One exam, many examinees and a few hundred seats is absolutely true for MHT-CET medical. Unlike engineering colleges where seats are in excess of students, for medical and dental courses, the demand is so huge that more than 1.5 lacs students appear for around 2000 seats in medical and dental courses combined. But what if you do not make it at the first attempt? Should you forget your aspirations and dreams to become a Doctor and heal humanity? Ofcourse not, you can repeat MHT-CET the next year. It is surprising but true that a vast majority of students who make it to MBBS/BDS courses are repeaters. For ex: In MHT-CET 2009, 650 out of top 1000 rankers were repeaters.

So what should a repeater do?

Students who choose to repeat must have a high level of commitment and will power. Some students enroll themselves for first year B. Sc courses or other courses and continue CET study side-by-side. Others prefer to drop the complete year and concentrate only on CET. For better results, it is recommended that one concentrates only on CET preparations.

Analyzing your mistakes

A variety of factors will have stopped you from getting to the medical or dental college. Many times, it is inadequate preparation from students. But inadequate coaching is also widely prevalent. It not as uncommon as one may think. You need to find out why you failed. I have listed some of the common causes below:

1. Inadequate efforts by the student.
2. Inadequate study material.
3. Improper approach or method of study, including poor fundamentals.
4. Inadequate coaching.
5. Unskilled teachers -  not good at teaching CET.
6. Inappropriate method of teaching at classes.
7. Lack of proper guidance from teachers or classes.
8. Other.

A combination of above factors is usually the reason, commonest ones being 1 and 5. Yes, it can very much be the teachers fault. As a student and even now, I observe that simply having a post-graduate degree does not make one a good and astute teacher. Having knowledge in one thing, and casting it on the blackboard is quite another.

On the students side, the problem can be multi-factorial. The study material provided may not be adequate or appropriate. It may lack quality or simply fail to cover facts. Students with poor fundamentals of the subject are of very common occurrence. I have come across a significant proportion of students who do not know how scalars and vectors are added in Physics even at the end of Std 12 syllabus. This is a disappointing scene. Often, coaching classes start immediately after the final examination of 11th. However, students neglect the two following two months thinking that Board exam and CET are sttill 10 – 12 months away. This is a ‘big mistake’ and it systematically destroys the months ahead. I remember, when I was a student attending my S.S.C. at Mahesh Tutorials, Mahesh Shetty, the founder-director who at that time taught Geometry said that “These 2 months are a make or break period.” Those words are absolutely true. When students think of ‘sleeping’ for these 2 months, they find that they have overslept and only 3 months are remaining for Board exam. In a hurry, they purchase guides, collect notes, etc. and start rotting their books. This is the 2nd critical mistake. Lack of time forces students to not give adequate importance to things like understanding the concept clearly. The aim of the students at such time is merely to recollect and reproduce the words as given in their notes. Every other thing is neglected. It does not work this way in CET, especially for physics. In physics, Concept is King. Once the concept is fully understood, students should move on to practicing a variety of numerical problems and strengthen their hold on formulae and mathematical manipulation skills. In physics, almost 45 out of 50 MCQs in physics are numerical based. As per my estimate, 75 – 85% students are unable to complete physics and chemistry paper within time. Physics is not a subject where you can score by knowing the sentences of definitions, laws and principles.

In Biology, many students take it for granted that they will score good marks in Biology. Often, when the results are out, the student finds that he has scored something like 54% in physics, 62% in chemistry and 82% in biology. This makes him believe that he is good in Biology. His parents too start believing the same. This is dangerous. The number 82% looks brilliant in comparison to 54% and 62%, but in reality every Tom, Dick and Harry has scored 80 – 85% in Biology. Therefore, when it comes to competition, it gives no competitive benefit because it is easy for all. The competitive benefit from Biology comes only from the tie-breaking rules and those 10-12 question which most students are not able to solve. There are the ones which will decide how high your rank will be, or how low it will lie. Biology marks are more valuable than physics or chemistry marks because of tie-breaking rules. However, most students and parents never realize this.

They continue to believe that they are good in Biology and weak only in physics whereas the truth is that the student is weak in physics as well as biology. 85% may be a good score in physics, but its only average in Biology. As a result of this mistaken belief, the students prepares for physics and gives less attention to biology. In the CET, the student is able to show his improved skills in physics, but fails to show significant improvement in Biology. Every year, there are cases where students scoring 47/50 in physics do not get admission where was students scoring less than 40/50 get admission to MBBS. This is because of marks in Biology. If two students score the same grand total marks, the one scoring higher marks in Biology is ranker higher.

Students should not focus on the no. of MCQs and books practiced by them, but they should focus on quality of MCQs.

Students have a bad habit of practicing only what they like, and ignoring things that they find difficult. Actually, this is true for most human behaviour. A person will spend much time repeating what they like doing rather than learning new things that seem difficult. Often students omit or skip difficult questions and never seek help for them. This is a deadly mistake. Students are almost never able to come out through such mistakes.