FAST and STEADY (STUDY) Wins the Race

YOUR RACE FOR Dental Exams Entrance Preparation – Part I

The title of this page aptly chosen to highlight for what is actually needed for Dental Entrance preparation. It is a small modification of the old proverb – ’slow and steady wins the race’.

For Dental Entrance Exams all over the world one rule is common. Entrance preparation, you should be FAST as well as STUDY.

(STEADY) in your approach in preplanned strategy.

This is written keeping in view different entrances. If we have common entrance we guess that the paper will be in line with a single exam and the strategy changes accordingly. The database analysis is the essence of interviewing many toppers about their viewpoint on the strategies that led them to success.

Dear Aspirants

First of all, I would like to wish all the students a great success in the times ahead.

In fact I am very much annoyed by the comments made by some bloggers and inexperienced colleagues on the internet on how to prepare for dental entrances.

Our new aspirants are being carried away by the suggestions given by them which is not practical also. One of the friends suggested reading some 50 textbooks.

I can guess he might have never prepared for the dental entrance exams or might have never succeeded after many attempts & still reading to complete this textbooks.

Dear friends, first of all, let me make clear what all you see on all these social sites and the discussions being carried is only less than 2% of the total number of candidates appearing for various entrances and the toppers on these sites are less than 0.2% of the total number of successful candidates.

This article was written with a vast experience and by scientific methodology after interviewing with the many toppers and who have lost despite preparing well for the exams.

The group included dentists who have successfully qualified for various dental exams. Apart from this, we have included those who have lost despite their hard work.

By posting this I don’t mean to hurt my co-bloggers and authors of various books including mine as I have also faced some critical remarks for my books also.

“Nothing succeeds like success”

After all, successful men are the role models today.

This theme is made for you in association with many aspirants like you. It is meant to make your preparation effective, yet not harder. It is based upon the experience of many toppers who succeeded in various PG entrance examinations. As you know a prerequisite for success in any PG entrance exam is: “Right type of information at the right time”

 Step #1. When to Start Preparation?

See Next Slide for Steps #1 & #2

Step # 1- WHEN TO START PREPARATION?

The first approach is the best approach.

Every year some 25000 new aspirants are competing with you. Remember this.

In the changed scenario at least 8 months of preparation is needed to face any dental entrance exam confidently.

Happily, enjoy first 2-4 months during your internship as we all are

human beings and we need time to relax.

This is the golden period of your life and also the platform where you have to start the journey for your rest of life.

I strongly suggest you start preparing for Dental Entrance Exams immediately after 2 months of internship starting. 

Time lost can never be gained. Time and Tide won’t stop for anybody.

Gather information on the exams that you want to cover. Then start preparing for them.

As teachers, we have seen Internees wasting their time by reading newspapers, novels, and chit chats in the Department.

Instead of that utilize this time for reading any MCQ questions papers.

The internship is the turning pointing in the life of a dental surgeon.

We strongly suggest you shed off your inertia and fully utilize this valuable and irrevocable golden time.

Step #3 – BOOKS TO STUDY

What are all the books needed for Various Dental entrance preparation?

This is the question that will have many different answers, each time you ask any senior or someone who has tries the exams previously. Do not get confused. From our experience and also from the experience of thousands of candidates, we have compiled a list of books which will be more than adequate for any dental qualifying exam preparation.

Please note that these books are just the basic ones to clear your concepts of the subjects. For every specialized dental qualifying exams there are always some specific books to follow. But that comelaterer. For the starter, you can start with these basic books.

1. The basic books for Pg entrance preparation are

• Dentest (clinical and Basics)
• Dental pulse (clinical and Basics)
• Dental matrix
• Dentogist-Bhataia

1.  For AIIMS and AIPG (India) – the following books are preferred
   Ritu Duggal, Prabhakar, Pankaj Dhawan,  etc..,

      2. Medical related MCQ

                          Amit Ashish, Mudit Khanna

      Question paper type of books-

Ø         Dental bytes

• Neeraj wadhwan

Ø         Dental explorer

Ø         Target MDS book-

Ø         Spectrum

• Synopsis like books
• Sandeep Goyal
• Dentaquest modules

There is a varied collection of books depending upon the individual entrances. Some students will be fully engaged in collecting this books but never start reading. So start reading with what you have first.

