Interview with Dr. Nishita Mohan Philip – 1st rank holder – NEET PG & AIIMS PG entrance November 2012

Congratulations on securing the top rank in the AIIMS PG entrance exam November 2012 ! What is the secret of your success?
Thank you. I believe in God totally and owe my success to Him. I worked, but never ever expected to make it to AIIMS.

Could you tell us something about yourself?
I’m from Kollam, did my schooling from St.Joseph’s Girl’s HSS and S.N. Public School Kollam. Did my MBBS from Govt.Medical College, Trivandrum.

What were the various entrance exams you wrote? What were the ranks you obtained?
AIIMS November 2012 – Rank 1
NEET PG – Rank 1
Kerala Feb 2012 – Rank 209
Attempted 2011 November AIIMS and 2012 All India but did not make it to the rank list.

How did you prepare for last year’s exam?
Actually I read only PG hunt (a book for Kerala PG entrance) before the last Kerala entrance.

Were you able to prepare well during the internship period?
I started preparing when internship started but it hardly lasted for a month. Found it hard to manage along with ward duties.

When did you seriously start preparing for this year’s entrance exam?
Started serious study from Feb 2012. Around 9 months. Though its much less than the ideal time for preparation, and had to leave many topics in many subjects untouched.

What was your study strategy?
I didn’t exactly follow a strict study plan. Mostly did some textbook reading followed by the corresponding MCQ. Depends on the subject. Read subject wise MCQ for Medicine, Surgery, Pharmacology and SPM. Did 2001-2012 Ashish Gupta and Mudit Khanna. Marked difficult questions and went through the marked questions only during revision.

In your opinion, how much time does a student require for preparing for this exam?
Around 12-14 hours of sincere study for 1 year is more than enough. Take a break after 2-3 hrs of study. Helps a lot.

What role did the internet play in your preparation?
Did not use the internet much last year.

Did you have a timetable for preparation? Were you able to stick to it?
Like everyone I also made a timetable but couldn’t stick to it.

Did you ever doubt your ability to get selected in this year’s entrance exam? If so, how did you overcome your fears?
Felt disheartened several times, desperate, hopeless and what not. At those times, I used to pray a lot and also discussed problems with my friends. That really helped me a lot.

Did you attend any coaching? Was it useful?
Attended CME at Thrissur Medical College (TMCAA) last year. It helped me to organize my studies. Attended some extremely good classes there. The atmosphere is competitive, so helps us stay focused.

Did you attend any test series other than that conducted by your coaching centre?
Did not join any other test series.

What were the subjects you focused upon?
Focused more on Medicine, Surgery, SPM, Pharmacology, OBG and 1st year subjects.

What books did you read for theory?
Anatomy – Chaurasia
Physiology – Ganong
Biochemistry – Sreekumari
Pathology – Robbins
Microbiology – Ananthanarayan
Pharmacology – Tripathi, Sparsh Gupta
Forensic Medicine – Reddy
SPM -Park, Vivek Jain
ENT – Dhingra
Ophthalmology – Parson
Medicine – Harrison, Ashish Gupta
Surgery – Bailey, Ashish Gupta
OBG – Sheila Balakrishnan

Is there anything specific to keep in mind while preparing for AIIMS?
For AIIMS, concentrate more on Ophthal , Pharmac and SPM. Will fetch you marks. Many previous questions are repeated. So make sure that you are thorough with them.

What should be our strategy for NEET PG?
For NEET, study basic things first. Read Park as much as possible.

What is your advice to future aspirants?
Even if you feel your studies are bad, you lag behind others; just keep on reading, reading, and reading. It’s not big brain that matters, but pure hard work. Cover as much as possible, stay cool, discuss with others and help each other study. In the end success will come along. That’s for sure.

All the very best for my juniors.

That brings us to the conclusion of the interview. Best of luck for your future endeavors!