Hello there…
A NEET aspirant, are you ?
Me too ! High five.
Going to start your preparations from scratch ??
Well then, here is the right place.
‘coz I have started my preparations ‘from scratch’ exactly from 1st august ( just one month earlier than you all ), and have experimented with certain rules and methods which seem to work. Well, there are some which don’t work too….I shall point out all that’s relevant here, one by one. So that you can save yourself from unnecessary analysis and stick to what is going to work for you until the D-Day comes. The answer might look a little lengthy, but I promise that every single line you read is going to be worth it.
FAMOUS FACT 1 :
You must be a topper in your school years to be able to crack this exam.
Reality Check :
Nope. That’s a lie, the world wants you to believe. The truth is this exam is for AVERAGES. Yes, the question paper’s difficulty level is average and any average person can crack it with a PERSISTENT LONG TIME HARD WORK and SMART TIME MANAGEMENT. This exam looks like a hard nut to crack b’coz of its limited number of seats and limited time (3 hrs) , and now limited attempts too.And b’coz those who were already good in studies during their school days, have a good momentum of study during preparations too, so they bag most of the seats.
But the truth is that this exam can be cracked by anyone, and it doesn’t matter if earlier you were a loser in studies or a born topper.
So, friends forget your doubts about yourself and get going.
FAMOUS FACT 2 –
You can do nothing without joining a coaching.
Reality check – Well, now thats the biggest BS I have ever come across. I don’t think I need to explain anything on this topic at this moment, b’coz this is like a WHOLE NEW POINT OF DISCUSSION, and will make this answer very lengthy. For now, Just keep in mind that you are living in a highly tech-savvy era and there is this entire world’s knowledge in your hands, through INTERNET. Use it.
So, here’s a verdict from someone who has spent ‘EXCESSIVE’ money( I won’t mention the exact amounts) on coaching fee in last five years in general, and in last two years in particular, someone who has studied with THE COACHING GIANTS of INDIA( I won’t point out any names), and someone whose verdict can be trusted – ITS YOUR SELF-STUDY THAT HELPS YOU TO QUALIFY ANY EXAM, AND NOT YOUR COACHING INSTITUTE, no matter how famous or how costly it is. Everything that glitters is not gold.
FAMOUS FACT 3 : You need to study 10 to 12 hrs per day for a minimum of one year to qualify this exam.
Reality check : No average student studies for 10–12 hrs, on long term basis. Look, you can study for 10–12 hours for one day, one week, two weeks, or maybe one month, but beyond this it becomes emotionally devastating and draining. Specially for our stage, i.e for NEET preparations : its FREAKING USELESS. Instead of being productive, such enormous study sessions turn your brain counter-productive. 10–12 hrs of FOCUSED and EFFECTIVE STUDIES is primarily a very much fantasized and dreamy version of studies for those who have studied for 5 hours per day all this while.. Even those who prepare for civil services, they too study for 9–10 hours on average.
Always, remember…ALWAYS – Its the Quality of study session that puts an impact on your final day performance, and not the number of study hours. If you feel that you are doing great with really huge study hours then sure, go ahead,
But for all those average kids (like me) : Yes, you must push your margins and study for at least 6–7 hours everyday if you are a serious aspirant…but don’t push so hard that all your bridges break and you have no interest in your purpose left, to continue .
Famous Fact 3 : You must throw away your phone, delete all your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat accounts. You must isolate yourself from every other human being on this planet. You must not have friends too. You must not watch movies and listen to songs. Basically you must turn yourself totally upside down to crack this exam.
Reality check – Well, this fact is true, but not completely. You SHOULD and YOU MUST reduce your INTER-STUDY-INTERACTIONS and increase your INTRA-STUDY-INTERACTIONS. But, you don’t have to cut ‘every single’ social cord to prepare for NEET. If you do this, you will very soon stress yourself with monotony and isolation, and then within a month or so you will become quite unproductive in studies too. Why am I saying this, is b’coz I have tried and tested this recently, and that is why I am back on quora, ‘coz I am doing complete self study preparation and its a VERY DIFFICULT job to avoid stress and monotony in such a pursuit…. I had isolated myself in all the above mentioned ways, but finally I realized that it will not help me to increase my marks in NEET. Rather it will turn me into a DEPRESSED ZOMBIE. So I joined back quora.
Look, we are not simply animals, like cows and horses. We are SOCIAL ANIMALS. So, how can you expect to have a normal psychological state for a long period of time if you keep on suppressing your natural nature. The secret lies in balancing your priorities. Yes its hard. Its very hard for me too. Even I too struggle on daily basis to keep my priorities in right place.
All that we aspirants need to do is, live a very normal and regular life, while maintaining our focus on daily goals and targets. Like, if you decide to study for 6 hrs everyday, then you just have to maintain this stand for next eight months that you will study for 6 hrs first and foremost, without compromising with your concentration and focus during your study session, and after that you can hang out, chill and party and do all sorts of things that you want to. And the next day, again you repeat the same priority rule.
This is how you can keep going for a good long period of time without much stress and tension. ( For those who have their school and then coaching too, they will definitely not be have any time to relax or think about other things. So this doesn’t apply to them)
Famous Fact 4 : You must study fancy publications and heavy, complicated books to qualify this exam. And maybe you can ignore NCERT for a while b’coz NCERTs are very basic and easy books.
Reality check– First and foremost, if you have ever thought of ignoring NCERTs in ANY of the THREE SUBJECTS , then I guess you should quit right now. Yeah, really. NCERT is the soul of NEET exam. Everything revolves around them only. If you know how to extract the juices from those plain looking books, then you can easily glide through this journey.
