Attempting the paper : Negative Marking

Greetings Readers

I have already discussed about subjects,study materials,books,exam pattern and even AIIMS UG on this blog.But now comes the 'Grand Finale' of NEET preparation with these most infamous questions among NEET/AIIMS aspirants-

• "Books,notes,DPP sab kar liye par ab paper kaise de?"
• "Padke to sab gaye par paper me dar ke mare sab bhul gaye?"
• "Not able to attempt the whole paper in given time even when I am able to solve it at home later on.What to do?"
• "Negative marking kills my marks and performance.What can be done?"
• "How to attempt the paper,any specific pattern,which subject to do first,which subject next?
• "When to fill OMR - continuously or in the last 15 min?"

It's quite normal for these questions to come in your mind.When I came in Class 11 and gave NEET(AIPMT) pattern papers for the first time, I and my batch-mates used to have the same confusion over all these questions too.

But,slowly with over two years of giving papers at at coaching, I discovered(or rather selected) a strategy that suited me the best.In the next few posts in the upcoming days,I will help you find a 'unique' strategy for yourself too.Will answer all the above mentioned questions simultaneously too.

Negative marking being a big problem for all students will be discussed first with today's post.

As you all know,the NEET paper basically contains 180 questions of MCQ type with four options each.4 Marks for correct answer, -1 for incorrect(25% negative marking).But,there is one more way of seeing this.If between 2 confusing options you tick the wrong one,you actually lost 5 marks(4 marks if you had chosen the other option and -1 of negative marking).Now that's the way I want you to see the question paper.

Coming from school pattern exams,sometimes students overdo questions in NEET pattern tests.They fill answers of questions which they don't have any clue too.Make blind hits,lose marks,get depressed.The first thing you need to learn here is only do the questions you have a good idea of.In this negative marking paper,don't make blind hits(Remember the 'Jai Mata Di' question hits the character Jeet made in 'Student of the Year'?)

"OK,Agreed with you on this point.But what should I do when despite not making any blind hits or 'tukkas' I get a lot of questions negative?".

Answer - Improve on your concepts.If you are not making blind hits and still getting a lot of negative marks,the problem lies in your concept making.You are filling the OMR sheet believing that your answer is correct,but the exactly opposite is happening.It means that some fault is there in your learning technique(like too much mugging up without understanding) or in the some cases learning factual errors as the right thing or maybe understanding a particular topic the wrong way(not intentionally but unintentionally).Its correctly said,"Many ways exist to do stuff wrong,few ways exist to do it right."

Solution? No determined student does the wrong thing willingly.I believe that you too,don't.Be positive and there's always scope of improvement.The best things you can do is to just do it.Pick up all your doubts and ask them to your teacher,batch-mates(intelligent ones especially),senior and whatever source you know can answer them.Don't hide or ignore your doubts because trust me that these doubts are the main thing that make your marks go negative.The one who solves all doubts that come in his/her way is actually making his preparation sort of "Negative marking proof"(like bulletproof) because these doubtful questions are the only ones that decide your final rank.+5 marks and you get your dream college and -5 and your chances are gone.It's simple as that.

Also,try to trust your instincts and be true to your knowledge.If your mind is saying that I can't solve this problem or I have no idea about this topic,leave the questions immediately.Don't spend time thinking to do or not to do.Even if your marks come low,you will come to know your true level and will do hard work to improve.This in turn will benefit you.

Final thing - Don't get depressed(or even too overjoyed) with the marks you get at coaching.Rather focus on your ability of solving or not solving questions of different topics.I myself used to get 580-620(out of 720) marks in NEET pattern tests in Class 11,coming at first position regularly in my batch.That made me a bit overconfident and I didn't improve on my learning techniques feeling that I am the best.Ignored NCERT books too sometimes!Then the level of tests suddenly increased in July'14 and my marks took a dip straight to 500-550 range and then to 450-500 range.I lost 1st position also 2 times.Those events shook me up.After deep struggle of 5-6 months(mentioned in my NEET Physics post too) I came back to that 600 marks range in December'14.The lesson that I learnt that here nothing is permanent.You have to be consistent with each topic and adapt yourself to the changing pattern and difficulty of the papers.

