#dnb cet

Dr. Vinod Kumar M has secured Rank 8, in AIIMS-PG January 2028 session exam. He has done his MBBS from Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli, Karnataka. Interview   Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)? Ans. 2017 Q. What were your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)? Ans. 68.59   Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself? Ans. I…

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Interview of Dr. Manojkumar Gaddikeri: Rank 37 in NEET PG 2017

Dr. Manojkumar B Gaddikeri has secured Rank 37 in NEET PG 2017. He has done his MBBS from KIMS Hubli.

Interview

Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)?

Ans. 2016

Q. What were your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)?

Ans. 67%

Q. What ranks had you secured in any previous PG medical entrance exams you gave?

Ans. JIPMER – rank 56 and last year AIPG 2016  rank 30,700.

Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself? Ans. Have been an average, fun loving student throughout my MBBS . Middle class family, Dad is DC in BMTC Bangalore, mom is a housewife, elder sister Is a gynecologist in Oman, elder brother working in Australia.

Q. What is the secret of your success?

Ans. Blessings, my teachers at Bhatia Bangalore, Hard-work and will to succeed.The transformation from 30,700 ranks last year to 37 ranks this year wasn’t easy.Staying positive n believing in myself helped a lot.

Q. How was your internship?

Ans. Didn’t get time to study in the internship, since a govt college.

Q. When did you seriously start preparing for the entrance exam?

Ans.  8 months back

Q. How many hours did you study each day? How long do you think students need to prepare for cracking PG medical entrance exams?

Ans. I used to count the time I spent in sleep, jog, and basic activities.Rest of the day I studied, roughly around 16-17 hrs.The competition is very tough n have to spend a minimum of 15 hrs a day.

Q. Which books did you read for the theory part?

Ans. I did not read any theory books during preparation.Jus referred std books.There is no for studying theory books.During MBBS few std books like Robbins n rest were all Indian authors.

Q. Which books did you read for the MCQs? Which MCQ books were the most productive and which were least?

Ans. “Most important” are class notes of Bright class Bangalore.my notes from MCQ books like 1) Arvind Arora for Anat, Physio, forensic, ophthal, pediatrics, psychiatry, radio, anesthesia 2) Medicine – Mudit Khanna but now Dr.Thameem Sir’s book 1st edition is abt to come, plz read it. Mudit Khanna has not updated much. 3) surgery – Pritesh Singh, awesome book n must read for NEET and AIIMS especially second half. 4)ortho- Apurv Mehra 5)OBG- Bhojani n few topics from Soumya Shukla. 6) Micro-Apruv Shastry 7)Pathology- Devesh Mishra 8)ENT- Manisha Sinha Buddhiraja 9)Biochem- Rebecca James”

Q. Which subjects did you focus on?

Ans. All subjects are important, cannot neglect any subject.Most important are obviously medicine, surgery, but in NEET exam all subjects are given equal importance. They are the rank deciders.

Q. What were your study methods? How many revisions did you do for each subject? Did you make any changes in your study methods in your recent attempts?

Ans. Don’t study one subject a day; it will reduce your efficiency and interest.Better is to study two subjects a day and 1-2 hrs for solving papers as it will help you to keep in touch with other subjects as well.monthly before Bhatia grand tests I used to start revis ing all my notes 1 wk befr.Never hesitate to tak tests evn if u haven’t studied.

Q. Did you do any special preparation for image-based questions?

Ans. Don’t waste tym in preparing for image based questions,if u knw the theory wel u can answer any image based questions.Patho if possible, during free tym refer Robbin images.Dont waste ur tym in fb discussion grps or any other discussions, it is utter waste of tym.

Q. What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why? How many do you think you got correct?

Ans. Stay calm, relaxed, my jogging n meditation during prep helped me a lot to stay relaxed on exm day.Going to exam with positive attitude is vry impt.attempted 300 questions. got 1217 marks.

Q. Do think there should be a different strategy for preparation of different entrance exams like AIIMS-PG, PGI and DNB CET?

Ans. For AIIMS , JIPMER and rest others answering by ruling out options is very impt.for NEET it is purely the knowledge.solve as many mcq as possible for NEET.

Q. Did you join any classes or test series? Was it useful?

Ans. Bhatia Bangalore.online test series of prepladder and rankjunction.

Q. Who or what influenced you to take up Medicine?

Ans. My interest

Q. In which field do you want to specialize in? Why?

Ans. Orthopedics, mainly trauma.

Q. What seat have you been allotted in counseling? Did you join?

Ans. Counselling hasn’t started yet.

Q. What is your advice to future aspirants?

Ans. There is no shortcut to success, hard work in a smart way is the key.classes played a major role , my teachers at Bhatia Bangalore are responsible for this rank.Always aim high as high as rank 1, since u r not less than anyone.Giv ur best shot.stay consistent.Giv as many practice tests as possible n don’t loose heart if u get less marks in mock tests as eventually u ll start getting good marks.

Q. Indian PG entrances are highly competitive, so to crack them students end up in appearing for multiple PG exams with some of them having the same exam with different slots and papers, please extend your views on this and their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances.

Ans. It is ur same knowledge tested in different manner in diff exams.No spl preparions are needed.Giv as many exams as possible.

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Interview of Dr. Avirup Majumdar: Rank 342 in NEET PG 2017

Dr. Avirup Majumdar has secured Rank 342 in NEET PG 2017 which was held in December 2016. He has also scored rank 342 in AIIMS November PG 2016 and rank 229 in JIPMER PG November 2016. He has done his MBBS from North Bengal Medical College.

Interview

Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)?

Ans. 2015.

