MICA SOP, GE/PI form and many more by Utsav Mamoria

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Statement of Purpose (SOP):

SOP is about MICA. Why do you wish to join MICA is what you need to write that.

Likes and dislikes are more general in nature. Here we are asking for strong likes and dislikes.

You need to get the filled in form with you. It would be good to have a copy of it for yourself.

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The Guide to the GE/PI form v1.1

0. Take this form very seriously. This could decide the way your interview goes. I will say this a million times and then say it again

1. Take two printouts of the form. Once you are done answering your questions, fill one copy then. This will allow you to see whether your answers fit in the given space. You may feel the need to tweak around a bit, change a few words, maybe rephrase a sentence. Once you are done, take a fresh form and fill it up.

2. Fill up your form neatly. Make sure its readable. Everyone likes a nicely filled form. A shabbily filled form could send a wrong signal to the interviewer.

3. Don't leave filling the form for the last moment. I would suggest that at least one week before your interview, you should have your form completely filled up.

4. Regarding your SOP, think through well why do you want to join MICA. A good SOP will work wonders for you. Its a very good way to judge clarity of goals and thought process, all packed in a limited space.Don't go to coaching classes and seek help. If SOP's could be written that way, a lot of people would have been sitting in the best schools in the world. Honesty is one thing which really helps in an SOP

5. Get your SOP read by a few friends or siblings or anyone who knows you well. If you are a fresher, you could get it proof read by someone with work ex, just to give you a different perspective. Revise and incorporate suggestions. Make sure there are no spelling errors or grammatical errors

6. Likes and Dislikes. Make sure they are strong and you have good reasons for them. We are not looking at model answers here. Just write something you passionately like or dislike

This is enough to get you started.

Yenjaay
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Hi

The SOP should have a structure, without which one would not be able to make the connect.

1. Make sure there is a logical flow of statements. Its should make for smooth reading and convey your ideas clearly. Remember, its your best way to talk to the admission council before you enter the interview room

2. There is no fixed structure for writing an SOP. Make sure that you manage to cover the following

a) Your intent behind joining MICA
b) How does MICA fit in to your career goals

I feel these two are the most fundamental things that should be covered in the SOP. There is no restriction though, and you are free to write things which you feel would strengthen your candidature

Yenjaay
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The Gyaan spewing for Group Exercise (GE) v 1.2

0. What is GE ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Admissions@MICA

GE - Group Exercise is normally done in a group of 8 to 10 students. You are given a topic with six to eight options and you need to priorities those according to your understanding and reasoning. The floor is then open for discussion and as a group you need to try and come to consensus on top 3 options. Topics are contemporary from society, business etc.
1. This is not a group discussion. It is a group exercise and you ideally should be able to complete the task given to you.

2. Be civil. We needn't emulate some of our politicians when we are discussing. Think of it as a board meeting, where all are given a problem at hand and you need to arrive at a consensus, which should be supported by logical arguments and plausible assumptions,if any.

3. Don't push too hard for your points to be accepted by the group, because if everyone in the group opposes it, there must be a rationale behind their thinking. If the group has dropped your point, bringing it up again and again will only waste precious time. Not to forget, the evaluators won't be all that impressed.

4. Your top 3 options may not be your group's top 3 options. Seriously, its ok

5. This is yet another stage to understand how you would fare in a business setting. Be at your best behavior. You might score a few points by being a bit aggressive, but if the group doesn't perform well, you could be in a spot offer ..err....spot of bother.

6. You should have a fair understanding of a wide variety of topics. Having a solid understanding of the events in the year gone by and the most crucial issues for the year ahead could just be the edge you have over the others. Don't worry, we shall not attempt to ask you to discuss about the motivations and the philosophy behind Monty Python's flying circus

7. While trying to arrive at a consensus, please refrain from voting over the points.It's a sure shot recipe for disaster.

