One day on What after BDS?: at 54th MSDC Conference

One day on What after BDS?: at 54th MSDC Conference

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Be a Victor; Not a Victim ~ SAAB Syndrome!

The 'SAAB' Syndrome

You have been studying for long and preparing very hard for the entrance exams. But many a time you find yourself stuck with certain questions, because two different authors have given two different answers in their MCQ books - "Someone says A; Another B".  

How can the authors differ? Can't there be a single correct answer? Now you are on a quest. You want to know the correct answer.  You want to know the truth.

So you decide to ask your friends if they know which is better - A or B. You take a screenshot of that question & post it on a social media forum. Next you see that your friends/ well- wishers (competitors, actually) are 'voting' to show their preference. And the results vary - 60:40, 50:50 or 40:60. (Rarely you get 80:20 or 20:80 because in such majority cases, rarely there is any confusion.)

The voting results confuse you even more. You have exhausted all your resources and you still don't know the correct answer. So you decide to spend some more time on it and read the explanations given by the two authors. Now it gets crazier - both explanations seem equally convincing.

You are really annoyed now "which one is really correct? and why can't we have just one correct answer? and why do even these authors have to differ?". Now you are a perfect victim of "SAAB" syndrome.

Etiology of "SAAB" Syndrome:

1. Weltanschauung:  Get a worldview - understand that the literature evolves from a research and clinical practice point of view. Researchers and clinicians try to solve much bigger problems that the world may be facing. They don't give a damn for entrance exams and don't care if their clinical/ research work will become a part of an MCQ in the future! So get the bigger picture!

2. Static vs Dynamic: At any given point of time there will be more than one group of clinicians, thought leaders, researchers, and labs working on one particular 'problem'. The results may vary, and they vary all the time (Murphy's law!).  After years and decades, a conclusion comes out and finds a place in textbooks. But that doesn't mean the research stops there. It continues further and later, the new work may either support or reverse the earlier conclusion.  So as a student of science you should know that science is always dynamic and never static. That's why the answer for one single question may be different in different editions of a book written by the same author.

3. Multidisciplinary Clinical Management: When clinicians write a book or an article, they describe their own clinical approach and management. That's why you see that a clinical problem can be managed by two or more equally successful treatment plans. But there is no 'one' correct answer here; and there can never be 'only one' in many cases.


Treatment and management of "SAAB" syndrome:

1. Simplify your life : Never say this author's answer is A; or some other author's answer is B. They are not discoverers. They are mere interpreters of science. They will interpret science the way they want depending on the book they have referred. After all they are the bosses of their own authored books; so they have full freedom. And all authors mention which textbook they have referred. In case of confusion or conflicting answers by two different MCQ authors, it is 'your' job to go to those textbook sources and read them individually. And then whichever convinces you more - decide on that and move on! Simplify your life!

2. What to do if both explanations look equally good and convincing?
Leave that question. Don't even attempt to know the correct answer, because there wouldn't be any. They may be two different schools of thought and both might be working well in a clinical set up.

3. How can I leave that question? Will I not score less? Won't I lose my rank?
Most of the time, there will  be no confusion, since all MCQ authors tend to work on almost the same set of standard textbooks - they don't differ in their answers. We are talking about those rare situations where the answers differ, they occupy only about 5-10 % entrance exam space.

In a rare instance, even if all these questions come together in the same exam they wouldn't occupy more that 5-10% of the paper - so they don't decide your fate. It's the remaining 90- 95% questions that will be straightforward and bear the same answer, that decide your fate. So instead of wasting time on those 5- 10% MCQs, work on those 90- 95% questions that actually give you a rank.



Conclusion:

You are not here to solve such rare questions. You are here to get a rank and move on to MDS; and this can be achieved comfortably if you get out of SAAB syndrome. Don't act like a helpless victim.

Be wise and take control!

Be a victor; Not a victim!

Youforia: An Idea Enclave

"Youforia- An Idea Enclave" is a venture of Oliv Studios to empower people to bring their ideas to life and into market with the best possible package & branding. Write to us : ideaenclave@gmail.com

What one can learn from Warren Buffett about entrance exam preparations.

Writing this blog after a relatively long gap. A new batch of students has entered the entrance exam zone and has started preparing for the next year's exam, and as usual most of them have their own doubts and confusions regarding their preparation strategy.

Whenever new students send me an email or call me, I compare their query with some of the old queries that I had received from the earlier batches. And do I see any change in the pattern and depth of the queries? No. The  queries have remained the same.

Most, you can say 99%, of them are about the 'source'. Which book to study from? Or more specifically 'Which MCQ book to study from?'

Obviously I'm not the only person they would ask. They ask almost everyone including someone who may be remotely associated with entrance exams. And now the opinions differ. Students get a diverse set of opinions that leads the students to a set comprising at least 10 to 12 books recommended for their preparation.

Now the question is "Does this simplify the strategy?". The answer is "No". It only complicates your preparation strategy.Many advises that are given online or offline are so complex that whenever the student narrates it to me, I ask him or her "Do you think the advice is practical and simple to carry out?".

The students agree that the advice they have received is complex (wide and diversified) and they are finding it difficult to implement. And when I counter question them "Then why didn't you switch over to a better plan?" Their answer is "The plan was so elaborate and inclusive of so many books, that I thought it must be a good plan"

This is not specific to entrance exam preparations. This human behavior is common to financial management, investments and overall approach to life as well.

