ST. JOHN’S MEDICAL COLLEGE

A brief guide to Indian Postgraduate Exams

George K. John (2003)

Getting a postgraduate seat in India is not an easy task. It needs a lot of dedication and involves a lot of frustration. We believe it is our duty as seniors to help take away that frustration by helping you access information and guidance from people who have followed the path before you so as to make your journey through these tough years easier.

I did do some extensive research for Indian PG Entrances so thought I’d put it down in writing so that it would be easier to share this information with people.

Remember that this is one person’s opinion and so it is not complete in any sense. Do feel free to ask more seniors for their experiences.

I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible but remember that it’s based on experiences a year earlier so some things might have changed.

BOND or NO BOND – Will it affect my chances to crack entrances?

If we were to take a survey from most students in Johns finishing their internship or even in final year, its the top confusion in everybody’s minds.

The answer to that is simple.

It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter in the sense sure, it will take away a chunk of your daily time which you would have dedicated to studies otherwise but hey, people doing the bond and preparing alongside have been equally successful in the recent years.

So, at the end of the day, what matters is if you sit down and put in the long hours daily. The entrance coaching centres would say put in your maximum (around 18 hours!). I would think an appropriate estimate of a successful day preparing for pg entrances would be if you managed to log in 8-10 hours of studying that day. People have even managed 10 hours a day while doing the bond ( the 24 hours can be plenty if you can manage it well!)

If you are doing the rural bond, know that after all you are serving the rural underserved, so hope and pray God rewards you for your service. (You get 20 additional marks in the Johns entrance for sure at the end of 2 years and the PGI, Chandigarh also has a couple of seats earmarked for people who have done rural service.)

So the final verdict, Bond or not if you want to succeed in the extremely competitive world of Indian entrances you need to keep preparing hard to succeed. And if you do, sooner than later you will reap the benefits. As an extremely motivating teacher at an entrance coaching would say, “ Know that PG seats cannot be denied, they can only be delayed. You will surely succeed for you  have put in the hard work, the long hours. “

Yup, so I guess every Doc has its (his /her) Day!

In this section, You will find top resources and strategies which I think will be useful for you to consider while preparing for Indian entrances.

Remember that there are many books of every type available so what’s important is that you buy a book and stick to it. There’s no point buying books to fill your bookshelf but not find the time to use them.

Also, what worked for everybody may not essentially work for you. So do try to go through the books and see if you like the presentation and format before you buy them.

Study Strategies

Group studies

Some people prefer to read together and in preparing for Indian entrances, it’s a good thing to read together and get motivated by each other to push yourself to read longer. It’s also a very efficient way to practise exams, solve past papers and discuss important topics, especially from Harrison. Limit groups to a maximum of 3-4 people for best utilization of this method.

Library

The two top libraries used for entrance preparations are the

IMA library

• Near BMC
• Limited seats so apply for membership early.
• Can get crowded so if you are planning to study here, go early to get the books you want.
• Around Rs.2000/ for a yearly membership

Speed Coaching centre library

• Same location as Speed Office
• Around Rs.500/ per month

Sitting at home and studying

Can be very distracting and a bit demoralising.  But if you’re used to it and confident you can remain focused then the best option.

Entrance Coaching

The top coaching centres are (In no order of merit/ranking):

Kottayam

• Sat and Sun, may also include Fridays
• Good classes for most subjects
• Large classes 1000+
• Excellent atmosphere for PG preparation
• Best done as a group of 2-4 people
• Cost around Rs.8000/

Speed Coaching Centre:

• Good classes for most subjects.
• Large classes 1000+
• Good mock tests and exams.
• High on motivation
• Around 17000/-

IAMS

• Smaller group of around 150
• High yield notes
• Good classes for most subjects.
• Expensive, around 60,000/-

Thrissur

• Sunday classes
• Most faculty same as Kottayam

Bhatia

• Not very popular in the South
• Very popular and successful in North

MOCK TESTS

Bhatia

• Monthly and Subject wise tests
• Has option of Online/Postal/Centre based tests.
• Largest base of subscribers
• Good for knowing standing at all India level and assess improvement.
• Online subscription around Rs.6000/ , can also take individual exams at centre.

