Answer Should Be To The Point, Don’t exaggerate

Srinibas Rout is an alumnus of English Journalism Department, 2012-13 batch,  from Dhenkanal campus of IIMC. He is working as a Sub-Editor with Business Standard.

First of all, let me tell you, friends, that the IIMC entrance test is an easy examination. The written paper basically tests your news awareness and how you can present the news to the reader in a language that he understands without putting in too much effort.

As you would be aware, the paper will be a combination of subjective (with word limit) and objective questions. The questions cover many areas like national and international politics, economics, cinema, sports, etc.

So, here are some suggestions from me that you could benefit from while writing the paper:

A.) Use correct and precise English. Your writing should be to the point and without exaggeration.

B.) As politics is the flavour of the season, I would believe a large chunk of the questions would be from the country's current political scene. Issues like the the rise and fall of the Aam Aadmi Party and its impact on modern Indian politics, the issue of 'communal card' and 'secular card' and the polarisation in elections,  major Supreme Court decisions during the past 8-10 months, allegations of crony capitalism (like  issues of the Vadras, the Adanis, the Ambanis, etc), the Telangana story,the various scams during the UPA govt and the Devyani Khobragade episode might find space in your test.

C.) From the economy and business fields, issues like the KG-D6 gas pricing row, the recent volatility in the value of the Indian rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar, the NSEL scam, Subrata Roy's custody issue (basically the OFCD refund default matter), tardy growth during UPA-2 and India's food security scheme and the whole buzz surrounding it at the WTO meet could be some topical subjects in the written test.

D.) From the international section, questions regarding the Russia-West conflict over Crimea and Ukraine, the South China Sea conflict involving Japan, China and other countries of the region, the Malaysian plane tragedy could be important.

E.) It might help to brush up your general awareness by reading a good current affairs magazine (last 3 months). This would be useful for the objective questions. Remember the names of prominent persons (both national and International) and why they were in news, besides major award winners and sports personalities who made headlines.

F.) And, for the grammar section, refresh your basics and try to stick to correctness, structuring and preciseness of your sentences.

All the best, friends. Do well!