Mental Models to get ahead of others and study efficiently

The NEET-PG, or National Eligibility Entrance Test, is a postgraduate entrance examination for medical students at the national level and is conducted by the NBE, or the National Board of Examinations. Due to the enormously high competition level, cracking the NEET-PG examination is not everybody’s cup of tea. 

Aspirants are able to boost their confidence levels and perform well in the NEET-PG entrance examination by following efficient mental models and strategies, to prepare for the examination. Knowing the type of competition thoroughly, and clearing the NEET PG exam, requires a robust strategy that would assist the aspirant during their preparation phase. 

Below you can find an in-depth description of the mental models that most aspirants adapt to, for the preparation of the NEET PG medical entrance examination. If aspirants are consistent and sincere with their studies and preparation, they will definitely be able to score as they desire. 

Preparing your mind: Tips and Tricks for NEET-PG 2022

Medical graduates can follow the below-mentioned strategies to achieve success in the NEET-PG 2022 medical entrance examination: 

Strengthening the basic concepts

A great majority of questions that would be asked in the NEET-PG examination are dependent on problem-solving skills. Hence, it’s absolutely crucial for aspirants to concentrate on their basics and strengthen their foundation as much as possible. The syllabus of the NEET-PG examination is designed based on Clinical, Para-Clinical, and Pre-Clinical subjects that are taught under the undergraduate medical curriculum. 

Therefore, if you work with enough dedication to develop basic subject-related conceptions, then the chances of failure may become very low. Comprehending core concepts during the course of preparation for the NEET-PG can take longer than usual, but you must not hurry it up unnecessarily. Experts usually advise aspirants to segment larger topics into relatively smaller sub-topics, for seamless learning, while preparing for this medical entrance examination. 

Studying smartly

The NBE had announced in 2020 that millions of candidates have registered for the NEET-PG 2020 examination, and more than 50% of these candidates have cracked the examination. Therefore, know that the possibility of cracking the NEET-PG examination is high. However, merely studying hard is not adequate for cracking this medical entrance examination on the first attempt, but studying smartly becomes imperative. Moreover, experts and toppers also suggest that studying smart is much better than cramming 24*7. You can plan short study sessions that would help your brain to process the learned information much better than that of long sessions. Also, you can start writing the important portions on the flashcards. In addition, you can set definite study goals and can tick them off after completion. 

Have faith in your own abilities

As an NEET-PG aspirant; it is possible that you have already dreamt big as you are putting effort day and night into exam preparation. But, the most important aspect is having faith in your own abilities, and possessing self-confidence to crack the exam. You must believe that your hard work and diligence will ultimately lead to success.  

Self-belief and self-confidence give candidates a huge boost and help them crack competitive exams like the NEET-PG examination.  

Create a flexible study schedule

A flexible study plan will allow you to organize your study schedule. Your plan can include the dates and times for each area of study. Ensure that you also make time for revision. Incorporate weekly learning goals into your schedule, depending on the topics and subjects that you want to cover. Create your schedule in such a way that it offers room for revising each topic, numerous times. 

Setting the perfect template for achieving learning goals is very crucial. Therefore, you should create a schedule that consists of: 

• The number of topics under each subject
• The time needed to complete each topic properly with revision. 

Moreover, the schedule should be planned in such a manner that it would offer priority to the difficult or important topics in the excel sheet, which generally consumes a great amount of time for accomplishment. 

Don’t leave any subject or portion

There is a common habit in a great majority of NEET-PG aspirants to leave out a subject or a portion from the syllabus that carries comparatively lesser weightage of marks. However, as an aspirant, you would always be advised to not grow these types of habits in the course of your preparation. You must not leave any stone unturned during preparation, by not leaving any topic of the NEET-PG syllabus. 

There can be a specific situation in the NEET-PG examination when the questions can be asked from the topics that contain comparatively lesser weightage in the syllabus. Hence, missing any topic in the course of preparation may cost you your final rank.  

