SET Mass Communication or the Symbiosis Mass Communication Entrance Exam is the entrance test for the program BA in Mass Communication, offered by the Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Pune. The exam is conducted every year to handpick the top-mark achieving students for the course at SCMC. Two important steps in preparing for the exam are understanding the pattern and syllabus of the exam and finding suitable study materials, according to the updated syllabus.
Understanding the Syllabus and Building a Time Table
The first and foremost step of preparing for any competitive exam is understanding the pattern and syllabus of it. The SET Mass Communication is 2.5 hours online computer-based examination. It includes 150 multiple choice questions where every right answer is awarded 1 mark. There is no negative marking scheme for the examination, which is unique in terms of comparison with other national-level entrance examinations.
SET Mass Communication Syllabus
The exam includes 4 sections and they are:
- General English
- Quantitative Ability
- General Awareness
- Analytical and Logical Reasoning
Details of the topics included in the syllabus of each of the four sections in the SET Mass Communication question paper are given below:
| Section | Syllabus |
| General English | Idioms and Phrases, Antonyms and Synonyms, Proverbs and Prepositions, Parts of Speech, Analogy. |
| Quantitative Ability | Data Sufficiency, Data interpretation, Ratio and Proportion, Algebra, Series and Sequences, Time and Work, Percentage and Average, Permutation and Combination, Set Theory, Geometry. |
| General Awareness | Current Affairs, Books and Authors, Awards and Winners, Politics, Geography, History, Sports, Eminent Personalities. |
| Analytical and Logical Reasoning | Series, Blood relations, Statement and Inference, Visual Reasoning, Clock, Coding, and Decoding. |
Books for Reference
1. General English
General English is usually the easiest section for the candidates to answer when appearing for the SET Mass Communication. Most of the questions asked are based on the grammatical concepts one learns in school like parts of speech. Simple reading comprehension questions are also asked and careful reading of the questions can help a candidate score of more than 90% in this section. The following books can be used for reference:
- Wren and Martin’s High School English Grammar & Composition
- S.P. Bakshi’s Objective General English
- Pearson’s English
- Hari Mohan Prashad’s Arihant General English for all Competitive Examinations
- Neetu Singh’s English – From Plinth to Paramount
2. Quantitative Ability
Quantitative Ability is also one of the easier sections of the SET Mass Communication. Here too, the questions asked are based on basic mathematics you’ve learned in school, till class 10th. Some questions can be tricky and take up a lot of time, so this is also a section where the candidate needs to be careful with time management. Following are a few books that can be used for reference:
- High School NCERT Math textbooks
- N K Singh’s Quantitative Aptitude
- Arihant’s Quantitative Aptitude
- RS Aggarwal’s Quantitative Aptitude
3. General Awareness
This section of the SET Mass Communication depends on the preparation level of the candidates. The General Awareness section checks the basic general knowledge of the candidates and also their awareness about current affairs. The students who keep themselves updated about recent national and international events through reading newspapers and other means might find this section easy while others won’t. Questions are also asked from school level social science subjects of history and geography. For this section, candidates can use the following books for reference:
- Manorama Yearbook
- Pratiyogita Darpan
- Lucent’s GK
- Pearson India Yearbook
- Arihant General Knowledge
- Manohar Panda’s General Awareness
4. Logical and Analytical Reasoning
This section of the SET Mass Communication is also relatively easy. But this section requires some time for completion, so the candidate has to be careful again about time management. A few books that the candidate can refer to are:
- RS Agarwal’s Verbal Reasoning Book
- 501 Challenging Logical reasoning Practice Book
- B.S. Sijwali and Indu Sijwali’s A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal and Non-Verbal
Symbiosis Mass Communication Entrance Exam is very easy for the candidates who have prepared for it. You can also try taking mock tests with Symbiosis Entrance Test for Mass Communication Sample Papers to check your time management skills and to know how much more you need to prepare for every section. Hope this article helped you understand the syllabus and the reference books of the SET Mass Communication. Click here to know the exam preparation strategy.