Q. What were your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)?

Ans. 69.90%

Q. What ranks had you secured in any previous PG medical entrance exams you gave?

Ans. AIPGMEE 2016 – Rank 4391

Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself? Ans. I have done my MBBS from North Bengal Medical College, Siliguri, West Bengal. I have been a consistent student throughout my MBBS career, secured good ranks in departmental quizzes. I was the Senior Class Assistant (prosector) in Pharmacology. I come from a non-medical family; my father is Retired Insurance Officer, Engineer .my brotEngineer.I used to play Tabla and drawing was my hobby. Im a fun loving guy, love to read good novels, hanging out with friends.

Q. What is the secret of your success?

Ans. In one word “FOCUS” . The most important mantra of my performance was Perseverance . The zeal of securing a good rank and consistently taking it to the end made my ranks possible. I kept almost the same amount of energy throughout my preparatory phase, trust me it is difficult but it is definitely POSSIBLE.

Q. How was your internship?

Ans. Internship in my college was too hectic . In peripheral colleges like ours, there is a lot of workload on Interns and Housestaffs , because of less number PGTs and senior doctors. I could not study during my internship and so didn’t sit for the entrance exams that year.

Q. When did you seriously start preparing for the entrance exam?

Ans.  As mentioned, I didn’t attempt PG during my Internship. I joined Housestaffship last year in Department of Chest Medicine. I started reading from that period but I knew my preparation was not upto the mark as I had difficulty managing my duties and focussed study. I started focussed preparation from April this year.

Q. How many hours did you study each day? How long do you think students need to prepare for cracking PG medical entrance exams?

Ans. I seriously didn’t have any rigid time table. I used to read late at night, early morning studies is not my cup of tea. In the initial phase it used to be around 10 hours approx. Last 2 months it was upto 12 hours maximum.

There should not be any fixed hours of study, its absolutely individualistic. No matter how long it takes , one should cover as he/she is supposed to complete on that day.. It should be target-oriented, not time-oriented.

Q. Which books did you read for the theory part?

Ans. Seriously speaking I had little time to read theory part of all subjects.. I read them very often for references.

Harrison’s Internal Medicine should always be the mother book.

Q. Which books did you read for the MCQs? Which MCQ books were the most productive and which were least?

Ans. Anatomy – Arora Physio, Biochem, FSM – Across Medicine – Mudit Khanna Surgery – Amit Ashis Radio – Sumer Sethi G&O – Sakshi arora Ortho – Apurv Mehra Short subjcts- Across Peds – Taruna Mehra Patho, Pharma – Garg Micro, ENT- Rachna Chaurasia Plus questions of previous years’ AIIMS and AIPG

Q. Which subjects did you focus on?

Ans. All the 19 subjects are important.. but obviously the big ones like Medicine , Surgery, G&O , Patho, Pharma.. Short subjects like FSM, Skin,Psychiatry, Micro, Biochem are equally important and differentiating.

Q. What were your study methods? How many revisions did you do for each subject? Did you make any changes in your study methods in your recent attempts?

Ans. I had no class notes, I used to study on my own from the MCQ books i had. I used to make notes on every useful update I got . DAMS Exclusive Club on Facebook was quite helpful in this regard. Initially I took one subject at a time and finish it completely but later when things would slow down, I made a change..I used to take one subject and when it got slow I shifted to another subject and come back to it later on. With this I improved my speed quite well. I could revise the whole syllabus twice before the final exam.

Q. Did you do any special preparation for image-based questions?

Ans. I attended DAMS DVT classes for images.

Q. What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why? How many do you think you got correct?

Ans. My strategy was to keep my brain calm so that it can perform at its peak level. Good sleep , light breakfast and an empty bladder and rectum are must.I attempted all questions in NEET. Around 220-230 must have been correct.

Q. Do think there should be a different strategy for preparation of different entrance exams like AIIMS-PG, PGI and DNB CET?

Ans. PGI is different. I dont know much about it as I didnt appear for it.. For AIIMS , focus should be on conceptual and image based questions . For NEET and DNB one liners are more frequently asked, images are asked less often in these exams.

Q. Did you join any classes or test series? Was it useful?

Ans. “Yes.. I joined DAMS Online Test Series this year. I attended DVT classes by DAMS. Yes ofcourse, giving regular subject wise tests and grand tests, tracking the marks obtained, pointing out the weak areas and working on it was my core strategy. DAMS DVT classes were also useful specially for images as asked nowadays in AIIMS exams.”

Q. Who or what influenced you to take up Medicine?

Ans. My own choice to become a healer..

Q. In which field do you want to specialize in? Why?

Ans. “General Medicine Because it is the only subject which covers everything, the mother branch of medical sciences. Your thinking domains are limitless in Medicine.Its difficult to describe Medicine in one word..”

Q. What seat have you been allotted in counselling? Did you join?

Ans. Not alloted till now.. Last year I was alloted Diploma in Ophthalmology which I declined.

Q. What is your advice to future aspirants?

Ans. Keep up the flare and hunger inside you. Dont get too uptight, it is not the end of everything.It is necessary to relax a bit, but dont get off the track either. Stay focussed , stay healthy, think positive.. Success is sure to come..

Q. Indian PG entrances are highly competitive, so to crack them students end up in appearing for multiple PG exams with some of them having the same exam with different slots and papers, please extend your views on this and their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances.

Ans. I support single exam NEET wholeheartedly..

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NEET, Exit Test, No DNB: Read How Scrapping of MCI Will Affect Doctors

Most of the readers must have been reading many things about changes in Medical Council of India (MCI), conduction of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), National Exit Test (NEXT) and much other news.