8. Getting airtime is not all that important. Make a contribution which helps the decision making process and you should be doing fine. Its important to arrive at a decision, and not all that important to show one's knowledge

9. You will be judged by your points, your articulation, your team skills and your body language and a million other things :tongue:. In short, the standard rules of a GD would apply in this case.

Yenjaay

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MICA GE/PI chat session with Chandan Pansari!!

Q) Career shift from IT industry to communications industry

Chandan: There are a lot of people in MICA currently with IT work ex so don't be too worried about that. In terms of justification for why MICA from IT everyone will have an individual answer but to some extent you can always mention that you were interested in media/communications management however, in order to do so you need to first be a graduate. The education system in India allows you either do a general grad/medical/engineer etc. and you chose an engineering course.

Q) About Group Exercise?

Chandan: The GE process has not changed much - last year there were group tasks allotted where people were asked to make a model, etc. and judged on team work and later they were asked to discuss and explain what they made - this year we don't know what the format will be but whatever it is just ensure that you do not try to be too aggressive or assert your self - be a good team player and follow normal GD ethics.

Q)  Call conversion Ratio?

Chandan:  in previous years the ratios have been 6:1 for final selection - m not sure of how many people they have called but should not be more than 6:1 could be lesser.

Q) About SOP?

Chandan: SOP - see just include your reasons for why MICA - rationalize your choice from what makes MICA different check the website for this info and then put some points for what you plan to do here and and after you graduate like your 5 yrs plan in brief after you graduate

@ everyone - just ensure that you know all that you have filled in the form really well.

Other points:

Chandan: @ all those who are making career shifts please prepare a logical answer for why you are planning to do so...don't be too worried as long as your answer is logical it is fine

Chandan: most questions will be around your Form, why MICA, your future plans.

Chandan: @prithvi - ABM profile is really good for a MICAN most people want to start as ABMs if you want to get int marketing

Chandan: @umang - almost 60-70% people do take loans if you think you need one its fine - i m on loan for 2nd yr

Chandan: @ prithvi - you can move to become brand managers in different countires different products and move up the director level etc...

Chandan: @ Shivf1 - no scholarship straight away but if u do well in first year you do get refunds for some amount.

Thanks to Nidhi Acharya (Xanthipe) for sharing this...
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Micat 2010 Analysis

MICAT 2010- Analysis (7th March 2010)

MICA lived up to its reputation of giving a creative as well as a lengthy paper. The paper had a good mix of questions from all the areas. The paper not only tested the knowledge of a student but also analyzed the personality traits of the candidates. The paper also gave ample chances to the students to showcase their creative abilities. It required a good amount of perseverance and out of box thinking on part of the students to attempt the paper. However, there was no information regarding the weight-age of the different sections. Let’s now look at the detailed structure of the paper:

Overall Analysis

The paper was of two and a half hour duration. It contained 3 parts and each part was further divided into sections focusing on individual areas. The parts had individual time limits and an order for attempting the sections. The marking scheme for the questions was not mentioned except for Part I where ¼ mark would be deducted for every incorrect response and no mark would be deducted for not attempting the question. Let’s analyze the parts as they appeared in the examination.

Part I - 90 mins
Sections No. of Questions
A. Reasoning 36
B. General Awareness 25
C. Quantitative Ability/LRDI 30
D. Verbal Ability 34

Total Questions 125

Part II Psychometric Tests 46q - 30 mins

Part III Creative Ability Tests 3q - 30 mins

The following is the detailed analysis of the paper:

Part I

Even though no sectional cut-off was mentioned, it would have been wise to allocate time to each sub-section and pick up the questions which were sitters.

A. Reasoning-The section was of easy to moderate level of difficulty. It
contained questions of following types:

Topics Covered No of Questions
Clue and Alternatives 15
Statement Conclusion 3
Data Sufficiency 3
Visual Reasoning 10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices
Missing Number 5

The questions of data-sufficiency and visual reasoning were relatively easy. The clue and alternatives questions required a good understanding of English language and its application. The number of options per question was 5.

B. General Awareness- The section had a good mix of questions from the field of marketing, advertising, films, media and general global awareness. The section was moderate to difficult. The number of options per question was 5.