The reading of Dentest and Pulse covers 95% of your preparation. Remaining all the books whatever may be whether question papers or any other synopsis like material covers only remaining 5%. Many of the toppers have agreed that whether they read or not most of them bought what are all the books available in the market. After entrance preparation, they realized it is nothing to overburden themselves.

By these words, I don’t mean to belittle my fellow authors. This is just an expression of the feedback what we received from the toppers.

Dental Pulse

Positive	Negative
Ø  Most followed book and must book which has emerged in recent times like a bullet..Ø  First book for PG entrance preparationØ  Gives confident after first preparationØ  Simple explanations and easy to retain.Ø  Sufficient for some state entrancesØ  Synopsis is good useful for final minute revision also	Ø Cannot feel the preparation is full after first readingØ Not many things are added in subsequent editions compared to second editionØ Mistakes are there Mistakes are not corrected in latest editionØ   Preclinical is not efficient

Dentest

Positive

Negative

Ø   one of the oldest books Considered as BIBLE for PG entrance .Ø   Obligatory book for many entrancesØ   explanations  are very good and Vth edition has emerged of its kind as in recent questions came from this explanationsØ   preclincal ( recent 5th edition ) is good.Ø   Feels preparation is  complete after first readingØ   Book is useful for different entrances and board interviews.

·         Book is bulky and not feel to start as a first book·    Though explanations are given. elaborative explanations are given some times·         No point to point exp for some questions·    Takes more time to read. It takes minimum 4 months to complete only this books.·         Few mistakes are still there.·         The explanations given in book does not match with all the other books( This is not the mistake of book of course it’s a misconception of the students)

• Of all the 100 toppers  96 percent read both the books. This shows the importance of both these books for entrance preparation. Only 10 percent of the toppers have read either only the pulse or Dentest.

• 100% of the toppers of AIPG read selected topics from  RITU DUGGAL and MANISH PRABHAKAR books.

• 10% of the AIPG toppers have read Bhatia book.

• Toppers of the AIIMS in addition read Pankaj Dhawan book also.

Regarding the question paper type of books- you decide which entrance you are going to prepare.

If only AIPG- Neeraj Wadhwan is the common book followed by many students.

Recently “Target- MDS” has emerged as favorite books for the students for those preparing AIPG
If for AIIMS and PGI- spectrum and Target MDS books are must
If you are giving all the entrances– DENTAL BYTES is a must
Most of the toppers read only Pulse and Dentest.

So you decide what to read and what not to read and what to start first.

We give the feedback what we received for individual entrances at the end.

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Should I Read National Boards Again?

As an author, I should not reveal but to make it clear most of the NDBE question up to 1998 are given in various MDS  entrances and they are covered in  Pulse and Dentest. We suggest you reading the national boards or decks available after 1998.

**** To our surprise all the toppers of AIPG  read full or part of NDBE papers. They agreed that though it boosted their morale they have not specifically helped in the entrances.

So we have to follow them know—if time permits please read this NDBE papers also.

But for students who are particularly planning to appear for foreign dental qualifying exams, it is imperative that they gather the NBDE papers and solve them thoroughly.

There are many official NBDE & NDBE preparatory materials available like Kaplan Test Papers that will give the dentist targeted idea on how to solve the questions.

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See Next Slide (Step No.4) 

The Most Asked Question!

SHOULD I READ TEXTBOOKS?

Step #4 – Should I Read Theory Text Books?

This is one of the important questions put by many aspirants.

The answer is yes – yes-no-no-yes.

A textbook may be loaded with too many details but when it comes to entrance exam very few are of high-yielding nature.

The intelligent reading of textbook ??  !!

Extensive coverage of  MCQs on all the topics with intensive coverage of selected topics in textbooks

Extensive textbook preparation is not all that necessary for PG or dental entrance preparation.

Selective reading of certain topics is all that needed from this textbooks.