Will continue this discussion on "Attempting the paper" in the next post.

Do post your queries in comments section.I will try my best to answer them.

Till then

Bye!

P.S. Thank you all for the response the blog is receiving.Extremely satisfied with my efforts and the support you all are giving by following the blog.

AIIMS UG : What different needs to be done?

Greetings Readers

Continuing with my previous post on "AIIMS UG : What's the difference?", next comes the question- "What different stuff should I do specifically for AIIMS UG aside from my NEET syllabus? Answer- 

• For all three subjects - Do practice assertion-reason type questions from day 1 as they play a crucial deciding factor on your final rank in AIIMS UG. Doing these type of questions needs that your concepts are ultra-clear and you know the reason behind whatever you learn.Try to solve the confusion between "Assertion Reason Both Correct with Reason being the correct one or not" problem of options A and B of AIIMS questions.
• For paper attempting - This can be the biggest turning point as only few marks can make your rank go from hundreds to thousand to out of the merit list.Actually the golden tip here is attempt questions only which you are sure of inspite of doing less questions.Don't make blind hits.In my case I attempted 168 questions and 39 went wrong with only 129 correct.Surprised?..............................That's the case with the AIIMS paper.Even many questions you are 100% sure go wrong than what can be said of blind hits.Still got AIR of 780 with only 116.00 marks.One classmate of mine got AIR 1250 with 112.00 marks.See the stiff competition!4 Marks difference (4 questions difference since each one carries 1 marks) and gap of 470 people. That's what you face at AIIMS UG. So have a strict control at negative marking and blind hits from day 1.

• Biology - Continue what you are doing for NEET as NCERT Biology is the golden standard here also.But one thing extra is that you should have pictures and labeling of all NCERT diagrams very clear in your mind as in 2016 2 questions had been asked for labeling NCERT diagrams with them being shown colourfully on the screen.Don't 'mug up' Biology.Instead remember something only when you know the reason behind it.
• Chemistry - Do cover the syllabus of study material of coaching institutes with NCERT as the base book.For Physical Chemistry, I can say that coaching material(I did Resonance only) and the book "Problems in Physical Chemistry for AIPMT/AIIMS by Narendra Awasthi" are sufficient to tackle even out of NCERT questions.Plus in Organic Chemistry where AIIMS definitely asks questions of like JEE Main level not given directly in NCERT, solving Resonance material and "Problems in Organic Chemistry for AIPMT/AIIMS by MS Chouhan" ,trust me, can make you ready to tackle ANY QUESTION be it inside NCERT or outside NCERT book.Do complete NCERT theory for Inorganic Chem and practice questions from your coaching materials,that will be sufficient.
• Physics - This is the most hyped section in AIIMS UG."Pata nahi kya kya bolte hai log iske baare men!Koi kahta hai IIT jaisa, koi bolta hai outside NCERT,koi bolta hai impossible. Bolne waale bolte rahenge unka kuchh nahi kar sakte".But you don't need to be scared at all.Do your coaching materials as you are doing for NEET preparations.Practice questions from recommended books.
• Just one secret tip that normally people ignore.This tip was better publicized by Navsheen Singhal, AIR 1 AIIMS UG 2015.He told in an interview that NCERT Physics book needs to be done 100% as some high level questions come directly from NCERT book,especially from the "Additional Exercises" part and NCERT Exemplar Problems of Physics book. 99.99% people ignore this but the topper didn't do so and thus the reason of him being the topper."Simply don't ignore anything from NCERT".Initially,even I thought ki ye toh faaltu ke tips de raha hai,but when many more students said do,I decided to take a look at those Additional Exercise questions and NCERT Exemplar and was utterly surprised.Questions from there had been asked directly in JEE Main,NEET(AIPMT) and AIIMS. What a treasure of questions and concepts that these coaching people forget to tell us to solve!
• Then,the time when I was actually giving AIIMS UG 2016,one question came on "Poisuille's Law" which had no mention in NCERT theory but still 1 question had been mentioned in the exercises of "Mechanical Properties of Fluids" chapter of NCERT Class 11 Part 2.No mentions in any coaching material.Resonance,Aakash and Allen all missed on it(atleast in the editions which I had).Now comes the power of NCERT Physics.What they all missed but AIIMS and NCERT didn't miss.(Thanked the AIIMS topper in my mind for making that a point in his interview,otherwise that 1 question would have made a lot of difference in my rank).Many other such questions too came,but don't exactly remember them.So,do NCERT Physics and NCERT Exemplar Physics 100% to beat out that stiff competition in AIIMS UG.
• Also,make your theory portion of Physics strong by studying theory from NCERT Physics and then going for DC Pandey(JEE edition) or HC Verma. Assertion-Reason questions will test your theory aptly so be prepared.