Thrissur online tests

• www.medpgthrissur.com
• Online Examination of 2010 with 100 questions are scheduled on Tuesday & Friday.
• Time of exam : 8.00PM to 9.00PM.
• Register free to attend the online examination.
• Subscribe for Rs.2500/- to access the questions with their answer key

IAMS fts

• Monthly tests
• Difficulty level maybe higher compared to exam.

BOOKS

Absolute essentials – Past papers,  the heart of preparing for Indian entrances.  At the end of the year, if you have done just these thoroughly you still have a very good chance of making it.

Aashish Gupta ( for AIIMS, 3 volumes)

Mudit Khanna ( for All India, 2 volumes)

Chaudhary ( for PGI, Chandigarh, One Huge volume)

Sure Success for Pg entrance exams by Ramgopal – (Short synopsis of all subjects, very high yield for state entrances) – Also check out a newer book on the same lines by Gobind Rai Garg

Sure success for Karnataka CET by Ramgopal

See next page for a list of other important books

Online resources

www.rxpg.com , www.prepgmedicos.com

Magazines – Receptor, Medicozlemon

SMS alerts – Daily MCQs and exam and result alerts , sms ON medicozlemon to 9870807070

Bits of advice

• Apply for exams as soon as possible when they are issued, otherwise you may run the risk of not getting the centre you want ( happened to a few people for AIIMS exam)
• Form a email chain/ sms each other regarding entrance exam applications, last dates and so on.
• Decide early on travel and accommodation plans as train tickets get fully booked within a few days of announcement of exam dates of major exams like AIIMS. Best to travel in groups of 3-4.
• Look up your All India and AIIMS percentages on the AIIMS website.It gets released a few months after the ranks are released, Helps assess your performance at a national level in actual exam conditions and monitor your improvement over time (Jan All india- May Aiims-Nov Aiims)
• Write all important exams like All India and AIIMS even if you think you haven;t prepared enough. You learn something from every exam you take.
• The most important books to read before any All india or Aiims exam is the explanations to the exam immediately before it. The Aashish Mudit supplements of the previous exams are released a month or so in advance to the exam. Other books( Bhatia,Speed etc.) are released much early.
• Remember that your friends are not your competition, there are a lakh others competing for your seat. So always help out a friend in terms of info regarding exam applications, formats etc.
• Other Books ( Ask around for more options and opinions before you buy)

Subject wise	Theory Impossible to cover all subjects, Concentrate on important areas like high yield topics from Harrison, General Path and Renal from Robbins etc. No point trying to cover the entire book.	MCQ Most questions covered in mudit and aashish, use for strengthening of subjects. Time consuming so think before you buy.
Anatomy	Chaurasia	Saumya Shukla – Across
Physiology	Ganong
Biochemistry	Harper, Lippincott
Forensic	Narayan Reddy
Pharmacology	Gobind Rai Garg- has notes before each MCQ section, very high yield/ Arvind arora
Pathology	Robbins	Arvind Arora
Microbiology	Ananthnarayan, Harrison	Rachna Chaurasia( has notes before MCQ section)/Arvind Arora
Community Health	Latest edition of Park and Park
ENT
Medicine	Harrison(latest edition), CMDT 2010	Mudit Khanna medicine/ Aashish Gupta medicine(2 vol.)
Surgery	Schwartz	Aashish Gupta surgery, Schwartz pretest (if you have the time, once 18 questions came from here, no guarantees it’ll happen again)
Pediatrics	Nelson( latest edition)
OBG
Ophthalmology		Saumya Shukla – Across
Dermatology	Neeta Khanna
Radiology	Sumer Sethi
Anaesthesia	Ajay Yadav
Orthopedics
Psychiatry	Neeraj Ahuja

MCQ question banks – Salgunan, PG plus, Pg digest etc. Good for quick review of subjects after theory, especially subjects for which not much explanation required like Comed, Ent, OBG etc

So, it looks a daunting task ahead of you. Guess you better get started with full fledged preparation right away to get ahead of the race. And remember to stay there!

It will be a challenging year ahead and you may face many hurdles along the way. When you do, do feel free to contact anyone of us.

All the best!

George K. John

Batch of 2003