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Finally answered: MHT-CET 2012 or single national medical entrance exam(single CET)?

July 23, 2011 By 23 Comments

Medical Council of India(MCI) has finalized the syllabus of Std. XI and Std. XII for NEET MBBS entrance exam. NEET is the proposed replacement for all state-level medical(MBBS) entrance examinations such as MHT-CET, K-CET, GUJ-CET, G-CET, etc. The syllabus has been outlined by NCERT and a copy of it can be downloaded from here.

Comparing the syllabus as outlined in the MCI-NCERT draft with the newly published textbook of Std. XI of Maharashtra State Board, one will find that not only all topics of core syllabus have been covered in the new textbook, but even additional topics have been covered. Thus it appears that all state boards have an obligation to comply with the core syllabus but at the same time have freedom to extend it as per their discretion. That is, the state board exams will be based on the entire textbook but NEET will be based only on the core syllabus.

However, the syllabus of the XII of Maharashtra is not as per the guidelines. Since the current academic year has already started, the syllabus cannot be implemented this year. To confirm this, the Maharashtra State Board has already clarified on its official website that the new core syllabus will be effective for Std. XII from academic year 2012 – 2013 only, and not 2011 – 2012.

Bottom line is that students appearing for CET in 2012 should leave all worries about whether there will be MHT-CET or single national CET in 2012. MHT-CET will be there in 2012.

A leading newspaper reported that MCI is going to conduct the NEET exam in May 2012. It should be noted that this reference is made to the NEET exam of post-graduate courses(MD or MS) and not under-graduate or UG courses such as MBBS. NEET(UG) will come from 2013 only.

It however remains unanswered whether admissions to other health science courses such as dental, ayurved, homeopath, physiotherapy, etc. will be based on which exam.

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Mock test in MHT-CET BIOLOGY &memory based question papers of MHT-CET 2009 and MHT-CET 2010 BIOLOGY

May 2, 2011 By 4 Comments


Click here to download PDF file of MCQs + answer keys + explanations

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Why MCQs in MHT-CET are always differently styled than what we solve in popular books

April 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

When we were analyzing the MHT-CET 2009 and 2010 biology memory based question paper, we came across a lot of interesting observations. In our opinions, these observations say a lot of things about the mindset of the paper-setters who are involved in the paper-creation process. Before I get into the details of those observation, let me first give a background info on how the paper-setting is done.

The paper-setting is done at the office of DMER, located just outside CST Mumbai, in St. George Hospital Campus. The process starts around the end of February and is completed within few days to weeks.

  1. DMER requests the State Board to send a copy of the syllabus and list of prescribed textbooks(sanctioned textbooks + textbooks published by the Board itself).
  2. DMER purchases the latest revised versions of the textbooks as suggested by the Board. It is not necessary that DMER purchases all the suggested textbooks. It may simply choose a few textbooks by its own. Also it is not necessary that DMER should purchase the state board textbook. It can choose to purchase all other suggested textbooks except the ones published by state board.
  3. After choosing their textbooks, DMER appoints senior teching faculties from Junior colleges as paper-setters. It is important to note that only junior college faculty members are invited for paper-setting. Many carry a notion that since it is a medical entrance exam, doctors from medical colleges are called for paper-setting – which is wrong.
  4. The paper-setters are not allowed to carry any book or chit along with them such as Target, Uttam, Himalaya, Vidyabhartee, etc. The questions are compulsorily to be framed by referring the textbooks.
  5. The paper-setters mutually divide themselves amongs groups for particular chapters or their area of interest. It is not necessary that any paper-setter should create and submit MCQs from all the chapters of paper-I or paper-II. A paper setter may choose to submit questions for only one or few of the chapters.
  6. Also, the paper setter cannot insist on using any particular textbook of his preference. If DMER has not purchased that textbook, the paper-setter cannot argue and force DMER to get that textbook.
  7. Paper-setters are instructed to create more than the no. of MCQs actually required. For example: If Biology question paper is to contain 100 MCQs, they are instructed to create more than 100 MCQs because some questions may be eliminated in the scrutiny process.
  8. After all the paper-setters have submitted their MCQs, the MCQs are subjected to three levels of scrutiny by other paper-setters. In the scrutiny process, the paper-setters will verify that the MCQs is a valid one – that is – it does not contain errors, answer is found in sanctioned textbooks, and that answers mentioned in all the sanctioned textbooks are same(especially for number based MCQs)
  9. Along with such manual paper-setting process, DMER may also be maintaining a computerized question-bank. Thus, it is possible that some of the questions finally included in the questions paper are from the question bank, and the manually created MCQs by paper-setters are used to replenish the question-bank.
  10. Once the MCQ paper is finalized, four versions(11,22,33,44) are created by frame-shifting or block-shifting. Note than none of the paper-setter gets to see the final question paper since the MCQs are already well-scrutinized before including them in the process.