C. Quantitative Ability and LRDI- The section contained mainly
questions based on arithmetic (Percentages, average, mixtures, time and speed, series etc.). Other topics covered were P & C, probability, set theory, integral calculus (areas) etc. There was only one question on algebra (Data-Sufficiency). There were no questions on geometry and mensuration. There were two DI sets (Table based). There was also a set based on analytical reasoning. The overall difficulty level of this section was quite high as most of the questions involved lengthy statements. The number of options per question was 4.

D. Verbal Ability- The section had an easy to moderate level of difficulty.
Almost 30% of the questions were sitters. The passages were short and had direct questions. The passages were based on: (i) Evolution of mathematics and (ii) Business and Indian State. Sentence completion questions were of moderate level of difficulty. Statement conclusion and statement assumption questions were tricky. The fill in the blank questions on prepositions were easy. The number of options per question was 4.



Topics Covered No. of Questions
Reading Comprehension (2 passages) 8
Sentence completion 12
Preposition (FIB) 5
Statement conclusion 2
Statement assumption 3
Grammar and Semantics 4
Total No. of Questions 34


Part II

One had to compulsorily attempt all the questions in this section in order for one’s paper to be evaluated. There were no correct or incorrect responses to these questions. This part had 3 sets of questions, each testing the psychometric skills of a candidate. The first set of questions had 30 statements out of which one had to pick 10 describing one’s personality traits without ranking them. The second set of questions asked one to choose from a set of two arguments and also to rate them in accordance with one’s personality traits. In the third set of questions, one had to rank the various responses under given situations on a scale of 1 to 6 (where a rating of 1 implied highest priority and a rating of 6 meant least priority).


Part III

This section had 3 sets of questions. The section tested the creative and communication abilities of a candidate. The questions were based on essay-writing, story-writing and formation of words. The following were the topics for essay-writing and story-writing:

1- Essay Writing: Tax Deduction to Women as they take care of educational and health needs of a family.
2- Story writing: A picture was given and one had to write a story based on it.

Here is the picture provided for story writing:

For the essay writing question, it is important to note that one had to either
support or oppose the motion; not taking a stance would mean that one would
not be marked for the essay.

With best wishes!
The Career Launcher Team

Source: http://media.careerlauncher.com.s3.amazonaws.com/iift2009/MICAT%202010_Analysis.pdf

General Tips for MICAT 2010

1) MICAT is for 2.5 hours and you will have to report by 8:15 AM on March 7th, 2010. If you come after 9 AM you will not be allowed to write the test.

2) As of last year, ONLY in the psychometry section all questions were compulsory. Other sections had a negative marking of 1/4th of the original marks.

(P.S: Confirm by reading the instructions really carefully)

3) MICAT will have some sections like Quants, DI, Word Association, Verbal, Psychometric, General awareness and Essay.

4) Read the call letter carefully, take a print, take a valid photo id (e.g. Driving license, Voter card, Passport / College Identity card / Pan card) out and also carry items like HB pencils, pens, eraser, sharpener and foot-ruler.

(No i don't know why we are asked to bring a foot ruler so don't ask me) :P

5) Its also better to check out the MICAT venue before the actual exam date.
.

6) Do not use SMS language while writing essay's. Last year's paper had an essay and another story writing exercise. 2008 paper had 4 essays and 1 precis writing exercise to be completed within 30 minutes. So be prepared for anything. Practice writing a lot.

7) MICAT is supposed to be a creative test so be prepared for any kind of surprise.

8) For General awareness apart from going through current affairs keep yourself updated with the events happening in the media world (TV channels, newspapers and radios), knowledge of tag lines and punchlines might also be useful.

9) Knowledge of Idioms and Phrases, Proverbs might help you in Word Association Test, Verbal and General Awareness sections.

10) Psychometric: Choose the answer that is closer to what you do, if it is not exactly what you do. Someone has mentioned that s/he does this as well as that... In that case, what exactly do you do first. Tick the first response and not 'may be I could do this also' response.

