How to Crack AIPMT Exam?

This post discusses few tips, tricks and ideas on how to sail through Pre-Medical (MBBS) national exams like NEET exam or AIPMT exam

1) About AIPMT:

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AIPMT: All India Pre Medical Test

The All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) exam is conducted by the CBSE, Delhi for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in more than hundred medical colleges around the country.

AIPMT-2014-Info-BROCHURE

Key Highlights for AIPMT 2014:


1. AIPMT to replace NEET The All-India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Test (AIPMT) is finally replacing the National Eligibility Entrance Test for Undergraduate Courses (NEET-UG 2014). The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold the AIPMT for students aspiring for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery/Bachelor of Dental Surgery (MBBS/BDS) courses for the academic session of 2014-2015 on Sunday, May 4, 2014, as per an announcement made by CBSE.

2. Why Supreme Court has ruled in favor of scrapping NEET? Due to occurrence of various issues in the admissions, the Supreme Court struck NEET down. The judgment quashing NEET was delivered by a three- judge bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir (now retired) by a 2-1 division. The new bench issued a notice to all private and minority medical colleges on whose plea SC had scrapped NEET.

3. CBSE to conduct AIPMT for 15 percent seats All India Pre-medical and Pre- Dental Exam (AIPMT) conducted by CBSE lets you compete for 15% seats in all medical colleges in the country except Andra Pradesh. So in effect you complete for just over 2100 seats in about 120 colleges. But anyone getting ranks within 3000 could have a fair chance of gaining admission, since toppers in AIPMT also would top in other medical colleges.

4. AIPMT 2014 on May 4, 2014 CBSE decides to conduct AIPMT on May 4 for 2014 session. Board has decided to conduct the exam all over India except in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir and also for admission to Medical/Dental Colleges voluntarily participating in the test on 04th May, 2014.

5. AIPMT 2014 Syllabus same as NEET With the Government’s decision to scrap NEET, AIPMT is back. However, students should not be bothered about preparation, as the syllabus and pattern for All India Pre Medical Test 2014 (AIPMT) is a replica of NEET 2013. Preparation strategies for AIPMT 2014 should be the same as NEET as the syllabus will be the same as that of NEET.

6. Do not confuse AIPMT with its previous version, say experts Also Read AIPMT 2014 more like NEET and not previous AIPMTs The difference between NEET and AIPMT 2014 is that AIPMT will be conducted only for the 15% national quota in government medical/dental colleges all over India. “The ministry of health and family welfare has given the go-ahead for AIPMT 2014. Students should not confuse AIPMT with its previous version. AIPMT 2014 will be similar to NEET, and won’t affect students preparing for the common medical entrance tests. The format will also be the same and will be a pen and paper test comprising MCQ’s.

7. NEET and AIPMT more similar than different The AIPMT syllabus will be the same as NEET. Like NEET, AIPMT too will have a single paper as against the earlier two papers. There will be 180 objective type questions from physics, chemistry, botany and zoology (45 questions from each subject). There is no official clarity as yet regarding negative marking in AIPMT-2014. Since there is a similarity in the pattern of both the tests, the preparation strategy should also be the same.

AIPMT-2011-Information-Brochure and list of participating colleges

Currently, 15% of the total seats in all medical and dental colleges run by the Union of India, state governments and municipal authorities in India (except J&K & AP), are reserved for successful AIPMT candidates. AIPMT conducts exam at two levels. First part is preliminary exam normally held on 1st Saturday of the April month (3rd April 2010). The second part is mains conducted in the month of May (16-May-2010).

AIPMT exam pattern has been changed with effect from 2010. Now, the mains are to be made completely objective (MCQ) like the prelims, owing to complaints about the unreliability of the subjective mains. It is expected that more difficult and application-level questions would be asked on the pattern of AIIMS that has assertion-reason questions.

