If you plan out your day well then there is time for everything and your academic will not get compromised.
Nirmay Kale
Lokmanya Tilak Medical College, Sion
II year topper
1.Congratulations on achieving such an amazing feat. Tell us a bit about yourself. Please also tell us your individual marks in each subject.
Nirmay Kale, 3rd minor.
My 2nd year MUHS University scores are :
Pharmacology 123/150
Pathology 116/150
Microbiology 126/150
FMT80/100
2.So, when all of this is new and the rest of us are still busy figuring the head and tail of the subject, how did you tackle and master the syllabus?
It always takes time to gel in with the subject but once you get familiar with the subject it is all easy. 1st year I feel is the most difficult because your new to the field but after that it is not very hard to get familiar with the subjects in future. The key is to read the subject as extensively as possible and to revise it as many times as possible.
3.Did you have a set schedule, a time table that you stuck to? What were the daily hours that you put in self study ?
I personally did not stick to any specific schedule but I studied when I wanted to and made sure that whenever I did I put in 100%. I used to start preparing for exams around 1 to 1 and half month before the exam so I used to have ample amount of time to revise the portion before the exam.
4.Is there any particular way in which you study or any special notes that you make? Maybe a different approach than what students normally do?
I tried to read from the textbooks as far as possible but I did not make notes for all the chapters but I used to write down whatever I felt was important.
5.Do you have any tips on the Do’s and Don’ts of it? How do you manage to keep yourself motivated when studies start taking a toll on you? Are there any ‘distractions’ that actually help you in the process?
I would strongly recommend you to stick to the standard textbooks as far as possible and not read e-books which you read just before the exams throughout the year. If the volume of study would start taking a toll on me I would just take a day off and I don’t think it will make a big difference if you don’t study for a day in the middle provided you have been putting a good amount of effort the other days.
Anything you don’t understand while reading from the textbook can be easily understood via the internet
6.Also how important do you think is attending lectures in college? Considering half of the students are either busy on their phones or sleeping, does it really help?
Personally my experience with the college lectures hasn’t been very good but that have been of you would teachers who have taught some topics really well so I’d say those lectures did benefit me but the others not so much.
7.Was there any help that you acquired while preparing for the exams? Like any visual aids any professional guidance? Or those little tit bits that the professors tell us but none other than the toppers pay attention to? Please share with us.
Anything you don’t understand while reading from the textbook can be easily understood via the internet by watching videos and searching for the images, if you still have any difficulty you can always approach a teacher or a senior for that matter. Yes teachers do share at times information that is very important and which is not written in text books at times and they have gained from there experience over the years so those points are very important.
8.How vital is the Question Bank during exams? Does it come highly recommended or you advice thorough reading of the text and having confound knowledge of the subject?
I personally hate referring to question banks as they limit your knowledge. I am not saying don’t use question banks before exams but avoid studying the answers to the questions in the question banks only as they will not give you an idea of the subject as a whole and limit your information only to what is asked in the exams. You can use question banks only a few days prior to the exam to go through the past questions and revise whatever you cannot recall at that time.
9.Could you suggest a method of studying or kind of discipline that should be followed during exam time?
During exams just devote as much time as possible to studies and if you have studied in advance you will not have a difficult time coping up with the volume of the portion and revising whatever is necessary.
10.What do you do to keep yourself kinda stress free? Go for a swim, go for a walk or just wiggle under the blanket and fall asleep or what?
You can keep yourself stress free by indulging in whatever suits you best I personally love playing football and going to the gym so that would really help me to get over the stress.
11.Are you involved in any extracurricular activities, be it sports, cultural or academics? How do you manage it along with your routine academics?
I am involved in extra curricular activities especially Sports like football basketball and table tennis. If you plan out your day well then there is time for everything and your academic will not get compromised.