How to Study For MDS Entrance Exam

Entrance is kind of thriller story where you can’t predict the ending without reaching till the last scene. There will be many twists in the story. Just like the way you meet many new people who will tell you many different kind of preparation ways. Time is changing.. so does the Entrance !!! Many people will tell you to read theory few will tell you to read MCQ and few both. I believe that the success in entrance does not depend completely on one year preparation. But it does not mean that a year long preparation will not get you a seat. But there is one hard fact which we all need to accept. You may or may not win the race. But yes.. you do have a hope in anyway which you follow. But!!! Hope is all is what is required.. isn’t it?? :)

A book is said to be the best friend which will guide you through the success in the entrance exam..:) .. and just like the other friends which you will have in your life.. some are good.. some are bad.. and some need fine tuning…

But.. one things which everyone needs to understand here .. Commenting about the book is very easy.. but writing one???… ITS NOT EASY.!!! TRY IT ONE DAY

The basic difference between me and others??.. I tried to correct many books.. I sent the correction to the author.. After 3 years too.. I still forward it to the student who need it.. I still try to find such guy who will make such an effort to help others, than just commenting on the efforts of the author. The search goes on ..!!

I guess there are around 10- 15 books in the market which could help you out in the field of entrance. Frankly speaking ..I HAVE NOT READ ALL OF THOSE.. BUT YES.. I do have read most of them during my entrance days.. and about rest of the books. ??.. I have heard and seen a bit which I would surely share it with you. It’s my sincere request to all those who read this blog and also for the authors of these books, not to consider this blog as a way of brand publicity by me. I also sincere apologies if someone finds my writing unacceptable. I whole heartily appreciate every small effort made by each author in coming out of the book and would like to tell them that in my every page of dentistry they have surely left a mark.

So here I am writing a review on all those books and the different ways of reading in order to improve your way of preparation and gain maximum benefit in a small amount of time. I won’t be commenting on all the books as I don’t know much to comment about them. But yes.. this blog will surely consider all those books which are must to clear a MDS entrance with a top ranks or at least which is said to be must for clearing AIPG

SUBJECT WISE BOOKS
19 subjects… 4 years :D 1 year internship.. Do you think you can read those again..!! I doubt..at least not without taking a break.. and the subject wise books are going to help you out in covering the topics in that 365 days… there are lot many.. the most imp books are mentioned here.

1) DENTAL PULSE

In fact, this book is the one which needs to be read till the last moment of exam..         Surely… the name goes right. Its indeed a PULSE OF THE MDS ENTRANCE SUCCESS. I am sure. This would be the first book which all will buy at the start of preparation of entrance.. It won’t be surprising to see it in every students hand as soon as the student enters the internship.
The book consists most of the old questions, well-arranged and in a well retain-able manner. 

Currently the 4th ed being marketed. It is available in two volumes. The basic and the clinical one.. you will almost find all the old question of entrance papers with limited explanation which surely is very easy to revise.  Friends…so you finally brought the book and now have planned to read it.. but how??.. let me help you out..

First reading
Never read the synopsis at first… wonder why?? Hmmm. The most important factor for preparation of entrance is the stress or tension… we are more efficient when our bottom is on fire;) ..isn’t it? ..what’s the logic of reading synopsis and reading the questions.. obviously.. you will answer more in the first attempt. But.. if you read without the synopsis and try to answer question then I am sure around 80% students will be able to answer only 60 out of 100 question.. and yeh.. you will also feel that you won’t be to crack the entrance.. but.. NO Fear.. it’s exactly this fear which is needed at the start… but not to quit!!!.. scoring at the first attempt is not a criteria. WHAT MATTERS IS THE END!!! . The initial score gives you a baseline on which you can compare your successive scores after revision. Hope you got my point:) Never mark any question in 1st reading in the question section ... just mark important point in the explanation. Why???.. I will tell you why a bit later.

The basic aim of reading a book for the first time is to get an idea about the type of topics which is imp and to get an idea how different the entrance is from the UG theory preparation.. marking 100 question 100 does not mean you will get a rank for sure.. remember.. there are around 10 books with around 10,000 questions which u need to remember and the question in the next exam will have new one too.,.

2nd revision
When you start the 2nd reading make sure you read synopsis but don’t try more time in remembering synopsis.. what’s imp in the initial reading is.. you need to enter the competition. That’s only possible by remembering the old question.. you can gain knowledge later.. start answering the questions more...read the explanation more rather than the synopsis. Still don’t mark any question. Just mark the imp points in the explanation.

