Biology For MHTCET - by Dr. Rohan Shenoy(M.B.B.S.)
MHT-CET biology test-series, study advice, free study material, practice papers, MCQs, etc.
Ques: If aerobic breakdown(with ETS) of glucose was 100% efficient, how many ATP would 1 glucose yield?
Answer: 94 ATP
Explanation:
Complete aerobic breakdown of glucose with ETS releases 686 Kcal energy.
1 ATP can store 7.3 K cal energy.
Thus, to store 686 Kcal, we would need 686/7.3 = 94 ATP.
This MCQ was asked in MHT-CET 2010 Biology.
The correct answer to this questions is 4 nuclei. Almost all students write 5 as the answer. This is a very tricky question. Read below for explanation.
Explanation:
Key concept: At maturity, the two haploid polar nuclei fuse with each other to form a single secondary nucleus.
Thus, the nuclei participating in double fertilization are:
Commonly, students make the mistake of counting 3 nuclei in the second step(triple fusion) instead of 2.
It has always been observed that not all students who top S.S.C. and H.S.C. merit lists do not show the same brilliance at MHT-CET exam. While there are so many things that can be correctly or wrongly blamed for it, the single most-common correct reason is lack of subject fundamentals. As a teacher and even when I was a student, there were numerous incidents when I thought ‘How could THIS guy/girl have been the topper of XYZ without knowing this?‘ And true to my concerns, that so-called brilliant student performed averagely at the CET. This has posed a very intriguing question – Where do students exactly lack? Did they lose their grey cells in the transition? Nobody thinks about this question when an average students performs brilliantly, but when a brilliant student performs averagely many questions and baseless answers are heard.
When are the fundamentals taught?
The fundamentals of every subject are taught in Std. XI (11). However, it is observed that many students do not take Std 11 seriously. They are under the impression that Std 11 is like a virtual vacation between two stressful years of Std. 10 and 12. As a result, they are more into bunking college lectures, coaching classes and hanging out with friends in their college campus, movies and multiplexes and college gymkhana. The first few months of college are a first-ever experience for them and most of them want to feel ‘cool’ by undertaking adventurous feats like bunking, etc. Even when in the lectures, the students are not fully devoted to what is being taught. The balance between seriousness and cool stuff is often lost.
Students enroll themselves for 11 and 12th coaching as early as immediately after the Std 10 results or confirmation of college admission. Some coaching classes start their Std 12 lectures as early as Diwali or Christmas vacation of Std 11. This means that the student is unable to devote a large amount of time to Std 11 during later months.
Some coaching classes have started promoting the belief that all the student needs in Std 11 is only 35% marks as a passing mark. Students often take this in a minimal sense and ignore the substance of Std. 11. They prefer to mug-up and rote things rather than treating them respectfully. This backfires in CET where concept is more important than mere memorization skills.
How to improve fundamentals?
The best place to get it right is Std 11 textbooks. Due to provision of printed notes by coaching classes and tuitions, not many use textbooks. But textbooks are essential to get the feel of it. Solve the numericals based or reactions based questions. You will find them at the end of every chapter.
It is my guarantee that you will find CET questions study easier after improving your fundamentals. You do not have to be an extremely brilliant students to crack CET. Students who scored as less as 65% in SSC have cracked CET with their dedication and hard work. You too can do it. Wish you Best Luck.
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:
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.
Alertness is a quality that is required in many occupations. The doctor’s job is one among the many ones where it is needed. As you may already know, I am conducting a test-series for MHT-CET that focuses exclusively on strengthening the student in the subject of Biology. Simple questions are twisted around core concepts to make them appear difficult to the student. Every attempt is made to confuse the ‘weak’ student and trick him into marking the wrong answer. An average student may choose the correct answer by chance, but over time, only the truly strong student will win consistently. A combination of paper-setting tricks ensures that the weak will be bowled out very early in the game.
Coming back to out topic of discussion – Alertness – is equally needed in MHT-CET exam. In a tough and competitive exam where over 2lakh students compete for just 2000 seats in MBBS & BDS, even a slight edge over others can be your “Seat-saving medicine”. There are a no. of MCQ practice books available in the market. To add to it, your coaching class may also burden you with “20,000 MCQs question bank”. My experience is that not all students who attend CET coaching programmes are serious about it. On an average, less than 25% of students, or even less, are self-motivated. Other do so under pressures from teachers, students, peers, etc. Those self-motivated ones will not restrict themselves to just one or two books. They will go much beyond it. These “hard-working” students will have read all the 9 sanctioned textbooks and also practiced MCQs from atleast 3 MCQ books.
This article is directed, or, written for the benefit of those “self-motivated and hard-working” students. The human brain has a property by which it responds subconsciously to habitual things. You get into the “habit” of it without thinking about it actively. Similarly, when you solve the similar kind of MCQs repeatedly, you are likely to answer it subconsciously because you feel that you already know that answer. This is the “side-effect” of over-practicing MCQs. I have myself committed such an mistake in my actual MHT-CET exam. Hence, take my words without a doubt that you too are susceptible to this. this For ex, consider the below question:
100 DNA molecules are are replicated for two generations in medium containing 14N isotope. In the third generation, percentage of DNA molecules containing 14N isotopes is
a) 20 %
b) 25 %
c) 33.33%
d) 100 %
The above seems related to the Meselson-Stahl experiment which proved that DNA replication is semi-conservative and you would then proceed to the calculations. However, you must notice that the question here says that we have used “14 N” isotope, which is actually the “normal” or common isotope. Hence the answer for this question is 100%. You may have been a victim of over-practice if you failed to notice and differentiate that the questions mentions 14 N, whereas the experiment used 15 N. MCQs based on this are very common, so you may have developed a “habit” of it.