11) Essays: Will check your language skills as well as logical thinking skills.

12) Weightage to handwriting in MICAT: Only one section needs us to see your handwriting. Hence 20% in case there are 5 section
Also, please remember that unless your handwriting is legible (not necessarily good), it will be a tough task to check your paper and that may work against you.

13) Marks for each section will be given in the paper. So you can figure out. Calls depend on number of applicants and their overall performance in MICAT.

14) You must attempt each section. Not attending an entire section is not an option. 

15) Easier said than done, Keep a cool head while giving MICAT and all the best...

P.S: Will add some more tips when i get some time....

A guide to Precis Writing

 The word 'Précis' is a French word which may mean summary, substance, abridgement, abstract, condensed, statement or epitome. All this words convey more or less the same meaning

Technique of Précis Writing:

1. In the question paper the length of the précis is stipulated and the précis of the original passage should not exceed or fall short of the prescribed length. Only five words plus or minus are allowed. If the length has not been prescribed, précis should be one third of the original passage

2. Only the bare essentials should be pruned from the original passage such as metaphors, similies, hyperboles, conceits, epigrams, should be left out. However the précis must reproduce all the main contents.

3. Précis should be an independent piece of writing and the writer should use his own words while writing the précis. The central idea around which the whole passage revolves should be borne in mind.

4. Picking up some sentences randomly from the beginning, middle and end is not a précis writing.

5. A title to a précis must be assigned whether it has been asked or not. This title should convey the Central Idea of the original passage.

6. A wide and accurate knowledge of English language and ability to sift the essential facts from the given passage will enable the précis writer to write a good précis.

Some Important Hints

1. Read the passage carefully two or three times until you have a clear idea of its general purport. The original passage may contain some ironical elements which mean just the opposite of what is said. This should be clearly understood before writing down the précis.

2. Note down the important points so that the précis can be written down from these points within the stipulated word limit in your own words by elaborating these points.

3. Illustration or stylistic effects, such as exaggeration, repetition, expansion or bombast which are not necessary to the meaning and are just added merely to illustrate the arguments should be left out.

4. No personal comments are to be made while writing the précis. 

Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1074597/a_guide_to_precise_writing.html?cat=4  


Thanks to Shanker (shanker.i20fever@gmail.com)for sharing this...

MICA videos

MICAT video - From Cracking careers 

MICA PAT's interview:

Thanks to PG user "krunal4amity" for sharing these videos.... www.krunalshimpi.blogspot.com

Resources for Word Association Tests!!

Word Association Test

 

There are 8 words, 4 in 2 rows. There is one word in column A that can be associated with every word in Column B. For example :

Apple ………….. Orange
Mango …………. Eye
Banana ………… iPod
Watermelon …… Orchard

Answer is Apple because:
1. Apple and orange are both fruits.
2. ‘Apple of my eye’ is a proverb. Banana and eye? Naaah!
3. Apple iPod!
4. Apple orchard.

It’s a really fun exercise. There are 20 of these.

How to prepare:
1. It would be good to know a lot of proverbs.
2. General awareness – not the capital of Uzbekistan and pi upto 17 decimal places types – but normal stuff. And good English helps here, obviously.
3. May sound silly, but try studying up phrases like a PRIDE of LIONS, a PACK of wolves, etc. You know what I mean…!

 - Chuck

Resources from web that might help you to prepare for this section

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_Association

> http://wordassociations.net/

> http://kaviwordgame.blogspot.com/

> http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=537

> http://www.thiagi.com/puzzle04.html

Will add more links if i chance upon any other resource!

