Hi friends, this is Dr. Apurv Mehra. Hi, I’m Dr. Zainab Vohra. So thank you, Zainab, for having me in this video. I’m an orthopedic surgeon, but I want to talk about something which is very important. When I go to operate in the morning, I always keep in mind that this is a surgery I want to do. I look at the x-ray, right, I go in, I look at the knee, and then I decide these are my steps, and this is called revising before the actual thing comes. So the topic here is what exactly to keep in mind when we revise because the final run is required to absolutely kill the competition. So what are the elements to keep in mind when you revise?
[Dr.Zainab] Yes, I think this is one of the most important things because we keep telling the students that they need to revise, but we never talk about how exactly they need to revise. So here we shall discuss the specifics of what you need to do, and it is just imperative because the curriculum that we are reading is mainly fact-based. You need to revisit them; otherwise, you’re not going to remember them. So the first thing I want to talk about is a concept, which is called 1-2-4-7. So whenever you’re reading something, let’s say that you’re reading it for the first time. Today will be your baseline day one. So right now I am sitting at my study table, and I am starting to read. So this is my first hour when I am starting to read. So what you do on day one is going to be 50 minutes, 10 minutes.So you study, let’s say, as in the last video we discussed, sit for four hours. That should be your ultimate goal. That is to give a study session of three to four hours because that is our exam duration; you want your mind to be attentive for that time. So let’s break that four hours down into one hour. One hour is the minimum that everybody knows you should target when you are starting off. Now in this, we further divide it into 50 minutes, 10 minutes. So let’s say I have read my notes now for 50 minutes or I saw a video for 50 minutes. Put a pause on that. Take your phone; start a timer for 10 minutes. Now in those 10 minutes, you revise. Take a piece of paper or take a piece of A4 sheet and now think and go back to that resource and see what I need to revisit. What was the summary of those 50 minutes?
Put it on a piece of paper, put it in a box, and put it on half a sheet. So what you have done is now you have taken your 50 minutes and made it into 10 minutes. So now you are going to have around five to six such or maybe more such boxes, such as 50-minute boxes that you’ve created for yourself, which would be the number of hours. So let’s say I studied for eight hours. You should end up with eight such summary boxes, right? That becomes your job for day two. Day two beginning, what you’re going to do is revisit those eight boxes, those seven boxes, whatever was the number of hours that you did, and that also shows you that more, you know, gives you a quantitative estimate of how productive you were and also keeps targeting. So that gives you an incentive also. So anyway, we are on day two. So now on day two, what you do is summarise these boxes. What is the best technique to revise, in my opinion? Very proven evidence-backed is taught. The more you teach, the more you remember.
So if you have a friend or a study partner, if you don’t have a study partner, you have a sibling; you have a parent around you in the house. So what you have to do is teach it to somebody so that you have the confidence. When you’re teaching, you need to understand. So this is what you need to do now: teach or just say it out loud. So this is your day two. This will make sure that at least 75% of content stays with you for the long term. Now comes the toughest part: to go to day four. It’s to go to day four and again revisit that box of day one. This will be something that you will forget or be lazy about because you will have studied a lot on day three and day two also. So this is the toughest part, which will make all the difference, and then comes day seven.
So day four and day seven are again when you revisit those boxes. So four spaced revisions you have done within a week, and you make sure that now you don’t forget this. Very few chances that you forget and more. So, now when I look at this closer to the exam, you know, I will feel very familiar that I have seen this four times. It is something that I know. I just have to read it once, especially in an exam like ours where it is not somebody taking your viva. You will look at it in the option. It will come to you. So this is the whole summary of how you know you should plan your revision very, very specifically.