P.S.You don't need Halliday-Resinick or University Physics here so stay away from them!

• General Knowledge - Many people may misguide you here to read history and geography but keeping the 2016 paper in mind you don't need to even touch them.You need to only know the current affairs,that to mostly of the previous year of your giving AIIMS UG(like 2016 for AIIMS UG 2017) and April and May of your exam year.In 2016 papers most questions were from previous 2 months and anyone who read a national English Daily Newspaper like 'Times of India' or 'The Hindu' for 15 minutes daily(leaving cartoons and gossips) could get 15-16 questions right.2-3 questions came from mental ability type too,like that of Direction Sense and Seating Arrangement that Class 10 students do for NTSE examination.

To conclude AIIMS UG is not at all impossible to crack for a normal NEET aspirant so be brave and go for AIIMS!
Do post your queries in comments section.I will try my best to answer them.

Till then

Bye!

AIIMS UG : What's the difference?

Greetings Readers

AIIMS - almost every medical aspirant and even non-medical students have heard this term and each medical aspirant aspires to get a seat at what is said to be the No.1 Medical College of India - AIIMS Delhi.

Even the other six AIIMS at Bhopal,Bhubaneshwar,Jodhpur(my home town),Rishikesh,Patna and Raipur are no small things and are dynamic institutions showing fast and steady growth.So this makes the destination one seeks even greater and a class apart.

But,one question has been crippling all medical aspirants since years.What's the difference between exams like NEET,state PMTs and AIIMS-UG entrance examination?This question arises due to AIIMS not releasing their test papers officially, and also that candidates are not allowed to take away the question papers and even the rough works sheets or admit cards with them after the examination.The recent shift to the online mode as made getting previous year questions even tougher.Even more, these AIIMS guys don't even specify the syllabus of the examination and just say that,"It would be based on 10+2 syllabus of  educations boards throughout the country".

This puts a normal NEET/AIIMS student in utter confusion(I myself was confused).

Next,come the coaching institutes.Some institutes which even probably have no idea of the AIIMS questions paper just put a tag on their billboards "Coaching for NEET/AIIMS/CET/Boards", and then teach almost anything in name of NEET/AIIMS, be it relevant or not."Who checks and who cares?",they think.But students are becoming smarter and more aware these days,they must know.

Then come established institutes like Allen,Aakash and Resonance etc.These guys know about the paper,syllabus,pattern but somewhat except at the Delhi and Kota(head branches where special batches are made of toppers and they are taught extra stuff aside from normal students, being a sad truth of discrimination among students), don't manage to deliver consistently good results.However some exceptions maybe there(I myself had a very good experience at Resonance Jodhpur and even last year a senior of mine here got AIR 126 in AIIMS UG 2015 and is now at AIIMS Jodhpur).So the teaching depends on local faculty  more but the material and test are more of Delhi or Kota branch related.

Coming to what they do,they build previous year papers according to 'memory' of their past students,but the problem comes when the same paper gets two different versions by two different institutes and so on.Utter confusion na?To add to it this, these institutes(mainly Allen and Aakash) teach almost anything and everything in name of AIIMS sometimes,which normally aren't necessary for AIIMS UG actually.