Mark the topics where you are weak and go through recent question papers on the topics which they are concentrating –for example, the emphasis is more on implants, periodontal pathology, trauma and fractures, biostatics etc..

So first start practicing MCQs—then you will get an idea what to read and what not to do read in this books.—make the textbook reading a retrospective way.

See that your theory preparation from textbooks should not at maximum exceed 20-25% of the time allotted for PG preparation.

Prepare points, notes, tables values etc when you are reading the books.

All well-known MCQ books have some mistakes.

Very well written any MCQ book is no way equivalent to a textbook.

In the case of doubt don’t hesitate to refer standard textbooks for that particular question.

Your goal in entrance exam preparation is to cover as much as possible – as quickly as possible. So, you simply don’t have time to go through line by line of textbooks.

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Yes, the knowledge of theory is needed to understand the concepts. But you also need to realize that the entrance exams are MCQ based exams. You are not going to write long essays for that.

What you need is a good memory and strong, repeated revisions to recall the answers.

So one of the most followed approaches is to – keep solving the questions from MCQ books chapter wise and along with doing that check the theories, in brief, taking the help of synopsis provided in the MCQ book.

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See Next Slide to Know  

Step # 5  – How Many Hours To Study

Step # 6 – Use of Internet?

Step # 5: HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD I STUDY PER DAY?

How many hours should I spend

in a day for entrance preparation??

This is again a silly question.

It varies from person to person and the time period we have for exams.

Remember it is the consistency that plays the most important role.

Read daily at least 5 hours approx.

Initial preparation—you have to allocate at least  4-5 hours.

During final preparatory phases,  it should be gradually increased to 8-9 hours.

In our survey, we found that 95 % of the successful candidates have allotted more than 12-16 hours of time during the final stages.

The minimum time they allotted is 5 hours a day.

So if you are sure that you can allocate this much of time for your entrance – then only start preparing for the various dental qualifying exams– otherwise enjoy the beauty of the life. 

– otherwise, enjoy the beauty of the life. 

So the key word here – consistency and repetition

That is the only way to master something. Consistently sit and study for 5 hours every day so that it becomes a habit. Initial days will be difficult as you will tend to lose focus. But keep repeating the process and soon you will get the habit to focus and study for 5 hours.

And when the time comes for more effort you will be able to transition much more easily to longer hours of study.

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Step # 6 – Should I Join A Coaching Center? 

Individual Preparation or Group Studies?

Question papers Daily? Use of Internet?

Should I join A Coaching Center?

I prefer yes only –if you have access to this coaching institutes and fees affordable to you—you may join and attend the classes and exams.

Individual preparation or group studies?

Both—??—yes ..yes

10 times reading =  1-time writing

10 times writing = 1 time Hearing

10 times hearing= 1-time Teaching

By group discussions, You will be known what is unknown  or what you have missed during reading

• makes you remember things for a longer time.
• clear your doubts
• judge if you are going too slow

The discussion will drift to extracurricular topics ?? – don’t spend more than 30 minutes!

Use of Internet Sites & Social Blogs

• You believe it or not this is one of the reasons why many hard workers have lost entrances.
• The main reason why they search these sites is to find out the mistakes or controversial questions. Until and unless you complete a full reading of all the major portions of the exam, don’t  spend more than 30 minutes on these sites.
• In the final stages also –some toppers have commented that they are depressed by seeing the questions posted on these sites.
• So don’t waste time on sticking and discussing unnecessary mistakes and controversial questions.
• Be normal and be thorough with the Basics.
• Don’t  try to jump in the air without a proper grip of your feet on the ground.

Should I do question papers daily

• The answer is definitely yes. Let this question papers be from coaching test centers, MCQquestion paper books.
• Ask your juniors to prepare just 10 question from any pre-clincals and just solve them
• Ask your brother or sister, frns or any family members to blindly prepare the questions from the books and try to solve them.
• As preparation progresses by the end of fifth month you should be able to do a full question paper of 200 questions.Try to answer this paper by thinking you are giving the original exam.

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Do you know why these practice papers are useful. 