Cheers

Compilation of various posts about MICAT

:: MICAT does not have a fixed pattern. It normally has couple of essays. Knowledge of Indian Ethos and culture would help. These are essentially meant  to check your lateral thinking and writing skills. If I were to give you some  examples from previous years, you could have a Q like, how would you describe a mobile phone to a tribal in remote area who has never been in touch with  civilization. Or how will you explain importance of cleanliness to slum children...etc.
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: MICAT comprises of objective and essay type questions and essentially checks your lateral thinking and writing skills. Knowledge of Indian culture, society and mythology will help. Keep yourself updated about what's happening in the media and ad world around. Simple things like which new national TV channels were introduced in last 6 months and what genre do they fall in to...
or channel by bennet, coleman and co? etc... General knowledge, pertaining to communications field.
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:: What is the structure of the MICAT?

The MICAT is designed to assess analytical and divergent thinking, written
communication skills and familiarity with the Indian ethos. MICAT is a classroom examination of approximately 90 minutes’ duration, designed to test the candidate’s aptitude and orientation towards communications as a profession. There is no special preparation required for MICAT. We expect our prospective candidates to be well-read, innovative and intelligent with an analytical bent of mind. We also expect them to be aware of contemporary social and industry issues. General awareness towards marketing, advertising and business issues will be additional advantages. 
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: The MICAT is designed to test the following:

a) Communication proficiency;
b) Knowledge of Indian culture and society and 
c) Creativity/ divergent thinking.
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: MICAT Could comprise of

A. Psychometric test. You need to be true to yourself and reply. No right or wrong answers here. Must complete this section. If you leave out even a single one in this, you could get disqualified.
B. Some analytical questions. Not half as tough as CAT and since CAT is still fresh, it should not be difficult.
C. Some essay type Questions...essentially to check your writing and lateral thinking skills. For example (Something that was in previous years' papers) how would you explain a mobile phone to a villager who has never stepped out of his village that is remotely located and does not have electricity or any means of communication. Or how will you explain the game of cricket to a woman who has no clue what it is all about
etc...
D. Used to be earlier - not sure if it would repeat...word association tests.. 
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: MICAT comprises of a psychometric test, a section on quant, a section on precise writing and couple of essays. 
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: MICAT has five components. one is psychometric - can't prepare for it. Has a section on quant, CAT will help there. Has a section on word association - need some preparation there and that can be done. A section of precise writing. Very much possible to prepare and lastly essays on various topics. Good reading helps a lot in that and so does practicing writing precisely and to the point.

- Lateral thinking is not intangible and given the kind of questions asked in MICAT, it is possible to judge. Also, it is an ability one can develop. Just needs training to think from various point of view and seeing beyond obvious.

For example, you may be usually taking one route to college. On the day of your exam, you realise that there is major traffic jam and you can't take the route. Normally you won't think of five other ways to reach college but given a critical situation you would. This can be applied to several situations!
__________________________________________________________________________________

:: Prepare for MICAT for yourself, not to beat others. The best way to do so is to practice writing skills and improve handwriting!!! It's human checking for some sections hence the tip.
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: What is MICAT?

MICAT is a written test. Combination of objective and subjective questions.

We are not very creative and therefore we do NOT change the patten every year.

However, we learn and ensure that our mistakes don't get repeated. hence the paper this year will not be as lengthy as last year.

Way to prepare... word association...I am sure some experts on the net will help out with this.

For precise writing, you need to practice. Read complicated passages, while doing so, keep noting down main ideas and then restructure the thoughts in concise manner.

Also, for essays, practice. Learn to keep your answers precise and short. Idea is to communicate effectively and not leisurely. WE have moved from 5 day cricket to one day international to Twenty20. You know what I mean We are not looking for flowery language, but you should be able to convey in appropriate manner. Spellos happen, but try and avoid it.