Successive revision.
When you finish around 4 revisions , then mark the questions which you always tend to forget.. I believe that the human brain will surely will not able to store some questions no matter how many times you read. .I am sure you will experience it.. this is mostly because there are some questions which lacks logic, or no reference or completely different than what we have read in our BDS days. Now mark those question and during successive revisions give more imp for them.. why?? Believe me.. these are the questions which will be asked more in exam and most of the time students go wrong here.

Now the imp question is how to remember those difficult question without any logic..you need to find a word in that question and link it to the answer.so in next revisions whenever you come to that marked question you will see that word and you need to remember what was the answer.. I am sure..This helps :)

So basically this is how you need to read the Pulse..the marking part also applies to the other books which I wont be repeating in the following matter.

Although the explanation and well arranged matter surely needs a appraisal from any student but I would also advise aspirants to gain some extra knowledge rather than just limiting your self to it.

2) DENTEST By Dr Gowrishankar
Bible of Dentistry.. THE AUTHOR IS CONSIDERED AS A PIONEER IN THE FIELD OF MDS ENTRANCE BOOKS. It has been around 16 years since the book is in market.. the book surely is one of its kind.. Infact in many states students start reading from the DENTEST first..Why??.. no book will ever give you so clear explanation which is extremely important in order to understand how to answer. Reading Dentest will clear your confusion and gives you extra knowledge. Its almost equal to reading most of the regular books.. I have seen students avoiding reading the explanation part..May be sometimes even I had done the same thing during my preparation.. but it was after AIIMS I realized that the answers of new questions can be found in the explanatory part. Yes the book is kind of big.. but if you are not reading theory and planning for an awesome rank in State or Comedentrance or any Deemed university.. I DOUBT. I might have been able to get rank in most of the exams.. but surely this book had made a big contribution In getting me a 6th rank in state.

It was during my preparation when I made a list of correction in which I tried to compare the answers from pulse and Dentest.. I found many mistakes. Recently I got chance to go through it again... and it was surprising to know that some most controversial question answers were rightly explained in theDentest than the Pulse.. but yes.. surely the editing was not great that time.. it had many mistakes. but. Recently the new 5th ed of Basic Volume has been released and it is well arranged and colourful than the earlier. And regarding the Clinical Edition..hoping to see it soon with new modification. And another imp point...the Dentest has many new question and there is a good amount of chance that it will be asked in exam.

First Reading
Read everything.. GET TO THE DEPTH OF EXPLANATION.. UNDERSTAND IT.. FEEL THE ANSWER!!!. Mark imp points from the explanation. Get to know what exactly the subject is about..:)

Successive reading..
After reading Pulse and Dentest at least 3 times , then you need to mark the new questions which is absent in the Pulse. And do give more imp to them. Try to compare the answer from Pulse andDentest.. Weigh the logic between ..and then accept the answer.

3) BHATIA
During my time.. I had read Bhatia. I wont be able tell you much about this book as I had not gone through it completely but yes.. the book surely had very good synopsis part which according to my seniors.

4) RITU DUGGAL
Has some of the finest question specially for Ortho and Pedo.. but lacks references.. but guys.. during my time when I got 18th in PG,I the questions were lifted from the above subjects of the book.

5) MANISHA PRABHAKAR
AIPG Perio questions are directly lifted from here.. and that to in order.. do read the Perio part .

6) JATIN KARLA
Consists only of Oral Pathology question .. kind of similar to reading Shafer’s .. During my time Oral path was lifted from here.. good question for ORAL PATHOLOGY

Friends. There are lot many other books.. but I guess when you are in internship you hardly have time to read all the books. Or at least it was true in my case.
So I guess this much is enough for subject wise books.

BOOKS WITH YEAR WISE PAPERS
It is extremely important that you revise question in year wise manner and not just in subject wise …WHY??

During my time.. when I read the Pulse and the Dentest 2-3 times.. there was a visual memory in my brain..and by the time I came to the first question .. my brain already knew what was the next question.. and basically because of this I never used to concentrate as much as I used to concentrate at initial reading.. and because of this I used to make many mistake..

One imp point which we need to remember is.. its easy to remember questions when its from the same subject. But what’s important to know is.. in exams questions appear randomly.. and YOU BRAIN NEEDS TO BE TRAINED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT JUMPS FROM ANATOMY TO PHYSIOLOGY IN 2 SEC, IT JUMPS FROM CONSERVATIVE TO ORAL SURGERY IN 2 SEC,.. I hope you got my point. That’s only possible when YOU solve the question in a year wise papers.