The answer is you may be knowing what is called as DESENSITIZATION.

Most of the mistakes are committed with questions you already know in the examination. Practice test help you to avoid this mistakes

• recognize and rectify the mistakes that you generally tend to commit during actual test situations.
• Most essentially habituate yourself to switching challenges from one topic to another.
• analyze the pattern of your response to questions.
• analyze whether you are up to the mark in speed required during actual test situations.

To make your preparation effective, a self-assessment section is included to assess how much you know. To customize yourself with exam environment situation we suggest you solve model test papers daily.

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See Next Slide: (Step 7)

TIME MANAGEMENT

Step # 7 – TIME MANAGEMENT

It requires a minimum of 4-6 months for initial preparation and 4 months for final preparation for a particular exam. Start planning to prepare for entrance exam as soon as you enter internship.

• Pen down all the subjects systematically and assess how much time you need for each subject and assign the time according to availability. Try to stick to this rough estimated time schedule
• stress on proper revision Schedule

Allow a minimum of 5 hrs/day during initial preparation and a minimum of 8 hrs/day during final preparation. Two methods of preparation can be identified.

First Method (Subject-wise preparation)

Procure all the study material and finish subject by subject within stipulated time. The proposed allotment of time for each subject for initial preparation may be considered:

Procure all the study material and finish subject by subject within stipulated time. The proposed allotment of time for each subject for initial preparation may be considered:

Pre-clinical Subjects —2- 2 ½months

Clinical subjects—3 -3 ½ months

General anatomy and histology——-  2weeksPhysiology                               ——–1 weekBiochemistry                           ——– 1 weekPathology                                ——–  1 weekMicrobiology                          ———1 weekPharmacology                      ———- 1 weekDental materials                  ———–1 weekDental anatomy and oral histology—1week

Clinical subjects

a)   Oral pathology & oral medicine ……………….         2 weeks b)  Dental radiology ……………………………………        1 week c)   Oral surgery ………………………………………….       1 weeks d)  Periodontology ………………………………………      1 week e)   Conservative dentistry ……………………………        1 week f)   Endodontics ………………………………………….      1 week g)  Prosthodontics ………………………………………      1 week h)   Orthodontics  ——————————-          1 week 1.     pedodontics            …………………                            1 week i)    Community dentistry ……………………………..         1 week j)    General medicine ……………………………………       1 week k)   General surgery …………………………………….        1 week

The advantage of reading the subjects in the above sequence is repitition of topics and overlapping of MCQs.

Advantage of this method is better understanding of the subject; increased memory retention due to immediate repetition and revision of MCQs.

Disadvantage of this method is that if unexpected entrance dates are announced or if you fail to follow the schedule strictly, there is chance of skipping one or two subjects which may cost you a PG seat.

Second Method (Many Topics At A Time)

In this method incremental reading of every subject everyday in a sequence is done instead of reading a single subject at a stretch.

This is followed by reading previous years MCQs.

This method is advantageous in situations where unexpected dates for entrance exam are announced.

Best method would be to follow the first method for initial preparation and second method for subsequent preparations; however, program planning and time to be allotted is subject to individual capacities and capabilities.

The interview of many toppers reveal the following principles of preparation

Minimum time required for PG preparation is 6-8 months.

Keep one day/ week as relaxation day or revision day depending upon you time ration.

Don’t read any single subject at a stretch.

Don’t read all the subjects at a stretch from any single individual mcq book.

Read a subject from one book—revise it from other book

During study times, take a break every fifteen to twenty minutes

Read both the clinical and non clinical subjects at same time.

Here is an brief idea to read clinical and its concurrent preclinical or relative subject.

