This year, I had to take a strong decision. By the onset of my last year at high school, I had realised it inside that I wasn't going to enjoy studying Economics in the long run. Yet, I was deeply intrigued to explore for some more time, and if I'm not very wrong - also subject to a certain extent of family pressure as well as peer groups creating a shadowy image of 'humanities'. Now, for me, The Perspectives had made it big before I had passed school, I had written for The London Economic by then and was well aware, if not definite that social sciences were my niche - any day, anywhere. I had taken the entrance tests to most of the departments of the Jadavpur University in the 'Arts' category and had managed to get through them all except for one in 2017 as well, even though the ranks were not as good as they were this year.
So, the big decision was that I wanted to change the academic discourse I had been pursuing my major in. By November 2017, I had bagged an internship with The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and no one in the whole wide world would support my decision to alter the subject after that. And to make things worse (or maybe, better) I started feeling very indecisive regarding what to study exactly, presuming I would have got into the departments had I taken the tests again. Before the tests were conducted, the state government started intervening into the internal matters of the university, since it is an autonomous institution - and one of the most respectable, if not the most respectable institution at the heart of Kolkata at this hour. I had scored 469/500 in my H.S examinations in 2017, and had a rank around 23 in the state of West Bengal. That, as I would compel you to believe is nothing glorious - I have extremely doubtful regarding how our answer scripts are evaluated and I despise the syllabus and am radical opposed to the method followed into teaching students the way they are taught things across all the boards in India currently. It is no different from a conspiracy into tricking students and leading them to believe there is nothing as dull as academia on this planet.
This was the second pressure that now began to take a serious toll on my health (experienced psychosomatic impacts of anxiety, anyone?). I had been diagnosed with COPD earlier on this year and was struggling to maintain and live and keep convincing myself that my life was normal and my lungs were honestly doing better than the ambiance and disease was trying to convince me. There's one thing that still makes me feel highly associated with academia. Even if I'm literally dying, am extremely sick or worried or emotionally unstable, I still can logically analyse things around me and in my opinion am one of the most steel-nerved of people I've met in my life. And to be very honest, I couldn't study a hell lot during the break. Also, I was confident enough not to sit for my Economics semester and that in turn instigated an unbearable amount of pressure I was subjecting myself to. I think I lost a little weight (on top of being very underweight) and on the day it was finally declared that the students had won the movement and that the examinations would be conducted and that the admission would not be based on simply the marks obtained in the high school final examinations did I feel a little relieved.
On the day of the first examination, which was English, and for which nearly 4,000-5,000 students compete every year, I wrote an essay on one of the four topics (and the only one which I happen to remember) - 'The bookshop at the end of the universe'. Now, let me tell you something very intriguing, most of my friends who prepared for the test didn't even make it anywhere across the long list that they upload on the website! The same thing had happened to ma back in 2017, and I was very perplexed and morose since this was the only dept. I couldn't get into. This year, I was in no hurry getting into JUDE because I knew I was going to take up Sociology anyway, which I did. The sad thing was that I ranked 3rd in the merit lists for all of English, Comparative Literature and International Relations.
The only proper tips I can assure you is to be fiercely passionate about what you're writing, while never loosing the analytical perspective to it. You must be able to strike a balance between both. Also, include citations and quotes in case of English wherever you can. You should also probably try to maintain a neutral tone unless you can assure you know how to write political satire veiled in sheer wit found in untraceable amounts across your script.
For Comparative literature, I was feeling too lousy to write down anything unless I figured Carol Ann Duffy's 'Anne Hathaway' was there in the question paper. It was a poem I previously had not come across but it instantly felt oh-so-orgasmic! That was possibly the only questions I went as passionate as I could have about. The rest of the question paper, to me, was uninteresting. I am not very interested in literature personally if something fails to inspire me instantly and would never have pursued literature as an academic option no matter how many people asked me to.