The best way to avoid this would be patience. Read the question statement twice, word-by-word, with eyes and mind wide open. In Biology, you will have ample excess time unlike physics and chemistry. So there is no need to hurry. Always be double-cautious when you feel “super-confident” about an twisted question/answer. When we are super-confident or over-confident, we fail to see things that are right in front of our eyes. Let that not happen with you.
There is no shortcut to success. If you want to crack the MHT-CET exam and make it to a medical college, you need to work hard-and-smart. In a world where we have instant coffee and fast-food, some students are looking for fast-marks without putting in the required efforts. I get emails from students asking me for “important chapters to concentrate for MHT-CET“. Needless to say, I never reply to such emails.
Dear students, let it be known that all the 100 MCQs in MHT-CET biology are compulsory. You cannot afford to leave any MCQ unattempted. Ofcourse, there are some chapters which hold more weight in terms of MCQs asked from them, but that certainly does not mean that the MCQs asked from the smaller chapters are easy to solve. In a situation where we have almost 9 sanctioned textbooks for MHT-CET biology, it becomes increasingly difficult to compile and remember all the facts about any given concept from all the 9 textbooks. Also, there is no restriction as to from which part of a chapter the MCQ can be asked or not asked. A MCQ may be asked from any corner of any sanctioned textbook. I have seen questions being asked from the least expected parts of smaller chapters.
Please do not look for fast-marks. For students who carry the attitude that they can fare well at MHT-CET exam by focusing on “important chapters”, I wish to tell them that there are hundreds of students who have been sincerely preparing for MHT-CET for more than 12 months, leaving no stone unturned – there is no way that your “crash-course” of “important chapters” can beat their year-long hard work. So if you are planning to focus on important chapters and sideline the smaller chapters, please drop that idea – its gonna fail! You need to master almost everything to be successful at the MHT-CET exam.
Winners look for long-term solutions, losers look for quick-fixes!
We all commit silly mistakes in our exams. This article focuses not on study-related mistakes, but on other “technical” mistakes.
The syllabus for MHT-CET is same as that for H.S.C. of Maharashtra Board. All the questions are objective, multiple choice(4 choices) with one correct or most appropriate answer.
About 40% MCQs are easy(E level), 30 % are medium level (M level) and remaining 30% are difficult(D level). All these questions are asked only from the textbooks santioned by the Board. No question which is beyond the scope of sanctioned textbooks is asked in MHT-CET exam.
The preparation for H.S.C. and MHT-CET exam is different, through you basically learn the same concepts and facts. However, in MHT-CET, better understanding of concept and indepth knowledge of facts is required. If the student is well prepared for H.S.C. exam, he can expect to score 92% in the 40% E and 30% M level MCQs.
For scoring well in 30 D level MCQs, diligent preparation is required. D level MCQs are often those demanding bit-more-thinking, manipulation, strong knowledge of formulas, knowledge of unique content from various textbooks, and common-sense and a lot of practice.
The best source for practicing E and M level MCQs is those given at the end of each chapter in sanctioned textbooks, MCQ practice books, tuition study material, etc. For D levels MCQs, no standard source can be identified as there is no limit to how creatively, manipulatively a paper setter can think. Some of these D level MCQs can be found the reference books too. Many private tutors create such D level questions but do not publish them publicly. They are available only to their students.
In MHT-CET exam, the answers are to be marked on a special type of answer sheet called Optical Mark Reader (OMR) sheet. This answer sheet is evaluated by a OMR scanner machine. It is very important that you handle the OMR sheet very carefully because the scanner is very sensitive to errors and has very less tolerance. An almost replica of it is given in the last pages of MHT-CET brochures.
The MHT-CET OMR answer sheet is very thin — as thin as a newspaper sheet. So do not use much force and handle it gently. It can tear easily. While darkening circles to mark roll no., answer, or while writing other information such as MHT-CET question paper no, be careful not to exert much pressure with the pen. Else, the pen might poke through the OMR answer sheet and the sheet may be not be correctly evaluated by the OMR scanner.
While darkening the circle, first carefully darken the border of the circle and then shade the interior of the circle. If you simply scratch or graze without drawing an outline/border, it is very likely that the marking may leak out of the circle. Such marking may not be read by the OMR scanner. Also, be careful that the marking does not touch another circle.
Do not make any marking on the left and right border of the OMR answer sheet where small black rectangles are arranged in stacks. These markings are utilized by the OMR scanner to position its reading. Any unexpected marking may interfere with the scanning process and its very likely to produce incorrect evaluation.
Make all the markings with black ball point pen only. Do not use gel pens or fountain ink pens. Do not use a pointed pen. Do not use Cello gripper because its too sharp to poke through the OMR answer sheet. Instead go for blunt types. Do not carry leaking pens. If it leaks while marking answers, it may spill ink and may produce markings which will interfere with the OMR scanner. Carry more than one pen of the same brand. Many times, the tip of the pen becomes hot and thus the ink does not flow smoothly.
“Latur pattern” is a popular marketing gimick among book publishers. It was inspired by the original and genuine Latur pattern under which the chapters were given in the “question and answer” format akin to a guide or digest. Those answers were very detailed and comprehensive, much more than expected by the Board. Latur pattern quickly gained popularity as students from those regions topped the Board exams.
These days, most of the books which flaunt their “Latur pattern” tag are nothing much different than those who do not. There is not much difference between their content either. Infact, some of the publishers have gone ahead and misused the Latur pattern tag. Under the pretext of “detailed” content, they go overboard the MHT-CET syllabus. The student who is unaware of such tricks falls for the extra infromation and wastes his time working on it. Please do not fall prey to such marketing tricks and waste your MHT-CET attempt.
© 2011 ROHAN SHENOY EDUSERVE
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