Biology For MHTCET

By Prof. Rohan Shenoy Tuesday, January 5th, 2010, Category: MHT-CET study help

Do you know: About 70 - 73 questions asked in MHT-CET 2010 Biology paper were already covered in our 2010 test-series. Admissions for 2011 test-series have already started. Click here for full details.

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.