Imagine yourself walking down the corridor in a white coat on top of your formals, with a stethoscope hanging halfway from the coat pocket, a pen and diary in your hand. This is exactly how a medical aspirant pictures him/herself 5 or 6 years down the line. If you think one year of coaching, two years of mugging up and three hours in the examination hall is all what it takes to make the imagination a reality, you are terribly wrong. To achieve being a doctor requites smart work. In this article I will give you a gist of how to go about the entire procedure starting from the scrape to being a doctor and prepare for medical entrance examinations.
Keep a diary of the list of medical entrances
First of all it is very important to know about all the medical entrances in India and abroad. Different places and examinations have different eligibility criteria and different pattern. After making the list choose which all entrance examinations you are eligible to and which you plan to attend and make a priority list according to your choice. Also write down the syllabus and the topics particularly important for that examination according to weight-age corresponding to the examination name
TIMETABLE!!!!
“Exam tomorrow…open books today….mug up ….score marks…. “ . This formula, unfortunately will not work when it comes to medical entrances. Medical preparation needs lots of commitment, passion, organized and smart work. First step for this would be to make a timetable. All students are different with different style of learning and also may prefer to study at different times of the day. Set a time table for study which suits your convenience. Always remember that the number of hours does not matter but the quality of study matters.
Regular studies
Studying for a stipulated time every day covering a bit extra of each topic every day is a key formula to achieve success in the examination. You must have seen how an ant collects food
bit by bit to store it for use when times go wrong. Similarly learning bit by bit everyday will remain for a long time. It is much healthier and correct way of studying rather than studying everything in a single day.
NCERT- The forgotten key!
Juggling with coaching materials, Pradeep S and H.C.Verma, students usually tend to forget about the real key to cracking medical entrances. It’s nothing but our good old NCERT text books. If you take a close look at all the major medical entrances in India, most of the questions are based on NCERT text books. After all these entrances are held to check the basic understanding of the concepts of students for which nothing can be better that NCERT. This does not mean that other books are to be ignored. They will help you give an idea about different difficulty levels.
The villain- negative marks!
Negative marking is definitely a villain. Depending on the examination marks are deducted from the scored marks for each wrong question. So, you should be very careful while answering questions. If you are doubtful about a question’s answer it is better not to attempt that question that to attempt it and get it wrong. Zero marks are definitely better than negative marks!!!
Time is score!
Time management is very important. You must be able to answer most number of questions correctly in least possible time. The one who is able to do this emerges to the top ranks. Also the time for filling the bubbles in case of OMR examination should also be managed. It is always better to do one particular section and then immediately mark all the bubbles in that particular section before going on to the next. This will save time and avoid confusion as most students tend to mark the wrong bubbles and earn negative marks when all question’s bubbles are marked together. Practice is the key to time management. Try to practice as many questions as possible in least time.
Previous years papers
Practicing previous years question papers will give you an idea about the pattern of the questions and need of each medical entrance exams. Going through these papers for each entrance will give an idea about which all topics you must focus on for each examination and prepare accordingly. Also practicing the papers by keeping a clock will help you know your speed. Daily practice will improve your speed of solving questions and also time management skills
Key notes
Keeping a note of key topics and concepts are important. You can keep a notebook and write down all the key concepts, formulas and topics in it. This will help in quick reference before the examination.
Doubt diary
Keep a small notepad to write down the doubts you come up on while studying certain topics. Those doubts can be cleared by consulting a teacher or through internet after the study session so that the session is not disturbed. Also it will help you remember your doubts so that you can clear it later.
Medical courses
There are various undergraduate courses for medical studies. In the table below I will give a list of various undergraduate courses in medicine and the corresponding colleges offering the course and also the number of seats
Relax!!
Studying with a free mind is very important. Keeping on filling a pot without a stop will be a waste. It is important to take regular breaks. Do some extracurricular activities that you enjoy like dance, music, sports etc. lead a healthy life. It is very important to do regular exercise and be healthy because without health you will not be able to study properly. All your efforts will be a waste without health.
The life of a doctor is an eternal commitment. You should always be ready to take up any cases. You must be ready to face the hectic 24*7 schedule without a complain. Go for it only if you think you are choosing this career and not settling for it. Settling will never make you a good doctor and a happy person. Only choosing will. Follow your passion of being a doctor and achieve it with full confidence and dedication.
There are four steps to accomplishment
-plan purposefully,
-prepare prayerfully,
-proceed positively,
-pursue persistently.
~ William Arthur Ward
No comments:
Post a Comment