We are not here for criticism of coaching institutes here but I only wanted to tell you the backdrop of this mysterious story of AIIMS UG and why many students though capable get confused and aren't able to crack AIIMS UG. Now coming back to the point - What actually is the difference between AIIMS UG and NEET and state PMTs?

• First of all, all that hype that AIIMS asks out of syllabus questions,even higher than class 11 and class 12 ,from MBBS subjects or Medicine in Biology or like JEE Advanced type in Physics and Chemistry is utterly false as of 2016.I myself have the paper and feel that yes they have gone outside of NCERT in some 10-15 questions in Physics and Chemistry, but they have stuck to NCERT in Biology for almost 55-57 questions out of 60 questions(maybe even all 60 of them as I don't remember exactly now).That's the thing you need to fix in your mind for now.
• Second thing is the framing of questions.Questions are framed extremely logically and pure mugging up won't help.Biology can have some direct questions but match the column types need complete knowledge.Physics and Chemistry have logical and statement understanding questions which become easy when you are very thorough with your concepts.Calculations are lengthy in many questions and you need to make your calaculations fast and accurate as time will be a limiting factor there. Assertion-Reason types need a strong command on the theory portion of the subjects.

Trying not to make this post long,I am breaking this AIIMS topic into two posts - Will mention what different stuff to do specifically in all the three subjects and GK for AIIMS in the next post.
Do post your queries in comments section.I will try my best to answer them.

Till then

Bye!

NEET UG 2016 Results are out!

Greetings Readers

Finally after all that wait of two and a half months NEET UG 2016 results are out!

Your own blog author has got AIR 1460.Very happy and satisfied with my result.Thank God for supporting throughout this journey.

Although I will not get a 'dhansu'(or epic/great in English) college from All India Quota seats,but still expect to  get a state rank of 220-250 in Rajasthan according to previous year trends.Almost all good government colleges(including SMS Jaipur and SNMC Jodhpur)of Rajasthan are in reach with this rank.Personally being from Jodhpur, SNMC is a big preference,although AIIMS Jodhpur is that big dream which in some way or the other every student has.

All the tension of that NEET-1 v/s NEET-2 percentile or marks is gone.Thank god highly that CBSE declared common result according to marks otherwise with percentile my rank would have gone in ten thousands or so.

Will be active with the blog even more since the tension is gone and have got a stable and good result.May this also encourage a lot of you to do hard work and even exceed me in excellence at NEET and AIIMS exams.

Till next time
Bye!

Off topic : Something Motivational!

Greetings Readers
Motivation ..................Its something that each one of us seeks throughout life and especially even more in this phase of NEET/AIIMS exam preparation in Class 11 or 12 or the droppers.
Many things motivate us to reach our goal.But, see you must differentiate motivation from pressure.Its very easy to get confused among the two.
Motivation is encouragement without expectation and just to enable to do your best,whereas pressure is something that others built up on you with a load of expectations.
Pressure can be of  many ways -

1. Family Pressure - Become a doctor,earn more,life set,future expectations,board me 95+,better than Sharma Ji's son etc.
2. Social Pressure - Doctor ka child doctor,engineer ka beta engineer,lawyer ka beta lawyer etc.
3. Friends Pressure - 90-95% getting all friends taking PCM,you taking Biology(odd one out situations). PCM guys making fun of Biology and labeling it as a 'rattu' subject.You wanna teach them a lesson etc.
4. Want to run away from Maths (Biowalaas No.1 Fear!)

I just say one thing.Don't do your study and hard work to tackle all these pressures,problems and expectations.That will built-up a big load that you won't be able to carry for long.Instead try to leave all these pressures in Class 10 and move with true passion to Class 11.Be self-motivated.Do what you want to do in the way that suits you.Study for NEET/AIIMS with a never ending 'junoon' to excel in each topic.Don't study to get 1st rank or 90+ percentage.Study to be better than what you were yesterday.If this is followed,you would be surprised to see how you get changed in 2 years(Trust me experienced it myself!)
Here is a link to a motivational video that I used to see in the last 3 months of my Boards,NEET and AIIMS preparation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ATn3SYveY

Its a video on the India v/s Sri Lanka 2011 ODI world Cup Final.Whenever I used to be filled with pressure,fear and tension of the last moments,I used to see it to get motivated for my goal.To hit the six yourself that crosses all the boundaries should be your aim.