We doctors have been hearing and knowing about Medical Council of India (MCI) since many years but now this is changing. MCI as per IMC Act, 1956 is going to be replaced with the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2016 as soon as the draft rules are confirmed by the parliament of India.

I am dividing this article into 3 parts, in 1st part I will describe in short the changes which are going to happen because of replacement of MCI with NMC, in 2nd part I will describe these changes in much more details for interested readers and in 3rd part I will be writing some comments by myself which are going to affect all the medical students and doctors in India.

Short description of changes in National Medical Commission (NMC)

MCI and all its functions will be replaced by the same by National Medical Commission (NMC). So MCI will be no more after this act comes into effect.

All India Postgraduate Medical Entrance Exam (AIPGMEE) will be replaced with National Eligibility Cum entrance  Test (NEET) for admission into both undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) Medical courses.

There will be a National Exit Test (NEXT) also known as a Common Licentiate Examination, which UG medical students have to pass to get themselves registered in National Medical Register or State Medical Register and thus practice. So without passing the exit test, no students passing out after the introduction of this act will be able to practice in India.

Common Licentiate Exam will come into effect within 3 years of the passing of this NMC Act.

Common Licentiate Examination will also serve as NEET for PG medical admission.

National Board of Examinations (NBE) will be merged into NMC. So even NBE will not exist after this act comes into effect.

MD/MS by MCI and Diplomate National Board (DNB) by the National Board of Examination (NBE) will be merged into a single course.

No more MCI inspection for Medical college and courses recognition. If a medical college fails to meet the minimum standards, a fine can be levied on it and it will be allowed to explain the reasons. If a college is derecognized it will be asked to maintain the facilities till the last admitted batch of students passes out.

Currently, only not-for-profit organisations are allowed to set up medical colleges but this act will allow for-profit organisations as well to establish medical colleges.

Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) will oversee UG medical courses

Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) will oversee PG and super speciality medical courses

Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) will oversee assessment and rating of medical education institutions. So students will be able to see the rating of medical colleges before admission to see the quality of education in the same.

Board for Medical Registration (BMR) will be Maintaining the National Register (NR). Any person having a foreign medical degree will not be able to practice in India i.e. will not have their names registered in NR unless they qualify National Licentiate Examination.

All students studying degree, diploma or certificate course before the NMC act coming into effect, can continue the same courses and institutions have to maintain the standards and conduct the examinations as per the standards before the act comes into effect.

Detailed description of changes in National Medical Commission (NMC)

Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act came into effect in 1956. After which it has been amended multiple times by central governments for a variety of reasons. Recent ones being due to allegations of corruption by MCI officials in allowing medical colleges to function and recognition of medical courses. Ordinances included Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010 for one year with a newly constituted Board of Governors (BoG) taking over the functions of the MCI. IMC (Amendment) Act, 2010 for reconstituted of MCI within three years which was again amended in 2012 and 2013. IMC (Amendment) Second Ordinance 2013, led to the reconstitution of the MCI while also allowing the latter to continue the work done by the BoG.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare submitted Report 92 to the Rajya Sabha on 8th March 2016 after detailed discussions, wide consultations with various stakeholders and review of published articles and written submissions by experts, it. The report offers a critical assessment of medical education in India and offers recommendations for reforming it. “The Committee observes that the Medical Council of India as the regulator of medical education in the country has repeatedly failed on all its mandates over the decades”. It mentions the failure of MCI like failure to create curriculum, maintain a uniform standard, devaluation of merit in admission, no transparent system and a heavy focus on infrastructure and human staff during MCI inspections but no substantial evaluation of the quality of teaching, training and imparting of skills.

Recommendation were made by expert committee led by (late) Prof. Ranjit Roy Chaudhury which asked for creation of NMC and four verticals like (i) UG Board of Medical Education and Training, (ii) PG Board of Medical Education and Training (iii) National Assessment and Accreditation Board and (iv) National Board for Medical Registration. Also, Hon’ble Supreme Court has reinforced the sentiment expressed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee Report in the Judgement dated 2nd May 2016 in the Civil Appeal No. 4060 of 2009.

Details of changes recommended by the committee are as follows:

The National Medical Commission (NMC) will be the policy-making body for medical education and shall comprise a Chairperson, nine ex-officio Members and ten part-time members.

There will be a creation of four mutually independent and autonomous Boards whose activities will be coordinated through the NMC. Each board will have a separate president.

NMC will be supported by a professionally equipped permanent Secretariat.

Statutory basis for conducting a common entrance examination for admissions to undergraduate and post-graduate courses in Medical institutions will be provided so that there will be a transparent admissions process based on merit rather than the ability to pay capitation fee. There will be an all-India National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into UG and PG medical courses.

Statutory basis will be provided for a Common Licentiate Examination for practice by medical professionals after completion of the undergraduate medical degree. Central Government may also prescribe skill tests as necessary, as part of Licentiate examinations to ensure medical professionals have appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes for providing health care as per societal needs.

Passing the Common Licentiate Exam will be mandatory to get a license to practice in India and for registration of the doctor in the Indian medical register. This examination will also serve as the NEET for admission to the PG courses in Medical Educational Institutions.

Common Licentiate Exam will come into effect within 3 years of the passing of this NMC Act and it would ensure common standards of knowledge and skills for Doctors on a Nationwide basis.

Committee also deliberated on enabling statutory provision of a similar licentiate examination in the PG and other Super-Speciality Courses but did not recommend the same for reasons like diversity of courses and in the practices across states, as PG and super-specialty doctors have already appeared for NEET or Common Licentiate Exam their quality is ensured and as NBE is merged with Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) it can could continue conducting the system of voluntary examinations with those institutions/ candidates who are willing to voluntarily take part in such a process.