Now coming to our interesting observations and conclusions:

  1. Their way of sentence formation is much different from what is found in popular MCQ books like Target, Uttam, etc,. Why? This is because they do not have exposure to these books. Most of these senior-faculty members are not associated with any coaching classes. Therefore, they do not adopt the same MCQ study material as students do.
  2. MCQs are detail-oriented, and not just superficial. For example: In the past, they had asked about the part of Brassica plant in which Hirudin accumulates. While most of the practice books dwell only upto the fact that GMO Brassica is used for hirudin production, their MCQs was one-step-further.
  3. MCQs are process-oriented. For instance, while MCQs found in common study material deal with conclusions of experiments and their applications, MCQs asked in MHT-CET have many times dealt with the procedure along with the conclusion, and not conclusion alone.
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Self-study – an underrated ingredient of success

November 10, 2010 By 4 Comments

Do you ‘self-study’?  Self-study is the way to go for any serious student. Don’t wait for your coaching class to start the CET lectures. You take the initiative for yourself and grab the MCQ book to get started!

But why should you self-study if you are enrolled with the best coaching class or the best private tuitions? Isn’t self-study for poor students who cannot afford coaching classes or private tuitions? Absolutely not, poor or rich, urban or rural, boy or girl, repeater or fresher – there is one thing common between all these – the process of learning. When you are given ready-made solution, even though you somehow get the answer, most of the steps of learning or problem-solving are absent or  short-circuited. The process of learning cannot be “outsourced”. To help you understand how the process of self-study creates benefits for you, download this PDF file.

Leave your comments below!

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Net gain of ATP in complete aerobic oxidation of glucose

November 8, 2010 By 9 Comments

What is the net gain of ATP in complete aerobic oxidation of 1 glucose?

Seems too simple? Not really, because the answer is not 38(or 36) ATPs as most would expect! This is very tricky question because it nicely mixes the fundamentals and skills of reading. Unless I told you beforehand that the answer is not 36 or 38, most would never imagine that the answer is other than 36 or 38. If this question is asked in MHT-CET exam, many students will not realize that they have made a mistake.

Key concept: Knowing the difference between “oxidation” and “respiration”.

Oxidation of glucose ends with Kreb’s cycle and the formation of reduced co-enzymes such as FADH2 and NADH2.

Thus, Complete oxidation = Glycolysis + Link Reaction + Kreb’s cycle

Respiration ends with ETS, i.e, extraction of energy from the reduced co-enzymes.

Thus, Complete aerobic respiration = Glycolysis + Link reaction + Kreb’s cycle + ETS.

So, when speaking of only “complete oxidation”, we have net 2 ATP from Glycolysis and 2 ATP(obtained by conversion of GTP) from Kreb’s cycle. Thus, net gain is only 4 ATP.

Also read: How teachers can fool students and play tricks so that you will mark the wrong answer

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Puzzle on genetics

November 7, 2010 By 1 Comment

In a piece of DNA molecule the nucleotide sequence on one of strands was ATCG, but that on opposite strand was not TAGC. Why or how is it possible?

Before seeing the answer, please make your best effort and also ask your friends about this puzzle. Only when you “totally give-up”, read the answer below!

Answer: click here

PS: When we asked this puzzle in our free SMS Group, none of the students could get it right!

