“Remember what not to study is as important as what to study.” Dr Manisha Mohanty Rank 1 in NIMHANS Neuromedicine and Rank 2 in Psychiatry talks.
Congrats, Dr Manisha on Rank 1 in NIMHANS (Neuromedicine)! Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Thanks a lot. Really grateful to marrow for helping me throughout my preparation.
I am Dr Manisha Mohanty. I did my MBBS from AIIMS Bhubaneswar. I always wanted to study Neurology in NIMHANS and thanks to all the people who supported me in the endeavour, I got Rank 1 in Neuromedicine and Rank 2 in Psychiatry.
I also had rank 16 in Marrow NIMHANS Mock.
When did you start preparing with Marrow?
I joined Marrow as a Pro user in Feb 2018. My favoUrite thing about the app is that the explanations are very comprehensive.
Did your NEET & NIMHANS preparation go hand in hand?
I was not preparing for NEET. During internship I was focussing for PGI. After PGI the next 4 months I was fully dedicated for NIMHANS.
During internship I studied for about 4-5 hours a day. After finishing my internship in Dec, I used to study at least 9-10 hours everyday and gradually increased the time towards the end.
How did you go about solving Marrow QBank?
The question bank was very helpful. I would recommend once you complete one module go through it once again just after completing and do it again within 2-3 days. Be consistent and try to revise the bookmarked questions 2-3 times before the exam.
Have you use guide books? What is your take on that?
With guidebooks, you can get caught up in the lengthy text which will considerably slow you down. Don’t try to do everything. Speed is very important for PG preparation. That’s why make your basics strong in MBBS itself. I used some MCQ books for Pharma and medicine only because I had done them in MBBS and was quite comfortable with them. I tried other subject wise MCQ books in the beginning but left as they weren’t that helpful.
Did you have a note-taking technique or strategy as such?
I had made extensive notes from the question bank. But I would rather recommend to make short notes only of relevant points which you can revise fast.
How did you go about your revision?.
Revision is very important for any exam. What I did was make notes of the things that I got wrong and some imp facts that are repeatedly and tried to revise them 2-3 times before the exam.
Did Marrow Mocks help you? If yes, how?
The question selection for grand tests were really good. They cover most of the imp topic.1 week before NEET I had just revised the grand test and I could solve many questions because of that. Take the test series seriously and note down the points where you go wrong.
How did you approach image based questions?
Don’t panic. See them 2-3 times. Don’t stress too much. Try to understand the key features. You will realise theY are quite easy.
What is your take on controversial questions?
Don’t waste too much time on those. Ask someone who can clarify it or leave them. As long as your basics are strong no need to worry about one particular question.
How would you recommend others to use Marrow?
Make a schedule as per the test series preferably. Be consistent. Take short & concise notes. Revision is a must. Go through the discussion in the test thoroughly. And if any module is too tough for you, leave it and don’t stress too much on it. Speed is the key.
Remember what not to study is as important as what to study. You have limited time. Try to use it optimally
How many questions did you attempt in NIMHANS?
I had attempted 99 out of 100 and got 21 wrong.
When do you recommend your juniors to start preparing?
I would recommend to go through the textbooks thoroughly starting from first year itself. That forms the foundation for your PG preparation. Read Robins and Harrison in MBBS. You can try solving MCQs in MBBS if you can manage but not mandatory. Once you have the understanding start with MCQs from the beginning of internship itself.
Thank you for your time Dr. Manisha! All the very best for your career in Neurology. 🙂
Does NEET and NiMHANS had negative marking?