Practice writing, guys... Bad handwriting are a major put off!
__________________________________________________________________________________
:: There are different types of psychometric tests. the one in MICAT is essentially to figure out creativity quotient (If I may use it roughly). Not about writing poetry or doing sketches but how do you respond to different situations in a creative manner to get a solution. And don't worry about or feel sorry about asking questions. There are no wrong questions.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Chuck's post about MICAT:

>> >> MICA Test aka MICAT << <<

Here is where you will start noting MICA's penchant for suffixing itself with anything starting with CA. MICAnvas, MICAmpus, MICAmpaign, MICAreers, and now I call Roxy the MICAnine

The MICAT is one of the most fun tests to take. A few years ago it used to be quite different and used to be called a relatively boring-sounding MET (links in a coming post). Anyways, I will deal with what happened this year (2007). The sections in the MICAT (1.5 hours) were:

A word association test. There are 8 words, 4 in 2 rows. There is one word in column A that can be associated with every word in Column B. For example :

Apple .............. Orange
Mango ............. Eye
Banana ............ iPod
Watermelon ...... Orchard

Answer is Apple because:
1. Apple and orange are both fruits.
2. 'Apple of my eye' is a proverb. Banana and eye? Naaah!
3. Apple iPod!
4. Apple orchard.

It's a really fun exercise. There are 20 of these, I believe.

How to prepare:
1. It would be good to know a lot of proverbs.
2. General awareness - not the capital of Uzbekistan and pi upto 17 decimal places types - but normal stuff. And good English helps here, obviously.
3. May sound silly, but try studying up phrases like a PRIDE of LIONS, a PACK of wolves, etc. You know what I mean...!

Psychometric Test

There are about 30 questions here. Basically, situations are given to you and objectively, you have to state your reaction.
This year (2007), we had two options ... A question, followed by 'Agree / Disagree'.

Last year (2006), we had 5 options.

Q: When a task is given to me, I prefer to start immediately not bothering to waste too much time mulling over the problems that may arise.
A: Strongly agree
B: Agree
C: Neutral
D: Disagree
E: Strongly disagree

The clever part is, some questions are fiendishly rephrased so that both sound like a positive attitude. Example, for the above question, strongly agree shows you are not much of a time waster. But then, take this:

Q: When a task is given to me, I invest time thinking of possible obstacles and how to tackle them before starting.

So you see? A 'strongly agree' here would be considered positive too - a thinker, a planner. But a person temted to mark A for both will obviously show a mismatch. While we do not know if a psychometric mismatch will actually lead to lessening your chances at MICA (unlikely, really!), why take risks?

How to prepare:

1. You have a year. Get to know yourself. Be honest to yourself. You'll find this is an enriching exercise. Accept yourself. It may be hard for you to believe some things. Like I didn't want to accept I was an atheist, but accepting it made me know myself better and all that. Similarly, be honest to yourself - find who you really are, how you tackle situations and all.
2. Search for online psychometric tests. There are tons. You'll get a feel of the thing, and also, you'll have a few questions to ask yourself (Ref # 1)
3. Remember, you cannot afford to miss one question (miss even one in this section, and your MICAT will not be evaluated) so learn to be quick.

Quant and DI

Easy to medium. Why they were introduced in a paper like MICAT seems asurd to me. MICA is an insti that prides itself on not being another engineer preserve, and somehow this exercise dilutes that image. Anyways, it's not all that difficult, and you should be able to do atleast half of it comfortably.

How to prepare:

1. This is one area where TIME and IMS can help you.

Essays

This year we had two, serious topics (forgot what they were ). Obviously good English helps. Search for the topics in the experience threads (will be posted soon!).

How to prepare:

1. Read a lot. Editorials, magazines, blogs, novels, autobiographies, porn, whatever. Anything that exposes you to writing. Recommended for CAT aspirants too.
2. Try to write, or type. Bloggers usually do very well in the MICAT essay. Develop a style. Make sure grammatical errors are weeded out.
3. As trivial as it may seem, good handwriting is a plus.
4. This may sound crazy, but practice writing for a week before MICAT. Software engineers, tell me, when was the last time after Exam # 6 of S8 that you wrote something at length with a pen on paper? And doesn't your hand hurt when you try to write a formal letter? I knew this would be a problem - and just wrote - arbit crap, yes, but it was good practice. Otherwise you'll find that your hand really hurts in the exam and you can't afford to waste time. This exam requires more than shading a few ovals, mind..!

and an important one:

4 hvns sake lrn 2 wryt propr Englsh n not shyt lyk dis whch no kmputr in d wrld cn decifr. use prpr grmmr n nt sms lingo n shrt frms n slang.
Take the pains to type out your IMs, your emails, your scraps, your PG posts in proper English. Even your SMSes, if it doesn't cost you. It may seem a fuddy-duddy idea at first, but it helps. Believe me, it helps.

