you can't adequately and coherently express yourself. This is something that takes time to inculcate. However if you are dedicated, try and write as much as possible. Get people to read it and give you their honest opinions. There is no other way around it.

Now lets come to ADPR. I looked at the last 5 year entrance exam papers when I was preparing for mine and let me tell you they were a BIG help.

They helped me establish a pattern. Apart from one question which is always a curve ball and meant to stump you, the rest of the question patterns are quite predictable. While reading this please bear in mind I did not look at last years exam paper so this business with maths is alien territory to me, but I'm willing to bet that the rest of the paper was pretty standard.

So rule 1, dont worry about the curve ball. Attempt it at the end if possible so that it doesnt cause you any undue stress. You can’t prepare for it so rely on instinct and prior knowledge to answer it to the best of your capabilities.

The first question generally has to do with statements. You will be given 4 or 5 statements and you will need to describe any 2 or 3 of them in 100 words. The statements could be as follows,

* "brevity is the soul of wit".

* "A sword is useless in the hands of a coward".

In essence you are to explain the meaning of the statement in no more than 100 words. Remember this requires skill and clear thinking. If you think 100 words is a lot well then be prepared to be surprised. Think about this one, it requires a certain degree of mindful thinking and a way with words.

The next question will ask you to deconstruct an advertising campaign. List out its merits and demerits. There will be a choice between a social and brand campaign and you are asked your thoughts on the campaign and how you could make it better. For this purpose it is important to also watch a lot of ad campaigns. I found www.afaqs.com very useful. It will help you find information on the latest campaigns and also some perspectives. YouTubing latest Indian ad campaigns is a good idea. See them and try to form an opinion. The campaign they ask you to work on is generally fairly widely known so the risk of you not knowing the campaign is slim. Another question might ask you to deconstruct a social campaign of your choice, and well the above should help you with that as well.

Apart from this there is bound to be one or two questions on current affairs. They generally give you a list of 10 people to describe. These people are diverse but will have all been in the news in the past one year. You will be required to give a brief profile of any 5.

If all goes well 2 hours is more than enough to finish the paper. Allot fixed time for each of the questions and work systematically. Take at least 2 pens you are comfortable writing with and a pencil. The exam is long and if you can’t write fast this might be an area you might want to work on.

But over and above everything just have fun with the exam. A certain amount of wit and cockiness, I find goes a long way. So please don’t be nervous I've known the best of them to stumble under pressure and it cost them a seat. So be calm, if you have worked hard and you are confident of your capabilities, you should be able to hopefully crack it.