The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) is meant for students who wish to study any graduate medical course (MBBS), dental course (BDS) or postgraduate course (MD/MS) in government or private medical colleges in India. It has replaced the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) and all individual MBBS exams by states or colleges. However, some courses and institutes like UG courses at AIIMS, PGIMER, Chandigarh & JIPMER, Puducherry are not within the ambit of NEET as they were set up by separate laws. Although NEET-UG has replaced APIMT from 2016, the basic strategy to crack NEET remains the same. Here are some NEET-UG preparation tips to make the exam journey easier for you.
Tips to Crack NEET
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Study Material
Preparing for NEET-UG is pretty much the same as preparing for AIPMT. For Assertion and Reasoning-type questions, NCERT books should be your holy grail. This step of preparation is vital in cracking NEET because students usually get confused in assertion and reason-type questions. A thorough understanding of the basics goes a long way in clearing the exam.
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Understand the Syllabus
It’s imperative to know the syllabus thoroughly for the test so that you don’t waste time on irrelevant material. The NEET exam covers NCERT syllabus, and you can compare it with your board exam syllabus. So, you won’t have to prepare for the common chapters separately.
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Subject-Wise Plan
You must plan your strategy differently for different subjects viz. Physics, Chemistry & Biology. Here are a few pointers on how to prepare separately for them:
Physics – This subject tests your analytical skills. So, focus on solving conceptual problems that relate theoretical physics to day-to-day life.
Chemistry – Refer NCERT books for practice. We’ve given a comprehensive list of books, which you can refer to, at the end of this article.
Biology – Follow the Trueman’s series of books and also the NCERT books.
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Sample Papers
You must practice a lot of sample papers and mock tests as you have to solve 180 questions in 180 minutes i.e. one minute per question. Hence, time management is of utmost importance in NEET exams. There are a lot of mock papers available on the internet. You should aim to solve these papers within the stipulated time so that you can improve your speed and know the sections that consume more time.
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Practice Diligently
There is no substitute to this; you must solve previous years’ question papers of AIPMT & AIIMs, in the stipulated time. It will make you comfortable with the type of frequently-asked questions in the exam. You should also practice test series provided by various medical coaching classes.
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Be Careful About Negative Marking
You get four points for every correct answer. However, guesswork could cost you heavily. NEET has negative markings, so if you’re not sure then it is better to leave a question unanswered to avoid getting a bad score.
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General Knowledge
Don’t neglect the General Knowledge Section of the test. You need to stay abreast of current affairs by reading newspaper and magazines. Also, skim through books on static general knowledge on a regular basis.
- Evaluate Your Strengths & Weaknesses
It’s necessary to know your strengths & weaknesses. E.g. If you’re sound in physics but average in chemistry and weak in biology, then you can turn your weaknesses into strengths for a good overall score by focussing on your improvement areas.
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Revision
You must revise every topic multiple times and the number of times you need to review depends on your capacity and sharpness. So, keep going over the same material until you are completely confident about the topic. Also, revise diverse themes and subjects simultaneously so that your thinking remains flexible enough to switch between multiple topics. Take rest intermittently and after you have called it a day, try to memorize the whole day’s topics mentally.
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Time Management
Another critical aspect of preparation for NEET or any competitive exam is time management. You need to allot enough time to every subject and topic to ensure that none of them are left untouched. Exams require a lot of efforts and to crack NEET, you need to manage a lot of things like schools, tutions, revisions, exams, evaluating the exams and so on. Hence, time management is the only way you can achieve a good result.
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Join a Coaching Class
It’s a good idea to take up formal coaching for NEET. You don’t have to spend a fortune on coaching; it could be a decent coaching centre or an online learning portal. The key benefit of coaching is the focused and thorough approach and constant assistance they provide to help you crack NEET.
NEET-UG Exam Pattern
You must understand the pattern of the NEET examinations so that you’re not in for a shock on the exam day. Let’s take a quick look at the NEET-UG exam pattern to be better equipped for all types of questions.
- The test has 180 objective-type questions from Biology, Physics & Chemistry
- You can choose either Hindi or English as the mode of language
- You get 3 hours to solve 180 questions
- Four marks are given for every correct answer
- There might be a negative marking of one for every incorrect answer. This aspect; however, is still being debated, and more clarity is expected to be revealed soon.
Reference Books
Lastly, here’s a subject-wise list of the top reference books and study material for your NEET preparation.
Physics
Concepts of Physics by H.C. Verma Vol 1 & Vol.1
- Objective NCERT at your fingerprints for NEET by MTG
- Series of Feynman Lectures on Physics
Chemistry
- New Pattern Chemistry by R.K. Gupta
- Organic Chemistry by Robert Thornton Morrison
- Concise Inorganic Chemistry by JD Lee
- Modern ABC of Chemistry for Class 11th & 12th
- Objective Chemistry for AIPMT/AIIMS and other PMTs by MTG Editorial Board
- Objective Chemistry Vol. 1 for NEET by R.K. Gupta
- Objective NCERT at your fingertips for NEET-AIIMS – Chemistry by MTG Editorial Board
Biology
- Trueman’s Elementary Biology – Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
- Complete NEET Guide for Biology by MTG
- Objective NCERT at your fingertips for NEET-AIIMS – Biology by MTG Editorial Board
Apart from the ones mentioned above, you could also refer to R.Gupta’s NEET: UG CET Master Guide, New Pattern of Chemistry by R.K. Gupta, and Dinesh Objective Biology.
To conclude, it’s imperative to stay focused and motivated if you want to crack NEET. Get enough rest at night to remain alert and active. Best of luck for your exams. 🙂
For a comprehensive list of books, why don’t you read through our informative blog must-have books to study? It’s bound to help you with the NEET-UG preparations.