Fill-in-the-blanks.

24 H in a D (hours in a day)
365 D in a Y (days in a year)
11 P in a FT (players, football team)

These are the easy ones. Among the tougher ones were:

DS of the M (Dark Side of the Moon. I got this, thank you Mr. Waters!!! )
12 GB, S on the W (12 Great Bumblebees, Sitting on the Wall)

How to Prep:

1. Well, nursery rhymes will help
2. I'll give you the link to a post that has a lot of these puzzles - someone took the pain to search for them online!
3. Proverbs and anything related to such numbers. But such prep is limited and this section is likely to change next year.

Archie comic

No, really They gave us a three-panel Archie comic, with the bubbles erased - we had to fill 'er up.

How to prepare:

1. Close that Engineering college textbook / Quant by Agarwal and get yourself a stack of Archie Double Digests
2. Don't fill the damn thing in haste: Space is limited in those bubbles.
3. Be funny, goddamnit! MICA is one insti where humour is appreciated!!!

ChUcK

Communications Management

Communications Management, as the name suggests is a course in Management. Post liberalization (1991), the markets are flooded with several categories of products and several products with similar properties. Like so many toothpastes and soaps and detergents...

Hence the industry needs more than product and marketing managers because now they need to sell 'brands', not products. Brand is more than a logo or packaging or name. So you need people who can create association in the minds of consumers about that specific product. For example, even though both Colgate and Close-up are toothpastes, you buy close-up because you need 'total protection', I buy close-up because I believe it gives me 'confidence to come closer'. 

So we have 'BRAND MANAGEMENT' No one can create brands without understand consumers without proper 'Marketing Research'. And hence at MICA besides Brand Management you learn Marketing Research.

Once you have understood the consumers and created a brand, you need to communicate that to the TARGET consumers and so comes in picture 'ACCOUNT PLANNING' function of Ad agency where the agency person works in close association with brand team and creative team and helps create appropriate communication.

Having done that, they now need to know where their TARGET audience is and choose appropriate media to communicate their message. That is Media Planning, buying and strategies. You can understand how difficult this would be with more than 200 TV channels, so many newspapers, Magazines, outdoors, events, radio etc...so this is an equally critical component of managing business.

Supporting the above four functions are foundation courses in management like marketing, finance, accounts, Quantitative Techniques, Organization Behavior etc. Then there are communication courses like 

Theories of mass communication and mass media,

consumer behavior, 

language, 

culture and communication, 

semiotics, 

metaphors and
narratives etc...

You also have courses in Urban and Rural Retail and marketing, social and development communication, business ethics and strategic management. I hope this clarifies what do you learn at MICA.

Where do MICAns work and in what kind of profiles??

OK...as you see, there is no business that does not need 'communication'.Even cable companies like Finolex are in to 'brand building' and need to communicate with customers who never knew what cables did to their lives...So opportunities are plenty.

MICANs are in to 'managing communications' in several businesses and if you see the list of companies where MICAns work, you will find that.

Prof Deval's answers for common admission queries

Hi,

Here are the links which contain gyaan related to MICA admissions answered by Prof.Deval Kartik of MICA.

Compilation of 2007 thread can be found here.

Compilation of 2008 thread can be found here.

Cheers,
Shiva

Useful Links for MICAT (Will be updated now and then)

Some links that i have which "might" help you prepare for MICAT...

1) Sayings and Phrases
2) Advertising Slogans
3) Taglines and PunchLines
4) Word Puzzles
5) Adland
6) Deval Maam's interview way back in 2005 :P
7) Advertising Slogan's
8) Punchlines




ATB,
Shiva

MICAT Feb 22nd, 2009

MICAT this year will be a two and half hour test (150 minutes) starting at 9.00 am and ending at 11.30am.

