Relax and Let Your Pen Do the Talking!

Shatabdi Chakraborty, EJ, 2010-11: I graduated in English literature from Calcutta University and got the biggest leap of my life in the form of Indian Institute of Mass Communication. Started off my career with ANI Delhi and then moved back to Calcutta to work with an English Daily called The Bengal Post. Right now, I am posted with The Times of India, Goa, as a senior sports correspondent and copy editor.

Shatabdi is General Secretary of West Bengal Chapter of IIMC Alumni Association.

An all-India entrance exam seems to be always intimidating. But you don’t have to feel nervous if u are well prepared and believe in destiny. Of course, a year’s preparation is a must if you want to crack the IIMC exams. I was hardly an expert of political and financial affairs before I started reading each page of different newspapers. The Hindu, The Times of India and The Telegraph worked wonders. But I would suggest the examinees to go online and read as many papers as possible.

I was a student of print journalism in the 2010 batch. The most important issues of the past one year should find place in your knowledge tank. But reading and only reading is of no help if you don’t know how to produce it on paper, thus recollection and choosing your word play a very crucial role. The biggest aspect of being a good journalist is to be very precise in your expression. You must know how to make you write-up crisp yet effective. Do write at home and see if you can keep it within 350 words. Bigger copies with thousands of accurate data will be rendered useless if you fail to keep it short and simple.

Most important part of clearing the written exam is to stay relaxed. Don’t panic or else you will end up screwing your paper with too much of an effort. Target the short questions first and make sure you get at least 90-95% of them right.

If you clear the written and get a call for the interview round, all you need to do is to be true to yourself and the panel members about the stuff you don’t know. Don’t act smart if you are not; remember those who are grilling you are far smarter than you.

All the best everyone. And do enjoy the life of an IIMCian. It’s going to be the best nine months of your life.