About 1950 MBBS and 260 odd dental seats are available through AIPMT in more than 100 colleges. However anyone getting ranks within 3000 can reasonably hope for selection due to overlap with other state-level exam. NCERT books are the best preparation ground for both the prelims and the mains.
AIPMT Exam Date: AIPMT  exam would be held per following schedule in 2 Stages :

Ist stage i.e.Preliminary Examination : 200 multiple-choice questions, of which 100 are from biology. About 10000 candidates qualify from prelims to appear for mains exam.

2nd Stage i.e Final Examination (for those who qualify Prelims): Traditionally, the paper consisted of 20 questions of five marks each. From 2010, AIMPT will have objective type questions for Mains as well. A total of 120 objective questions would be there in exam and time allotted would be 3 hours.

Given below are few tips and tricks to crack AIPMT exam. It is prudent to refer to my another post on cracking MCQ exams

How to Crack Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) Exam

2)Topics to Focus on: Important Chapters

BIOLOGY: Biology is the most important subject for any PMT exam and can make or break one’s admission to the desired medical college. In AIPMT 100 question out of total 200 are from biology. Out of that only about 15 questions are direct. Balance questions are quite tricky and they are asked indirectly and have various difficulty levels. Question pattern can be: match the following, choose the correct/incorrect statement, choose the odd one out etc. In the last four years, questions from ecology have been given a lot of importance

Cell Biology  Structure, cycle, organization, function of reproduction of cells, cellular enzymes. molecular basis of inheritance, biotechnology

Plant and Animal Physiology  kingdom monera, taxonomy of plants and animals Plant water relations, photosynthesis, plant nutrition, respiration, nutrition, circulation, respiration & osmo-regulation in animals, nervous coordination and integration in animals, chemical co- ordination. nervous system, , plant growth hormones

Economic Zoology  Domestication and improvement of animals.

Focus on following chapters will help in solving some of tough or tricky questions:

Systematic, genetics, morphology of flowering plants, internal structure of angiosperm in plants, animal tissues, and reproduction of flowering plants, ecosystem, biodiversity, human diseases and technology for medical application, bio-energy and growth of human population.

PHYSICS: Mechanics, Heat and thermodynamics (graphical), simple harmonic motion and waves, Kirchhoffs Laws, magnetic effect & electromagnetic induction. Keep focus on modern physics as quite many questions are asked from the unit. Few important chapters from Mechanics are: concept of projectile, impulse, momentum & centre of mass.

CHEMISTRY: All the three units are given importance for chemistry

Organic Chemistry  General organic chemistry, biochemistry.

Physical Chemistry  Chemical & ionic equilibrium, kinetics energetic, radio, nuclear and surface chemistry.

Inorganic Chemistry  Analytical chemistry, redox, stochiometry, periodic properties, chemical bonding and organo metallic compounds.

3)Recommended Books

Biology:

1. NCERT (Most important of all- don’t look at other books, if you have not grasped it fully). Go through ISC text books as well

2. Truemans Elementary Biology. A Very good book for any PMT exam, NEET, AIIMS, AIPMT, COMEDK, UPMT

3. Practice objective question bank and test yourself on strengths/weaknesses. Arihant / Dinesh. Finally, try solving previous year question papers (try here to get them). They are most important:

PHYSICS and CHEMISTRY BOOKS:- Same as above except that second item should be replaced with Dinesh Subjective Physics and chemisry .

4) Biology is my friend, dear:

AIPMT has 50 % questions (i.e. total 100 questions) from biology. As compared to AIPMT, AIIMS has 200 objective question for allotted time of 3.5 hours and 60 questions from biology are asked. AFMC- Pune has 200 objective questions for allotted time of 2 hours and only 50 questions are from biology. Clearly, to crack AIPMT a candidate has to concentrate heavily on biology by devoting about 50% of their study time. A well-prepared student can make the correct choice for a biology question within 25-35 seconds and spare the remaining time for physics or chemistry to maximize scoring

5) Brain Likes Revision:

I have read a lot on human brain cell communication and can state one thing solidly- the strength of brain signals is directly proportional to constant revision. Keep all the formulas, key points on a couple of A4 size sheets as ready-reckner on your table and go over them time and again. If you are done with notes, prepare more detailed inside notes and go over them once again. It is no good if a topic gets your attention once in 2/3 weeks- make it at least a weekly affair as human brain like it that way.

