Hi guys,
The following is an effort to provide a true insight, about preparation to Ace-MCI!...
Its been hardly 2 weeks, when I , like you was rattling here and there, trying to fetch some valuable information, on how does MCI go? What is to be studied, how much and what is to be omitted? But after appearing in MCI, I feel, I got a broader picture, on what is it about..and to an extent its wrongly framed by most of us..and we don’t actually perceive it and prepare the way we should have had..

I will try to answer most of questions, which popped even 2 me few weeks earlier.


Few Myths n Facts - MCI is a PG level exam and no more a screening test..
Well, I will disagree. Its not so…
See,
One needs to understand the structure of the question bank.
There is a chunk of questions..i wud say 10-15 which r simply stupid…one wud realize, they r not even worth asking in a national level exam..few of which even a 12th bio student can answer..
Next , there gonna be 50-70 very easy questions, which if one has studied during his graduation and brushed up in last 2-3 months –they wud find them easy goin..
Next is the biggest chunk of moderate questions..This forms our Fate..
Here it depends, if you are thorough with the theory, you can tackle most of them, while, if you are not thorough in a particular subject you will find this part difficult..
Last is again a chunk, I wud say, depends on student to student, of about 30-50 questions which are purely alien…where just a blind guess has to be made.
One thing has to be understood that we are not computers, and we cant feed each and every statement from 5 reference books in each subject…we are simple human beings having a modest capacity to reproduce on D day…so Honestly, one need not be worried of such Alien Questions..just follow your insight and give luck a chance for this chunk.
What one needs to be focused is the rest 250 questions..

Remember,

If while answering, you feel, you are confident of 4 out of 10 questions, you are Thru the exam!

Again,
The mistake I, my colleagues nd infact most of us do is the wrong calculation…
While revising PSM, Opthal, pharmacy , medicine, OG we used to calculate..that we are covering 35 + 35 + 25 + 40 + 20 = 155 Questions straight away…
Lols that was a wrong approach.
We never thot abt Alien Questions !!...
See, Practically, one must acertain, that he wont know, head or tail of about 50 questions..so the Game lies in covering 150 out of 250…rather than the apparent 150/300!
If you are supergenius, and you don’t encounter alien questions – u r lucky..but this is for modest students like me.!:)
Only if you cover 19subjects in all, the game remains getting 150/250..which, believe me, is not that difficult, provided you know, the Key to it.

Another Big Big mistake most of students do is – Omitting subjects like Ent, Radio, Psych, FM…ortho..
From Day1, whatever your condition be, never never plan to leave a single subject!..
Because, guys, as the days wud pass, especially, in last week, one always gets behind his/her schedule, and plans to leave 1-2 subjects….
This wud be the case always, for most.
So if initially one plans to leave 2 subjects, he ends up leaving 3-4!...
Small subjects work like Shock Absorbers…



For example, one plans to do all major subjects like, Anat, patho, biochem etc etc leaving ent, radio, pysch, fm…
What if one finds absurd questions from Carbohydrates of biochem, which one doesn’t even know!...he runs out of his expected Count..
From subjects, we were sure enuf, there is always a possibility, that u may find difficult questions…
In such conditions, if you are insured/insulated by having done tiny subjects…you win the game…
For example, doing FM almost gurantees 2-3 questions, one ques from Schizophrenia is always asked…2-3 Radiological signs r mostly asksed…
So..even from these tiny subjects, the precious 8-10 questions can be decisive and take us from 144 to 152!!!

Yes, the bigger subjects carry more importance, but in an MCQ exam like this, one needs to play smartly…Our goal remains same – get past 150..and the tiny subjects gives us the last push… So never plan to leave them…!


Again..a very very big misnomer among students…that doing theory is not important, one must be thorough thru MCQs….they boast, saying…I have completed Mudit khanna and Sharad Chandra..what about you..

See, MCI screen questions are set by a committee of teachers..They don’t get paid to Xerox questions from AAA or PG plus.
Most of the questions are new which were never asked.
Doing AAA certainly helps, but eats away lot lot of time
Imagine, AAA contains 27k questions…Even if one is a very very dedicated, and studies 1k questions a day…he wud take atleast 27 days!..and one reading of questions is never beneficial…suppose he takes another 15days to revise… = he spent 42days just to cruise through AAA.
Yes, he will get , I guess 5-10 same2same questions…and few other 15-30 questions which he cud derive from questions of samae kind…(depends on how efficiently has one grasped AAA blindly)…but then, spending 42 days for 40 questions is not a good idea, for last 3 months!..and believe me, most of these questions, if not less, atleast 25-30 of these 40 questions wud hve been easily covered in Coaching Notes…so the net profit is hardly 10-15questions!..
Believe me this was the most shocking truth i discovered..

MORE IMPORTANT THAN, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU STUDIED SO FAR, IS IMPORTANT, HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER ON THE LAST SUNDAY OF MARCH/SEPTEMBER!

NEVER STUDY ANYTHING THAT YOU THINK CANT BE REVISED ATLEAST THRICE BEFORE THE EXAM..
because frenz, in the last months, we are churning so much new knowledge into our brains, that we ought to forget, what we read, long back...

the single most important Mantra is - revise REVISE revise

Regarding MCQs of Past MCI papers…its very very imp…its because of the fact, that they are the platinum set of questions, and a certain percentage of questions are always always repeated from past papers…so do MCI questions well…than cruising through questions asked in COMED or Bihar…


MCQ, honestly provides an idea to the student, of how can a question be framed out of the text…..but one shudnt rely, that the same type of question can appear once again!..

Its wise to move on to MCQs , when one finds, he is thorough with the theory…that wud be cherry on the cake…
But no use of cherry before cake is made!:)

For those students, who got 1-2 years in hand, I wud still recommend to get hands on Coaching notes..
If you got plenty of time, see the topics from notes, and read them in Detail from Reference books..because at the end, it’s the filtered notes of coaching classes, that’s gonna help the most.
for last months - avoid following Reference books for something absolutely new..or makin notes out of it...just keep them reserved for solving small doubts if u hve 4m coachin notes..


Myth - Its impossible to clear MCI without Coaching classes…
Fact – obviously not!..Nor any coaching class can give gurantee, that he/she wud certainly pass, neither somebody passes just because of attending lectures..
Coaching is just to get guidance, of what to study and what to omit in a particular subject.
The lecturer gives us an idea of changing trend , or even questions tobe expected in next MCI paper..
If one gets hold of the material, and has self motivation, determination..one can surely succeed.

However, if one has time and resources, its recommended to join a coachin class, as when we hear to the lecturer explaining sumthing, v retain it better and reproduce it easily (provided we study the material back home)

And lastly , one must be careful for books he is choosing..if he is.
see, even in India, approach is different to crack PGI chandigarh and to crack AIIMS...
approach is different in papers of Gujarat Entrance and Aipg entrance...
There is so much diversity in the type of questions asked...that one needs to be careful of the stuff he is following, because at the end, what is important is the efficiency of the Source!..
Similarly, following USMLE books are apt for USMLE...and AMC books for AMC.
Such resources , according to my personal opinion should be utilised only when one is bare handed...so that, doin sumthin is better than nothing..

Remember, the sucess lies not only in working hard, but working smart.
Most of students work hard and most of them fail, because most of them fail to understand what to study n what not to study..
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i am always available guys..24*7 to help your queries, the best i can.
Scrap me for whatever help i can do 4u..:)