Committee also discussed on adding an additional enabling provision of voluntary recertification/ renewal of license exam once every ten years which is done in many countries but it concluded that it is desirable but this is not the right time for such radical step.

NMC should not engage in fee regulation of Private Colleges as there is already a merit-based admission process via NEET and NMC may be empowered to fix norms for regulating fees for a proportion of seats (not exceeding 40% of the total seats) in private medical colleges.

Currently, only not-for-profit organisations are allowed to set up medical colleges but this act will allow for-profit organisations as well to establish medical colleges.

Enough time will be given for transition from MCI into NMC.

Once the NMC bill becomes an act, rules will be notified for the same.

Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) for undergraduate courses and Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) for postgraduate and super speciality courses will oversee medical education, competency-based dynamic curriculum (including assessment), prescribe guidelines for setting up medical institutions, prescribe guidelines for medical courses, infrastructure, faculty and quality of education, development/training for the faculty, facilitate research and for compulsory annual disclosure, electronically and otherwise, by medical institutions in all aspects related to their functioning.

Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) will do Assessment and Rating of Medical Educational Institutions as per the standards laid down by the UGMEB or PGMEB, hire credible third party agencies or to appoint such visitors and personnel as it may consider necessary to carry out inspections of the Medical Educational Institutions and  levy penalties on institutions for not meeting the minimum standards. The penalty will only be levied after giving a reasonable opportunity to institutions for explaining the reasons failures. Even after this if Medical Educational Institution fails to take the necessary corrective actions after three monetary penalties, MARB shall recommend to the NMC to initiate proceedings for derecognizing the degree/ degrees awarded by the Institution as per the procedure prescribed in section 36.

No medical college can be established without permission of MARB. The board will take 6 months to accept or reject the request of setting up a medical college and if not done institution is free to make a second appeal to the Government in case no decision is received within one year from the date of his submission or the scheme is disapproved.

The MARB or the Commission or the Government should approve or disapprove medical college set up request after looking into the financial resource of the institution, adequacy of academic faculty and hospital facilities.

Board for Medical Registration (BMR) will be Maintaining the National Register (NR) will which will contain the name, address, date of birth, Aadhaar ID of and all qualifications recognised by UGMEB and PGMEB possessed by the licensed practitioner. National Register and State Medical register will be in sync. If the name of a doctor is removed from state medical register, they can appeal in front of BMR for the same.

A person who is a citizen of India and obtains medical qualification granted by any medical institution in any country outside India recognised as medical practitioner in that country after such date as may be specified, shall not be entitled to be enrolled in the National Register unless he qualifies the National Licentiate Examination and such foreign medical qualification after such person qualifies the National Licentiate Examination shall be deemed to be recognised medical qualification for the purposes of this Act for that person.

A person who is a citizen of India and obtains medical qualification by medical institution outside India recognised as medical practitioner in that country after such date as may be specified, shall not be entitled to be enrolled in the National Register unless he qualifies the National Licentiate Examination and such foreign medical qualification after such person qualifies the National Licentiate Examination shall be deemed to be recognised medical qualification for the purposes of this Act for that person.

If the name of a person is not there in NR, they will not be allowed to practice medicine or testify in the court of law as a medical expert.

Schedule I, II, III and IV of the IMC Act, 1956 shall be incorporated automatically in Schedule I, II, III and IV of NMC Act.

All the medical institutions will have to maintain a website and display all the information as per NMC.

“Any student of medical institution who, immediately before the commencement of this Act was studying for a degree, diploma or certificate in any such institution shall continue and complete his course for that degree, diploma or certificate, as the case may be, and such institutions shall provide for the instruction and examination for such student in accordance with syllabus and studies as existed before commencement of this Act and shall be deemed to have completed his course of study and awarded degree, diploma, as the case may be, under this Act.”

“The medical institution in the lapse of its recognition whether by efflux of time or by its voluntary surrender or for any other reason whatsoever shall continue to maintain and provide the minimum standards approved by the Commission until such time that all the candidates are able to complete their study in such institutions.”

All the assets and liabilities of the Indian Medical Council will be transferred to the National Medical Commission.

Educational standards, requirements and other provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and the rules and regulations made thereunder will continue to be in force and operate till new standards are specified under NMC Act or the rules and regulations made.

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) will be merged with the PGMEB. Also, all such courses and the qualifications by the NBE shall be subsumed and added as the courses conducted by and qualifications awarded by the PGMEB and any reference to the existing National Board of Examinations in any law or rule or contract other than this Act shall be deemed as a reference to PGMEB after NMC act comes into effect.

If NMC fails or neglects to comply with any order within the specified period, the Central Government may make the regulations or amend or revoke the regulations made by the Commission, as the case may be, in such manner as the Central Government thinks fit.

NMC will be funded by the National Medical Commission Fund by the central government and will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG).

If any difficulties arise due to NMC act, the central government may provide order to remove such difficulties.

Comments by the Author

It is a good initiative by the government to conduct NEET so that merit plays an important role in medical admission and students who come from the wealthy background will not get admission into the medical colleges.

Common Licentiate Exam is being opposed by many students and doctors in social media but this exam will ensure that only good quality doctors pass out of the medical colleges and thus reducing the risk to the life of the patients.

As Common Licentiate Exam will also serve as NEET, students do not have to wait for years studying for PG medical exams and many precious years of young doctors of India will be saved.

Common Licentiate Exam is similar to USMLE in The United States and will have to be cleared by the foreign medical degree holders which is a good news.

As there will be no more MCI inspections, the issue of recognition of medical degrees will no longer be an issue and students can safely take up medical course of their liking

NEET, Common Licentiate Exam and MCI inspection removal will significantly reduce corruption in medical colleges which is good for students, doctors and the country.

