Strategy for Medical Science by Dr. Piyush Singla (AIR-84)

Vote of Thanks

I first met Dr. Piyush during the days of my interview preparation and I would say that he is very meticulous in whatever he does. Counting on my old association with him, I requested him to submit a write-up on preparation for Medical Science. I begin by first thanking him for being very kind to spare some time and sharing his strategy in detail with us. I must mention that Dr Piyush also has great practical experience as he has worked at Fortis Hospital in Chandigarh. His tips would thus be very helpful to all of us. He will try and reply to any queries you post but please bear with the delay in his responses. I thank him on behalf of all the candidates once again.

Strategy For Medical Science Optional-

 

I would like to discuss it under following heads

Why Medical Science as optional–

There are several reasons.

1) If you are a medicine graduate or post-graduate with, the choice should be obvious. You have already studied almost the entire prescribed syllabus during your graduation years. All that you need now is a finishing touch to your existing knowledge base according to the Civil Service Examination.

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2) Since the syllabus is fully laid out, it appears long at the first glance. But careful analysis show topics mentioned are ‘marked ones’ /important ones from our UG days so we have gone through them thoroughly earlier.

3) Being a Science subject, there is always a great degree of objectivity during the evaluation process. So you can be sure of not losing any marks on the grounds that your line of arguments / interpretation did not match with that of the examiner. Therefore, with Medical Science you can be fairly sure of your score being in accordance to you examination hall performance.

Perceived apprehensions–

There are many apprehensions about MS as optional due to which many doctors don’t go for it like-

1)      Lengthy syllabus

2)      No coaching / no compiled stuff

3)      Highly volatile nature of optional

4)      Level of questions asked (like- Tough clinical questions may of PG standard)

5)      Fear of inadequate study of foreign author books during UG days.

Way Forward–

As any other medico I was also carrying similar apprehensions earlier. But careful planning and strategizing your preparation makes difference. I will answer each apprehension with a possible approach (what I followed)

There is no doubt that syllabus for MS is lengthy but much can be done for it.

-Start your one clinical and one non clinical part simultaneously to keep you in constant revision of basics .

– You can combine your topics from different sections like-

-I read all Neuro related topics either from physiology or from anatomy      simultaneously and made notes (as much possible) for them.

– Combining physiology and medicine topics-

Studying topics under one heading will give you a detailed grasp like while doing Excretory system topics for physiology one can discuss clinical aspects of it under medicine. This gives you more confidence and deeper understanding of subject.

-Cover those areas first which are shorter and carries similar chances to appear in exam with longer ones like Dermatology, Forensic Medicine , Biochemistry , Pediatrics .

Note Making –   Considering the vastness of syllabus it’s always tedious to make personal notes of subjects but I must tell you strategized note making is HIGHLY USEFUL while revision.

I bought many post graduation exam (MD/MS) preparatory books (individual books) and made notes for many subjects like pediatrics , surgery, Pharmacology ,OBG( larger portion) etc.

Benefits-

–          While going through those books one see that references are made from higher foreign authors which tackle your apprehension about inadequate reading from higher level books. Like- I made notes for surgery from individual pg preparatory book which took around 8-9 days but references for those topics covered include Love and belly , Sebastian etc which are sufficient to tackle higher level questions.

–          Whole Pharmacology I have compiled in 30-40 odd handwritten pages from PG preparatory book. This gives me enough confidence and revision was easy at the end.

But I would say this note making exercise should be started as early as possible to spare sufficient time for their revision at end. But this gives you immense help while revising things and better understanding of subjects. I made notes for most of clinical subjects, rest you can decide your grey areas and work accordingly. Another benefit is in tackling tough clinical questions as asked for Pediatrics and other subjects (as Differential diagnosis are well explained in those books). You need not make notes for all subjects just select your areas so that it saves your time to prepare other areas.

So I must say preparing MS is thoughtful and somewhat more laborious than other optionals but once prepared according to strategy it do rewards you well in the end.

Prepare it wholeheartedly it will surely benefit you.

Best of luck for your preparation

Dr. Piyush Singla