For International Relations, I believe you need to have a minimum pre-conception regarding current incidents, world news and political science in general. A little bit of knowledge in history, philosophy, sociology will go a long way into guiding you through the course of the entrance test. However, the discourse itself is pretty much clerical and highly UN-oriented, so there's a lot more diplomacy to it than science.
For Philosophy, I had forgotten my admit card at home. So, I reached the campus late by an hour and the people were extremely speculative of my presence in the room. The MCQ part of it was ridiculous. Any 1st grader would do it instead of you in a matter of seconds. The subjective questions were very direct, yet not uninteresting. I finished my paper exactly in 45 minutes and managed to rank 6th in the merit list. I had been ranked 2nd back in 2017 and most so called good students usually get in, if they don't do too bad. Also, Philosophy has a nice, reputed faculty out there and is considered one of the two best institutions
for studying Philosophy in the entire country.
Lastly, for History, I think people who had History in their Plus Two would actually perform better in the tests. I was ranked 21st in the merit list and I remember only ranges of dates on that note. I was more of an Economics and Mathematics student in my Plus Two, so I haven't studied History professionally in months. However, general knowledge regarding the same coupled with a keen interest in all of the Social Sciences and writing skills go a long way in ensuring that you have a chance to crack the entrance test. History too, has a very reputed dept. like International Relations and Philosophy.
Summing it up, I wouldn't say that the entrances, at least of the kind that are conducted now are easy as pie, especially for the first three departments. However, I do believe you can crack these tests with a genuine sense of passion for the particular stream that you want to take up and an inherent interest in your attempts to logically analyse the world around you in as many ways as possible. I finally have taken up Sociology, for which only HS marks is considered, extremely unfortunately. However, I am glad that I am majoring in Sociology instead of IR, while auditing a course at IR UG 3 and constantly interacting events conducted by JAIR (Jadavpur Association of International Relations).
If there is something that you'd like me to help you out with, or if you have any generic or case specific queries, drop me a mail at titassparkles[at the rate]gmail[dot]com or use the contact form at the bottom of this page to send me the queries. I will get back to you as soon as possible. Also, for all the departments mentioned, 50% is added from your CBSE/ISC/Higher Secondary examinations. So, prepare well and best wishes to all of you! You can ensure yourself a major chance to practise academia quite independently if you wish to do so and if you can make it to Jadavpur!
So, the big decision was that I wanted to change the academic discourse I had been pursuing my major in. By November 2017, I had bagged an internship with The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and no one in the whole wide world would support my decision to alter the subject after that. And to make things worse (or maybe, better) I started feeling very indecisive regarding what to study exactly, presuming I would have got into the departments had I taken the tests again. Before the tests were conducted, the state government started intervening into the internal matters of the university, since it is an autonomous institution - and one of the most respectable, if not the most respectable institution at the heart of Kolkata at this hour. I had scored 469/500 in my H.S examinations in 2017, and had a rank around 23 in the state of West Bengal. That, as I would compel you to believe is nothing glorious - I have extremely doubtful regarding how our answer scripts are evaluated and I despise the syllabus and am radical opposed to the method followed into teaching students the way they are taught things across all the boards in India currently. It is no different from a conspiracy into tricking students and leading them to believe there is nothing as dull as academia on this planet.
This was the second pressure that now began to take a serious toll on my health (experienced psychosomatic impacts of anxiety, anyone?). I had been diagnosed with COPD earlier on this year and was struggling to maintain and live and keep convincing myself that my life was normal and my lungs were honestly doing better than the ambiance and disease was trying to convince me. There's one thing that still makes me feel highly associated with academia. Even if I'm literally dying, am extremely sick or worried or emotionally unstable, I still can logically analyse things around me and in my opinion am one of the most steel-nerved of people I've met in my life. And to be very honest, I couldn't study a hell lot during the break. Also, I was confident enough not to sit for my Economics semester and that in turn instigated an unbearable amount of pressure I was subjecting myself to. I think I lost a little weight (on top of being very underweight) and on the day it was finally declared that the students had won the movement and that the examinations would be conducted and that the admission would not be based on simply the marks obtained in the high school final examinations did I feel a little relieved.