Although Common Licentiate Examination is in line with USMLE of USA, there should be Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) to test the ability of the students. Also, OSCE has less scope for subjectivity as a candidate faces multiple examiners in one exam. Thus bias of the examiners towards the students is minimised.

Readers can comment below and share their opinion these drastic reforms of medical education in India. Also, readers can submit their suggestions to NITI Aayog (Government of India) as done by (Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, Dr.Siva Reddy, Dr.Praveen) Foundation for Democratic Reforms – LOKSATTA, comments can be found here.

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Interview of Dr. Prateek Joshi: Rank 51 in MH PGM CET 2016

Dr. Prateek Joshi has secured Rank 51 in Maharashtra PGM CET 2016. He has done his MBBS from B. J. Govt. Medical College, Pune.

Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)?

ANS: I finished my internship in April 2015.

Q. What was your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)?

ANS: I scored exactly 70% in the final year, maintaining an average of 68.4% throughout MBBS.

Q. What ranks had you secured in any previous PG medical entrance exams you gave?

ANS: I scored SML 51 in the MHPG entrance of January 2016. Before this, I have appeared for the mid-year DNB entrance exam held in July 2015, and secured an All India Rank 290. However, I should state here that I was always more comfortable with the MHPG question pattern and, therefore, had studied more along the lines of MHPG throughout the year.

Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself?

ANS.: I passed out of the ICSE-affiliated St. Mary’s School in Pune in 2007 with 95.4%. After clearing my Std. 12th exam I secured a rank 300 in the MHCET in the first attempt itself and joined B. J. Govt. Medical College, Pune in 2009.

I held the post of Academic Secretary of the Students’ Council of our College from 2011-12. My father Dr. Charuchandra Joshi (M.S. Gynae.) and mother Dr. Madhavi have always supported and helped me throughout the course of my education and whatever I am today is due to them.

Q. What is the secret of your success?

ANS: As the Kung Fu Panda would put it, “There is no secret ingredient!”

It’s all about starting out towards your goal believing that you are capable and picturing yourself on the top of the world having achieved your goal. And once you have that picture fixed in your mind you need no more motivation. It’s pure hard work from there onwards.

Q. How was your internship?

ANS: Sassoon General Hospitals being one of the largest tertiary care centers in western Maharashtra has a massive patient load, and internship is fairly heavy. But the flipside is that learning opportunities are abundant and with the advent of the case based, image based questions and questions asking for details regarding commonly used hospital equipment, the time spent in the hospital can be used intelligently to observe these details.

Q. When did you seriously start preparing for the entrance exam?

ANS: I started as soon as my internship got over which was around the last week of April 2015.

Q. How many hours did you study each day? How long do you think students need to prepare for cracking PG medical entrance exams?

ANS: Approximately 8 to 10 hours of quality work each day. Most normal people (myself included) cannot put in 100% efficiency for more than an hour or two at a stretch and so counting unavoidable distractions and regular breaks the total study time is approximately 12 hours per day. Also, the “per day” part is of utmost importance because consistency and continuity are the crux to prepare for any PGME exam.

Q. Which books did you read for the theory part?

ANS.: I had referred to Harrison, Bailey & Love and KDT for the respective subjects during my undergraduate course. In the internship and post-intern phase, however, these “Bible” books are time-consuming and, therefore, should be used only for reference purposes or for a small topic-based study where standard MCQ books do not suffice. However, it is advisable to study the pictures from the standard textbooks for image-based questions.

Q. Which books did you read for MCQs revision? Which revision books were the most

productive and which were least?

ANS.: I used standard Arvind Arora and other revision books for MCQ practice. Also, for the MHPG, I referred to the past papers in Dr. Daga’s book to analyze which topics are trending. It is always better to revise topic-wise rather than taking on an entire subject at a time.

Q. Which subjects did you focus on?

ANS.: I focused on short subjects viz. Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, FMT, ENT, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Anaesthesia and Orthopedics. What is common to all these areas is that most of us can write prof exam-pattern answers in these subjects but are weak at them when it comes to pinpoint information based MCQs, and thus, we end up losing marks in these subjects. The remaining subjects are related to each other for example Pathology and Surgery or Pharmacology, Medicine and Pediatrics, and so they can be studied together along a continuum to avoid duplication of efforts.

Q. What were your study methods? How many revisions did you do for each subject? Did you make any changes in your study methods in your recent attempts?

ANS.: Topic-based revision is the key. I made the coaching notes of DAMS as the basic unit of my revision, and as and when I found extra points, I would add them to the notebook. At least, 4 to 5 full revisions are a necessity before the exam.

Q. Did you do any special preparation for image-based questions?

ANS.: I followed the Facebook pages of DAMS and other groups where image-based discussions are held. However knowing that the MHPG does not have visual questions I did not lay too much emphasis on images.

Q. What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why? How many do you think you got correct?

ANS.: The MHPG does not have a negative marking scheme so one must attempt all 300 questions. I got 245 correct out of 300.

Q. Do think there should be a different strategy for preparation of different entrance exams like AIIMS-PG or PGI?

ANS.: Yes, each entrance exam has a different question format and, therefore, a different strategy must be followed.

Q. Did you join any classes or test series? Was it useful?

ANS: I had joined DAMS regular batch coaching in my post-internship attempt. But especially for the MH PGM CET, I joined Dr. Bipin Daga’s test series which was very useful. The number of direct repeat questions varies each year, but questions are always framed from the same or similar topics, and those tests give a very clear idea of which topics to concentrate on which proved very useful to me in the MHPG.