Let's hear it from the greatest investor of all times Warren Buffett. Considered to be the most successful investor of the 20th century, Buffett is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and as the third wealthiest in 2011. In 2012 Time named Buffett one of the world's most influential people.

1. There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

This is easily seen all around, where students feel that if it's complex then it must be good.

No. The greatest things are the simplest ones. The secret lies in simplicity. Buffett's investment strategies are very simple. The huge wealth has been created implementing simple methods. Difficult to believe, because we 'assume' that he must be following a secret method or a complex strategy which nobody else follows.

2. The (business) schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.

Although he applies this statement only to business schools, it is applicable to all schools.  Students show complex behavior in comparing authors and asking other students to solve some 5% controversial questions that have never influenced the result. They spend 95% of their time solving these questions. A simple behavior is simply focusing on stuff that gives ranks, but someone who is spending a lot of time on solving controversial questions is considered to be doing the right things. You better change this approach.

3. Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

This applies very well to students who create a huge library only to crack an entrance exam. And they don't succeed. This over dependence on too many sources or books only shows lack of clarity on your plans. You better develop clarity first.

So combining all these factors, what can we conclude?

1. Keep it simple. First cover your weak areas. Others won't be aware of your weak areas. So no point in asking others.

2. Stop worrying about how many more books you should buy and how many more MCQs you should solve. Focus on how much you extract from one source.

3. Don't compare authors. Pointless exercise. You must develop your own reasoning.You must generate your own answer from textbooks and stick to your own answers.

4. Focus on major concepts and connect with similar concepts = Core concept.

Why this exercise is good? Because it works on the tenet that you will not forget anything that you have understood. If you are forgetting something, it means you haven't understood it. If you are not able to simplify something, then you have not understood it. If you are not able to apply something, you have not understood it.

Our aim should not just be to get entrance exam ranks. Our aim should be to become and produce excellent ambassadors of science that the community will be proud of.

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

A new product, a new service, a new company, a new division, a new organization, a new anything—where there’s a will, here’s the way.

It begins with a dream that just won’t quit, the once-in-a-lifetime thunderbolt of pure inspiration, the obsession, the world-beater, the killer app, the next big thing. Everyone who wants to make the world a better place becomes possessed by a grand idea.

But what does it take to turn your idea into action? 

Whether you are an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, or not-for-profit crusader, there’s no shortage of advice available on issues such as writing a business plan, recruiting, raising capital, and branding. In fact, there are so many books, articles, and Web sites that many startups get bogged down to the point of paralysis. Or else they focus on the wrong priorities and go broke before they discover their mistakes.

In The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki brings two decades of experience as one of business’s most original and irreverent strategists to offer the essential guide for anyone starting anything, from a multinational corporation to a church group.

At Apple in the 1980s, he helped lead one of the great companies of the century, turning ordinary consumers into evangelists. 

As founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, a venture capital firm, he has field-tested his ideas with dozens of newly hatched companies. And as the author of bestselling business books and articles, he has advised thousands of people who are making their startup dreams real.

From raising money to hiring the right people, from defining your positioning to creating a brand, from creating buzz to buzzing the competition, from managing a board to fostering a community, this book will guide you through an adventure that’s more art than science—the art of the start.

To know more about the 1st book - Click here! 

Now come to the second book: Art of the start 2.0

Fully revised and expanded for the first time in a decade, The Art of the Start 2.0 is Guy Kawasaki's classic bestselling guide to launching and making your new product, service or idea a success.

This new edition has been expanded to reflect the seismic changes in business over the last decade, in which once-invulnerable market leaders have struggled and many of the basics of getting established have become easier, cheaper and more democratic.

Today, business plans are no longer necessary. Social media has replaced PR and advertising as the key method of promotion. Crowdfunding is now a viable alternative to investors. Cloud computing makes basic infrastructure affordable for almost any new venture.

The Art of the Start 2.0 will show you how to effectively deploy all these new tools. And it will help you master the fundamental challenges that have not changed: building a strong team, creating an awesome product or service, and facing down your competition.

World Cup 2015 and AIPG 2015 : Predictions

The popular whatsapp message, which claims that all world cup 2015 matches are fixed has started to go wrong and that too with the initial few matches only. In fact it never met the test of time, as it was released only after the most anticipated Ind vs Pak match. So it came out to be true only for a few days. 

This low level of prediction can be made anywhere - weather, sports or exams. By law of averages, some predictions are bound to come true, even with all the randomness spread around. And anybody can make it. 

You can learn two terms today - 'Randomness' and 'Law of averages'.

Randomness is characterized by a lack of pattern or predictability in events. Any random sequence of events has no order and does not follow any pattern. Individual random events are unpredictable, and only when you accumulate a large number of events, some detectable pattern starts to emerge that may show 'some' amount of predictability.

The law of averages is an erroneous generalization of the law of large numbers. It states that if given enough instances or trials, the frequencies of events with the same likelihood of occurrence even out.  However, this "law" merely represents wishful thinking or a poor understanding of statistics rather than any mathematical principle. 

People do it because everyone wants to have 'some' control over things and events that their lives are associated with. Nobody wants to lose control. So everyone loves to detect a pattern even in things where there is no pattern. 

