How to prepare for AIAPGET?

It's a long overdue topic as I have been repeatedly asked by my students for guidance regarding preparation of AIAPGET every now and then I can't help but to promise to make some video or write something about that but leisure has become a luxury for me nowadays so I'm writing on the go. Here is my take on it.

Whatever may be the condition of higher education in homoeopathic field, higher degrees are always decorative and desirable. To get admission in PG courses in different discipline of homoeopathic science after BHMS you have to face this AIAPGET which is conducted every year National testing agency (NTA).

1-When to start preparation: Ideally those who want to pursue MD after BHMS should start there preparation from the first year of BHMS but dedicated and focused study during one year period of internship or after that is more than enough if you can give 6-8 hours for your studies in daily basis. You need to chalk out your plan for that.

2- What books to follow: Preparing for AIAPGET is different altogether from preparation for your university examination you need to know which topic to focused on more and have high yielding points.

One mistake usually we commit is to reading and preparing from text books. At this point of time textbooks are for reference not for general studies. Here one should pick up one MCQ book and one Revision book ir guide book for each subject.

i) For allied subjects: For the sake of easy comprehension we are using term allied subjects but keep in mind that you are in medical field and medical subjects can not be allied to it rather these are main subjects like other homoeopathic subjects. So coming back to discussion, we can categories it in to two.

a) Books for revision or guide books: Only book I will refer here is ROAMS. It covers all the topic of all the medical subjects with precision and easy way with highlighting the points to be focused. Subject-wise books should be considered only as an add-on option. Your primary learning source should be your notes / coaching / video classes and ROAMS. This should be followed by solving MCQs and if time permits add select subject-wise books.

b) Books for MCQ: It's important to solve as many MCQ as possible and keep in mind the revision as the saying goes "it's better to read and solve one MCQ book 10 times than solving 10 MCQ books once each. PG plus here stands alone except reasoning questions which is a new trend for last few exams this book is enough for AIAPGET's pattern, for reason based questions you may follow some new books here like Marrow QBank, Sure Success etc.

ii) Books for homoeopathic subjects: Success and Turning Point are two books which I'll recommend in this section. For pharmacy and repertory whatever covered in these two books in their subjective part is more than enough, while for Materia medica and Organon you need to read Allen's Keynotes and organon text along with subjective parts of these books especially success which should be followed by MCQ solving and previous years questions. While solving previous years' questions Turning point has a unique pattern it diverge to different topics which could be potential MCQs and it will add strength to your preparation. So final take on it would be read subjective part mainly from success and solve previous year questions from Turning point.

3- How and what to study: Here I will relate to a story assigned to Chandragupta. Legend goes like that Chandragupta was trying to conquer Magadh a kingdom of ancient India but was not succeeding after several such failed attempt, he was roaming in a forest and came across a hut of an old woman he was hungry and asked woman for food, she offered her khichdi Chandragupta was so hungry that he did not even wait to thank her. Without thinking, he burrowed his fingers into the hot food, then mmediately pulled them out.

“Ahhh…,” he exclaimed, shaking his burnt fingers.

“Behaving foolishly like Chandragupta?” the lady reproached him, offering water for the burn.

“What did he do?” Chandragupta was bewildered. Surely the old lady didn't know that he was Chandragupta.

“You dipped your hand in the hottest part of your plate- right in the center. Obviously you burnt your fingers. You should always eat from the sides and slowly move to the centre.” This simple thought opened Chandragupta's eyes. He understood the reason for his repeated failures.

On his return, he led his army to the outer reaches of Magadh. He started by conquering border provinces like Punjab and then moved towards the center. Eventually, Chandragupta became the greatest emperor of ancient India and established the golden rule of the Mauryan dynasty.

The lesson we learnt here is that we should start the syllabus from easiest and shortest topic or subject then climbing up in our preparation. In allied subjects I'll suggest to start with Forensic medicine, community medicine, Gynaecology&obstetrics and Anatomy then in each subject the easiest and high yielding topic first, you will get an idea when you go through previous years questions a technique I called reverse reading. Then some topics from pathology and practice of medicine you will find questions from these two subjects overlapping especially in Cardiovascular and respiratory system, then some topics from Surgery especially the GI and orthopedic parts. Slowly when you are confident of these topics then you can move up with your preparation when time permits but never go for new topics without revising the old one several times. In whole of this discussion we missed out physiology you will get questions from it too but you can still skip this subject altogether as far as AIAPGET concerned,reason being it's vastness and types of MCQs asked from here you can skip those and still succeed.

For homoeopathic part study pharmacy and repertory from success alone no need to go anywhere else. For materia medica you have to learn Allen's Keynotes by heart then some lines of few drugs of Boriecke from success. For organon of medicine the text and the information given in success is enough apart from this the chronic disease part of H. A. Roberts is most high yielding and should be included.

4- Revision: There are no shortcuts to success. You will have to revise every topic as many times as possible so that your concepts are clear and you can retain facts. There is no easy way out.

It is expected that at the end of year atleast 2 months before examination, you will be at a certain level of preparation. Use this time to consolidate what you know rather than picking up new topics.

Sharpening the topics you already know will help you minimize errors. Starting off on new topics at this stage may lead to a waste of time and leave you half-prepared resulting in errors and loss of marks.The most important weapons in your arsenal are your own notes that you have prepared while studying a topic.

Revising the notes during this period will help you speed up the process. If you do not have your own notes you should do it immediately for the important topics.

This is the best way to prepare for an exam where the syllabus is humongous. You should prepare from the best book on every topic. Stick to books you followed and that will be enough.

5- Mock test: It's better if you can join some test sert from beginning or atleast at the end of your preparation. Also give your own mock test twice a week with previous year question paper start this atleast 2 months before examination. Taking two weekly tests will help you identify your areas of weakness so that you can improve on them. Writing tests regularly will help you overcome your anxiety and help you build confidence.

Approach the exam with confidence. Keep a calm mind and devote a fixed time every day. Make a detailed plan and follow it religiously. Hope this strategy will help you to get a seat in premier college in discipline of your choice.

Click here to watch the video on this topic.

All the best

Dr. E.S.Khan