1.Congratulations on achieving such an amazing feat. Tell us a bit about yourself. Please also tell us your individual marks in each subject.
Hi! Thank you for your wishes!! This is Hetanshi Raval from GMC Miraj. Just got done with third minor about to hit the final year.
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?
Even I felt the same at the beginning of each year. I couldnt understand the subject that well until the terms dates were out. All I did was reading all the important stuff first (markings that our seniors gave) then I used to refer bhalani question papers of about last 10 years to cover some extra questions. That’s it ! This will cover all the questions that are asked in the university exam . Not just sticking to this I would read some topics out of curiosity
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 ?
Timetable was always made once the exam dates were out. However it always took time to get used to that time table. Proper sticking to the schedule would start around 2 weeks before exams that is when you don’t have to attend college. I have never decided how many hours to study. I always focused on covering the portion atleast once before college exam .
4.Did you have a different methodology of tackling the subjects? Any special notes that you prepared?
No I never make any such notes. All I refer is textbooks.
5.Do you have any special pointers for specific subjects? The do’s and don’ts of it?
Special pointers can be like drawing diagrams wherever possible avoid writing too much flowcharts and all is always going to fetch you more marks e.g. Diagrams of anatomy or microscopy of patho or may be a flowchart for mechanism of action in pharmac.
6.Was there any help that you acquired while exam preparation? 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.
Not really. I am one of those persons who would not even take notes in lectures. Self studying is all what I do , regarding any difficulty in any topic asking a professor was always an option .
7.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?
Thorough reading of the subject is always going to help you to create a basic knowledge in your mind. This will help you to solve mcqs as well .All you can do is, read the textbook when you are in a busy schedule like attending college and postings during those days. But when exams are knocking at the door, you cannot manage to read everything and most important remember it,so during that read only the question bank, it will help you to score well and you will not even miss out on the knowledge you should have about the subject at UG level.
8.How do you propose the students study and what kind of discipline should be followed during exam time?
It all depends on the way you are comfortable with. Some people can’t afford to read the entire day, they need breaks, they need fixed hours of sleep, so what I feel is make a schedule so that you can complete reading everything once before exam and not miss upon your leisure.
9.Could you give some important pointers on Exam writing skills? And also how should one prepare for a practical exam?
Exam writing is very important. If you can’t write the paper well, what’s the use of knowing stuff and not being able to portray how well you have understood the subject. I used to refer some books like Shanbhag for Pharmac, Nagoba for Micro. However other subjects like ENT, Ophthalm, PSM there are no such books available so you need to stick to the textbooks. These books are like BJ notes of Physio. Answers are given pointwise, there are flowcharts so they helped me pretty well to make my paper presentable. Again I would say make the info in your paper presentable and easy to understand at one glance. Examiners hardly give time to each paper 5-10 mins maximum, all your aim is to make sure your matter gets into his head in those 10 mins . This will help you to score well. Practicals are easy to score till 2nd year. All you need to do is know atleast something about everything in vivas. So yeah , the textbook reading which I said wud help you to answer maximum viva questions . Spotting and stuff should be done properly those are marks in your hands, where you can score full marks. Case vivas all I can say is don’t utter something that you don’t know anything about, try to lead the examiner on topics that you know .
10.Any special tricks and tacts for the students of your college who would be reading this?
Nothing specific .
11.So, do you have any parting thoughts? Like disclosing that secret mantra that you chanted or that special brand of energy drink you savoured? Just kidding. Seriously though, anything at all?
Haha okay ! All you can do is pray that you pass. Sleep well before exams atleast 5 hours would be fair. Eat well. Not too much at once that would render you drowsy. Eat in breaks it would help you stay awake. Take a break of an hour in the noon if you wish to, so that you can again start afresh .So yeah, all the best guys hope my answers help you to tackle with most of your problems and queries !
INTERVIEWER: RITVIKA GANGRADE