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7 tips to solve physics faster in MHT-CET

September 19, 2010 By 40 Comments
  1. Play chess or any other mild puzzle for improving basic logical, analytic and reasoning skills.
  2. By-heart logarithm tables of common nos (Ex: 0 – 9) for faster calculation.
  3. Wherever you are dealing with fractional nos, always eliminate the decimal and spin it into a power of 10. Example: (5.1/17) should be solved as [(51/17)*10-1]. Eliminating fractions will improve the accuracy exponentially. In MHT-CET physics paper, many times the only difference in options is their decimal place. Ex: a) 1.3   b) 0.13    c) 0.013    d) 0.0013
  4. Learn inter-conversion of units in various systems such as MKS and CGS.
  5. While solving numerical MCQs from any book, such as P.S. Bangui, start solving from the last question to first question, i.e in reverse order. The difficult questions are usually given in the last. If reverse order is too difficult, you can solve alternate questions in serial order.
  6. Use common sense, and do not be nervous or anxious while approaching questions. Most of the questions are straight forward formula based. Students blow it up because they are weak on calculation parts, or are not prepared fully.
  7. Instead of “reading” formulas, practice them in the form of numericals. This will give dual benefit of learning the formula as well math speed.

For your information:

  • Atleast 45 out of 50 questions in physics paper are numerical questions. It is foolish on the part of any student to appear for CET without having practiced numericals.

Update: We have now launched Physics test-series for MHT-CET 2012. Click here.

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How we teachers fool students into marking wrong answers in MHT-CET Biology

September 5, 2010 By 33 Comments

First things first – Biology is an easy subject and it is usually difficult for a Bio teacher to set a difficult question. What makes Bio CET more easy is the fact that the correct answer is in front of the student! . But every year, I observe without fail, an overwhelming majority of students score less than expected marks inspite of cherishing that Bio paper was ‘lallo panju‘. Newspapers like to call the Biology paper as ‘Balm for harm done by a difficult physics’, and readers also like to believe it. But the fact is that real effectiveness of the ‘Balm’ is less than the perceived value! It looks great on a newspaper headline, but not on the marksheet!

Now, I am sharing with you some of my secrets that I personally use to fool my students. To start with, answer the below given MCQ:

In T.S., the spinal cord is ___ shaped.

a) K shaped             b) A shaped             c) H shaped             d) O shaped

The correct answer is d -  O shaped. Most of the students will jump to mark H shaped – which is wrong. H shaped is only the gray matter, the entire section is somewhat oval.

Now, read the below rules and see how I have applied them to the above question.

Rule 1: Not to ask any question which is covered by only few of the 10 sanctioned textbooks.

For ex: in the chapter of nervous system, it has been mentioned only in two textbooks(Nirmitee, Scholars) that medulla oblongata is also called as spinal bulb. It is very tempting to use this MCQ because most would not be knowing it but I prefer not to use it because it still gives an advantage to the students who have read those two textbooks.

Instead, I will trick students in such an area which is covered in all the 10 sanctioned textbooks. T.S. of spinal cord is covered in all the 10 books, and hence, I get to use my trick on all the students, and not on only those few who did not study Nirmitee textbook.

Rule 2: Use ‘familiarity’ and ‘association’

In all the 10 textbooks, it has been mentioned clearly that gray matter of spinal cords is H shaped. Students are so used to this sentence that in their minds, they have formed an association of words relating to spinal cord and H shape. By using familiar associations,  ensure that students do not get a second opportunity to think.

Instead of using this, had I put some difficult question, many students would have thought twice before marking the answer, and few of them would have got the correct answer in their second thought process. I have eliminated this by tricking the students to mark the answer quickly.

Rule 3: Allow students to develop overconfidence.

Overconfidence is the Grand Father of all tricks. Its easy to develop, hardly fails and often the students goes home with an euphoria that he will score 95 or 96 out of 100, only to find that he scored only 80 or 85.

As a paper-setter, I know that the preceding physics paper is always a nightmare for students.  It greatly impacts the student’s mindset negatively. In this negative atmosphere, I see an fantastic opportunity to play my trick. Purposely, the first 20 or 25 questions will be extremely easy so that students can ‘relax’. Typically, the student will have solved these 25 question within the first 5 minutes of the Biology paper. By this time, the student has suddenly experienced a relief from the stress created by the Physics paper. The student has come to a conclusion that he is good at  Biology than physics. This is only an manipulative illusion created by the paper-setter because he wants to trick the student.

