NEET Preparation 2022
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is the sole annual entrance examination for students who wish to pursue MBBS and BDS courses in medical institutions across India. More than 15 lakh students appear for the exam every year and the number only increases with each year that passes.
Being a highly competitive exam, with most vying for entrance to the crème de la crème of medical colleges, scoring the highest marks isn’t easy if you study at the eleventh hour. Preparing for the NEET examination requires a proper strategy and a strict adherence to it.
Understanding the paper pattern
The offline examination is held in pen and paper mode. All the questions are in the form of multiple choice questions (MCQs).
Each subject contains 45 questions and is sub-divided into 2 sections, namely, A and B. Section A contains 35 questions; section B consists of 15 questions of which 10 need to be attempted.
Now that we have understood the paper pattern, here are a few ways you can prepare for the exam:
Get familiarized with the syllabus:
The first step to prepare for the exam is to know the syllabus thoroughly. Getting familiar with the syllabus will help you prepare for the examination. For NEET UG, the syllabus is based on the class 11 and class 12 curriculum's of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Go through previous years’ question papers
Before being coined as NEET, the exam was previously called AIPMT (All India Pre-Medical Test). The medical exam has been held for around 32 years now. Throughout the years, the questions have undergone a lot of changes. Therefore, going through past NEET question papers gives you detailed insight into the pattern of questions asked. It helps develop an understanding of the paper pattern, types of questions asked as well as the important topics within each subject, allowing you to gauge the weightage of each topic.
Moreover, it gives you an overall picture of the frequently asked questions and the questions that have lost their ground over the years.
Design a study plan
Once you have the weightage of each topic, it is time to design a study plan. When preparing for competitive examinations, especially NEET, it is important to start early because the syllabus is vast.
Ensure you dedicate 5–6 hours in a day for self-study but remember to assign time for breaks in between too. Schedule different subjects and topics in a day to avoid monotony and keep things interesting. Studies show that you retain more information if you alternate the subjects or topics you study.
Your study plan has to include time for learning, practice and revision. Once you have a plan, be sure to follow it religiously.
Make your own notes
Memorising a lot of information can be hard. But writing it down can change that. Make your own notes in the form of mnemonics, flow charts, mind maps and diagrams can help you remember information easily.
Make a separate chapter-wise or topic-wise list of formulae and laws for Physics and Chemistry. It will be helpful for quick revision. For Biology, pay attention to diagrams; they will be of aid in understanding topics properly and retaining the information learned. More importantly, they are often included in NEET examinations.
Choose the right study material
There are hundreds of books available for NEET but you have to remember to stick to the basics. The primary resource you require to prepare for the entrance exam is the NCERT books. They are the core of the examination and cover the entire NEET syllabus.
Focus on understanding the concepts from them rather than memorising the text so that your basics are clear. The questions in the medical entrance test often include application based questions so concept building is more important.
The second study material you will require is NEET preparation books that have questions and their solutions. They often contain additional questions and model test papers. Moreover, NEET books include bits of information that might not be present in the textbooks but help understand concepts all the same. Furthermore, they have tricks and hacks that can help solve questions accurately and quickly. These books also have MCQs for you to solve and thereby provide ample practice.
Be careful not to get carried away and purchase too many books though; there are only so many books you can go through in a limited time before you start feeling overwhelmed.
For those who respond better to audio-visual learning, there are plenty of good educational videos, tutorials and mobile applications that can help you understand concepts better.
Solve MCQs, past papers and mock tests
Practise solving as many past papers and mock tests as possible. In the exam, you have to answer 180 questions in that many minutes. Therefore, along with accuracy, speed is of the essence. That can only be attained if you practise constantly.
A trick to effective studying is taking tests before you sit down to study. Research demonstrates that you tend to remember what you get wrong more than what you get right. This helps in retaining knowledge.
Frequently taking tests also helps you keep track of what you know and what you don’t or where you require more improvement.
Revision is key
Before you sit to study a new topic, revise what you have learnt the previous day. Keep revising what you have learnt till the week of the exam. Dedicate the last month before the exam for revision.
Top 6 mistakes to avoid while preparing for NEET
· Last-minute preparation—Preparing for NEET is a long journey. You cannot practically cover 2 years’ worth of portion in a month or two. Trying to do so will only create anxiety.
· Procrastinating—Do not procrastinate, even for a day. You need to keep up with your preparation schedule or else the work will pile up and become burdensome.
· Keeping difficult subjects for last—More often than not, the hard and lengthy topics carry more weightage in terms of marks. Tackle them first. This gives you sufficient time to get a good grasp on the topic.
· Buying too many reference books—Reference books for NEET and other competitive examinations are a dime a dozen and it can be tempting to purchase them all on the off chance you might need them. However, not all of them are of use. Choose the best NEET reference books and go through them thoroughly.
· Not taking quality breaks—Taking quality breaks periodically is important to stay fresh and stress-free. Take a walk, exercise, indulge in a hobby/physical activity or drink water. A ten-minute power nap can help too. Be sure to stay away from junk food and social media; one will make you feel lethargic and the latter won’t motivate you to study.
· Comparing your progress with others’—Everyone’s pace and capacity is different. So don’t compare your progress with that of your peers. A subject or topic others find easy could be difficult for you and vice versa. As long as you adhere to your study plan, you will be all right.
Preparing for the NEET examination might seem stressful but you will ace it as long as you follow these steps. Be consistent, learn, revise and practise practise practise! All the best!
