FMGE - Tips & Tricks from a Passed Student

Courtesy: Sam (Name Changed)

Guys, I would like to share my experience and provide some insight regarding the FMGE march 2012 exam, I passed out from SSR Medical College, Mauritius. My background is a bit different, I had always been quite confident about my basics right from first year, so I didn’t fear much about passing FMGE but I did not want to be too complacent about it, because remembering the facts was the main concern as far as passing such exams are concerned. So remember one thing, even if you were one hell of a genius in college, you cannot clear any exam without revision. Such is the field of medicine where smartness counts less than your memory. If you think you can clear the exam without going through the subjects even once, you are mistaken, also you are wrong if you think it requires cramming up the books once again from first to last page.

Please understand what this screening test expects from you, the test is to check your basics, your application of concepts, your common sense and your time management. The last point is worth remembering. The most important thing is to go to the exam hall with confidence; I can solve 75 out of 150 in each paper easily. That should be your level of confidence.
Ok, what about those whose basics aren’t strong, who had communication problem while learning and couldn’t gain much knowledge? Don’t worry, 3 months is all you would require to sail through. Please join a Coaching centre, I would suggest because it gives you a motive to learn every day, it provides a platform for you to apply, revise, test yourself. When you join coaching classes, please be serious about it, I have seen many of my batch mates who attended classes as if it was a movie or a picnic or something, they attend once in a week, while in the class they used to sit in the last bench, listen to songs or comment about the teacher. Please understand that it is not college to do stuff like these, because you are the one who is going to suffer. I wudnt say these people will not clear, as a matter of fact all of these last benchers did clear the exam, that’s because they did self-study at home, at least they were serious in one place, but what about those who get influenced by these people and show this careless attitude towards the exam, it isn’t that easy that you can walk through without a single revision.

So all I’m saying is show some seriousness, if you are attending the classes, make sure you note important points and go through it at least once before exam, you remember or not. This type of exams don’t want you to remember the entire data, it just needs you to get familiar with the core of any data so that you can always pick out from the option.

I joined DIAMS in semi-regular batch for 3 months, attended every single class, and took down notes meticulously. If you are not the notes taking type, it’s fine because the most crucial thing to do in classes is to register the important points they emphasize which you did not know earlier. Do not just take down everything they say, that would be a waste of time. I noted down all because I wanted to save notes for future but otherwise I revised only essential stuff. Make sure that you take at least 3 self-evaluation tests in each subject.

I bought Kamal K.V. but hardly opened it; all I did was solving first 5 questions in each chapter in each subject, just for some practice. But my friend solved a major amount of the book and it helped her in the exam since many questions were repeated. You will have to read the notes taken by you, plus revise mcq s. I never practiced mcq s seriously because I believe if you have concepts you can even frame your own mcq and guess the ones in exams too. But there is one big advantage in solving mcq s, u will get to know some direct que and weirdo mcq s which might be repeated, also you can know a topic without studying the entire chapter.
I am basically very lazy so I did not solve much in spite of knowing the benefits. Sometimes the classes may be boring or a big torture with nothing going inside your head, in that case please do not sit in the class and waste time, relax at home, you are not missing much, it is the concepts which matter. If the whole M.B.B.S. is 19 big books of data, the concepts would amount to around 80-100 pages covering the entire syllabus. Now isn’t that achievable now?

I had just read my entire notes before the exam, attended all the interaction/model papers, and revised especially Biochemistry just before exam.

My paper was full of PSM, OBG and Ophthalmology. Please concentrate on these, don’t leave small subjects like Dermatology, Psychiatry, ENT, Radiology. Well medicine too covers a vast portion but the type of questions will be such that you will have to use your common sense and rely on your theory done in college, more than the high yield facts.

Read Anatomy, only the previous questions and related topics, can compromise on Physiology, but must to read Biochemistry. Pharmacology is must along with a superficial Pathology knowledge. For Microbiology, I wud suggest reading twice at least, because indirectly it helps you solve three subjects.

OBG, Ophthalmology, PSM; these are your core, read the notes at least twice.

Medicine is conceptual, read the notes at least once; Surgery is very scoring, remember the facts, investigations and radiological features, triads, and so on.
Please do the previous 10 yrs. paper, that would guarantee you a pass provided you know why this particular option was the answer to that que. In that way if you solve the papers, passing is a sure shot!

In the exam, before starting, take 3 deep breaths, which would clear your mind of unwanted junk. Then fill up the particulars properly first. Then start attempting and take extra caution when marking the answer against the right que no.
When answering questions, see all the options, read the que thoroughly twice, nothing wrong in doing that. Try to read options from below upwards, since most often first is a tempting wrong answer, if you think first one should be the answer mark it only when you have ruled out the other three. This is a way to avoid falling into the trap. If more than one seems right, go for the one which is always/more often rite.

Again, always read all the options.

I started my paper and kept answering those questions I knew the answer for, very surely, skipped the ones in which I had even the slightest doubt, when I was done with the whole paper, I counted the no. and it was around 116/150.
Then I went back to the left out questions and applied some logic and marked some answer. This was my second round of answering the que. Now, in the first round, these were the que where we had to leave the ball like in cricket, where we say 'well left', and this habit gains more importance in exams where negative marking is involved. What people do is get stuck in these que in the beginning only and that spoils the whole mood.

The same I repeated for the paper 2, but it was tougher than the previous one; I managed 107 in the first go. The rest were guesses.

Now if you managed 75 each in first go, no one can stop you from passing, this is a very efficient way to solve any mcq test, solve easy ones first, then doubtful ones. It looks easy and is easy to do, but students seldom follow.

This worked for me and many of my batch mates, we all scored well in the exam apart from passing. So the point is to have a strategy in mind, practice time management while solving practice papers, consider every test paper as an exam; only then you will remain cool and collected in the real exam.

All the best guys.