Clinical subject	Concurrent Preclinical / relative subject
Fact oriented subjects
Oral pathology and oral medicine  and Oral radiology	Oral anatomy and histology, general pathology  and general medicine
Oral surgery	General Anatomy,  pharmacology and general surgery ,physiology
periodontics	Microbiology, oral Histology community dentistry
General medicine	General Pathology , physiology , biochemistry and pharmacology
General surgery	General Pathology , physiology , biochemistry and pharmacology and oral surgery
Technical subjects
prosthodontics	Dental materials
Endodontics and conservative dentistry	Dental materials and Oral anatomy
Orthodontics	Dental anatomy, embryology part in anatomy; physiology ; pedodontics
pedodontics	Dental anatomy, community dentistry and of course orthodontics.
Miscallaneous
Community dentistry  and forensic odontology. .	Nutrition section of Biochemistry, pedodontics and periodontics.

• Split your  time  in the ratio of 1:1:1;1

i.e.., one fact oriented clinical subject: 1 technical subject : one relative preclinical subject.

Suppose you are reading for 6 hours a day –tentatively you can draw your time table like this

Fact oriented clinical subject MCQ	Technical subject –MCQ	Preclinical Subject –MCQ	Theory fom text books/ question paper
One and half hour30 minutes –revision and 60 minutes—new topics	One and half hour30 minutes –revision and 60 minutes—new topics	One and half hour30 minutes –revision and 60 minutes—new topics	One and half hour
Read from PULSE — oral pathology	Read from  DENTEST –Prostho	Read from pulse –dentest related subjects like oral histology or dental materials	Allot 1 hour for theory and 30 minutes for question—reverse this as you progress

The main theme is to be

Be in touch  with all the subjects at any time simultaneously covering the previous year mcq.

SEE NEXT Slide( Step 8) – The most common question ” SHOULD I SPEND TIME IN RELAXATION “

Step # 8 – SHOULD I SPEND TIME ON RELAXATION

The answer is definitely –yes –yes — yes

Remember  “R” formula

Read——Relax—Retain—revise—reinforce the retention—recall and retrieve

So from the above you see also the importance of relaxation and revision.

So every day make it a point to revise old ones just for 10 minutes  before switching to new ones.

While preparing make a note where you are weak –revise it from the same book or any other books or prepare from the theory of that particular topic.

Our brain  retains what ever we read .

But most of this things are kept in the subconscious mind.

By revising it we are reinforce it and can be easily recalled and retrieved from the brain.

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See Next Slide (Step 9):

How Many MCQs You Should Practice For The Exam ?

Step # 9 – How Many MCQs You Should Practice For The Entrance Exam ?

Do at-least 200 mcq per day  including one practice test .

In essence there are 12000 mcq in dentistry which are given interchangeably.

By calculation at this rate you will able to revise  2-3 times .

The more the number of revisions the better it is for you.

More revisions means more repetitions and more chances that you will recall the answers in the exams.

So more probability for you to succeed in exams.

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• No. of  mcq  per day= 200 ( either from clinical, preclinicals or previous year MCQ)
• No.of  working days in a month= 24-25
• No. of  mcq completed in a month on average = 6000
• Total No.of  mcq completed in 4 months on average =24000
• No.of revisions on average =  24000/12000=2.

Use previous MCQs to check your progress and preparedness for the exam.

Reading the subject again and again will not help much; it is important that the progress be monitored properly by evaluating yourselves by proper self-assessment test.

During self-assessment test:

Don’t proceed beyond the questions you answered wrong by simply knowing the right answer.

Purpose is not to learn a particular question, but to find out which topic requires follow-up.

we suggest you not to allow more than 45 seconds for each MCQ during practice.

Step # 10 – WHY PEOPLE DO NOT QUALIFY THE EXAMS? VERY SIMPLE REASONS THAT YOU SHOULD CONTROL

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said

“It is easy to be wise AFTER the event”.

In other words

Knowledge is knowing how to do Experience is knowing how not to do

So dear friends analyse you self—where you ARE GOING WRONG wrong.

Infact failures are stepping stones to success. May be a Bright opportunity is waiting for you

Remaining strategies are all the same.

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That concludes the article doctors.

This is perhaps the best article ever on Dental Exams Preparation by one of the legends in the dental field – Dr. Gowri Shankar.

The tips of this article are applicable to various types of dental exams as most of the major exams are MCQ based. So, use the tips and follow your dreams. 

We thank Dr. Gowri Shankar for this incredible article that will help thousands of the sudents.