So here are the few important books which have entrance papers arranged year wise

1) DENTAL BYTES
You will never get a book having so many question papers .. NEVER!!!.. infact the book had most of the papers from 1991 it self.. it almost has everything.. PGI, AIIMS, AIPG,MAHRASHTRA , JIPMER, and lot lot lot. But yes.. The old edition had explanation only for only recent papers. I had done the corrections of 8th ed.. and surely my seniors also made a great contribution for its correction. It has been 3 years I have sent it thousands. Now it’s the 10th ed. Me and my friend Gaurav have even contributed to it .. it also has references ..it does have my corrections and of many too. The new edition has references and explanation ..but you wont find old papers I guess before 2005 in the new edition.. anyway you if you need then you can get it from the publisher.

I have been always told by many students that it has lot many mistakes even I was one time.. But the difference between me and them ?? when I got a seat.. I made an sincere effort to send them to the author and many students. And infact those were the initial steps which gave me some name in the field of entrance.

It’s a difficult task to obtain so many papers and the author had made a sincere effort to give it to so many those are always looking for the early release of papers… atlest we need to appreciate it rather than just complaining. I am sure a student who has read the subject wise book properly, will easily identify such mistakes..Pls do send the correction to the respected authors. Help others. Help you juniors. Help your friends. It makes a difference in your life.
It’s a must buy book.

2) DENTAL EXPLORER
It was a good book during my time. Indeed it was the only book which had recent BHU and PGI questions papers and surely made a great contribution for many.

3) DENTAL QUEST
It was around March when me and my friend Dr Gaurav Ram Chandani came up with an idea of writing a book. The Dental Quest has been appreciated by many which had AIPG, MHCET, KCET, COMED paper and AIIMS NOV paper. I have seen many students giving a positive review regarding our book and also appreciated by many coaching institutes.. heartfelt thanks to all those who loved it for sure.

I am sure many of you won’t find much explanation in Aipg 2011 paper as it consisted many repeated questions. But I am sure the other papers will make a big difference in your entrance as it has the explanation arranged in point to point wise from latest books and in fact the exact references..

Apart from this.. There is
DENTAL INSIGHT
DENTAL UPDATE
And lot many !!!!!

MEDICAL BOOKS
Now.. you must be wondering why the hell we should read the medical papers!!!.. guys.. let’s all accept one fact.. we are bit weak for the basic subjects question of AIPG.. the questions are really HI-FI.. but the good thing.. most of them are repeated from the medical papers.. The guy who aims AIPG , will surely read the medical question papers.. Common guys.. it’s like you already have your question papers in your hand.. be smart enough to do it before exam. In my exam around 20 to 30 question were a direct lift from medical part.. Chromosome for Cat Eye Syndrome?? Do you think you can answer that?? But it was lifted from recent AIPG medical part.

SO there are lot many medical books.. but here are the once I read ,,and almost everybody reads even today too.

1) MUDHIT KHANNA
Contains AIPG papers arranged year wise and subject wise too.. Hats off to authors.. the amount of depth they have given in the books is surely appreciated by all.. but One fact you all need to remember… We don’t have to dive so much.. but yes..at the end you have to remember at least question and answers…
         Now.. I know.. you all take the Mudhit khanna and read Anatomy, Physiology and all those which we read in our BDS days.. But that’s not enough.. The examiners knows that you will read that.. but the hard work counts more too.. The rank holders push themselves an extra mile.. REMEMBER..Pharma question are there in Gynecology subject,.. syndrome question are there in Pediatric too.. And believe me .. these are the question which will be asked in the exam for sure.. and for those who don’t read those subject will surely feel the exam paper really difficult.. it took me only 10 min to answer those repeated question.. I lost marks in the dental part.. if you want to be in at least below 300 in those 8k students.. then ..U need to do all the question.. but how??
Read all questions at first reading.. mark which are related ,, or if in case even if you think it might be 60% related to us.. you don’t have to read lower limb questions.. that’s not related .. but Parmac question can be always asked from any subject.. you cant say no to that.. BE SMART!!!.. read it many times.. and make sure, in the end you know at least know question and answer.

Regarding the explanation.. reading the explanation makes your basic strong.. .. you can also get good charts for Pharmac in the book.. Community explained very nicely in the old volumes.. READ THAT!!!

You need to do at least last 5 years of Medical AIPG papers!!!
2) AIIMS PAPER
There is Amit Ashish. also you get lot many individual books for single papers like SPEED etc.. etc.. you need to do at least 3 years of AIIMS medical papers and also.

NATIONAL BOARDS
This is an exam for the gaining entry in to the foreign universities of USA .. questions are lifted from it for AIPG.

BELIEVE IN YOUR SELF..AND THAT BELIEF WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE!!!

Written by

Dr Suresh D Shenvi

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