PrepLadder congratulates Dr. Rajath on securing
Rank-11 in PGI, Rank-26 in AIIMS and Rank-35 in JIPMER Nov 2018. We wish him all the best in his career and future ahead.
To find out how he achieved this incredible feat, we spoke to him and tried to understand what it takes to attain such a rank. We would like to share the excerpts from his interview so that we can all learn from his experience and use it to score our mark.
Hello, please tell us something about yourself.
Hi, I am Dr. Rajath Gowda and I did my graduation from Mysore Medical College and Research Institute. I completed my internship in March 2018. I have secured
Rank 26 in AIIMS and 11 in PGI and 35 in JIPMER this November 2018 exams.
What do you think is the correct approach to study for PG entrance exams? Only MCQ's or Theory+ MCQ's? Please elaborate.
I think it should be a blend of theory as well as MCQ. One has to have a sound theoretical background and can then solve MCQ but before beginning your preparation just have a look at the previous questions asked so that you get an idea of what's being asked and what is important, then you can go ahead and study the relevant aspects. There is no point in blindly reading and solving everything...
When should the preparation ideally be started? How did you go about it?
Although I started my preparation only after March, I would recommend people to start prep by third-year because it's relatively free that time and also you don't feel the pressure if you start early and you can just sail along smoothly. But do make a habit of reading standard books and understanding core concepts bcoz it helps later on.
Please list the books you studied for each subject.
I books I read during MBBS days are as follows
- Anatomy- BD Chaurasia
- Physiology- Guyton and Indu Khurana
- Biochem- Harper, and Satyanarayana
- Pathology- Robbins ( it's the best book)
- Microbiology- Ananthnarayan, and Jawetz selected topics and for parasitology, I read Apurba Sastry
- Pharmacology- Tripathi
- Forensic medicine - Narayan Reddy and V V Pillai for toxicology
- PSM- Park
- Opthal- Khurana and Yanoff and Duker
- ENT - Dhingra
- Medicine- Davidson, and Harrison selected topics
- Surgery - Bailey, and love
- Paeds- Ghai
- OBG - Dutta and Williams
- Short subjects - I didn't read any book during UG days.
For PG prep the following books are good:
- Soumen Manna for Physio
- Rebecca James for Biochem
- Sparsh Gupta for Path
- Gobind Rai Garg for Pharma
- Apurba Sastry for Micro
- Sumer Sethi Radiology review
- Apurv Mehta for Orthopaedics
Have you attempted any PG exam previously? If yes, what were your ranks then and what did you do different this time that lead to your success?
I have written the following exams
1. NEET 2018 - I had around 3500 rank
2. AIIMS May- 81
3. PGI May- 35
4. JIPMER may- 116.
These exams I had not prepared and I just gave them simply to get a feel of the exams as I had just completed the internship in March but I realized that if you are good with basics the exams are quite doable. This time I read all the subjects and revised them and that made the difference.
How big is the role of practice and revision while preparing for PG entrance and how much time should be dedicated to it?
I think it's variable. It depends on how good a student has learned during MBBS and also his retention ability. If you have read well and have a good memory, you would require two revisions otherwise maybe more. But revision is very important because you retain better as you revise. I think at least one month for the second revision is necessary.
Did PrepLadder play a part in your success? If yes, how?
Yeah. The questions in the Q-bank are good and also they are similar or on similar grounds to the asked questions and also the
PrepLadder Mocks give you an idea of where you stand.
Did you use a timetable/study plan to keep your preparation on track? Please elaborate.
Yeah. I did make timetable but it was variable. Sometimes I would finish it and sometimes I couldn't. But it does give you a sense of urgency and helps you keep focus.
Were you a topper or a mediocre student during MBBS?
Well, I was among the toppers but I have not topped any exams.
List the most difficult and easiest subjects for you.
Easiest subjects were Biochem, Forensic, ENT, Pharma, Pathology. Difficult I would say PSM( except for statistics part.)
One mistake that you believe everyone must avoid while preparing for PG entrance exams.
Well, you can't study everything so just focus on what's important and do see previous papers so that you get a feel of exams and never go to exams without having solved previous papers .....because everyone gets repeat correct and you cannot afford to miss out on these otherwise your ranks would suffer.
How many options did you attempt in different exams? Share some details about your exam taking strategy.
AIIMS around 196.
PGI- Well there's hardly any time to finish the paper.
JIPMER - 234.
For AIIMS, I would say attempt more questions and if you are able to eliminate even one option go for it. For PGI you have to be sure what you mark because negatives will cost you more.
For JIPMER - around 220-230 would be good.
Some last tips for our readers preparing for PG?
PG exams are just a phase of your life and nothing else. Just give these exams the due credit that they deserve. And don't stress yourself too much about exams. Do enjoy your life but just study at the same time. Do your best and don't worry about the result.
" You can do what anyone else can do BUT only you can do it better".So just give your best.
We thank Dr. Rajath for sharing his success story.
Best Wishes
With Love, Team PrepLadder