This whatsapp fiasco of world cup 2015 reminds us of another fiasco - the prediction of AIPG 2015 paper. The prediction was that there is a pattern in AIPG papers. If last year paper was difficult, this year paper would be easy. And they predicted that since AIPG 2014 was indeed tough, they will get an easy paper in AIPG 2015.

We all know it never came true. And went in exactly opposite direction.

Quashing the misconceptions about AIIMS Exams

The three most common misconceptions about AIIMS exams :  

1. Only exceptional students get a rank in AIIMS exams.

Explanation: This notion holds good if all of you were asked to appear for an exam the subjects of which you were not taught before. Mind you, AIIMS exam contains the same questions for which you wrote LAQs and SAQs for the last  4-5 years, passed the exams and for which the University gave you a degree &  licence to practice. Given a chance, you should be able to open a clinic and run your practice. There are no strange subjects like petrochemicals, economics or astrophysics in AIIMS exams. And do not complain that time is short. All of you have been in race for the last 5 years at least. The time span is so long that all minor discrepancies in IQ that you think of, should have been leveled out by now. See the results of a last few exams, you will find that there have been many surprises...in the end it is anybody's ballgame.

2. Competition is stiff as there are 3-4 seats and thousands of students appear for the exams.

Exlanation: If there are 4 seats for winners, then it doesn't matter whether number of losers is 43 or 430 or 4300. You should be just aiming for those 4 seats. Remember the golden rule of Business - when your focus shifts from consumers to competition, your business suffers. So don't count the number of people appearing, just focus on the number of seats available. Aim for the first rank.

3. In AIIMS, you will be able to solve only the repeat questions, as the new questions are too difficult to solve.

Explanation: A typical "Loser's excuse". As I have written in my previous blog, those students who appear for AIIMS exams with a hope that all questions will be repeated, will never get through. Those who go there with a confidence to "solve" any question, will get a rank. This has been proved time and again. Students who have solved just the previous papers and remembered the correct options given in MCQ books will never be able to solve new questions. Those who have literature backing given in the textbooks will be able to solve any question. This holds good in every exam, so why spread a misconception about AIIMS alone?

Trends and strategies for AIIMS May 2010 Exam

AIIMS exam takes place twice every year out of which the November exam every year is a trend setting exam that comes out with several fresh questions that have not appeared in any of the previous exams of any board.  It is one of the highest quality examinations where sheer luck factor is almost nil due to the quality of questions as well as limited number of seats. The questions come from varied sources and may not be limited to your regular set of text books.  So only those students who are well versed with the scientific concepts will get through and this has been proved time and again. Those who have been busy only remembering answers from guidance books can either change their strategy for the remaining 3 weeks or get ready for a shocker.

Total number of questions = 90    
Total time duration          = 90 minutes      
Negative marking             = 1/3 negative marking for wrong answers.

The duration of paper will be 90 minutes containing 90 multiple choice questions covering all the subjects taught at BDS level. There is 1/3 negative marking for wrong answers in the test.


What does the analysis of AIIMS 2009 Nov exam say?  What should be the strategy for AIIMS 2010 examination ?

1. Students survey taken after last year's Nov 2009 AIIMS examination showed that students went wrong in the application type of questions. Application type of questions are not direct lifts from the textbooks nor do they carry a straightforward enquiry. For example, if there is an applied type of question in General Medicine, it would challenge you to make a U turn and go into pharmacology and then into pathology/microbiology and lastly into physiology/biochemistry.  This requires thorough understanding of basics and subject knowledge. So only those students who know how these subjects are interlinked with respect to the concept mentioned in the question, will be able to answer correctly. Those who give the examination in a hope to get repeat MCQs invariably go wrong.

2. Students who were depending solely or heavily on the key given in the MCQ books did not do well in the Nov 2009 AIIMS exam. You need to “generate” answers on the day of examination and not necessarily remember them before only to forget on that day. This calls for a different type of preparation.

Preparatory phase - Read every question and the options given carefully. Let it challenge your intellect. Take time to solve it. This is the time when you get the concept behind the question. Understand it , solve it, verify by referring the textbook. This is the way MCQs are to be handled in the preparatory phase. In the revision phase, try to time the questions. 100 questions in one hour is a good speed.

3. Even in the last 15 days - stick to textbook based preparation. Don't change your strategy now. Increasing the number of MCQs per day or or solving only MCQs in the last 15 days has scripted many sob stories. As the exam approaches, your confusion should reduce & confidence should increase and not the other way around. Start Now! Good luck !

Trend analysis and advice for AIPGEE 2011

AIPG EE 2011 is just two days away and it’s time to analyze the trends. Looks like the question banks are getting exhausted and question papers are becoming more and more predictable. The last examination that was termed difficult by the students was AIIMS Nov 2009 examination. After that it has been repetitions from previous papers. But as you all know by now, these repetitions will not guarantee any success because all the students get the same question paper. You should call yourself lucky and feel happy if each student gets a different paper and only yours happens to be the easiest paper.

It is not a minimum marks exam (like your UG where if you cross a certain level, you are declared "pass"). It's a maximum marks exam (you can reach upto 100%). So easy paper vs difficult paper equation does not hold good in this situation.

Here the relative superiority counts (you need to be better than others). In a tough exam, even with 130-140 answers you can top the nation. In an easy exam like May 2010 AIIMS, even with all questions answered with 95% of them being correct, you may not stand anywhere.