5) Time Management: Don�t sink in time pressure : Most candidates who don’t make it to a good medical colleges are not good in one area- Time Management. AIPMT has 200 questions to be done in 180 minutes, giving only 54 secs per questions. If the candidate is sure of an answer, quickly mark your answer and proceed further. Don’t waste 1-2 minutes of your precious time on difficult question that you are not comfortable with. Even AIPMT toppers cannot solve about 10-15% questions in screening test and 30% questions in mains exam. Therefore, accept missed questions as routine part of exam and therefore, don’t panic if u don’t know few questions. Panic is number one killer in qualifying exams. Start with questions you are most comfortable with- generally there are some easy and direct questions in biology and chemistry section

Your greatest motto in the exam should be- how to maximize my scoring with the given level of preparation and not to score 100%. It will help to be aware that questions in a typical competitive exams can be categorized into 3 areas: Easy: About 25%.; Average/Moderate: About 60%; Difficult/Tough nut to crack: About 15%. The easy and direct questions make sure your selection in exam and the difficult ones ensure the merit.

6) Practice Mock Test- Go to war fully armed : What good is a preparation if it is not practiced in mock/simulated test conditions? The importance of solving previous years papers and 5-10 mock tests cannot be over-emphasized. This is especially true for biology and chemistry sections as some questions does appear from previous years question papers. Solving mock tests help improving skills on management of time, temperament and strike rate.

Candidates loose about 10- 20% of their marks because of the so called silly mistakes even though they know the subject quite well. These mistakes can partly be attributed to exam fear, pressure and confusion as to what to do next and applying long methods that has inherent risk of mistakes. Such mistakes are akin to getting run-out since the batsman failed to ground his bat. Though silly mistakes cannot be eliminated 100%, but even if the scoring could be increased by 5%, the resultant AIPMT rank would get divided by half (additional 5% marks can improve the rank from 3000 to 1500).

If anyone is serious with this exam (and any exam for that matter), I suggest them to do a favor to themselves by buying a few quality mock tests. A paid seat for MBBS costs a fortune @ $100,000 and candidates easily miss their free seats by a margin of 5-10% marks.

There are a lot of mock tests available in the market and I leave the choice to my readers- just pick a quality mock test series (try here).

7) Improve Your Strike Rate and Accuracy : When solving previous years papers, practice tests or mock tests, try to analyze where you are making mistakes- I mean where are you wasting your time. Which section you are doing best. Whatever mistakes you make in the first mock tests, try to improve in second. In this way, one will be better prepared for the real exam. What most students do is that they revise whole of the syllabus but never attempt a mock and thus they always make mistake in main exam and thus they loose the track.

Remember that directly going though the solutions is not going to help you at all. The key in problem solving does not lie in understanding the solution to the problem but to find out what clues in the problem leads you to the right solution. In case you are not able to solve the problem,try method of elimination. Furthermore, try to find out the reason by analyzing the level of problem & practice similar kind of problems so that you can master the tricks involved.

Conclusion : Most of the questions in AIPMT are not difficult but they are quite different from CBSE perspective. In AIPMT the emphasis is on fundamental concepts and their application in different situations. The questions asked in the exam seek to test the conceptual clarity and the reasoning ability of the students. To solve them, it requires a different approach, a different mindset. Each question has an element of surprise in it and those who are adept in tackling surprise questions are most likely to sail through.

To summarize, I find that most students who crack the exam with good ranks not only have ability and intelligence but also possess abundant desire to succeed, their efforts are well directed and finally, they apply good time management practices. In nutshell, they are just smarter and anyone can become one with few tricks of the trade.

Best of luck with your exam!

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  1. Respected sir,
    I am a student of class 12th and will be appearing for AIPMT in 2011. I want to take your advice on the issue that should I join some institute for prepration or take some private tution.
    I also want to know whether I should go beyond NCERT books for biology of 11th & 12th class.

