How Dr.Bhushan got AIR 4 in NEET PG 2018 while in the middle of his internship!

The Marrow team is proud of Dr.Bhushan Shrikhande who secured All India Rank of 4 in NEET PG 2018 after acing a score of 902.

He sat down with Marrow for an exclusive discussion where he has dived into the finer aspects of his PG preparation and has shared some of the insights into his experiences with NEET PG 2018.

1) Hello Dr.Bhushan. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi. I’m Dr.Bhushan. I did my UG from Government Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra. I used to be among the Top 5 ranks in every year of my MBBS. I am currently going through my internship. I scored 902 in NEET PG 2018 and got an All India Rank of 4.

2) So how long was the duration of your PG prep? How were you able to balance between work during internship and your prep?

I personally feel that a good study habit during your MBBS days can go a long way in your NEET PG prep. Having a positive attitude helps in converting the effort during MBBS into a good rank in NEET PG. It is definitely not going to be easy, but it’s not impossible either. I had joined Dr.Bhatia’s classroom sessions during my minor year. I started using Marrow around April 2017 and had used the free content at Marrow.

3) Did you think the introduction of negative marking changed the flow of your preparation? If so, how?

I personally feel that whatever the pattern is, if one studies well, he will be able to score the marks. In a way it’s good because it reduces the possibility of people scoring the same marks and takes the factor of blind-guessing out of the equation.

4) How many hours of prep did you go through per day?

It used to be variable as I was being an intern. When it wasn’t my call day, I used to spend around 5 hours and on a holiday, I was able to allocate 9-10 hours.

5) On a scale of 1 to 10, how well would you grade your level of preparation for NEET?

I would grade myself around 8.

6) Where do you think was the lapse in your preparation? What do you wish, you could have done better to have been more prepared?

I could have been able to allocate more time. But I wasn’t able to as I was interning. I also wish I could have used the Marrow app more. But because of time constraints I wasn’t able to and I had to resort to Marrow only for the essentials.

7) NEET being a highly intense and competitive exam, it’s natural for students to have self-doubts and suffer dips in their confidence level. How did it affect your preparation?

The prep phase is going to be stressful. We have to accept that fact. One can also be demotivated while preparing during internship. But we have to understand that it’s our life and we have to learn to motivate ourselves. The support system from parents also goes a long way.

8) What would be your advice to students going through such a phase of self-doubt?

Never give up. Even when you’re feeling low, I would advise students to read something. Usually we stop reading at those times and then we feel bad later on. So I would advise to read any subjects they like, preferably their own notes, or watch a video lesson from Marrow. This will help them feel good that they did atleast something today. Each day is not the same and you might feel better the next day. So try not to break out of the flow of preparation.

9) Were there any misleading practices regarding your prep that you that you eventually realised during the later phase of your preparation? How did you fix it?

Reading the theory from guide books and MCQ books proved to be inefficient as it’s a repeat of the theory that is already there in textbooks. That’s what I realised during the later part of my prep. After that, I decided to go through my notes, then the questions and mark the questions near the explanation that I studied just before in my notes.

10) Was the Marrow app useful for your preparation? If so how?

I personally feel the Marrow app encourages students to open their textbooks again because the questions are directly taken from it. The quality of materials and the questions at Marrow is outstanding! I can see that a lot of effort has been put in framing the questions.

11) Did you feel the Marrow app offered you a strategic advantage, as compared to what your prep would have been without the app?

I feel if anyone uses the Marrow app regularly and covers at least half of the materials available in it, they would definitely have an advantage over the rest. The prediction of the type of questions is definitely better than the questions from other institutes.

12) Would you like to point out anything specifically in Marrow’s content that you’d like to highlight for our users?

The videos in Marrow are just excellent! They have done a brilliant job of explaining what is covered, what should be covered, and the important points were stressed upon really well. I gave the National Mock NEET test and it was a good experience and practice. The explanations of the answers and the daily pearls of Marrow app are very very good.

13) On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend Marrow to your fellow peers and colleagues?

A 10. I have already recommended it to everyone I know because it can be very useful for students going through NEET PG prep.

14) At what time period during preparation would you recommend they start using the materials available at Marrow?

The optimal time I would say is when they come to final year, as one needs to have an orientation as to how to study and approach the subject. So right from then I think people can start PG prep using Marrow’s materials.

15) Do you have any other advice or suggestions for students who are currently preparing for NEET?

I would advise them to study smart. The quantity of how much one studies does not matter. How much he or she is able to recollect from it is what matters. So for that one has to study smart and focus on what is important. Not waste time on exploring unnecessary things as time is limited for PG prep. Remain positive. The prep phase is going to be tough. But stay positive. All the best!

Books used by Dr.Bhushan for reference during PG prep:
Anatomy – B.D.Chaurasia
Physiology – Guyton
Biochemistry- Harper
Pathology – Robbins
Microbiology – Anant Narayanan
Pharmacology – K.D.Tripathi
Forensic Medicine – Narayana Reddy
ENT – Dhingra
Ophthalmology – Parson
Community Medicine – Park
Medicine – Harrison
Surgery – Love & Bailey
Obstetrics – Dutta
Gynaecology – Shaw
Paediatrics – Ghai
Orthopaedics – Maheswari
He had used her Dr.Bhatia class notes apart from the above said references for his prep.

We would like to congratulate Dr.Bhushan for his achievement and wish the very best for his future endeavours!

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