(P.S. I am M.S. Dhoni Fan not hater,the youtube title of the video is just as such kept by the uploader)
Plus,Happy Independence Day to you all!
Till next time 
Bye!

Book and Study Material - Physics

Physics.........................the supposedly most dreaded,feared,cursed and what not said about subject of PCB students and NEET/AIIMS exam seeking students.Students and even sometimes teachers often mislead you about how to do Physics and even exaggerate the subject that needs a simple,methodical and dedication having approach.If you have decided that-"I will study,learn,understand Physics no matter how I fear it or what problems come!", nothing can stop you.For books and study materials,stick to few books,do hardwork and have the patience.

Coming to the topic,today I will be telling about the books I followed for NEET/AIIMS Physics, that were recommended to me by my teachers and ex-NEET/AIIMS high rankers.

Again all the students are divided into 3 categories - Beginner,Semi-pro and Pros.

• Beginners-Those who have just began NEET/AIIMS preparation and don't have much clue about the pattern and syllabus of NEET/AIIMS. They are just learning the basics and fundamentals of Physics,theory being first then numericals.
• Semi-pro -Those who have already began their preparation and have undergone 2-3 months of coaching and studying.They are aware of Physics as a subject and can solve most basic problems of NEET/AIIMS pattern.Although they maybe still have doubts in certain topics and may not have learnt the approach to solve some tricky problems.
• Pro - These are the people who have already mastered NCERT,coaching study materials and good Physics problem books.They are well versed with both theory and question-solving approach and can easily solve complete previous years questions,even the trickiest ones from JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

Core books - Recommended for Beginners,Semi-pros and Pros alike.

• NCERT Physics Class 11&12

Repeating the same thing I said in my Chemistry Study Material post,it is believed by many students that they need to do high level books of JEE type and NCERTs are "sarkari" ones and useless but the case is actually "the opposite". Actually NCERTs are great books on theory and even questions,its just that the arrangement and the depth of topics make them only a bit inconvenient.For beginners,you must start from NCERT and then move to coaching materials(they are also VERY important for NEET/AIIMS Physics).You should once or twice study theory and then solve questions from NCERT which will make you get a firm grip at the basics.Then you should study Coaching notes and study material and finally go for NEET/AIIMS pattern questions.Don't touch JEE books until you are very thorough with questions of NEET/AIIMS Physics syllabus and level.

• A good NEET/AIIMS DLP or Booklet package from a reputed coaching institute - Again comes the difference between Bio and Phy/Chem in study materials.In Bio its still possible to score 75-80% with only NCERT,but here to even read and solve the questions properly you need coaching materials.Many formulas,theories and a good question bank are missing from NCERT Physics books so you definitely need something extra.

I myself have used Resonance, Aakash DLP and Allen DLP and can tell that the Resonance one is the best for NEET/AIIMS Physics as they contain the correct pattern and level that is needed today in NEET/AIIMS. Theory is easy to read and is up-to the mark.They have previous year questions from JEE-Main and Advanced,aside from NEET and AIIMS too which help a lot since in past 2 years NEET/AIIMS are coming quite increased in difficulty(as compared to pre-2015 papers) and thus you need that extra edge. Aakash ones(as I have seen) give way too much theory and lack on questions and tricks.Allen ones are second behind Resonance as the theory though good isn't the easiest to self-read and understand.Plus,most questions are from like from like 1990-2005 and state PMTs. But,they may get updated in future(like this year or next year).So they may become a good choice,although I can't comment much on that.


Auxiliary books - These can be used once you are a semi-pro and need to become a pro.You have got broadly understood the basics of Physics by NCERT and coaching materials and want to go to the next level .You are passionate about achieving something in NEET/AIIMS and not just sitting there scared of Physics.Recommended for Semi Pros and Pros.

