Mass Communication Entrance Exam Preparation Tips
Looking forward to a career in mass communication? With increasing competition and difficulty levels of the entrance exams, it's no piece of cake. Admissions to most mass communication programmes are done based on written tests and interviews. On this page, find some useful tips to prepare for mass communication entrance exams in India.
How to Prepare for Mass Communication Exams in India?
Lately, the media and communication industry has witnessed unprecedented growth. Gone are the days when quick reporting could get the message across. With an increasing number of news channels, radio stations, and social media platforms, there is something available for every audience and in the format of their choice – videos, texts, pictures, infographics, etc. With the media industry booming on such a humungous scale, Mass Communication as a career has become very promising. There are a lot of job opportunities available for Mass Communication students and that too in a wide variety of fields such as Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, etc. Universities in India have also taken notice of this phenomenon. Accordingly, they set up entrance exams to admit students to their mass communication programmes. From their knowledge of mass media to their personal skills, these Mass communication Entrance Exams are designed to assess students on various parameters. On this page, find out what's required of you to ace these entrance exams and build a career in mass media. Read on for some extremely useful mass communication entrance exam preparation tips.
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Keep Yourself Up-To-Date
Keeping up with the kurrent events is the most important aspect of mass communication entrance exam preparation. Doing so will not only prepare you for the current affairs questions in the mass communication entrance exams but also improve your knowledge of the world around you. It is advised that you subscribe to at least two national newspapers such as The Hindu, Times of India, or Hindustan Times. You can also read different business magazines such as Frontline, India Today, and Outlook to keep yourself updated with the latest happenings in the world. Other than reading newspapers and magazines you can keep your knowledge up to date by watching television channels and referring to different websites. For instance, you can watch award shows like Grammy, and Oscars and refer to websites like IMDB to keep your knowledge regarding entertainment up to date. In addition to that, you can also install a news application on your mobile phone. You will receive notifications as and when the events take place. The idea is to be prepared to write meaningful articles on any issue or topic that might appear in the exam.
Develop a Habit of Reading
There are many books available in the market that you can use for preparing for mass communication entrance exams. However, picking just any book from the market is not a good idea. Therefore, you can consider reading the following books for effective preparation for the exam:
| Book |
Author/ Publisher |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Success Master: Journalism & Mass Communication Entrance Examinations |
Arihant Publications |
Useful for basic knowledge of the media, media-related aspects, and general knowledge |
| Mass Communication In India |
Keval J Kumar |
|
| Mass Communication: Principles & Concepts |
Seema Hasan |
|
| Manorama Yearbook |
Manorama |
Useful for current affairs and general knowledge |
You can also pick up books that interest you in your downtime. It is a good activity to entertain yourself and it also helps improve your language skills which are a big part of a mass communication career.
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- Top 10 Mass Communication colleges to join at UG level
- Top 10 Mass Communication Colleges To Join At PG Level
Enhance Your Comprehension And Analytical Skills
Remember, it is important to not only read and watch useful stuff but also to comprehend, analyze, and have an opinion on it. To develop your comprehension and analytical skills you can do the following:
• Be curious: You need to be curious enough to ask questions like “Why did this happen?” or “How did this happen?” All business magazines (mentioned above) contain detailed and analyzed reports on various topics by experts. It is important to read and comprehend such reports. You can also read some good articles on the internet and learn intricate details about important events.
• Have an opinion: You can watch TV news channels and take a keen interest in discussions on current issues and interviews with noted personalities. This will help you to form your own opinion on an issue. You can also discuss matters with your peers and find out what their opinions are. This will add to your point of view and help you write impressive essays and articles that are usually part of mass comm entrance exams.
Polish Your Writing Skills
However, it does help, reading alone is not enough to work on your language skills. Since writing is a big part of the entrance exams you should also practice that. You can simply start by journalling or writing short descriptions of things around you. Once you get the hang of it, move on to topics that are relevant to mass comm entrance exams. For the same, you can first plan the structure of an article before penning it down. You can also use your short notes at this stage. Once you're done writing, analyse your work, look for grammatical errors, and compare it to some of the more professional works. By doing so you can adopt a better voice and a better writing style.
Practice Previous Years’ Papers
Getting your hands on the past years’ papers of different reputed mass communication entrance exams is extremely beneficial during preparations. Previous years’ papers not only give you an idea of the type of questions asked in the exam and past trends but also help you refine your writing skills further. Also, practising past years’ papers helps you to improve your time management skills drastically.
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Do Not Ignore The Interview Round
Note that almost all Mass Communication entrance exams are followed by a personal interview round. Questions asked in an interview round are usually general and will test your confidence level and passion for the chosen stream. Therefore, it is advisable to be confident (but not over-confident) and genuine with your answers at the time of the interview.
Some of the questions that you can prepare for the interview round are:
• What are your hobbies? • Why should we select you? • What are your strengths and weaknesses? • How do you think your chosen course will help you? • What are your goals? • Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Note that some Mass Communication interview rounds may also include technical questions related to the stream that you have chosen. In such a technical interview round, questions can range from your knowledge about politics to awareness of advertisement tag lines of major brands, etc. Therefore, you must have complete knowledge and clarity of the stream that you have chosen. A simple Google search and your retention can help you with a lot of these topics.
Apart from the above, questions in an interview round for admission to a Mass Communication college can also be around the statement of purpose (if applicable) that you might have written at the time of filling out the college’s application form. For the same, you must have meaningful content ready to back your SoP (statement of purpose) at the time of the interview.
Popular Mass Communication Entrance Exams in India
While many colleges and universities accept common entrance test scores like CUET scores, a lot of other institutes conduct independent entrance exams (some go both ways). Some of the most popular mass communication entrance exams are listed below.
- JMI Entrance Exam - Jamia Millia Islamia University
- CT SET - CT University
- SAT India - Scholastic Assessment Test
- FTII JET - Film and TV Institute of India
- IIMC Entrance Exam - Indian Institute of Mass Communication
- IPU CET - Indraprastha University
- SET - Symbiosis
- XIC OET - Xavier Institute of Communications
- MASCOM Entrance Exam - Manorama School of Communication
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Aayushi is a BAJMC graduate and an ardent consumer of content with a keen passion for film, TV and books. She specialises in Mass Communication and Humanities related exams, entrances and courses.