You are required to be at the Centre by 8.15 am as you need to register, show all required documents etc.

Let me clarify some FAQs.

1. Psychometric: Choose the answer that is closer to what you do, if it is not exactly what you do. Someone has mentioned that s/he does this as well as that... In that case, what exactly do you do first. Tick the first response and not 'may be I could do this also' response.

2. Word association: Each one of you can give it a try and post it here. Help each other. MICA doesn't believe in spoon feeding.

3. General Awareness: Can be anything. Be aware, you don't need in depth knowledge of all things here.

4. Essays: Will check your language skills as well as logocal thinking skills.

5. Number of sections: Can't say anything right now. We all will know it at the same time.

6. MICAT duration: 150 minutes. Time given in mail is reporting time as each person needs to register by showing call letter (print of e mail), ID proof and give the draft. Hence you are required to come early.
_______________________________________________________________________

Some more tips:

1. Weightage to handwriting in MICAT: Only one section needs us to see your handwriting. Hence 20% in case there are 5 section

Also, please remember that unless your handwriting is legible (not necessarily good), it will be a tough task to check your paper and that may work against you.

2. Marks for each section will be given in the paper. So you can figure out. Calls depend on number of applicants and their overall performance in MICAT.

All the best for the preparation.

P.S: These posts were by Prof.Deval in pagalguy.com....to know more about mica go to the original thread here.

To prepare for MICAT go to Mica 2009 thread here or Target::MICA - orkut community

Cheers,
:)

What is MICAT?

MICAT is the entrance test conducted by MICA. It has 5 sections.

Section 1 - Matching Alternative Words
Section 2 - Psychometric
Section 3 - Sentence Completion, Matching contextual words, Sentence Correction, Paragraph Completion, RC
Section 4 - LA and QA
Section 5 - 3 essays and 1 precis writing

Now utsav has answered how to prepare for each section:
Section 1:

Well, if you look at the questions in the sample paper, it wasn't very much a game of good vocabulary as it was a test of word associations. One must understand the multiple uses of simple English words. Essentially, one must have a good command over the language, and that isn't the same thing as just having a good vocabulary

Section 2:
Psychometric Test: Don't try to cheat on this test by trying to portray yourself in a positive light. Just answer the questions truthfully. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers, we are just trying to understand you better. There are enough interlinked questions to find out who's trying to be a little extra smart

Section 3 and 4 :
If you have done decent amount of preparations for CAT, these two sections shouldn't be a problem. Just ensure that you have your basics in place

Section 5:
This is the best part, actually. One really cannot prepare for this section. But what you must must do is be updated with current affairs. You might have an essay (As we had last time on Tata Nano) on something which is currently happening. Keep your eyes and ears open. Precise writing can be practised by taking any sufficiently long RC, reading it and writing a precise. Then go back to the RC and see if you have covered the main points and the central argument of the passage.


Utsav's Profile
Utsav's Blog

Previous MICAT Papers

Collection of MICAT Papers:

Official MICAT 2008 paper from MICA website.... Download here

Old MICAT papers
1) MICAT 2004 (Thanks to CheckEETS for posting this)
2) MICAT 2003
3) SIMCAT From IMS Training institute (Thanks to CheckEETS for posting this)
4) MOCK MICAT from Career Launcher
5) Some old MICA interview qns

CAUTION: All these are old papers, so use this only as a reference. Please refer to the original MICAT 2008 paper for your preparation :)

MICASPIRANTS

Hi this Blog will be used to share all the required info regarding Mudra Institue of Communication, Ahmedabad (MICA)...

Since MICAT is on February 22 lets not waste time in decorating this blog.. lets keep this blog as simple as possible and start sharing the information needed for MICAT...

There is obviously a mountain of information regarding MICA which would be really impossible for anyone to go through in go... so lets just take up the important info and post in this blog!!!!

Your comments/Suggestions are welcome :)