User:Govind Mani Bhatt

JUST 100 MCQS AWAY FROM BEING A DOCTOR-Dr.Bishal Gyawali ,oncologist

So the exam season has begun ! And with it has begun the anxiety among many medical entrance students. Thousands of students from all over the nation have been gathered in Kathmandu after their plus two exams—all with a common aspiration to be a doctor, indeed a very humanitarian as well as a lucrative profession to pursue, not to mention the prestige that it brings alongside. However, most of the students don’t take the medical entrance exams seriously---until the exam dates are announced!!! And when the dates are actually announced---there is a SCENE!! EXACTLY LIKE THIS: OMG, I haven’t studied this. OMG I haven’t studied that. I haven’t even touched these chapters. My plant physiology is all remaining!! I haven’t even heard about semiconductors!!! How to do the numerical of electrochemistry??? And to add injury to insult, just that’s the time when everybody starts taking model questions--- and 100s of new books appear on the market. Poor guy from Pokhara(just for example) who came to Kathmandu 3 months back with high hopes of being a doctor and going back home with triumph during Dashain, now realizes that all his dreams are gradually falling apart!! Now that he is just 100 MCQs away from being a doctor, he realizes that the entrance has come too soon for him to conquer.

That’s where I felt my responsibility to guide my students and here appears this article. This article will try to address those setbacks. The most important thing for you now( assuming your exams are within a month) is not to loose your confidence. Yes, you may not know everything but who said that you need to know everything to succeed in entrance. Even the toppers make 10-12 questions mistake—and getting selected at the bottom is as good as at the top,--so you can afford to make nearly 15 questions wrong and yet be selected. So the first advice from my side is don’t panic. If you don’t heed to my advice, you can panic—but it will do you no good! Don’t lose your morale. Every morning tell yourself that you can do it! Yes, you can. Because all other guys who have been succeeding were exactly like you now, myself included. So the key point is believe in yourself. If you haven’t read any chapters till now, start soon---but study just superficially---yes, that’s right-superficially. If you see this book itself, you will realize that questions demanding in-depth concepts are seldom asked. You are in a do or die situation—so now don’t bother the logics or concepts—just go superficially and try to remember as much information as you can. If you cant grasp sth at this time of study, just mug up unless you have quite easy access to any teachers, in which case you can ask them. But make sure you have at least touched all the chapters---it will drastically increase your confidence level. In order to achieve this, it is advisable to access to such books which are less bulky but provide the complete coverage of the syllabus,--ya, you got it right,--Concise Physics for example.

Ah, I must tell, this time—when exam has already started to knock your door---don’t kill time in stupid things—Of course,I know you wont be going to movies or on a date now, but I include going to medical entrance institutes at the last hour as well in this STUPID category!!!! I find many students, even when exam is just a couple of days away, rushing towards institutes and groaning about the institutes not completing the syllabus. Ya, I know the institutes wont complete your syllabus in time, but forget about it---now is the time for your self study. The more time you study in private, the more likelihood of succeeding in exams. So just stay yourself and study as much as you can. Forget the world for the moment—don’t care who is standing at the top of EPL right now or whether Salman is gonna marry Katrina this year or who the hell(if it had not been for the publication in this book—I would prefer to use much derogatory word here) is going to be the next PM of Nepal---just forget eth and get engrossed in study! But do remember to take proper care of your health and nutrition. You just cant afford to get ill on the day of exam,can you? If you are lucky enough to be with your parents( ah, I was I remember) then it will be a great boost!

When exams are really closer, you find many groups and institutions in the business of conducting model tests. You may take a few of them, lets say 2, but its not necessary to attend each of such tests—and of course they charge you unreasonably high for this, and all those groups say they are from IOM and etc---and you are in love with that word IOM right now---but they have no greater significance than any other model test you have been taking in your institutes! However the results of such tests should be used as an encouragement—irrespective of your marks. If you feel getting low marks in such tests is gonna affect you, avoid such tests. You can have a photocopy of all those tests and practice at home.

The other thing important is, when the exams are just a couple of days away, avoid talking to friends much. I don’t mean switch off your mobile--- you may need encouraging words from your parents, relatives often or may have to discuss how to reach the exam centre together with your friend---but try to keep gossips to a minimum---not even STUDY GOSSIPS. They are surely gonna depress you. You study all day long a chapter and a fellow comes and asks you some rare question from the chapter and you don’t know it and lose your confidence!!! Its pathetic man! Believe in yourself. Don’t pay attention to what Mohan is studying or how much Krishna scored in this model test!! Its of no concern to you!! CONCENTRATE ON YOUR STUDIES,NOT OTHERS. And one more thing, if you believe in GOD, ask for His help---in case he helps, you will be a doctor!!!

Just a day before the exam revise your notes, highlighted points, questions that you frequently make mistake—but don’t panic lot. But as many people advocate, not studying before the exam in order to be COOL---I cant digest that!!!—I think you need to study even upto just 1 hr before the exam---provided you have all other things ready! However don’t wake till late night just the day before exam—of course you don’t wanna sleep in the exam centre, do you? Arrange eth the night before. Parents help is invaluable at this point. Check list: do you know the exam centre? How are you going there—bike/taxi/micro? Eth ready? Pen that writes( keep 2/3 extra pens---just in case)? Pencil? Eraser? Admission card?

On the day of exam, before you leave the house, make sure you have emptied your bowel and bladder and have eth ready. Its better to go to the centre with your parents—because they are a sure source of encouragement and they, unlike frens, wont bother you with absurd MCQs!In the exam hall, make sure you are seated at appropriate place---if some guys ask you to change place, don’t agree—you might fall in serious trouble in case the invigilator knows. Slight discussion with the student next to you is stimes possible in the centre—but its never sure that the guy next to you knows better than you—so NEVER try to re-answer any question you had already attempted just because you saw the next guy ticking some other option!! Its not advisable even to re-correct your own answer later on with your own alternate logic! The first attempted answer is usually correct! In exam paper, surely you will have questions whose answer you aren’t sure of. Don’t panic. Do all questions that you are sure of. Count them. So you will surely get that much marks! For remaining, you divide into questions that you likely know and questions that you don’t know at all. Fortunately, among those likely know, almost all you find to be correct once you check outside after the exam is over. For don’t know at all, make intellectual guess—I know its difficult---you can follow your instincts though—if it just feels like “a” is the answer, its likely that “a” in fact is the correct answer! Also, you can just copy somewhere in admission card in small letters all the options that you ticked for the questions you weren’t sure of! After coming back home, you can check all the answers to all those questions ( I assume when you see the options you ticked, you can remember the question). This way; before the results are out you tentatively know how much you gonna score! Good luck!

Note:-This article is published in the SOLVED QUESTIONS book latest edition published by Samiksha Books.