Q. Who or what influenced you to take up Medicine?

ANS.: I come from a family of medical professionals. I happen to be the fourth successive generation to go to B. J. Govt. Medical College so I have been interested in the medical field from an early age.

Q. In which field do you want to specialize in? Why?

ANS.: I would like to specialize in Orthopedics or Surgery as they are the branches of my interest.

Q. What seat have you been allotted in counseling? Did you join?

ANS.: The counseling rounds are yet to begin.

Q. What is your advice to future aspirants?

ANS.: Well study strategies and overall planning is most effective when personalized as per the individual. That being said, there are some general principles I learned while preparing which I would like to share below.

1. Studying all night without sleeping (pulling an all-nighter) is overrated and counterproductive. Disrupting the circadian rhythm is likely to do more harm than good even if you are used to staying up late (and more so if you aren’t).

2. As far as possible please try to maintain a simple diet at regular intervals and adequate hydration.

3. While making a timetable, it is always wiser to plan for short intervals (say a week) after which one should take a review of what was planned versus what was achieved before planning for the next time span. Longer timetables (of multiple weeks or months at a time) are likely to fail or fall slack.

4. Though it is advisable to give plenty of tests to assess your performance in terms of scores and ranks, it is wise to remember that “fluctuations are the rule” and that not even the topper of any exam has a great score to begin with, nor a continuous high rank. The marks or ranks, good or bad, need not affect your morale. (That’s why they are called MOCK tests and not the real thing.)

5. Cost/benefits analysis (in terms of time spent versus the gain expected) should be the deciding criterion for any decision made during the prep period.

Q. Indian PG entrances are highly competitive, so to crack them students end up in appearing for multiple PG exams with some of them having the same exam with different slots and papers, please extend your views on this and their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances.

ANS.: The decision to appear for multiple PG entrances should be made based on the time spent in appearing versus the likely gains in terms of experience or the possibility of getting a seat. It differs for each candidate. For example, I did not give any central institute exams like AIIMS or JIPMER because it involved travel to another city and I was not aiming for those institutes anyway. As far as the entrance exams with multiple slots and multiple paper sets are concerned, I have always opined that the system is absolutely unreliable and unpredictable. Although the “Itemized Response Theory” marking system is used in other exams such as the GATE or the likes, it succeeds in those settings simply because it is possible to objectively analyze the difficulty level of a sum or numerical problem but it is impossible to gauge the difficulty level of a medical fact; and getting a vague idea of the difficulty level as an inverse relation of the number of people answering the question is simply too inaccurate to judge the relative merit of over a lakh aspirants.I thank the admins at www.desimedicos.com for conducting this interview.

I thank the admins at www.desimedicos.com for conducting this interview.

New Post has been published on http://desimedicos.com/interview-with-dr-devasheesh-kamra-rank-23-in-aiims-pg-january-2016/

Interview with Dr. Devasheesh Kamra: Rank 23 in AIIMS PG January 2016

Dr. Devasheesh Kamra has secured Rank 23 in AIIMS PG January 2016 session exam. He has done his MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi.

Interview

Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)?

Ans. 2014.

Q. What were your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)?

Ans. 62.32%

Q. What ranks had you secured in any previous PG medical entrance exams you gave?

Ans. In May 2015, I got AIIMS rank 240, PGIMER rank 173, JIPMER rank 48 and DNBCET rank 49.

  Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself?

  Ans. I am Devasheesh.I have done MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College. My Dad is Retd Associate Professor.My mom is housewife.I consider myself as an ordinary curious student who is willing to work.My biggest achievement what i consider is being a part of MAMC which led me to shape my dreams.

Q. What is the secret of your success?

Ans. I got the things planned in a correct way and with reasonable hard work I was able to achieve things. Every day in this year of preparation was allotted to some subject. When the results were not up to the mark, motivation by my dad kept me going. The role which he played for this entrance was tremendous. My mom also gave me a lot of support. I learned from mistakes and tried to improve everytime. Evaluation is a key to improvement. DAMS All India Test Series helped me to correct my shortcomings. I had joined IAMS Foundation Course during my final year that build my basic concepts. After facing failures I still kept going.Life is like a game of boxing , defeat is not declared when you are down, the defeat is declared when you refuse to get up.

Q. How was your internship?

Ans. My internship was considered in general very busy and hectic by many students.I was also of the same opinion. I gave up and thought i would prepare for PG Entrance after internship. But results came and taught me a lesson. My batch was the biggest role model for me to start working then. As it is said when you accept your defeat , it becomes inevitable.

Q. When did you seriously start preparing for the entrance exam?

Ans. December of internship (2014)

Q. How many hours did you study each day? How long do you think students need to prepare for cracking PG medical entrance exams?

Ans. As I was in home with full day with me, I studies 8-9 hrs everyday and sometimes 10 or 11 but this is a subjective thing and varies from person to person. I focussed on completing my short targets on day to day basis. The bigger targets were then automatically achieved.

Q. Which books did you read for the theory part?

Ans. During the MBBS, I read theory books and stressed on standard texts but unfortunately I missed a few good books. Anatomy – BD Chaurasia and Grays for Students, physiology – Ganong, Guyton and Dr AK Jain (selected topics from each), Biochemistry – Harper, Pathology – Robbins, Pharmacology – KDT, Microbiology – Dr CP Baveja, Forensic – Reddy, ENT – Dhingra, Ophthalmology – Khurana, PSM- Park, Medicine – Harrison, Surgery – Bailey and Love, Paediatrics- Ghai, Gynaecology – Shaws, Obstetrics – Dutta and Orthopedics – Maheshwari.