With examination standards falling down and papers becoming easier.... it's becoming a thing to worry and not to rejoice, because most of the students will get most of the questions right and the “Number of deciders” (Number of questions that will decide the rank spectrum) will become small (the rank spectrum becomes narrow). Hence even a single unforced error will throw you back by 50- 100 ranks.

So try to get maximum correct and make minimum unforced errors.

Unforced errors are done by those students who heavily depend upon MCQs in their preparatory phase. Typically such students know the right answer but they can’t explain its basis - why & how. They are more prone for unforced errors because a small twist in the question or a small change in one of the options will make them confused.

Coming to the trends, the only way they are making a paper difficult is by taking questions from AIPG MEE (medical) question papers esp. Pharmacology. Of course other basic subjects are also being taken from medical papers but Pharmacology is the most commonly used weapon. So all those who are confident of dental and basic science concepts, but wish to know how to spend the last 48 hours and what would be the best bet, I recommend Pharmacology and medicine questions from three previous AIIMS and AIPG papers (medical side).

Last but not the least – Don’t make the mistake to spending the last 48 hours trying to solve the chronically controversial questions - because most of them are wrongly framed by students based on their memory after the examination. And spending too much time on these will not take you anywhere near the right answer because the structuring of the options itself is wrong. They will not add to your knowledge. Plus you may lose your confidence and the final battle because of this unrewarding endeavor …  and this may cost you the rank and the seat….. because….

‘It is not just the knowledge but more importantly the confidence on the day of examination that decides the winner.’

All the best !!!

Overcoming the hurdle of controversial questions

The biggest problem that students face during their preparatory phase is confusion & panic in certain questions that have different answers in different MCQ Guidance books. Let us see why the answers differ from edition to edition, author to author and book to book.

Genesis of this problem:

There are many questions, probably hundreds and hundreds of them that were framed at different points of time - some in 1970s, some in 1980s, similarly 1990s, and some very recently. Hence, different examination boards would have different answer keys based on the answers provided by the different examiners who took the best evidence available  at 'that time'. This leads to two things.

1. Science is exciting, ever changing, dynamic and progressive. Drugs of choice, materials of choice, techniques of choice, pontic of choice, prevalence, incidence of a disease, name of a micro-organism, the best diagnostic technique, laws like Ante's law are all bound to change. They have changed and will continue to change. And what holds good today won't remain the same later.

2. Suppose a question repeats now, say for the 10th time, there is a possibility that the answer might be different now, since the evidence might have changed by now. This is if you compare it with the evidence that was available at the time when this question was framed. But nobody can come to know who had framed it and in which year- these are the factors that decide the key that was provided at the time of preparation of question. But MCQ book authors take the latest evidence that is available now. This is why many answers differ from edition to edition, author to author and book to book.

So how to overcome this hurdle?

1. The best foolproof method is to understand the current scientific evidence. If you know the current evidence based explanation to a question, then a lot of confusion and unnecessary struggle can be avoided. Through this a lot of concepts will get interlinked and you will be in a position to generate answers to many more questions other than this one particular controversial question.

2. And suppose there is an exam, where all such 'controversial' questions happen to come together by sheer coincidence, what to do? Even if they all come together, even then they would not comprise more than 5% questions of that exam. And logically, it can be assumed that you were confused about only these 5% controversial questions and know the answers of remaining 95% questions.  In that case you can afford to leave these 5% unattempted, because you will be dead sure about the answers of rest 95% questions. And even if you go wrong in that 95%, due to "problem in peak performance", you should be able to reach at least 85% to 90%, a score that rarely anybody gets.

3. That's why whenever anybody posts a controversial question on any forum, I ask the student "what is YOUR answer?”. You MUST have your own answer, your own explanation based on your own text book (latest edition) reference. Then you will not go wrong even if all controversial questions come together in the same examination by coincidence. Peak performance is all about quick retrieval, connecting different concepts and generating the right answer on the day of examination. While others would be struggling with controversies, you will be having a time of your life - with the latest evidence based answers taken directly from the literature.

That's why comparing different MCQ books & authors is a time wasting exercise. 

Conclusion:

Two strategies for controversial questions:

1. Self referenced answers.
2. Ignoring these questions.

If you do not have your self- searched answers, reading about controversies is useless. And if you have your self- searched answers, controversies do not matter.

"A lecture that changed my life!" - Success story of a PG aspirant, Ibemcha Chanu

(This is an inspiring story of a fighter, Ibemcha Chanu who fought against all odds and depressing phases of life, to emerge as a winner in the AIPG 2015. It was a Thank you letter written to Dr. Rajeev Chitguppi whose lecture and counseling changed her outlook and her exam preparation strategy completely. Read it from her point of view....how she pursued her dream incessantly and accomplished her goal after a long phase of strife and struggle!)

Dear Sir,

I am so overwhelmed by emotions that I cannot stop writing and I consider myself a very lucky student to have got a chance to share my journey of success!

I’m from (may not be appropriate to use the word, but truly) a financially poor family, where I could dream only of getting into Govt colleges as they were the only affordable colleges for me, who lost Dad in internship and during internship I had to work clinics to support my education. Even the fees of Target Educare (Rs.17000/-) was a huge amount to me. But it was my duty to support my family and fulfil my dad’s dream of me doing higher education. I graduated and completed my internship in March 2012 from Govt Dental College, Patna.