Test yourself

Before you appear for the NEET-PG medical entrance exam, make sure to take practice tests in the same structure as the final exam. Online, you can find question papers and templates on platforms like e-Gurukul. Remember that the main goal behind the NEET PG is to choose talented, dedicated, and smart candidates, who can become great healthcare leaders in future. 

Logical comprehension

The NEET-PG MCQ exam is not just about long preparation sessions, hard work, and basics, but also about gaining in-depth knowledge of the subject matter at hand, and how well that is applied into the final exam. Logical understanding helps students think critically. It allows students to apply knowledge in answering questions that may not be straightforward. 

Control your wandering mind

While preparing for the NEET-PG examination, only closing the door or switching off your smartphone does not imply that you are studying very effectively. Try to improve your concentration by eliminating unnecessary thoughts. If you are currently staying with your family, you can close the door or even switch off your smartphone to ensure high productivity and avoid distractions. 

Try to take short breaks of 10-15 minutes after every 2 hours of study, to relax your mind and body. These breaks will help you refresh your brain, and improve productivity, as well as assist you in maintaining your concentration, and regaining motivation. 

Staying healthy both physically and mentally

Usually, as a medical graduate, you would be associated with the mental stress of both work and study pressure. If you fall sick, then irrespective of how properly you have prepared for the entrance exam, you would not be able to do as efficiently as you thought in the course of the exam. Therefore, all your hard work throughout the year would absolutely go to waste. Therefore, while it’s crucial for you to concentrate on your studies thoroughly, it’s also similarly mandatory to keep yourself healthy both physically and mentally. 

Ensure that you are getting an adequate amount of sleep, taking proper breaks between long work and study sessions, and, most importantly, eating healthy. Indulge in activities like walking, running, or listening to music to refresh yourself during a break. 

Optimistic vs. Pessimistic mindset

If you begin with a belief in your mind that it is almost impossible for you to crack the exam, then irrespective of the numerous references and study material you collect, you will have a rigid mindset with that particular belief. This type of rigidity is pessimistic and usually ends up showcasing doubt on your own abilities.

However, if you start accepting that the basis of the NEET-PG MCQ exam depends on the final few months, the exam is not impossible to crack. You have limitless potential, and you would be able to perform your best, then nothing would be able to stop you from achieving success. This type of rigid acceptance is called optimistic rigidity. Therefore, you would require expanding your idea about the challenges that you are ready to take on. You may begin with something very small such as sticking to your prepared plan and studying for an additional half an hour. These small daily achievements can help to instill hope to achieve bigger goals in life – such as cracking the NEET PG exam. 

Starting early is the best

For an NEET-PG aspirant, it is mandatory to take the preliminary step i.e., beginning the preparation, at the very earliest. By doing this, aspirants will have adequate time for preparing the schedule, checking the syllabus, and preparing at a speed they are comfortable with. 

Another beneficial feature of beginning NEET PG exam preparation early, is that the aspirants will be able to allocate adequate time to their studies. 

An early start on preparation will allow you to acquire in-depth comprehension of different subjects, and you will be able to develop analytical skills, and knowledge on how to apply learned concepts. This will contribute towards helping you achieve a desired rank in the NEET PG medical entrance examination. 

Find good reference materials

You will need to think about collecting good reference material, textbooks and study notes to aid your preparation for the NEET-PG entrance examination, in the first few months of your study itself. Try to figure how well these reference materials help you in your studies, and whether they prepare you well for mock tests. 

It is an undeniable fact that the competition for cracking the NEET-PG examination would be absolutely fierce. But, you must remember that the competitive scenario would be the same for all. Everyone is relying on the same source of study material as you are. Moreover, everyone is trying to offer their best performance. Therefore, the only difference would be who among the aspirants would be able to make the most out of the final few months, days, and even hours. Between two extremely hardworking aspirants, the mental strength would create a huge difference. 

Concentrating on building the clinical conceptions

In the course of the NEET-PG preparation procedure, as an aspirant, you would have to concentrate on the importance of various clinical queries. During the final NEET-PG examination, the proportion of the clinical queries would make a significant difference in the NEET ranks of the aspirants. Therefore, you must give major attention to the clinical experiments because currently, the questionnaire would be more application-based, which implies that the questions of the NEET-PG exam would be asked on the basis of what you have practically performed rather than what you have theoretically read from text books. 