[Dr. Apurv] So when I was studying, I used the wall. And I used to go and shout in front of it and speak. Montagia, medial bone, towards the mouth, galeazzi, towards the ground. Right. And this is how I used to do it. In this technique, although I did not have a mentor like you to tell me to revise what you have done previous to next and next. But in this technique, what I understand here is if my one particular subject is weak, I should be doing that on day one because I will have more chances of revising it over the week. Yes. And my strongest subject should be on days six and seven. So number one, they don’t become weak. Number two, they require a lesser amount of reinforcement. So what I understand here is this is a week, and on the seventh day, you will revise the entire week. [Dr. Zainab] So this is cumulative, you know. So today’s day one is our baseline. So the same way, day two will be day one. So it keeps on going. So everything I read today has to be revised on the next day, the fourth day, the seventh day, and one week later. So the idea is that whatever I am reading today, one week later also I have to see it once so that it consolidates in my mind. Any order of subjects that you prefer for revision? I think students should mix it up. You know, what happens, we all say that start the tough thing first. But sometimes when, suppose if you tell me that you start with anatomy, then you do biochemistry, then you do, say, micro. These are my three weakest subjects. If I start with this on the second subject, I will be like I don’t want to do it. I can’t do this. So what you should do is take a subject that you hate and mix it up with a subject that you like. So that balance will remain under. After you’re done with one system of anatomy, if somebody tells you that dharma revises a little., it’ll be very easy. It’ll be very light on you. So mix your weak subjects with your strong subjects. That way, you know, your spirit of life will not be killed. So that is something which is very important. [Dr. Apurv] When I am in revision mode. Obviously, in your last video, you said to read and start revising. So do not separate them into two parts. But if towards the end, I am right now, if I’m towards the end of eight weeks or two and a half months, and I am into revision mode, how do you divide your day? So one particular day, how much will you be studying and how much will be MCQs, or what all you want to do? [Dr.Zainab] Yeah, so the first half of the day when our efficiency is higher, I would recommend four hours, four hours, two slots where you are studying, right? So there will be a subject that I have to review for the day. Let’s say right now I’m revising PSM. So four hours and four hours, two gaps, because it’s a long subject, it will take me two slots to revise my PSM. So this is what I do. Now let’s say I also want to see a video, I want to see a rapid revision video by Vivek Jain sir, or I want to see VTR. So whatever I want to see, now I will do it in the third slot, because that is when I am tired.I just want don’t use my mind; just tell me; you know, I’m just going to listen. So this is what passive reading I want to do in the latter half of the day. So four hours is your notes where you are doing active recall that we discussed. You are reading; you are revising; just as we discussed, fifty minutes per hour, ten-minute revise kiya. So in these four hours, four hours, ideally you make your eight boxes that we discussed. You are ending your day from what your active studying was. After that, it’s passive reading. So you see a video, let’s say two hours, three hours, four hours, watch at 1.25x, save some time.,
And then comes MCQs. So I feel MCQs and passive reading can be interchanged and mixed depending on the day-to-day basis and how you’re feeling. But every day you have to do MCQs. That’s something that is, you know, non-negotiable because that is what ultimately we are training for. No matter how much theory you read, if you’re not solving MCQs, you’re not training for the game that you have to play. So do MCQs daily, especially now, closer to the exam, you know, you have to get into that zone every day that you are giving a mini test. So if the exam is of 200 MCQs, if it is of 300 MCQs, try to do it at least one-fourth or one-sixth. So solve 50 MCQs. 50 MCQs; give yourself 50 minutes; just get done with it and revise those then and there, you know. so that’s a mistake, see your incorrect out of those 50 first, review those first, What approach should they take? See why you got that wrong. Was it because you didn’t know the facts? That’s a good mistake. So now you know the fact. So he made his gains by mistake, and that’s fine; I didn’t know this fact; now I know.