With help from seniors, I began my preparation, I read whatever books I had, and then slowly started collecting MCQ books and reading more and more MCQs. I realized it much later that I was not doing it right, and that they were just piling on my memory. I came to know the appropriate term what I was doing then, from one of your lectures - “Getting familiar with the questions” was all that I was doing. I had collected all sorts of MCQs books – from ‘all’ authors – medical and dental, you name it and I had that book. I used to read some explanations too but mainly it mugging up so many answers, and by the time of AIPG 2013 my expectations were high believing I have done my part of hard work. But the result was a big disappointment.

RESULT:  My all India rank of AIPG 2013 was 1232.

Sir, an appropriate explanation for that result would be ‘I was calling a Wrong Number’ ---(PK MOVIE!)

Meanwhile, I got house job in RIMS Imphal, and started earning 50K per month, which was a good amount for me. I saved 17K and got Target Educare admission in June 2013. Being at my hometown Imphal with some network problems, many courier problems, even Target Educare Delhi could not ensure timely delivery of materials. I needed to work to earn money plus study, rarely I attended online lectures but used to give test series at my free time.

In hand there were two exams - AIIMS Nov, 2013 and AIPG 2014.

I continued with my same old study pattern plus Target tests, and by this time I had so many familiar questions in head along with bulks of previous years’ Q & A, so much that it seemed like my memory was full at times. And again…….it was a call at a wrong number. 

Result: AIIMS Nov 2013- Rank 295; AIPG 2014- Rank 444.

And I was just going down. Nothing was going right. But I consoled myself and didn’t give up. I knew I was going wrong somewhere, but didn’t know where. All I knew was I needed more time to study.

Move over to, May 2014, I shifted to my brother’s working place at Delhi, where I decided to involve myself into full time study and I was lucky that I got Target Educare Free login id again for online tests and lectures. I continued with my studies and appeared for Nov 2014 AIIMS. What was the result? To my horror, I was not even in the list of AIIMS Nov 2014. Now I was all blank, not knowing what to do, just waiting for a miracle to happen in the last two months before AIPG 2015

And there came the Online Lecture by Rajeev Sir….that was the turning point. These are those vital few points that I noted down during the lecture:  

1. A question asked in the lecture – “Are you putting all your efforts just to make yourself familiar with the questions or there was something more to it?”
Was I? A big self-question I asked myself after that lecture and also found the answer!
Ans:   A Big Yes!
Reasons: Why was I going wrong in easy fundamental questions?  Why was I was going wrong in questions which I had answer correct in a test a few months ago? Why? Coz I was not familiar with the concepts but just familiar with only the questions, which I used to store in my short term memory for the last 2 years and I was attempting other similar questions based on that short term memory which not helping me in long term- definitely a wrong number called again.

2. Second question asked in the lecture was “Do you just have a wish or a target that I can hit sure shot?”
Ans; Yes. I had a directionless goal and what I need was a target which I could hit. 

But the question was whether those 2 months would be enough to hit it? 
Now I can say Yes and YES, I DID IT SIR!


3. ASSETS:  The third question asked was “Are you building long term assets or some temporary assets and liabilities?”

Answer: I was living with some temporary assets that I was unable to use those when I needed them the most to help me. Again yes sir. I was more focused on momentary assets i.e. just the answers to the MCQs and not on the permanent assets i.e. the wonderful concepts to the questions - my life savers in AIPG were these assts. Thanks Sir.

4. DO I NEED TO KNOW ALL? —a big question again.
Not at all according to sir… You just need to be slightly better than others and this sentence struck me again and again as to how can I be better n now I after getting the rank, I think I’m slightly better J

5. WERE YOU EVER IN THE GAME? WAS THERE A STRATEGY? OR IT WAS JUST AN ABSENCE OF STRATEGY? 
Confused, blank and frustrated I called up Rajeev sir … it was like a counseling done from a long known friend. I said there are so few seats in AIIMS and so many people appearing. Sir said “How many seats do you need? Just one! So it doesn’t matter!” It was such a great relief!

He analyzed my situation “You have huge number of files in your head that’s sufficient enough to crack AIPG. What you require now is to just organize that matter into folders and subfolders which you can easily access in 3 hours of exam”… and this was from one of his lectures.

You said I can do it and be among the toppers. Thanks for your trust sir.

Ready to organize, no worry about test results on Target website, and with my thoughts on why I was unable to clear through all these years, I knew that it was  now or never situation with just about one and a half month in hand. I opened a synopsis, noted down only the chapter-wise topics of each subject. I knew that I couldn’t read all textbooks at that time.

I started reading chapter-wise explanations and concepts with soul motive of creating assets that could enable me to correlate subjects with the chapter I picked up. Now I was sure that with this method I wouldn’t go wrong in next exams in fundamentals and easy questions.


Organizing correlated chapters and organizing previous year AIIMS and AIPG MCQs on related topics, reduced my MCQ burden so much that it reduced the number of MCQs per day to about 50 to 100 ….and that was easy.

I don’t know why I felt so satisfied… even with pressure of nearing AIPG, my satisfaction was able to beat it. When you said “it’s never too late” what you really meant, I understand now.

Yes sir you are right there’s no easy or difficult paper; it’s just relativity of performance.

I didn’t attempt all and I didn’t know all.

I made mistakes in this exam too as a consequence of absence of my long term strategies but I’m so satisfied my assets folders helped me so much to beat those mistakes  and I’m happy that I’m through. I was happy after giving AIPG 2015 exam…and I was happy on exam day too.