Q. Which books did you read for MCQs revision? Which revision books were the most productive and which were least?

Ans. During the final preparation I went only for mcq books Anatomy plus Forensic medicine – Arvind Arora Biochemistry plus Physiology – Arvind Arora Pathology – Gobind Rai Garg Pharmacology – Gobind Rai Garg Microbiology – Rachna Chaurasia PSM – Vivek Jain ENT – IAMS notes Ophthalmology – Ruchi Rai Medicine – Mudit Khanna and DAMS Harrison Based Notebook Surgery – Amit Ashish Paediatrics – Arvind Arora Gynaecology and Obstetrics – Bhujani Anaesthesia – IAMS Notes Orthopedics – Apurv Mehra Psychiatry – Across and IAMS notes Dermatology – Across The most productive books were – 1) Ortho because of having many diagrams and photos. 2) Pharmacology and Pathology having many mnemonics and adequate coverage of recently asked topics. 3) Forensic Medicine 4) IAMS Notes of Psychiatry, ENT and Anaesthesia were crisp and easy to revise

Q. Which subjects did you focus on?

Ans. I gave equal weightage to every subject just that Medicine and Surgery I was not able to revise completely.

Q. What were your study methods? How many revisions did you do for each subject? Did you make any changes in your study methods in your recent attempts?

Ans. I prepared a plan for 1 month, allocated different subjects the required number of days. I focussed on achieving daily targets. I made 2 -3 revisions. My plan remained the same I my results were getting better.

Q. Did you do any special preparation for image-based questions?

Ans. Image based Questions test your concept based approach and if you had read standard texts during MBBS, you dont need to worry about them. I did not do any special preparation for it. While reading MCQ books I was in a habbit for online searching topics from standard sites like Medscape. They help you build concepts, the more you build your concepts lesser the things will be left you actually have to memorize..

Q. What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why? How many do you think you got correct?

Ans. During May AIIMS 2015, I got 240 rank. Although this might be considered good by many, but you dont practically get anything. So I changed my approach from a Safe Approach to a Risk Taking Approach.. This time I attempted 195 questions. As there was no reliable key available to confirm answers , I did not evaluate how many i got right, might be around 150…just a wild guess.

Q. Do think there should be a different strategy for preparation of different entrance exams like AIIMS-PG or PGI?

Ans. My strategy was to focus on NEET (As AIIMS has a low success rate). Except for the AIIMS previous years which we read for AIIMS ,there is no difference in preparation in any exams.A lso the trends are changing to lesser number of repeat questions and more Image based questions. A planned approach focussing on conceptualising things would be more fruitful. Revision is a key, without revising you can never expect much.

Q. Did you join any classes or test series? Was it useful?

Ans. I joined IAMS Foundation Course in 2013, DBMCI Test and Discussion 2014 and DAMS test Series 2015. They do played a role ,but thinking that just by joining these prestigious institutes your admission is guaranteed, this wont work. Actually the game begins after joining ;you know the position of peers.B ut the ultimate thing that is going to benefit you is hardwork and motivation.

Q. Who or what influenced you to take up Medicine?

Ans. My dad influenced me to take Medicine. He taught Biology to crack PMT to many students. I am proud to say that I am his favourite student.

Q. In which field do you want to specialize in? why?

Ans. Its yet to be decided.

Q. What seat have you been allotted in counselling? Did you join?

Ans. I got good ranks in May PGIMER and JIPMER but i did not go for the counselling as I knew I wont get much.

Q. What is your advice to future aspirants?

Ans. “If you can dream it ,you can do it.” ~Walt Disney Dont lose hope, if you do it you are bound to lose.

Q. Indian PG entrances are highly competitive, so to crack them students end up in appearing for multiple PG exams with some of them having same exam with different slots and papers , please extend your views on this and their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances.

Ans. I will take the side of appearing in multiple PG examination till you get what you have dreamt. During this whole journey, I realised a few things. In the beginning I was doing a lot of silly mistakes and easy fails. After giving my exams my approach towards reading books also evolved and I gained more and more confidence. Giving exams is the best form of evaluation which not even the best of institutes can give. It helps in correcting and building your strategies for the future.

New Post has been published on http://desimedicos.com/interview-with-dr-devasheesh-kamra-rank-23-in-aiims-pg-may-2015/

Interview with Dr. Devasheesh Kamra: Rank 23 in AIIMS PG May 2015

Dr. Devasheesh Kamra has secured Rank 23 in AIIMS PG May 2015 session exam. He has done his MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), New Delhi.

Interview

Q. In what year did you pass out your MBBS (Completion of Internship)?

Ans. 2014.

Q. What were your MBBS percentage marks (aggregate or final year)?

Ans. 62.32%

Q. What ranks had you secured in any previous PG medical entrance exams you gave?

Ans. In May 2015, I got AIIMS rank 240, PGIMER rank 173, JIPMER rank 48 and DNBCET rank 49.

  Q. Could you please tell us something about yourself?

  Ans. I am Devasheesh.I have done MBBS from Maulana Azad Medical College. My Dad is Retd Associate Professor.My mom is housewife.I consider myself as an ordinary curious student who is willing to work.My biggest achievement what i consider is being a part of MAMC which led me to shape my dreams.

Q. What is the secret of your success?

Ans. I got the things planned in a correct way and with reasonable hard work I was able to achieve things. Every day in this year of preparation was allotted to some subject. When the results were not up to the mark, motivation by my dad kept me going. The role which he played for this entrance was tremendous. My mom also gave me a lot of support. I learned from mistakes and tried to improve everytime. Evaluation is a key to improvement. DAMS All India Test Series helped me to correct my shortcomings. I had joined IAMS Foundation Course during my final year that build my basic concepts. After facing failures I still kept going.Life is like a game of boxing , defeat is not declared when you are down, the defeat is declared when you refuse to get up.