The second very important analysis is what I learned, but still, I got it wrong. So that analysis is what is going to get you your rank. Why am I making this mistake? Why did it happen, when I read this? Did I miss an option? So that learning is invaluable for eliminating, of not skipping options, you know. So these mistakes you have to identify these and then whatever is correct, look at them quickly., no need to read the entire solution. If you got it right, you knew it; just go on. So this is your complete recall and analysis of those 50 questions will happen in another maximum of 50 minutes, you know. So investing those one and a half hours into that is not something that will tax you too much. so you are tired too, 8 hours you’ve studied, then also you can do it because it’s like a test for yourself. It’s like an incentive that every day I need to improve. Every day I have to take it from 40 to 42, 42 to 45. So it’s like an incentive for you that in today’s 50 test, one-fourth in NEET, I have to be better than what I was yesterday.
[Dr. Apurv] So as you said, do you still feel that at this stage they should be seeing a lot of videos, or should it be more of notes? [Dr.Zainab] So if you have notes already, that is something that you definitely need to do because watching videos is easy. It is passive. It is very difficult to read the notes. So I know a lot of students who keep seeing videos and making notes but don’t read those notes. Then why did you make those notes? So you know, you have to revisit. Again, that’s the tough part. If I were in your place, I would rather watch videos only. I just need to listen, And it’ll also feel like yes I know everything. But in the exam, somebody is not going to be narrating. You are going to be with that question yourself. So you need to be present with those notes. You have to face that hard truth that ultimately those notes I only have to memorize. Nobody is going to just come and recite them to me. So video watching is easier. So save it for the end and now be selective in your videos.So the topics that you find tough, the important topics, reoccur again and again in the exam. So now you go selective. Important, weak. Thats it. That is what you have to see. You can’t see complete videos three months before the exam. I have to be selective, right? And the main time that you spend is with your notes, trying to recall. So I would also not say do just notes because what happens when we are just studying theory? After a point, the notes don’t speak to me. I am just reading. It doesn’t make any sense. Direct questions are solvable, but most of the questions will require processing and analysis that I won’t be able to do. So when somebody just comes and tells me, it gets a perspective. Okay, when I was writing those notes, that was the perspective.
Don’t be scared by just reading those notes. So do them actively. Read them, but do mix them up selectively with the videos. Rapid revision videos give you a fresh perspective on why you made those notes exactly because those will be older notes, and you know, you keep forgetting stuff as time goes by.
[Dr. Apurv] Yeah. I remember around nine years back, I recorded a video with Ravi when he had just topped all India in the Institute of Medical Sciences exam. He was ranked two, and he told me that each time I revise means the last question on the revision cycle, and there are different sets of revisions you will do. So each time I revise, I add something to my notes. Where do you get more to add? Where are you getting it? Is it the errors you made in the questions you practiced? Is it in some previous year’s exams or topics that you learned? Or is this something new that’s happening towards the end? So where is he trying to write? For example, you talk about your choti copy in BTR. So I was watching one of the videos where people said that I had bigger copies and that went on to get reduced. But then I’m sure when you’re revising you keep on adding a few lines there. Where do you get those lines from? And what exactly? Because the problem is of ‘’Too much’’, right? And you want to make it more concise. So what is it that if the first division is there, the second division is there, and the final kill is there? How do I pace these three divisions towards the end? What more comes in each cycle or what gets reduced? [Dr. Zainab] I also, I can take an example from myself now because this is what I consciously do with BTR, you know. So there is content, which is already recorded. So that is your first reading. That’s your foundation that you have already made? How do I add value to every class that I take? I’m not just teaching you the same thing again. How do you add value to the second revision? Now you are not just reading the same thing. When we say three cycles of revision, it is not going through that same book three times. No, you are filtering. The filter approach is very important now. First reading, fine. I have read everything now. At least 30% of it was concepts, which I understood. Now they are there. They are there in your system. You don’t have to revisit them. Now I am left with 70% content. Some concepts, mostly facts, that I need to revisit because they are volatile. Next cycle, when I revisit, even those 30% concepts that were there from the 70% content that we took, I filter