I’m happy today because I trust my assets now and also because you trusted me. But my second thought is still …” Why I didn’t build my permanent assets n organize them before?  

This AIPG was neither easy nor tough it was a chance for me to test my assets n yes sir they helped me!

THANK YOU SO MUCH SIR!

Ibemcha Chanu

Once upon a time - Analysis of AIPG 2015 paper.

Which is better?

To prepare for any type of paper that may come or just one situation where you expect that certain questions, certain number of repeats come from certain books?

Remember that the more predictable it gets, the more number of competitors will be there to take away your rank. 

Most of the times maximum number of students prepare with such a fragile approach that their performance depends upon just one type of situation, with their luck and fate hanging by a loose thread. A few questions here and there and they are gone. A few questions asked in a different format, they are annihilated.

That's what happened in AIPG 2015. Students prepared for one type of situation. This was an extremely fragile approach. And in the paper - the deviation was not small; it was big, really big, which left a lot of them unhappy; many depressed.

Could this have been avoided? Yes. Very easily.
Point in your favor - No new subjects. You have studied these subjects for 5 years. Then 1-2 years of entrance preparation. So in total about 6 to 7 years invested in these subjects. (Never say that you studied for 1 or 2 years. Add the earlier 5 years too.) Last 1 to 2 years purely from entrance point of view. So there should have been no "shock element".

You should have prepared to face any eventuality and consolidated your foundation. In IIT and IIM papers or any tough maths exam they prepare for 'solving' the paper. There you find that the 'application skills' and 'problem solving speeds' are improving every year. In short, analytical 'capabilities' are improving every year.

Unfortunately only in dentistry it is not improving. Here it's a different story.

Here it's all about
- 150 questions repeat.
- about 80 questions from these 5 books.
- these many questions are direct picks.
- these many are controversial.
- these are wrong but still you have to answer wrong because they are direct picks from this book.
- this state exam usually comes from this book so focus more on that.
- this year's paper would be easy cos last year was tough. So if you revise this one book it's enough.
- no need to go in depth.
- no need to study from textbooks.
- these are the 100 odd questions where authors gave different answers.

The whole exercise seems to be working around these points. Too much of risk. Too little assurance. So if you combine all these points it becomes one hell of a fragile approach that may collapse anytime.

And it happened so - once upon a time - in Jan 2015.

How to make the last week a game changer?

With every blog I'm getting more and more emails. More and more students confiding in me and accepting that their earlier study plans were seriously flawed. 

Now they are in a big dilemma that with only 3 - 4 days left for Karnataka exams: 

1. Should I change my previous gameplan/ strategy? or 2. Should I stick to the same gameplan/ strategy because now making a change would be too late and too risky?


Analysis and Solutions:

First : Your earlier exercise was not a strategy - but just an 'absence of strategy'. Don't even call it a gameplan cos you weren't playing any game - You were never in the game, to start with. You were never in the competition - you were never a competition.

Second : Even if you don't continue with your old style of study you won't lose anything. Take this risk - Stop studying from today. Close all the books. No MCQs from today. Watch movies, go out and party, attend social events or go to a hill station and directly come to the exam on weekend. You think this will reduce your score? No; because anyway you weren't doing anything to increase your score. Take this advice. Go chill out and come to exam directly and you will be pleasantly surprised that your will performance will be the same. In fact the fresh mind may even help you to solve a few more complex questions.
(Note the word 'complex'; there are no controversial questions btw)

Third : Why not get on to the right track at least now? You know there are some 10 areas that you are weak at. AIIMS exam, AIPG and Revision tests all have shown the same thing -that you are weak in certain things and they are shouting that they need your urgent attention. Would you ignore this? Why? Why ignore this opporyunity? And what are you going to achieve by ignoring it?

In the coming 3 days suppose you cover 10 concepts - Just 10 concepts. And in the exam you get 7 direct MCQs- one each on 7 concepts out of the 10 you had read. And other 3 concepts help you in 'deriving indirectly' 3 more answers. And you end up scoring 10 more marks.

Do you even know what's the power of 10 marks? Forget 10 marks- even 5 more marks can make you a winner. And 10 more marks will change your destiny.

Everyday gives you an awesome opportunity to inch further and closer to the rank you always wanted. It's all about how keen 'you' are to seize this golden opportunity.

Moral of the story: It's not late even now. Stop following those stale advises. Stop being passive where your study plans don't give you anything other than making you surrender to whatever happens. Be proactive and 'take control' over yourself and your strategy.

Start it today; and start it now!

Easy vs. Tough Exam: Does it really apply to Entrance exams?

A week to go for all Karnataka entrance exams.
Look at these scenarios about the exams and their papers. Applicable to any and every exam.

1. One extreme - All questions are highly difficult. All questions seem to be out of syllabus and out of reach.

2. The other extreme - All questions are damn easy and repeats. 'All' are repeats. 

3. The balanced paper - Some old. Some new. Some newer versions of old questions. All subjects equally distributed.

If you think any one of these scenarios is more helpful - in other words, you have a better chance of getting a rank in 'any' one of these three situations, you are wrong.

I have written it many times before. It's only the 'mass average percentage' (aka. central tendency) that changes.
Scenario one - it may be less than 25%
Scenario two - It may go beyond 90 to 95%
Scenario three - the usual 75 to 80%.

