"Chances of selection is directly proportional to no. of mock tests & revisions you do", says Dr. Ranjan (AIIMS Rank-2)

PrepLadder congratulates Dr. Ranjan Kumar Sahoo on securing All India Rank-2 in AIIMS-May 2019. We wish him all the best for his career and future ahead. To find out how he achieved this incredible feat, we spoke to him and tried to understand what it takes to attain such a rank. We would like to share the excerpts from his interview so that we can all learn from his experience and use it to score our mark. Hello, please tell us something about yourself. Hi. I am Dr. Ranjan Kumar Sahoo. I did my graduation from AIIMS Bhubaneswar. I secured AIIMS-PG Rank 2 (General) & Rank 1(OBC). What do you think is the correct approach to study for AIIMS-PG? Only MCQ's or Theory+ MCQ's? Theory along with MCQs is the best approach to study for AIIMS-PG...I would suggest notes + GTs, SWTs & GTs for Interns and Post-Interns. And I would suggest theory plus topic wise MCQs for foundation students. When should the preparation ideally be started? How did you go about it? I started my preparation from 3rd year, made all my notes. Focused on final year subjects and clinical postings in final year only. Read the respective subject notes too...And in the internship focused on revising 1st yr and 2nd yr subjects which I couldn’t because of hectic internship...so utilized online Q-banks and facebook for questions daily. That helped me immensely during the internship when one doesn’t have time to sit and study. Most important for central institute exam is going to your clinical postings, learning examination skills and observing various treatment protocols. Please list the books you studied for each subject. Anatomy- Grays Anatomy Biochem- Vasudevan Physiology-Guyton Pathology- Robbins and Devesh Mishra Review Micro- Paniker Pharma- CROP by Dr. Ranjan Kumar Patel FMT- Gautam Biswas Medicine- Medicine Essence by Dr. Bhatia Surgery- Bailey, and Love Pediatrics- Review of Pediatrics by Dr. Meenakshi Bothra OBG- Dutta Obstetrics and Shaw Gynae Derma- Review by Dr. Saurabh Jindal Psychiatry- CRP by Dr. Sachin Arora Orthopedics- CROP by Dr. Apurv Mehra Anesthesia- Nothing just solved the question on drugs How big is the role of practice and revision while preparing for AIIMS-PG entrance and how much time should be dedicated to it? In short but a true fact- Chances of selection is directly proportional to no. of mock tests and revisions you do. Believe me. Did PrepLadder play a part in your success? If yes, how? Of course, PrepLadder played a part in my success. Internship in AIIMS is quite hectic. So, I used to solve 20-30 questions from PrepLadder daily. It helped in keeping my concepts fresh and clear. Did you use a time table/study plan to keep your preparation on track? Post-internship, I used to prepare according to discussion schedule. Used to complete the whole subject and gave the test online before the discussion. Were you a topper or a mediocre student during MBBS? Mediocre... traveling and partying has been always my first priority. List the most difficult and easiest subjects for you. Most difficult- Micro, Biochem because you have to rottlearn the facts. Easiest- Physio, Anatomy, Biostats, Surgery One mistake that you believe everyone must avoid while preparing for AIIMS-PG entrance exams. Don’t go for many resources. Don’t focus on what others are doing. Rather focus on your strengths and believe in your resources and strategy. Don’t miss any clinical postings. What was your exam-taking strategy? How many questions did you attempt in AIIMS PG? I never had a prefixed number to attempt. Always analyze the paper. If it’s tough than its okay to leave question which you don’t know & if it’s easy, be aggressive. I had attempted 270 out of 296 ques. Some last tips for our readers preparing for AIIMS-PG? For foundation students- read your notes, do topic wise MCQs from Q-banks and go to clinical postings. For interns and post interns- read your notes and give as many GTs, SWTs and Mock tests as much possible. Revision is the key to success, quality matters not the quantity..Read less but read the correct things if you wanna clear AIIMS. Attend your clinical postings sincerely. And know the ideal emergency management protocol in each subject. Stay updated. Help others. Teach your juniors. We thank Dr. Sahoo for sharing his success story.   Best Wishes Team PrepLadder