On the day of the first examination, which was English, and for which nearly 4,000-5,000 students compete every year, I wrote an essay on one of the four topics (and the only one which I happen to remember) - 'The bookshop at the end of the universe'. Now, let me tell you something very intriguing, most of my friends who prepared for the test didn't even make it anywhere across the long list that they upload on the website! The same thing had happened to ma back in 2017, and I was very perplexed and morose since this was the only dept. I couldn't get into. This year, I was in no hurry getting into JUDE because I knew I was going to take up Sociology anyway, which I did. The sad thing was that I ranked 3rd in the merit lists for all of English, Comparative Literature and International Relations.
The only proper tips I can assure you is to be fiercely passionate about what you're writing, while never loosing the analytical perspective to it. You must be able to strike a balance between both. Also, include citations and quotes in case of English wherever you can. You should also probably try to maintain a neutral tone unless you can assure you know how to write political satire veiled in sheer wit found in untraceable amounts across your script.
For Comparative literature, I was feeling too lousy to write down anything unless I figured Carol Ann Duffy's 'Anne Hathaway' was there in the question paper. It was a poem I previously had not come across but it instantly felt oh-so-orgasmic! That was possibly the only questions I went as passionate as I could have about. The rest of the question paper, to me, was uninteresting. I am not very interested in literature personally if something fails to inspire me instantly and would never have pursued literature as an academic option no matter how many people asked me to.
For International Relations, I believe you need to have a minimum pre-conception regarding current incidents, world news and political science in general. A little bit of knowledge in history, philosophy, sociology will go a long way into guiding you through the course of the entrance test. However, the discourse itself is pretty much clerical and highly UN-oriented, so there's a lot more diplomacy to it than science.
For Philosophy, I had forgotten my admit card at home. So, I reached the campus late by an hour and the people were extremely speculative of my presence in the room. The MCQ part of it was ridiculous. Any 1st grader would do it instead of you in a matter of seconds. The subjective questions were very direct, yet not uninteresting. I finished my paper exactly in 45 minutes and managed to rank 6th in the merit list. I had been ranked 2nd back in 2017 and most so called good students usually get in, if they don't do too bad. Also, Philosophy has a nice, reputed faculty out there and is considered one of the two best institutions
for studying Philosophy in the entire country.
Lastly, for History, I think people who had History in their Plus Two would actually perform better in the tests. I was ranked 21st in the merit list and I remember only ranges of dates on that note. I was more of an Economics and Mathematics student in my Plus Two, so I haven't studied History professionally in months. However, general knowledge regarding the same coupled with a keen interest in all of the Social Sciences and writing skills go a long way in ensuring that you have a chance to crack the entrance test. History too, has a very reputed dept. like International Relations and Philosophy.
Summing it up, I wouldn't say that the entrances, at least of the kind that are conducted now are easy as pie, especially for the first three departments. However, I do believe you can crack these tests with a genuine sense of passion for the particular stream that you want to take up and an inherent interest in your attempts to logically analyse the world around you in as many ways as possible. I finally have taken up Sociology, for which only HS marks is considered, extremely unfortunately. However, I am glad that I am majoring in Sociology instead of IR, while auditing a course at IR UG 3 and constantly interacting events conducted by JAIR (Jadavpur Association of International Relations).
If there is something that you'd like me to help you out with, or if you have any generic or case specific queries, drop me a mail at titassparkles[at the rate]gmail[dot]com or use the contact form at the bottom of this page to send me the queries. I will get back to you as soon as possible. Also, for all the departments mentioned, 50% is added from your CBSE/ISC/Higher Secondary examinations. So, prepare well and best wishes to all of you! You can ensure yourself a major chance to practise academia quite independently if you wish to do so and if you can make it to Jadavpur!
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