Now that the student has started taking it easy, I will be putting my tricky questions in his way one by one. The sudden relief created by the first 25 easy questions masks the negative impact felt by the student when he is unable to solve “just 1 opr 2″ questions. Not to mention, if the question is something like I have asked above(shape of TS spinal cord), most of the students will not even realize that the trick has already been played!

Rule 4: In tricky questions, put the correct answer in option A or D, but not B or C

When not sure about the answer, students are more likely to mark B or C as the answer rather than A or D.

http://img1.orkut.com/images/medium/1282393400/90420291/gq.jpg
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Which test is used to detect typhoid bacilli in blood?

August 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

The answer is NOT Widal test. The correct answer is blood culture.

Explanation: Widal test detects antibodies to typhoid bacilli, and not the bacilli itself. To detect the bacilli we must grow them on a simple nutritive media having pH 6 to 8, at temperature 37 deg C.

This answer is derived from Biology textbook by the Board(pg 130, below green box).

This is a tricky question. If students want to succeed at MHT-CET exam, they should practice a lot of such tricky questions. Commonly, students practice only simple questions which really have no value in competition. Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows those answers. If you want to beat them you should practice such questions.

Successful students do not read different books. They read the same books, but in a different manner.

Many question asked in actual MHT-CET Biology paper are tricky. As a matter of fact, most of the students score less than expected marks in Biology. Students who expect 90 marks in Biology usually score only 75 to 80 marks. Those who have already appeared for MHT-CET will know this by their own experience. If you are appearing for MHT-CET for the first time, you can ask your senior batch students about their experience.

Physics is difficult, hence students expect less marks and they score less marks. In Biology, they expect great marks, but score much lower then their expectation. This itself tells that special attention must be given to Biology. Also, not many students know that students with higher marks in Biology can get higher rank in MHT-CET.

The study material given by most of the coaching classes, MCQ practice books,etc. consists of simple questions only. They pickup single lines from the textbook and give it as a MCQ. Even a 10 yrs old kid can answer such simple MCQs. There is no competitive value in such questions.

Our test-series has been created with a special focus on such tricky, challenging and complex questions. We see to it that our students get complex questions to solve so that they can develop their skills and differentiate themselves from Tom, Dick and Harry. We know that merely giving simple questions to our students will not make they successful. In order to be successful, they need more than simple questions. The complex and tricky questions are created by Prof. Rohan Shenoy himself, and hence you will not find these questions in any other practice book or coaching classes’ study material.

Sample question paper of our test-series can be download from here.

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How NOT to study for MHT-CET

August 13, 2010 By 5 Comments

I am often asked “How to study for MHT-CET”. Writing on how to study would be very lengthy, hence I chose to write “How NOT to study for MHT-CET”. Below is a set of things to avoid when studying for CET.

  1. Not using textbooks published by the Board, and instead wasting time collecting notes of “top professors”.
  2. Starting CET study without proper HSC base.
  3. Studying CET with HSC on a topic-to-topic basis (means studying a HSC topic and immediately solving CET questions based on the same)
  4. Practicing only simple, straight forward questions.
  5. Assuming that the study material given by classes is the best and enough.
  6. Not completing entire HSC syllabus before October.
  7. Using general-use quality study material.
  8. For physics, not solving P. S. Bangui’s numerical problem book(Don’t appear for CET if you did not solve P. S. bangui’s book)
  9. For chemistry, not solving numerical and chains of reactions.
  10. For biology, assuming that all questions asked in CET are simple pickup lines from textbook. They ask difficult, tricky, challenging questions which even the otherwise “best” teachers are likely to get wrong! Boy, don’t you ever underestimate those gray-haired unglamorous paper-setters.
  11. Not undertaking any independent assessment of your CET preparation by a 3rd party. CET is a creative subject. When different people come together, they can view the same problem differently and create a variety of different questions. Since a single teacher cannot think in all possible directions, join other teacher/classes test-series so that you can gain exposure to alternative ways of approaching the same thing. Don’t run behind other professor’s/classes’  notes, but run behind their test-series.

Bonus tip for physics: Physics is an extremely logical subject. Therefore, if you are weak at physics, you can take up some small logical skill building exercises such as playing chess in your free time, solving puzzles, etc. And don’t forget to solve numerical problems.

Ofcourse, there are some for thing to avoid, but these are sufficient to start with!

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