After JEE Main, which was conducted in the first week of September, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is gearing up for medical entrance exam NEET scheduled to be held on 13 September. At least 7.9 lakh students have downloaded admit cards for the exam.
The Quint spoke to Saurabh Kumar, Director Academics, Vidyamandir Classes and Anurag Tiwari, National Academic Director (Medical), Aakash Educational Services Limited to understand how candidates should prepare for the exams.
Based on responses from the experts, here’s a lowdown on NEET.
How to prepare for NEET 2020 when there’s less than 5 days for the exam?
- Do not start a new topic/chapter to study
- Concentrate on topics where you have a strong grasp
- Strictly adhere to NCERT books for revision
- Try out as many mock papers and previous years question papers as possible
What should I keep in mind while trying out mock papers?
Saurabh Kumar from Vidyamandir Classes suggests that online mock tests should be avoided and NEET 2020 is a pen-and-paper exam.
“Over the last month, these students have been giving online exams. It is time for them to practice with pen and paper as NEET is an offline exam. They should also try and take the mock papers at the same time as their scheduled tests. This will make their body clock adjust better,” Kumar told The Quint.
Is there a change in the question paper this year?
There is no change in the paper pattern of NEET 2020. The exam will have a total of 180 objective type questions.
There will be 45 questions each in Physics and Chemistry and 90 questions under Biology.
How long is the exam scheduled for?
The exam is scheduled for 3 hours. NEET 2020 will be an offline exam.
Is there negative marking in NEET?
Yes. You will be awarded 4 marks for each correct answer and 1 mark will be deducted for each wrongly answered question.
There is no negative marking for an unattended question. Therefore, the exam is for 720 marks in total (180 x 4).
How should the student attempt the paper in order to have enough time to complete it?
According to Anurag Tiwari, National Academic Director (Medical), Aakash Educational Services Limited, the candidate must first attempt biology section and take at least one hour to answer this section.
The candidate can later proceed to Chemistry and then Physics.
“Within these sections, the student should first attempt the easy questions first, then moderate and difficult ones. In case the candidate is under confident about a question, they should move on to the next one without spending a lot of time on this,” Tiwari said.
This is to ensure that the students don't spend time on calculation for the physics questions and lose out on others, he added.
What are the other general tips to keep in mind?
- Do not wait until last few minutes to mark on the OMR sheet
- Read each question two-three times before marking the answer
- Ensure that the easy questions are answered first so that there is enough time to work on the difficult ones
But, what about controversial questions? Should they be attempted?
In case of a controversial question or options, the student should gauge the probability. If the answer is most likely to be wrong, it is better to leave them unattempted as it will otherwise result in negative marking, Tiwari told The Quint.
What should be done the day before the exam?
- The candidate is advised to not study until late night
- Ensure that you have a mask, hand gloves, relevant documents
- Make arrangements to reach the exam centre on time
What is the cut-off to get into a medical school?
This varies from year to year and from state to state. The cut-off for 2020 will be known only when the results are announced.
How many questions must be correctly answered to get into a top medical school like AIIMS?
Again, there is no clear cut answer to this.
“It depends on the cut-off for the year. For example, to get into a top government college in Delhi, a student would need to score more than 600 marks. However, if the student wants to get into a college in Tamil Nadu, they would need 500-odd marks,” Akash Educational Services' Tiwari told The Quint.
This cut-off would also vary for private colleges.
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