    • Dear Shishir,
      I guess you are in India. In that case, I would suggest a good coaching institute for your prep. The advantages of joining an institutes are many- the key being they pool their resources across India to give you most exhaustive study and practice material. For example, they ask each branch to prepare practice tests and then share those with other branches. The personal tutors are preffered where you are weak in subjects and need personal attention to clear individual queries, however select a personal tutor who is known to clear doubts and not rush with topics like institutes.
      Regards
      Raj

  2. Dear Raj,
    I found this post ,in particular, exceptionally helpful. A little good advice goes a long way, and it did for me. However, there’s one query that i’ve not been able to find an answer to despite having gone thoroughly through the prospectus and the aipmt online website. each question carries 3 marks but is there negative marking for wrong answers? If so, how much do they deduct? I need to know since i will change my method of answering accordingly. your reply will be much appreciated.
    thanks a mil,
    sadhna

    • Dear Sadhna,
      Please find below reference from AIPMT brochure
      “11.2.4 SCORING AND NEGATIVE MARKING
      (a) Each item carries 4 marks. For each correct response the candidate will get 4 marks. For each
      incorrect response one mark will be deducted from the total score.

  3. dear sir ,
    which books do you suggest for mahe and comedk. i will be taking the test in 2011

  4. Dear Blog Readers,
    I am adding additional information here as the same was asked at another thread

    “This 20-25 day period after board exam and before AIPMT is like last lap of marathon. Anyone who has done it will tell that this is the time when most athletes are tired and dehydrated after running long distance. At the same time, this is the time that differentiates winners from ‘also ran’ as some athletes draw their reserve of energy and motivation and cross the line with smile.
    Just doing some basics goes a long way during these last days- remember one has to study the smart way and not necessarily the hard-way
    1) Plan your Revisions: Make a practical and sound revision plan. This means dividing the available 20-25 days into two time frame, first time slot of 2 weeks and last slot of one week. Utilize first time slot for studies and last one for revising the formulas and important points. Now fill the time slots with subjects/topics and set key milestones. Study all the 3 subject every day. Concentrate on the topics that have more weightage in the exam.
    2) After the revision plan is made, take a diagnostic test/mock test and try to find out your approx ranking in the exam (few companies have good rank predictors to understand where one stands in the race a couple of weeks ahead). Identify your weaknesses and strengths. Work towards your strengths ie. devote more time to your strengths to be 100% sure and confident. In the last time frame of one week, don’t take-up anything new, just revise what you have studied before.
    3) Be battle-ready with quality mock tests in between to implement your winning strategy (marathon athletes keep practicing/mocking about half the race distance every few weeks). 100percetile and brilliant and have some good mock tests. This will help to check accuracy, speed, strengths and weaknesses.
    4) During your preparations, make a log of Lesson’s Learnt . It is specific to each individual as to where the person is being most efficient and least efficient. Three things are important- what is working, what’s not working and how would you like to do in your next mock test.
    5) Remember, the exam is not a matter of life and death. Do not allow panic and pressure to create confusion. Follow KISS (Keep it Simple and Straightforward) concept during studies at this time.
    6) Stay positive, do some yoga and prayers. Enjoy this time with studies as it will never come back

    Just forget your body pain like marathon athletes, bring spring to your legs and leave everyone behind. The winners come across the line with a big smile on their face.
    Regards
    Raj

    • hello sir i am student of class12 and will appear for aipmt exam in 2011. for cracking this i want to know which books i prefer mainly for physics?????????????

      • Dear Anmol,
        For cracking AIPMT: 1) thoroughly go thru CBSE text books, 2) Additionally for physics, go through objective question books from Dinesh or Arihant, 3) Go thru previous years AIPMT question papers (solved) for last 10 years and few mock tests, 4) Try to rank within 3000 in AIPMT mock tests 5) Have confidence that you can do it and inshaallah, you will figure out next year that you could actually do it by yourself.
        Regards
        Neena