How Dr.Durvesh managed his time during internship and scored AIR 590 in NEET PG 2018!

The Marrow team is proud of Dr.Durvesh Bhangale, who secured a rank of 590 after acing a score of 759 in NEET PG 2018. He is an MS Orthopaedics aspirant, who took up NEET PG 2018 for the first time in the middle of his internship.

In our exclusive discussion with him, he has shared some of the insights into his PG prep by highlighting how he was able to balance between work and prep and offers some insightful thoughts into how an early start and efficient time management can help you propel you to success!

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

Hi. I’m Dr.Durvesh. I am from Jalgaon district in North Maharashtra. I started my MBBS from KEM Hospital, Mumbai. I attempted NEET for the first time in 2018 in the middle of my internship and scored 759 and my All India Rank is 590. I wish to pursue my PG in MS Orthopaedics.

2) So how long was the duration of your PG prep? Were you happy with it or did you think you should have started earlier?

I started my preparation right when my internship started. I used to adjust the subjects I prepared depending on the departments in which I was posted. If I had an intense postings I’ll focus on completing a few smaller subjects and I’ll go through Marrow’s Pearls of the day and Image of the day. I had joined Bhatia Institute during my 3rd year of UG. I had joined DAMS test series during my internship. But I didn’t complete all the test from it. I feel I should have started my preparation earlier.

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

No. I was initially scared as I have never been exposed to a competitive exam with negative marking before. But after giving several test series and mock exams I realised that me attempting more questions fetched me more marks. So I had made a point in my mind that the more I attempt, the more I would get correct and hence the more I would be able to score. I was scared till September but after giving more tests, I was able to regain my confidence.

4) How many hours of prep did you go through per day? How often were you not able to achieve your daily estimate for study?

I never really counted my hours. But when internship started, I had put up a timetable for the rest of the year as to what subjects to cover. And I kept revising my timetable depending on the subjects I missed. I think I used to study around 8 hours a day and that went down to about 2-3 hours a day when the internship got me busy.

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

I would grade myself 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 couldn’t continually focus on my prep because I was occupied with my internship. There have been times when I have not studied for 10 days continuously. But in those times Marrow app was useful and I will try to go through the subject materials in whatever little time I get.

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?

I was a bit scared and nervous nearly until a week before the exam. I used to reinforce myself with the thought that I should keep going and never let any time go for waste. And I always had this desire to clear NEET PG in my first attempt itself. So that was a big driving factor for me. I had built a good support system in my parents and take time out by visiting a temple when I felt like it.

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

Just believe in yourself. Everyone are capable of scoring. Sincerity, hardwork and determination will definitely fetch you results.

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?

I started doing my subject tests and grand tests quite late around August. That was quite late. I should have started in the month of May. And I think that was something which I wish I could have started earlier.

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

I used to get updates every day from the app like Pearls, new questions and recent advances in medicine. The image of the day and pearls of the day were the most useful to me. During internship it is really tough to a full subject revision and that is extremely time consuming. I used to take the subject wise mini test and that was very useful to me while doing a short and efficient revision. The quality of the questions was also really good.

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

The most important is the fact that I ended up not wasting any time during my postings. Whenever I used to travel, or whenever I had any free time, I’ll just go through Marrow’s Pearls, images and other short questions, and they were extremely useful to me. I don’t think any other app has this many features for their preparation.

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

I would say 9.5

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

I think sometime around third year would be a good time to start using the Marrow materials like MCQ’s and start preparing for NEET PG.

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

Start your preparation whenever you can. And try not to go through multiple sources. Go through one source of materials and focus on revising the same as I feel like that would save a lot of time as compared to going through multiple sources for the same subject especially during the time of revision. And never give up. Keep your confidence levels high and all the best!

We congratulate Dr.Durvesh and wish him the very best for his future endeavours!

---