Vikram N - Altruisianz 2017 Batch

❓"Had we not touched the book yet, starting tomorrow how long would it take to cover the portion? With the time/days allotment for the next 2 months"

Let's leave aside the fact that you haven't touched your books. The first thing is to remain positive. Now, considering there's 60 days left- ideally, you should be spending equal number of days for each subject- DO NOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN SUBJECTS 

20 days per subject. Now, you can cover it in two ways- by studying a single subject for 20 days or covering 2 subjects in a day. Personally, I'd go for the latter because we often get saturated by the time we come to the end of one subject. 

How to split? 

Out of the 3 subjects, we'd all have a strong subject and a weak subject. Let's assume anatomy is your strong suit and biochem is a weakness. I'd advice you to spend 6 hours on each subject per day.

Now, how do we intend on splitting and studying? 

At the outset, I'd like to stress the importance of revision. Revision is key. Revision is everything. Even if you've studied for one hour yesterday, or even 10 minutes, please revise that. And at the end of a session, try to quickly go through what you've done in a few minutes- trust me, it helps. 

Next, we'll look at how to split and read. First let's look at Anatomy. Anatomy is a subject loved and hated with equal measure by people so to choose what you read when is of paramount importance. I'd always suggest that you do a small topic and a big topic together. So, take knee join- a seemingly large topic and Brachial plexus- a shorter one albeit both are equally important- if you read topics like this, you'd complete portions quicker rather than doing one full system at once as it is highly likely you'll get bored within a few hours. 

Every subject has its tricks. With anatomy, it's drawing. Our professors would have told us enough number of times about how drawing diagrams gives the examiner a sense of clarity with respect to your thoughts. Diagrams are often an easy way round to get marks when you don't understand a topic. Even if you don't know the specific answer to the question, try drawing some relevant diagrams. For instance, you may not know the boundaries of parotid gland but you do know where it is located- an approximate representation of the same is bound to fetch you some marks.

Next, we'll see about biochemistry. Often regarded as the most boring and volatile subject, both of which are true, I'd again like to stress the importance of revision. Also, please DO NOT try to mug the cycles- at some point they're bound to haunt you. Try to understand as much as possible. 

There are lots of clinically oriented topics like LFT, RFT, storage disorders etc which may be easier for us to understand. I'd suggest you club some clinically oriented topic while you're studying Metabolism. 

With respect to metabolism- Amino Acids, Carbohydrates, Lipids- give yourself 3 days for each within the 6 hour time frame for biochem. After the 3 days, irrespective of whether you've completed it or not, move on. Give yourself one day for enzymology and another 3 for DNA, RNA etc. By the end of 2 weeks, you would've completed most of biochem, if not all. Here, it is important to know that finishing every bit isn't important at first. Try to finish as much as you can move on. And oh, don't forget to revise.

By the end of 2 weeks (14 days), there will be a sizeable amount that you have finished in both anat and biochem. Now, my suggestion would be that you revise whatever you've studied for 2 days (1 for each) and then move on to Physiology.

For Physiology, I'd suggest something but again, the choice is yours. Try to finish physiology as units. Blood, Muscle physiology, GIT, reproductive system, endocrine can all be finished in a day each. Take another day just as buffer. And the last day for revision of everything you've learnt. That means, in one week, you've covered half of physiology. 

During the next week, try to finish CVS in 3-4 days and RS in 2-3 days. By the end of this week, you'd have Renal, CNS and special senses. 

14 days done. 

The next week, your aim must be to finish CNS and special senses no matter what. Do it the way you want but you need to finish it. With just about 20 days done, you'd have just renal system in physiology left.

Until now, I've discussed for about 35-40 days. There's 20 left theoretically but I'm going to leave the last week solely for anat. That leaves us 13 days. 

Within the 13 days, 

- you must finish Renal Physiology and revise the entirety of Physiology, ESPECIALLY PAPER 2 PORTIONS 

-during the first 7 days, you must complete whatever is remaining in biochem to study. And utilise the next one week for revision- one day for carbohydrates, amino acids and lipids. One day for enzymes and vitamins. One day for DNA, RNA etc. One day for clinical biochemistry. You're left with one day I know but I also know you'd have some portions left over to study/revise and this is the time for that.

Therefore, by the end of 53 days, you would've 

-completed a thorough reading of anatomy 

- 2 revisions of physiology

-2 revisions of biochemistry

The aim is to revise and to ensure that there's nothing new in the paper. of course, you are definitely going to see some question you didn't expect but it shouldn't be a question you did not study. 

Having said that, as a student who did his first year rather recently, I know how everything will pan out- there will be days where you won't study one bit, there will be days you will be upset or depressed and there will be days where you think of why you chose the course at all. 

But, believe me, you'll get through it a stronger person.