In other words, it's only the 'absolute score' of yours that goes low or up, whereas your relative position (compared to others) remains the same.

Remember one thing - as long as your 'relative position' (when compared to others) doesn't change, you are going to stay with the crowd only with the 'mass average' score; and this is not something that you wish to have, if you seriously want a rank.

Scoring the average and staying with the crowd was a norm in your BDS years. There was a lower limit set by the university to pass there.

Here the objective is different. There is no lower limit. There is only upper limit. Apply common sense. You have to be on the higher side. So the concept of easy and difficult exam doesn't apply and stays invalid.

Another point of view - Unless your relative position improves, you stand no chance. Unless you beat majority of the aspirants (your competitiors) you stand no chance.

Now just ask yourself a question. If you have been asking your 'competitors' and taking their help on what you should answer and in return you are also 'helping' them on what 'they' should answer in the exam (just like you did in your UG days) - does it work here? Is it logical?

Third point of view - if all 1000 of you moved up together, does that improve your 'relative' position as compared to others?

Think about it. Introspect. Answer yourself.

Smart strategies for the last day before exam!

The last 24 hours: how to utilize to your maximum advantage?

1. The worst mistake: 

Trying to do the impossible - Going through hundreds to thousands of MCQs in the name of revision.
Benefit :
Nothing as such. In fact the gap/ deficit seems to widen as the last hour approaches.
Result: 
Anxiety and loss of confidence. 
Advice :
Avoid this exercise

2. The alternate technique:

Do what is needed - Identify those key areas that 'you know you are still weak' at.
Benefits:
Sealing the lacunae connects hundreds of other concepts that you had read long back. All scattered concepts automatically start connecting and suddenly everything starts making sense.
Result:
Big boost to your confidence.
Advice:
Do a favour on yourself. Do it for yourself.

Detection of Patterns - Rumours - Easy papers: Do they really help in anyway?

(This blog was written to warn students about a rumor that claimed to have detected a pattern in AIPG papers. According to that rumour AIPG 2015 was supposed to be an easy paper full of repeat quetions! Whata a grave miscalculation! Read on)
A few more days to go for AIPG 2015 and I thought I should share with you all something that you may find interesting!

It is very common to see people trying to detect a pattern in exams conducted by a particular exam board. What's unfortunate is that the students assume they have made a significant headway towards cracking that exam, by exposing or unearthing what they feel was kept as a "well guarded secret" by the exam board.

Welcome to AIPG 2015 and there is already a misconception or rumour making rounds. It says there IS a pattern in AIPG exams.

Hold your breath now - the earth shattering secret will be revealed right now in 4 points!
1. The pattern is set by the AIPG exam board and the pattern is such that the difficulty level repeats in every alternate exam.
In simpler words, the pattern is "Easy-Difficult-Easy-Difficult-Easy...".
2. So suppose the last year exam was easy, this year it would be difficult.
3. But this year batch is lucky, because the last year was the "difficult" year. So this year AIPG 2015 will be an "easy" paper.
4. So what's the recommended strategy for the coming week exam? Just read any one common/ basic mcq book.

Now let's dissect the problem!

As you all must have realized by now, "difficult vs easy" paper concept is applicable only in Absolute marks papers like the ones you gave in your schools and university exams.

Entrance exams are Relative performance exams. Here "difficult vs easy" exam makes no sense. It is irrelevant here.

Difficult vs Easy exams only decide the overall average score, which goes up in easy exams and stays low in difficult exams. So if the last year exam was indeed difficult, the average would have stayed low - around 70%. Similarly if this year the exam is going to be easy, then it only means the average would go up to 80-90%.

Ranks are decided by your relative performances. In other words, what decides your rank is how better you are when compared to your competitors; and this 'competition or relative performance remains the same' at both levels- easy exam or difficult exam.

So it means, you have the same chance in both exams - your 'relative' position will not improve in an easy exam, just as it won't worsen in a difficult exam.

The only thing that changes is the average score of the masses (students); and that would just be an interesting statistic of academic interest for exam boards and coaching classes. But that's about it! Nothing more than that!

Now coming to the book. "You read just 'XYZ' book that would be enough for this exam"

1. It only tells you how you can keep yourself just around the average score of the year. (Not assures you any rank, if you follow their strategy - you would be way behind, anyway)

2. It only tells you how to move 'with' the crowd. But entrance exams are not like your bds exams. You can't move 'with' the crowd here and just pass the exam. You have to 'beat' the crowd if you want a rank.

3. And if your last week strategy is about reading XYZ mcq book, that everybody reads throughout the year then how are you different from others and what were you doing all this time?

If you haven't finished one basic mcq book or still feel the need to revise that one book, then you need not worry about the competition because you are yourself not a competition. You are not a threat to anybody. You are just moving with the crowd and not in the top league to get a rank.

In other words, people don't consider you as a competition!

Moral of the story :

If some source tells you that this year's AIPG exam is going to be easy, remember that it reveals nothing significant about your chances of a rank.

It doesn't tell you anything about whether you will get a rank; it only tells you - there is chance that your score may go up!

The most neglected thing that you were not aware of!

(This blog was written on 13th Jan, 2015 - after the MHPGCET results were announced)

Maharashtra State Entrance Exam Results (not ranks) are out! 

