Dr. Nakul is doing his Ophthalmology residency from Dr. Rajendra Prasad Govt. Medical College where he’s working as a JR 1.
MBBS
Right from the beginning of med school, I had it in mind that I wanted to get done with PG at the earliest, in any clinical branch. I did not have a particular residency pathway in mind so I’d kept the options of MLE/PLAB/NEET open.
Also, as med students, we often tend to rely on markings during MBBS. Markings are just enough for passing the exams but for the long term one has to study the subjects in detail.
Keeping all this in mind, I made it a point to read all my MBBS subjects thoroughly. I stuck to reading standard text books such that at the very least, the first read would involve going through each and every page. Eventually, when I started preparing for NEET, there weren’t many things that were new for me because I had some residual memory of these topics.
Note -
To start with, you need to know your preferences early on. At the very least, try to find out which specialties you are inclined towards. You should also try to get clarity on whether you wish to take up a government or a private institution for your post graduation. Talking to your seniors who are preparing or have cracked this exam helps.
Preparing a roadmap early on during MBBS gives you a head start and gives you the right amount of time to get your resources and strategies in order.
Final Year
In my final year, I failed by one mark in one of the subjects and I had to give the supplementary examination for the same. When you have been an avid reader and your MBBS journey has been sprinkled with distinctions, failing a final and giving the supplementary exam for it can be quite heart wrenching, not to mention the added mocking that one faces behind their backs. I tried to keep my calm and focused on getting through with the PG at my first attempt.
Internship
By the time I got done with the exam, I had lost out on 3-4 months of preparation. I joined DAMS weekend classes in April but was finding it difficult to keep them up along with the internship. Being seated on a chair for 10-11 hours and hurriedly scribbling down notes was proving to be very monotonous and inconvenient. I bought marrow plan B in May and continued with DAMS for another month even though I hardly attended one class in full.In June, I subscribed to Marrow plan C.
I was not able to cover the entire syllabus during the course of my preparation but whatever I covered, I covered properly. For example- if a certain subject carries a weightage of 25 questions, I prepared it in such a way that I could ace atleast 21-22 questions out of those 25.
I read up all the subjects from the first three years of MBBS and apart from that, General Surgery, Paediatrics, OBGY, Orthopaedics, Anaethesia and Dermatology.I got printed / hand written notes so that assimilation along with videos wasn’t an issue. I found Pharmacology and Biochemistry to be very volatile so I read them only once or twice. Moreover, whenever I opened them for revision, I tried to not spend excessive time in revising them.
I used to study whenever and wherever I got time during the internship- OPD, OT, ward duties, on the go, you name it. I would download the lectures, MCQS or anything NEET related in advance. Getting a good rank took precedence over everything else and no matter what I was doing, it was something that was always at the back of my mind.
Grand Tests
I gave all the Grand Tests (GTs) regularly. No matter how much syllabus you’ve covered you should give the GTs seriously so that in the end, even if you don’t have time for certain subjects, you won’t be left with zero knowledge of those subjects if you’ve reviewed the answers carefully. GTs should never be missed because they reflect your progress over time. I scored 188/1200 in my first GT and my score only gradually increased with time. Do not get disheartened by an initial low score.
Milestones
You should keep track of your milestones. If you have set out to complete a subject in a week’s time then you have to complete it within a week. If it is taking longer than that, leave it right there and come back to it later, after you’ve checked off other targets. This is important because it helps you stay on track and ensures that you don’t fall short of time to cover the easy, more scoring subjects.
Revision
Your revisions should be planned in such a way that you have time for atleast 2 revisions. I prepared till November and was doing only revisions during the month of December. While revising, I was ticking off my strong subjects first. This gave me some extra time to focus on the weaker ones.
Desired Specialty
You should go through previous years’ cut offs for both the State and All India seats. They should help you get an idea about how much you need to be scoring to get into your desired branch and/or college.
In the end-
There will be hundreds of people telling you about their strategy and what worked for them. In the end what matters is that your score should keep moving up.
There’s no hard and fast rule or ‘the best way’ of going about your preparation. Stick to the one that suits you the best. Even if you devise your own way of preparing, have faith in it and keep going (provided, your graph’s progressing).
There will be a lot of people who’ll have tips for/ comments about your preparation but you need to understand and go with what works best for you.
Setbacks in college exams are tough to deal with but they can serve as a channel to motivate you and have a positive effect on your career. Take them as an opportunity to prove yourself.
Good luck!
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