it because I don’t have the time because time is the limiting factor. So I took out 30% more. So now you are left with the 70% facts.Try to take out 25% of the facts I have memorized. It’s a bit of complex math. But still, I took out 25% of the facts. The remaining facts are what I want to take in the third round. So you don’t have to do this exact calculation that you have to take out 25%. The moral of the story is that every time you keep filtering, what gets filtered is the concept because that’s your long-term understanding, and when you see that question, you will do it. You will have to keep that belief and that faith that I will do it. You don’t have to see it again. So now my content keeps getting filtered. This is how I am reducing my content. Now talking about adding value and adding further tiny, tiny points. So this is what you won: did 50 MCQs daily. So also I am getting 2 or 3 points every day which I want to revisit. Again, when you make those errors about eliminating or processing, that is a learning that you absorb then and there. I don’t have to revisit. But out of those 50 questions, maybe you bookmark 3 questions that are the 3 MCQs that I have to revisit. One, I will again give you one important tip here. So I have seen students who have 1000 bookmarked MCQs to see one week before the exam. So then they say, leave it. And rightly so during that point. But we don’t want to end up with a situation where you have kept so much valuable gold content for yourself and you are not able to give it back. So either make it a habit of seeing these bookmarked MCQs every week or a better idea is just to take out the essence of those bookmarked MCQs so that this becomes a line that I have to understand and add to your notes only. So this is what you need to do: make your resources concise and keep adding value to them. Nowadays on Instagram, we have faculty, we have apps. So you have so many resources. I saw something very interesting. I saw a video on migraine drugs. I saw it then, and I didn’t save it because again, Instagram saved a black hole. So what I do instead of saving it now, and you know right here right now, I am going to see the tips. Write it in my Choti copy, and that’s sorted. So whatever are the resources that you face. So this is something where you have to be very actively involved. So lots of students get scared that, ma’am, you know I have seen primary resources. How can I do something new? Do whatever you want to do. Keep adding value. You know it doesn’t have to be a burden. Master primary resources, and keep adding value to it.
So that is what you do. So you know whatever you are seeing in your MCQ points, your Instagram videos, whatever you see on YouTube. So whatever you find extra from something that you have mastered, you can always take a different perspective, and if you find two or three extra points you add, that is what you know makes the difference, I think, between toppers and people who don’t end up doing that well.
[Dr. Apurv] I have five key points from this video while revising. Revise even in revision. That’s your rule number 1-2-4-7. Number two: practice MCQs daily and extract things out of them. Number three, your resources should be decided by what you are revising. Tough, easy, boring, interesting—combine those things up, mix and match. Also in your resource, the active and passive divisions should be there for studying. Keep filtering out each time you revise and add value for the whole process when you’re revising or you are trying to take out a one-to-five ratio. 50 minutes into 10 minutes on, and as you filter out on one, two, four, seven days, or you bookmark the MCQs, do not wait till the end to increase your knowledge. Keep on adding there and then. This is what she said in the example she took of Instagram: three key points add and move ahead. This is what, so finally, as you filter out the things, they become more concise, and there’s each line that reminds you of where it came from, and that’s how you get the answers in the exam, and remember the key point she said: even while revising, do not stay away from the MCQs because it is finally the MCQ that you’re going to attempt, and also which one I want to tell you to do. 19 subjects revision Do not leave a subject; it’s going to hurt you; it’s going to hurt you in the exam more than that; it’s going to hurt you mentally, and second, what she just said when she was telling that it is important to analyze the question: do you know concept number two? Did you make a mistake? Number three, you know the concept and got it correct. The second category is the mistake. If the mistake is you’re not seeing the options properly or reading the options properly while doing the MCQs, you reduce that error because this is very important in the exam. After all, what I have seen is that even one question can make a big difference, so this is the summary right, so thank you very much, and I hope you follow the golden pearls. Dr. Zainab has given she topped two exams in around two months ranking one NIMHAN and one AIIMS and I can tell you one thing that what she did best is she studied what she did even better than the best she revised well because this is where you choke so I hope that these five key points you remember and you kill the exams thank you very much all the best thank you.