When I had first interacted with the students immediately after the paper, they were sad that the exam paper was tough to crack. This is not a valid complaint since 'difficult exam and easy exam' concept is not applicable in entrance exams as there is no lower limit of passing marks.

A few days after the exam was over, their opinion had changed. They felt "the exam was not difficult, after all" and anybody who had a good grasp of basics could have scored very high.

Now a few more days have passed and the scores are out.

Now many have come to realize three mistakes that they made in the exam hall.
a) easy questions that they didn't read properly, so misunderstood/ misinterpreted the question itself.
b) easy questions they made mistakes answering.
c) easy questions that they attempted casually because there was no negative marking.

Everybody had answered all questions only because there was no negative marking. But how many are answered in the last half an hour in a no-negative exam holds the key.

The three types of mistakes enlisted above seem to be expensive as they seem to have consumed as many as 15-20 marks. Out of which 10 -12 are silly 'on-the-spot' mistakes.

Had these "unforced errors" been avoided the score would have jumped from 60% to 80%. First rank!!!

So where is the problem of
1. Controversial questions?
2. Tough paper?
3. New questions?
4. Too much to study?
5. Different answers in different MCQ books?

The low performance, damage and loss of rank could have been averted easily by "common sense", which is more of an attribute of "Emotional Quotient" than IQ.

And this is not the story of this Jan 2015 Maharashtra exam alone. It's the story of all exams all these years.

Moral of the story: Keep it Simple if you want a rank!

Antifragile approach: The ultimate example!

Sachin Tendulkar on Steve Waugh

Sachin Tendulkar releasing his book

Steve Waugh

While writing in an earlier blog that it's better to be Anti-fragile than just resistant to stress, I had explained that 'an anti-fragile object actually benefits by being under stress or disorder'. 

It means stress actually strengthens and improves the anti-fragile object. This is applicable to individuals as well.

I had received two queries from students asking me for a real life example of anti-fragility phenomenon.

I had a few examples in mind relating the anti-fragility phenomenon to cricket and sledging.

Sledging is done to unsettle players. The fragile get unsettled (so many examples), whereas the resistant remain unaffected (Rahul Dravid and a few more, may be).

But I was still searching for the best example for anti-fragility phenomenon and I found it while reading Sachin Tendulkar 's autobiography 'Play it my way' where he describes Steve Waugh's personality.

While Steve Waugh batted, they used to observe silence instead of sledging him as sledging would strengthen him further.

Steve Waugh was not just resistant, but anti-fragile!

The commonest query of students about the last minute preparations!

It has been very common for me to be getting messages and emails from anxious students just 1 -2 days before any entrance exam. The emails ask a variety of questions about the last minute preparation.

If I combine all the queries received till now all these years, one central query emerges - "What should I do on this last day before the exam? What should I study?

It's a mistake by you, if you assume that today is that special day that can change the result completely and create a miracle tomorrow - you are completely wrong.

Last day of preparation before the exam doesn't have to be different, if...
1. you have designed a study plan that covers all your weak areas.
2. your study plan extends till the last day before the exam.

You better stick to the same plan and follow it with dedication and discipline. Remember that study plans are made individual specific and situation specific. They are made to bring more clarity to your goals and objectives. In short, study plans are supposed to bring you more rewards by simplifying your task and hurdles.

So why do you want to complicate it on the last day when you are supposed to make it even simpler and more rewarding?

What you should do and what you shouldn't?

1. Don't wear out today. Don't tire yourself out today.

If you are thinking that you have to do "one quick last revision of all questions today" you are wrong. You will achieve nothing other than overburdening yourself with a non-rewarding task, unnecessarily. Even if you do nothing today, your performance will hardly vary tomorrow. Whatever good had to be done, whatever damage had to be done, has already been done. Now you can't change much. So why not focus on a better performance tomorrow instead of inviting a bad performance?

2. Do whatever that adds to your confidence.

What you need the most at this hour is confidence and not some more familiarity with questions or answers given by differing authors. Trust yourself. Avoid anything that burdens you or makes you anxious.

a. Avoid "controversial" question discussions.
b. Mute the MCQ spamming whatsapp groups.

3. Focus on peak performance.

Your peak performance is tomorrow. Not today. So don't exhaust all your energy today by stretching your limits up to 3 am. Instead reserve your performance for tomorrow - wake up fresh, enjoy the exam and later party till 3 am. Remember that there are no consolation prizes for your regrets. No consolation prizes for a hard work done today that would rob you of a peak performance tomorrow.

Relax today.
Wake up early tomorrow and enjoy a good morning walk.
Give your peak performance.

Good luck..

The sure-fire formula to crack any entrance exam!

All students who have been our alumni at Target Educare are well aware of this term that we keep bombarding every year to every batch and every student. In fact 'Core Concept' has been our 'Core Philosophy' for the last 10 years. It has been synonymous with our line of thinking and the kind of learning we want all the students to undergo.

What is a core concept? 

It is basically a central concept around which many other secondary concepts revolve and if you are able to master the core concept and connect it to the secondary concepts it will so strongly be ingrained in your mind that you will never forget it.

It is a very robust, scientifically perfect and extremely logical tool, which is not vulnerable to memory lapses. It will help you analyze any new question as you will be able to make inroads into the question.

You can call it a lazy man's tool. It is designed for students who are lazy, who don't want to work too much on thousands of MCQs but want results in the first attempt without getting trapped in the tsunami of MCQs.