• Concepts of Physics by HC Verma(Part 1 and Part 2): ONLY FOR THEORY

Two great books by a very great Physics professor at IIT Kanpur,these books actually teach you the substance of each topic in Physics.Read them after studying NCERT and Coaching stuff.You will feel that your understanding of Physics has grown.For taking your Physics to the next level,this is the stair you need to climb upon.Do the questions only when you are super confident about your topics and are scoring good in coaching tests.Otherwise stick to other books for questions.

• Understanding Physics for JEE Main and Advanced by DC Pandey

Its a series of 5 books separated by topics as Mechanics-1, Mechanics-2,Wave and Thermodynamics,Electromagnetism and Optics&Modern Physics.According to me if your coaching teacher notes does not provide good theory or you feel it a bit incomplete as compared to what comes in tests.Do go for it as DC Pandey himself being a Physics teacher in a coaching institute has made superb theory points.Also he has given a 'typed problem section' in the 2016 editions,which contains several classical examples of questions which come in JEE,NEET and AIIMS and the method recommended to solve them.He has also pointed out some conceptual mistakes that we students do while solving problems.For NEET and AIIMS students,use this book for theory and do questions only upto JEE-Main level.That will be more than sufficient for building strong concepts for NEET/AIIMS.

For the confusion which to choose between DC Pandey and HC Verma,I san say that DC Pandey is more exam oriented while HC Verma is more subject oriented.Two points will clear the choice-

• If your coaching notes are good enough to help you solve your coaching material and understand Physics easily,prefer delaying DC Pandey books for revision time(maybe end of Class 11 or in Class 12) and pick HC Verma instead.
• But if your coaching notes are not sufficient and you are struggling with different types of questions of study material and tests,pick DC Pandey books instantly and avoid HC Verma.

Books for Pros - There are as such no pro specific books for Physics Pros in PCB stream but you can solve previous year Physics Olympiad aka NSEP papers if you want to.But beware the level will be way too high.Even PCM guys struggle there.

That's all with this post.My last words remain the same as in the Biology and Chemistry books post.

"Actually the main thing behind this post is informing students that they should focus on few selected,well recommended books rather than again and again changing them and ending up with a pile of books and no knowledge still.Also don't pay heed to X student or Y Bhaiya and Z Didi for book recommendations unless they have themselves completely studied from that book and are benefiting from it.I have seen many people get "out of course" and quite thick books which they never studied again after few days or weeks of purchasing them.Simply because these didn't help for NEET/AIIMS. 

Please stick to your coaching teacher(not school teacher) and ex-NEET/AIIMS high rankers only for book recommendations.Once you have chosen few books,stick to them for a good period and many coaching tests until you feel that's not helping.Do learn patiently and steadily as only what you have extracted from these books will help you finally,not having these books themselves."
Will update list if find other good books too! 

Till next time 

Bye!

Edit:Do post your queries in comments section.I will try my best to answer them.

Back to the PMT Blog!

Greetings Readers

Sorry for bothering you all to wait for 10 long days but I was busy with my own AIIMS 2nd counseling and NEET 2016 OMR and Answer Key Display and challenge procedures.All this stuff is technical and complicated these days,you know.I didn't get any AIIMS because hardly 25 seats had been vacated in UR quota.

Still I went to AIIMS Delhi for procedural tasks.Maybe later counselings will get me somewhere because unlike previous years no one has left AIIMS seats because of uncertainty over NEET results.People are even taking even half developed AIIMS even if they maybe getting marks sufficient to reach established colleges via NEET according to previous years cutoffs.

Although the campus,the aura,the people there are just stunning.Even if I couldn't get AIIMS Delhi for MBBS,the visit filled me with new energy and encouragement.If you are nearby Delhi and its convenient traveling,do visit AIIMS Delhi(college and hospital) during your NEET/AIIMS preparation once,it will give you the motivation you may be searching.

Stay motivated and Stay Connected.Post on Physics Study Material is coming up soon.

Till then 

Bye!