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.