NEET 2017 is just over a month away. Aakash Chaudhry lists dos and don’ts that aspirants must follow to crack this exam
Alarm clocks daily ringing at the sharp pre-set timings, tumbled pen holder ejecting all sort of stationaries, and a pile of books, registers, and study materials — these are few things that define an ideal desk of NEET aspirants. But the most noticeable thing in their rooms are the horizontal calendar with an encircled deadline: May 7, 2017’.
The aspirants must primarily focus on the NCERT books and class notes for each and every subject. A substantial portion of the question paper ranging from 70 to 80 percent of the overall questions is either directly taken from NCERT or an advanced form of its learnings. Study the exam pattern by analysing question papers of the past and pay special attention to recurring questions and concepts and note them down separately. Do the same for topics in which you encountered difficulty and discuss them with your teacher
Ensure that you don’t merely memorise, but more essentially, develop a strong conceptual understanding of a topic. This will help you when a particular question has slightly been altered. If you haven’t done it yet, create a timetable after assessing your overall preparation as well as strengths and weaknesses.
Update your timetable weekly and strictly abide by it. Further, create a timeline for individual course completion. Ensure that you keep other day-to-day activities in your timetable as well. Failing to do so will result in the development of excessive stress, which will negatively affect your preparation. However, it must be ascertained that these activities consume a relatively small portion of your time. Here is how to approach each subject.
Physics: On an average, 85% of the questions asked have an easy or average difficulty level. A large share of such questions are formula-based. Make a chapter-wise chart of all the formulae and pin it in front of your study table. It will be beneficial if you also learn all the relations as doing so will save a lot of time during the final exam. Emphasise on topics like System of Particle and Rotational Motion, Current Electricity’, Semiconductor Electronics, Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter, and Optics.
Biology: Prepare Human Physiology, Plant Physiology, Cell Biology and Biomolecules from Class XI syllabus according to previous questions in NEET and AIPMT exams. Moreover, Animalia and Plantae must be given special attention as they are comparatively tough topics. The main emphasis, however, should be on characteristics of non-chordate and chordate phyla along with their examples. Also, memorise the common and scientific names of the animals and plants. Exercise as many numerical problems from Genetics as you can along with the pedigree chart. You must also establish a strong understanding conceptually about Biotechnology and Ecology.
Chemistry: It is often regarded as the toughest subject by students. But it is one of the easiest. Begin your preparation with Physical Chemistry and treat each and every topic as a chapter in itself. later, apply your concepts on MCQs and question banks. In Inorganic Chemistry, before starting a topic, look up to previous years’ question papers to understand where the maximum questions come from. Repeat the formula chart activity and memorise them. Frequently revise topics like coordination chemistry and p-block chemistry to ensure maximum retention.
Organic chemistry, on the other hand, demands a clarity of concepts. Here, you might have to take assistance from study materials for additional references. Approach easier sections first and then move on to difficult portion.
With only a couple of weeks left for the exam, the deal is to stay focused, and keep practising to move closer to your goal. Confidence plays a vital role during the exam preparations. Upon course completion give your undivided attention to drills and mock papers. While practising mock test papers, allocate equal time to each and every subject and strictly obey it. While practising through question banks, practise at least 50 questions within 50 minutes. This will enable you to work under pressure.
Your speed and accuracy will increase drastically as you amplify your practise.
The writer is director, Aakash Educational Services Pvt ltd