A repeater's guide to crack NEET SS: A 6 step strategy for Impactful preparation for NEET SS repeaters.
Preparation for NEET SS repeaters can be a dismaying task. You might find yourself asking the question:
What might have been lacking in my preparation?”
“How do I start preparing for an examination for which I thought I had already prepared enough?”
Agreeably, this dilemma torments plenty of repeaters, but it’s crucial to understand that success & failure is not in your hands, but what you can do is analyze & learn from your mistakes & give your fairest bit to the NEET SS preparation at hand.
To change your failure into success what you require essentially is “a fresh perspective towards your preparation.”
Do repeaters succeed in NEET SS?
A sizable percentage of aspirants appear for the NEET SS exam every year.
Annually, approximately 17000-18000 aspirants apply for NEET SS for a limited number of seats in super specialities(DM & Mch) ranging to a rough 6000.
Owing to the difficulty level of the exam & the number of aspirants, you might have missed in your first attempt. Of all the aspirants appearing for NEET SS in a year, nearly 50% are repeaters. And some of them go on to achieve top ranks in the NEET SS exam!
If you think about it, repeaters have a substantial edge over first-timers. You are thorough with the exam pattern & syllabus. With a little impetus, you can surely achieve wonders.
“But you might ask, where do I get started?”
Well if you’re reading this, you have already taken the first right step.
6 step strategy for Impactful preparation for NEET SS repeaters
Coming on to the step by step preparation strategy, here are some of our pointers for NEET SS repeaters that you must follow to ace the exam.
Step 1: Analyze your NEET SS Result
If you’re a repeater aiming to appear for NEET SS a second time, your first step should be an analysis of your performance & result.
Try to identify the key areas & break down what might have held you back.
Ask yourself!
- Was it due to insufficient practice?
- Lack of concept clarity?
- Did your preparation start to get cursory midway because it got too taxing?
- Lack of proper time management?
- Insufficient revision?
Well, each one of these issues can be overcome but what’s important is taking responsibility & identifying your areas of weaknesses or shortcomings.
Start by creating an elaborate list of your weak areas & work your way up from there. Once you’ve done that, believe me, half the battle is won.
Step 2: Revamp your strategy
“You can’t expect to get different results by doing things the same way.”
One might wake up the next day, determined & motivated to begin the Sisyphean task of doing it all from the top. Odds are you’re still bound to get similar results.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
– Albert Einstein
To change the outcome, you have to change your strategy.
You are already cognizant of your tumbling blocks. You just need to devise a strategy to overcome these hiccups that are holding you back.
However, one must not blindly approach a path that might have helped someone else. Try to formulate a plan yourself or if you wish to follow a path someone else suggested it is important to make crucial tweaks that will exclusively benefit you.
Step 3: Create an Effective Study Plan
This study Plan should encompass an equal quantity of time for both your practice & theory.
Do not go over everything from the top. You have already done that. Your study plan should be focused & result oriented.
Allocate a good amount of time for your practice. With Surgtest you can practice effectively with its comprehensive set of MCQ banks comprising detailed explanations along with references.
Pay extra attention to high weightage & important topics. Devote maximum of your time on these topics but in this process, you mustn’t neglect the other elements as well.
Step 4: Seek guidance
Do not hesitate in asking for help. If you do not have a mentor or guide, now is the time to get one.
You have already attempted the NEET SS exam once & are familiar with the syllabus and pattern. You have also undoubtedly solved most of the NEET SS previous year question papers & practised sufficiently.
So, where should you start the preparation this time? This is where your mentor will help you. A good mentor can help bridge the gaps between your expectations & your preparation.
Furthermore, do not hesitate to seek advice from your peers, who can provide you with beneficial suggestions.
Additionally, you can opt for our online study platform Surgtest comprising live lectures, recorded video lectures, MCQ Banks & expert guidance from our faculty. With Surgtest, preparation never stops with digitally facilitated resources & flexible timings according to your convenience.
Step 5: Do not compare yourself with your counterparts
You see some of your peers with exceptional results & achieving things that you might have sought for yourself. In the process, you might have also compared yourself with them. Consequently, you might be a little disappointed & unmotivated.
But it’s important to keep in mind that the best thing about failures is that they are transient. Do not beat yourself up if you couldn’t accomplish what you aimed for in your first or even second attempt.
This is not the time to throw the towels. Rather it’s time to double down on your efforts.
What differentiates toppers from others is that Instead of practising the things they have already assimilated, they focus on things that are tedious & difficult for them.
Of course, you need to devote a good amount of time to prepare, but how you spend your time matters more than the quantity of time you’re devoting to your preparation.
Step 6: Most importantly stay Motivated!
To keep your motivation up, read inspirational success stories about people who didn’t submit to their failures & instead shaped their failures into their pillars of success.
Some NEET SS repeaters' success stories
Hear it from one of our most sincere students Dr Dron Sharma, who after encountering two unsuccessful attempts, went on to achieve rank #2 in AIIMS GI Surgery.
" In my first attempt, I scored 28 marks & couldn't qualify for the interview. In the second attempt I prepared sincerely & performed fairly well but due to the limited number of seats, couldn't make it through once more. But that gave me a boost & in my latest attempt I achieved a score of 71" - Dr Dron Sharma
(Read about his journey in our blog) His journey to rank #2 has been full of inspiration & hard work.
Another of our students Dr Gurpreet Singh who achieved rank 2 in AIIMS SS 2021 surgical oncology, shares similar sentiments about his first unsuccessful attempt in 2019:
"I was looking for a mentor. Although I could understand the texts, the clarity of concepts was amiss. Surgtest helped me understand the concepts & it's simply because of that, I'm here. " - Dr Gurpreet Singh
These success stories are a testimony to the fact that with one’s hard work it’s easy to achieve, whatever one sets their heart to.
And we at Surgtest simplify & facilitate this journey of yours with all the right ingredients needed for you to ace the exam.
To keep up your motivation & maintain the pace of your learning:
Surgtest provides its users with an active & enthusiastic learning community. With Surgtest NEET SS discussion groups, the users stay engaged with the topics & motivated towards their goals.
It’s easy to keep up with a vast array of doubts asked by their peers, which in turn makes their preparation effortless & fruitful.
The preparation of Surgtest users is always at par with the level of exams with a regular discussion of difficult questions shared & discussed by their peers and our faculty.
Wrapping it up
To sum it up, the ingredients for success are fairly straightforward. But what is fundamental to the process is to enjoy the learning.
It’s important to not get fixated on results.
Indeed, your preparation should be focused & result oriented but that doesn’t mean you should expend all your time & energy fretting about the results. Trust the process & have confidence in yourself. Put all your energy into preparation, not on the outcome.
Undoubtedly if you divert all your energy to learning & preparing for the exam, nothing can stop you from getting the success that you deserve.
This blog post covers tips to crack NEET SS 2022 as a repeater. To read about how to prepare for NEET SS 2022 latest pattern, click here.
About the author | Sheetal
Sheetal is a content writer for Surgtest. Her expertise revolves around writing about the trends in NEET SS, INI SS and MRCS exams.