So, what I say is, not just for biology, but in physics and chemistry too, pick up your NCERTs first and foremost, even before you touch your personal notes or coaching study materials. No matter how boring or dumb they look, you have to and you must read NCERT at least once.
After having read one topic from NCERT, study it from any other source of your own choice. It can be your coaching books, notes or higher level competitive books like HC Verma, N Awasthi or Trueman’s..etc.
Famous Fact 5 : Some say – NEET demands more focus on bundles and plethora of MCQs, while others say – You Must focus on Your Concepts very well to crack NEET.
Reality check – Neither is NEET just about MCQs nor is it just about CONCEPTS. Very much like other competitive exams, its a glamorous combination of basic concepts applied over tonnes of varieties of MCQs.
Its entirely on your own discretion and intelligence to sort out all the chapters of your syllabus according to the type of questions that are asked from them. What I mean is – segregate your syllabus into two parts. One category for the topics in which formula based questions are mainly asked. The other category for those topics in which concepts are more focused upon.
Obviously, at the end of the day, you have to solve your paper in the MCQ and OMR sheet format only, but MCQ’s nature varies from ‘directly formula substitution’ to ‘concept application’ .
Famous Fact 6 : You should study biology upto 100%, chemistry upto 85% and physics upto 60%, and you can easily score enough to qualify this exam.
Reality check : My dear, if you are up for ignoring physics, then be ready to ruin your result thoroughly. You have no idea what major role physics plays in your rank and score. And though it seems tough and intimidating, but remember everything in this world can be tamed. And physics is nothing but a naughty subject. It loves to twist and turn your mental wiring. Trust me, once you begin to love physics, it becomes very easy to handle.
And about chemistry, well its definitely not my favorite subject, but you have to and even I too have to do it upto 100% because why not ? After all chemistry is an easy and less time consuming subject ( though its very dull and boring).
And of course you must do biology more than 100%. Because 100% means having NCERT literally imprinted on your mind. But studying only NCERTs will hardly take you to 300 marks. To score above 300, you will have to study a little extra material too. Now, that’s again upon your own discretion and choice.
Famous fact 7 : Motivation is essential to reach this goal.
Reality check – ‘Motivation is what drives you to begin something, but Habit is what keeps you going’ .
Yes, even I too had the same misconception, that I need motivation to work daily. And for me, I am doing complete self studies, and you can’t imagine how hard it becomes to get yourself to study, when there’s no motivation around. So, I used to watch motivational videos on YouTube, like many others. But then I realized for how long will I watch these videos to start my study engine…..This is not how one works for a long term goal.
You have to make this a habit to study for whatever number of hours you have fixed for yourself, every single day. You can’t depend on motivation and external stimulus. Its silly to expect that the world is going to help you steer through your struggle. You gotta have your own ways of working.
Famous fact 8 : Mock tests are meant to be ‘mocked at’….i.e there’s no point of taking your mock test scores too seriously.
Reality check – Mock tests are a straight reflection of your exam preparation and pressure management skill. Whether you take the mock test scores seriously or not, is your choice , but you must take your mock test itself, very seriously. Yup. Scores can be ignored, but you cannot ignore the mistakes that you did in your test. You cannot ignore the fact that you couldn’t finish your paper on time. You cannot ignore that under pressure you perform poorly at basic calculations, while solving numerical problems. In short- You Cannot Ignore The Details Of Your Test Performance. Still you can ignore the scores… if you want to. There’s no point obsessing over your marks for one test. Keep giving tests as much as possible, even if you aren’t prepared, ‘coz at least it will help eliminate your fear for tests and exams.
Famous Fact 9 : Hard Work Yields.
Reality check – Yes, undoubtedly hard work yields. There’s no replacement for hard work in this entire world .
But, in competition, where 90% of serious candidates are already working hard enough, you have to add something extra to your work, which takes you ahead of everybody else. And that extra is called SMART WORK. So, what I mean is, Smart work should not replace hard work . Rather Smart Work should be added to HardWork.
Also, If ever you doubt that ‘Will I be able to qualify this exam? Should I put in too much of effort into this ? What if I fail ?
Just remind yourself – Don’t give up ! Hard work + Strategy, pays off !! This is a golden rule of this universe.
Famous Fact 10 : Prepare your syllabus completely, don’t leave any chapters, and you are sure to get selected.
Reality check – Everybody….and by everybody I mean 90% of the serious candidates complete their entire syllabus at least once. So, there’s nothing big about that.
The real key lies in humongous amount of deep revision and practice of MCQs. The more you revise and practice, the more deeply it gets embedded into your brain, and the more quickly you will be able to recall and reproduce it during exams.
So, according to me, my experimentation and observation, and my experiences, these are the top ten important points to think about for all NEET aspirants.
Take care, its a long term goal not a short one. So you should choose all those weapons and tools which you can handle for nearly 8 months from today onward. Don’t end up wounding yourself in the pursuit, but also don’t keep on hiding behind the armor … After all we all are SOLDIERS…right ?
Friends, according me, we are big enough to take responsibility of our own actions now. So forget about the past, stop regretting anything that you did until yesterday. Now, is the time to be aware of yourself and your actions. There’s still enough time for us all to prepare seriously. This is just an average level exam guys ! Why not to try once ?
And take care not to blame anybody or anything for your results. ‘Coz we are the builders of our own destiny.
Whatever you get as a result is going to be nothing but a reflection of your own actions and priorities from here on.
Stay on track and don’t forget to enjoy your life.
Thanks for reading
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