NEET is a prestigious and one of the most difficult entrance exams to crack. It is conducted for the admissions into Medical University. Most of the aspirants think that they can crack NEET if they have an excellent academic record. But you should remember that this is not the case here. Anyone can crack the exam if they have proper strategic planning and dedication.
But in the process, aspirants should avoid these 10 common mistakes in their preparation.
- Underestimating Basics and not clearing doubts: Students should have a strong grip on all the fundamental concepts. It’s completely wrong if you think you can clear NEET by rote learning techniques, memorizing and just reading concepts like that. All concepts need to be clearly understood. It’s a very bad idea to practice sample papers or mock tests before learning and understanding the concepts thoroughly. For the physics section, some students focus more on practising numerical problems rather than understanding the concepts. You should keep in mind that you should have clarity in the concepts to answer both theoretical and numerical problems. Always remember to clear your doubts immediately. Don’t keep your doubt’s pending as there is a possibility for you to forget in some time. Even if it is a simple doubt, don’t hesitate to get clarified.
- Not following the timetable: Aspirants should strictly follow their timetable. Make realistic goals in which you should give equal importance to all the subjects. If you skip or are unable to finish your daily target, it will only lead to never-ending delays. Do not postpone anything to the next day. Complete your daily goals within the allotted time. Do not make a hectic schedule where you are required to study for long hours. This will be a very bad idea as it can make you feel easily exhausted. Take small breaks. The best method which would work is 45 minutes study and 15 minutes break. And not just that, students must allow time for revision and practising mock tests/ previous papers.
- Prioritizing One Subject: Never ever give importance to only one subject for the NEET exam. To crack the exam, all subjects are extremely important to study. Most of them who appear for NEET are Biology enthusiasts where some students might not show much interest in Physics and Chemistry. So, it is a huge mistake if you just focus on biology leaving out Physics and Chemistry. Scoring high marks in Biology might help you to crack NEET but you should remember that marks gained in Physics and Chemistry decide your rank and the college you will get into. This is why you must give equal priority to all subjects as they have equal weightage.
- Referring To Multiple Books and Ignoring NCERT textbooks: It is highly advised not to ignore the NCERT books as they are considered as the bible for the NEET exam. NCERT is a must-read for you to have strong conceptual knowledge. Apart from this, most of the students with the fear that they might miss out on anything that is important often tend to read a lot of information that is either unimportant or not required. This will only lead to time waste. To crack NEET, along with hard work, smark work is required. You don’t have to read so many books as it can confuse you and mess up your preparation. Stick to the NCERT syllabus of classes 11 and 12 as 75-80% of the questions in the exam are asked from it only.
- Ignoring Weaker Sections: Yes. Some topics might be difficult to understand or grasp and often students tend to skip them to study later. It is advised not to skip it for later. Try reading it once or twice. Do not completely leave it. Figure out the way to understand it as all topics should be covered.
- Not making notes: Some students don’t make notes as they think it’s not useful or it will waste their time. It’s a very wrong assumption. Notes will help in your quick revisions and save your time from reading the textbook again and again.
- Not Revising: Some students might have prepared everything but have forgotten. So, what’s the use of preparation when you don’t revise. All your efforts will go in vain. The last few days before the exam, students should revise or skim through all the topics once as it will help to boost confidence in them to attempt the exam.
- Avoiding Mock Tests and sample papers: Even though you have prepared the entire syllabus, it is a must to take the mock tests and sample papers to track how well you have prepared. There are also students who just attempt so many tests. But apart from attempting, they should go through the PDF of NEET Sample Paper with Solutions to analyze their performance, knowing their weak and strong areas and how much time they are taking to complete the exam.
- Losing Confidence Due to Low Scores: It is important to practice mock tests and attend daily tests to assess your performance. You should not get demotivated or become overconfident with the scores you obtain in these tests. Even if you get low marks, instead of worrying, try to work harder and achieve more marks in the next tests. There should always be positive progress in each test.
- Damage caused by negative marking: Negative marking plays an important role in deciding the rank of a candidate. Don’t guess the answers just for the sake of answering the questions or for the OMR sheet to be filled. Even 1 mark can make a lot of difference in your rank. Attempt the question only if you are confident. But at the same time, you must leave all the questions you don’t know. Try to recall what you have learnt and instead of guesswork, use some logical reasoning.
Hope this article was helpful and candidates should work on these mistakes to see major improvements in their NEET preparation. All the Best!!