You will need to study at least 10-12 hours a day, and will require both coaching and self-study. Moreover, you will need to pay attention to studying practical concepts, and compulsorily try to apply various concepts to the theories you learn. 

Building stamina

A great majority of medical students have tested their stamina during all the MBBS exams. Long study sessions of 10-12 hours continuously, final practical, sleepless nights, you already have been through that. But, for cracking the NEET-PG exam, you would have to consider whether or not you can sustain a similar amount of effort for even a longer time. Also, you must remember that stressful hours may often result in feeling burnt out. Therefore, instead of starting your preparation crazily and feeling saturated within just the first few months, you should plan your perfect pace of preparation efficiently and also should build your attention and stamina span up for the final NEET-PG day’s acceleration. 

Following is an effective schedule that could help you frame a proper plan for the preparation: 

• Start your preparation for the NEET-PG entrance examination with 8-10 hours of a daily study plan from the first three months. This comparatively relaxed schedule would offer you to take a conscious amount of break between the study sessions. You can utilize these break-times by taking a power nap, watching entertaining content on YouTube, doing physical exercise, or even by doing passive preparation. The conscious practice of relaxation would assist you to avoid any sort of mental fatigue. 

• Next one month – During the next one month, as your concentration span gets better, you can uplift the hours of study sessions from 8-10 hours earlier to 10-12 hours now on a daily basis. However, you can schedule conscious breaks depending on your regular activities. You should consciously take out some time to talk to your friends/family, take power naps, and practice physical exercise during this period. 

• Next one month – This is a perfect time to begin with the acceleration of your preparation procedure, and the study time should be further extended to 12-14 hours. During this month also, you can take scheduled breaks depending on your regular activities. You should consciously devote adequate time to sleeping, bathing, practicing mindfulness, and eating. 

• Last one month – This is the time of the year when you should perform best. In this month, you should study effectively for 14-16 hours daily and 3-4 hours at a constant stretch. You should also practice solving and studying the questionnaires within the same time as the final NEET-PG exam at least once on a daily basis.

The idea behind this gradual and stepwise progression of your NEET-PG preparation procedure, is to assist you to prepare both physically and mentally to calmly perform and sit at the best of your abilities in the course of the exam duration. Always remember that for cracking the exam, endurance would be the ultimate key. However, not every aspirant requires sitting and studying for 12-14 hours on a daily basis. If you can keep up with the weekly targets and regular schedules, it won’t matter how long you study daily. However, you must practice sitting for at least 3-4 hours at a continuous stretch at least once regularly in the course of the last 10-15 days before the final exam. 

• Observing and practicing previous year’s NEET questionnaire closely – If you are a NEET-PG aspirant, then the practice would make you perfect and make your learning permanent. Hence, the greater you would practice, the more you would possess the data in your mind. Because of the major challenging characteristic of time management during the NEET-PG exam, as a medical graduate, you would have to tackle the time by practicing a greater number of the questionnaire. 

You should try to solve as many practice tests as possible to figure out the particular topics and concepts where your performance level is lacking. And therefore, you would be able to work further on those specific portions during your preparation. You would only be able to succeed in the NEET-PG exam if you would incorporate greater practice and a higher number of practice tests. 

Conclusion

The NEET-PG exam is significantly tough to crack as the National Board of Examination sets the entire exam pattern. However, it’s not impossible to crack this medical entrance examination if you continuously and consistently adhere to the above mental models and tips. Cracking this admission would help you get admission into the MS, MD, and various other PG-Diploma programs at India’s most renowned medical colleges. Therefore, it’s high time to surpass the traditional approach and begin deploying a more innovative and strategic mental model to crack the NEET-PG. Before beginning with the study preparation, you must be mentally prepared by adhering to a thorough knowledge of the exam pattern, structure, psychology of the examiners, and also the eligibility criteria.