How I prepared for my MDS entrance exams !

Hi , this is Dr. Suresh Shenvi

Once you enter the best days of internship, after that hectic long BDS final year,with a dream of doing MDS in mind -you start looking for the books that need to be read?, wondering which coaching to join etc. Realizing that such facilities will be available only in metro cities you start thinking about dropping another year to join the coaching next year so that you can give your 100%. May be you are not wrong, but you have 10 precious month of internship right. So why don't you give a complete genuine try this year?

Now the big question is HOW?

I can tell you how I had prepared for the entrance exams during my internship. I had a good score during my BDS yrs, but I too was not sure about how to prepare for entrance for MDS, so I was no different from most of you guys.

I did ask some of my immediate seniors who got through various entrance exams before I set out on this journey, so apart from reading this post, you should also ask your seniors, as they will give you a better idea about your state entrance.

I am a firm believer of the theory that - It's better to follow the things said by Seniors who have got success than trying to find a new path on your own.

You have around 10 months from now.

There are two ways, either read theory or go for MCQs and explanations. I followed the MCQs and explanations path and this is the formula I followed:-

Your success can be divided in to

• 60% what you do during your internship
• 20% what you did in the past 4 years
• 10% luck
• and remaining 10% can't be achieved no matter what you read
  

How to achieve the first 60%?

• Start from the 2nd month of internship, or at least 10 months before exams.

All are at the same position when you start preparation, may be one or two percent are ahead of you, but its the not the start, but, the end which matters the most.

• You need to do the following books minimum

1. Dental Pulse (Vol1 and Vol2) -6 times
2. Gourishankar- 4 times
3. Bhatia-3 times
4. Neeraj Wadhwan-3 times
5. Jatin kalra-2 times(optional)
6. Duggal 2 times(optional)
7. Dental Bytes-2 times
8. Mudit khanna-3 times
9. Dental Explore and books of aiims and aipg papers by Dr.Naveen Choudary - 3 times
10. National Boards

I repeat, It's the minimum times ! If you start early you can finish the pulse 7-9 times for sure and rest of the books 2 times more than what I have mentioned.

You need to complete this task before December. In January you have only time to do Dental Pulse, the dental papers and just questions and answers from Mudit Khanna.

How to achieve the next 20%?

• If you have not read some good books in past then don't worry, read the explanations given in the mcq books

Order of reading

1. Do Dental Pulse completely once, excluding the synopsis (usually takes 2 month at 1st reading). In the next sitting do a subject from Gourishankar followed by the same in Dental Pulse. Complete both books in this order but this time with synopsis.
2. In the next reading do a subject from Bhatia and then same in Gourishankar followed by Dental Pulse. Make sure, You remember all repeated questions from Dental Pulse.
3. So when you finish with Bhatia start reading Neeraj Wadhwan side by side. Complete one round again.
4. So you have already done Dental Pulse 3 time now. Now you can start reading Mudit Khanna. One paper of Mudit Khanna takes around 10 hours, so do it in parts.
   

When you finish Mudit Khanna 1st round, you will have your AIIMS exams. So make sure u complete Mudit Khanna before November. Do Dental Pulse again in 15 days before AIIMS, and may be PGI in December. So when you come back revise Dental Pulse, Gourishankar and other books. However, only these two books are important for Karnataka state entrance exams apart from solving papers. And do Mudit Khanna also, maybe, only recent papers.

So in January do revision again for 15 days, and when you come back after AIPGE just do Dental Pulse and old papers. You can give State entrance, MAHE, KAHE, A.B.Shetty, and if you want Siddartha Dental college, Yennepoya, JSS , maybe SDM next time if it becomes deemed.

Read only question papers the day before the exam and sleep at least for 10 hours.

Don't get distracted from studies no matter what the situation is. Never worry about fees. Get the best rank first. You will have enough of time to think about fees later.

Joining a test series will give a added advantage too. It will help you to remember things which are repeated most often in exams, and that too will help to have that fear about exam, but the ultimate result depends on once own effort. Never follow the test series timetable for your preparation. You need to plan according to the time and number of revisions you need to do before giving the final exam..

Remember one thing, the key to success is to remember as many things as possible. Read for at least 10 hours every day when you complete internship. This will need a lot of dedication. Nobody knows that he will be the topper in the exams.

So Aim for AIPGE, but its the time, luck and hard work which can buy you that. For Karnataka state entrance exams you need to mug up, Dental Pulse, Gourishankar and recent papers.

But never try for short cuts. Reach till Mudit Khanna and I am sure u will best the exams.

Believe me, if you have failed once that does not mean you will fail again[:)]. You just have to find where you went wrong, what is important is giving 100% effort and not 99.99%.


Believe me, not because i got a seat, Because I followed what my seniors said to me and that's why I succeeded.

Got
KPET - 6th,
PGI-18th,
A.B.Shetty - 23rd,
Manipal - 71,
COMEDK - 55th and
KAHE 43.

Anyway did not get rank in AIPGE may be because i did not do national boards. But I guess my other ranks are worth it. As this was my First and Last attempt without spending another year for coaching.

I am not the only guy who has done this!!!

Who knows, You might be the topper next time

Read well.

Best of Luck

(This is just to help new aspirants and not for publicity and I am sure if you look , you will find many who have achieved more than this.. So find them out [:)] )

Dr.Suresh Shenvi
MDS Student
Department of Endodontics
College of Dental Sciences, Davangere.

Tags: Endodontics, Dental Pulse, Gourishankar, Mudit Khanna, Entrance Exams, MCQs, Dentistry