Q. How was your internship?

Ans. My internship was considered in general very busy and hectic by many students.I was also of the same opinion. I gave up and thought i would prepare for PG Entrance after internship. But results came and taught me a lesson. My batch was the biggest role model for me to start working then. As it is said when you accept your defeat , it becomes inevitable.

Q. When did you seriously start preparing for the entrance exam?

Ans. December of internship (2014)

Q. How many hours did you study each day? How long do you think students need to prepare for cracking PG medical entrance exams?

Ans. As I was in home with full day with me, I studies 8-9 hrs everyday and sometimes 10 or 11 but this is a subjective thing and varies from person to person. I focussed on completing my short targets on day to day basis. The bigger targets were then automatically achieved.

Q. Which books did you read for the theory part?

Ans. During the MBBS, I read theory books and stressed on standard texts but unfortunately I missed a few good books. Anatomy – BD Chaurasia and Grays for Students, physiology – Ganong, Guyton and Dr AK Jain (selected topics from each), Biochemistry – Harper, Pathology – Robbins, Pharmacology – KDT, Microbiology – Dr CP Baveja, Forensic – Reddy, ENT – Dhingra, Ophthalmology – Khurana, PSM- Park, Medicine – Harrison, Surgery – Bailey and Love, Paediatrics- Ghai, Gynaecology – Shaws, Obstetrics – Dutta and Orthopedics – Maheshwari.

Q. Which books did you read for MCQs revision? Which revision books were the most productive and which were least?

Ans. During the final preparation I went only for mcq books Anatomy plus Forensic medicine – Arvind Arora Biochemistry plus Physiology – Arvind Arora Pathology – Gobind Rai Garg Pharmacology – Gobind Rai Garg Microbiology – Rachna Chaurasia PSM – Vivek Jain ENT – IAMS notes Ophthalmology – Ruchi Rai Medicine – Mudit Khanna and DAMS Harrison Based Notebook Surgery – Amit Ashish Paediatrics – Arvind Arora Gynaecology and Obstetrics – Bhujani Anaesthesia – IAMS Notes Orthopedics – Apurv Mehra Psychiatry – Across and IAMS notes Dermatology – Across The most productive books were – 1) Ortho because of having many diagrams and photos. 2) Pharmacology and Pathology having many mnemonics and adequate coverage of recently asked topics. 3) Forensic Medicine 4) IAMS Notes of Psychiatry, ENT and Anaesthesia were crisp and easy to revise

Q. Which subjects did you focus on?

Ans. I gave equal weightage to every subject just that Medicine and Surgery I was not able to revise completely.

Q. What were your study methods? How many revisions did you do for each subject? Did you make any changes in your study methods in your recent attempts?

Ans. I prepared a plan for 1 month, allocated different subjects the required number of days. I focussed on achieving daily targets. I made 2 -3 revisions. My plan remained the same I my results were getting better.

Q. Did you do any special preparation for image-based questions?

Ans. Image based Questions test your concept based approach and if you had read standard texts during MBBS, you dont need to worry about them. I did not do any special preparation for it. While reading MCQ books I was in a habbit for online searching topics from standard sites like Medscape. They help you build concepts, the more you build your concepts lesser the things will be left you actually have to memorize..

Q. What was your strategy for the exam day? How many questions did you attempt and why? How many do you think you got correct?

Ans. During May AIIMS 2015, I got 240 rank. Although this might be considered good by many, but you dont practically get anything. So I changed my approach from a Safe Approach to a Risk Taking Approach.. This time I attempted 195 questions. As there was no reliable key available to confirm answers , I did not evaluate how many i got right, might be around 150…just a wild guess.

Q. Do think there should be a different strategy for preparation of different entrance exams like AIIMS-PG or PGI?

Ans. My strategy was to focus on NEET (As AIIMS has a low success rate). Except for the AIIMS previous years which we read for AIIMS ,there is no difference in preparation in any exams.A lso the trends are changing to lesser number of repeat questions and more Image based questions. A planned approach focussing on conceptualising things would be more fruitful. Revision is a key, without revising you can never expect much.

Q. Did you join any classes or test series? Was it useful?

Ans. I joined IAMS Foundation Course in 2013, DBMCI Test and Discussion 2014 and DAMS test Series 2015. They do played a role ,but thinking that just by joining these prestigious institutes your admission is guaranteed, this wont work. Actually the game begins after joining ;you know the position of peers.B ut the ultimate thing that is going to benefit you is hardwork and motivation.

Q. Who or what influenced you to take up Medicine?

Ans. My dad influenced me to take Medicine. He taught Biology to crack PMT to many students. I am proud to say that I am his favourite student.

Q. In which field do you want to specialize in? why?

Ans. Its yet to be decided.

Q. What seat have you been allotted in counselling? Did you join?

Ans. I got good ranks in May PGIMER and JIPMER but i did not go for the counselling as I knew I wont get much.

Q. What is your advice to future aspirants?

Ans. “If you can dream it ,you can do it.” ~Walt Disney Dont lose hope, if you do it you are bound to lose.

Q. Indian PG entrances are highly competitive, so to crack them students end up in appearing for multiple PG exams with some of them having same exam with different slots and papers , please extend your views on this and their pros and cons of appearing in multiple PG entrances.

Ans. I will take the side of appearing in multiple PG examination till you get what you have dreamt. During this whole journey, I realised a few things. In the beginning I was doing a lot of silly mistakes and easy fails. After giving my exams my approach towards reading books also evolved and I gained more and more confidence. Giving exams is the best form of evaluation which not even the best of institutes can give. It helps in correcting and building your strategies for the future.