Although all subjects are important and one should never skip any subject, we have limited time on our hands and infinite amount of content to cover. The key to survive is to prioritize. I’m going to share something which was shared by one my teachers and this has resonated with me ever since.
1. OBYGN PSM
The questions asked from these two subjects are pretty straight forward. The number of questions asked from these two subjects alone is a massive 55 , which is more than one fifth of the total questions. Moreover, the strike rate of correct questions in these two subjects is pretty high, often between 45-50.
2. ENT OPHTHA DERMA ORTHO FMT RADIO ANESTHESIA PSYCHIATRY
All of them are short subjects and amount to approximately 65-70 questions in an average paper. They have limited amount of content to read since the examiners do not expect PG level knowledge in these subjects from an undergraduate. If you keep your basics strong , answering these subjects with 80% plus accuracy is achievable . However, the same accuracy Is harder to achieve in the subjects listed below.
3. PHYSIO PATHO PHARMA
The holy trinity or the building blocks of knowledge. One can expect around 55 questions from these 3 subjects alone, not accounting for the questions in which they are included indirectly as a hint or a lead. These are core subjects and if you understand them properly before putting your head in medicine or surgery, life would become so much easier and everything would make so much more sense. Fairly vast subjects but extremely important to up your game.
4. MICRO BIOCHEM ANATOMY
Expect around 50 -55 questions from these 3. These are the 3 subjects which are more based on memory than understanding , hence extremely volatile. Effort to reward ratio declines drastically here since they need frequent reading and still accuracy is not top notch.
5. SURGERY MEDICINE PAEDS
Purely clinical subjects with questions being asked from anywhere and everywhere. One needs to develop a strong clinical sense to answer 60-65 questions asked from these subjects. Even after multiple thorough revisions, they are the most difficult to answer because the questions are often pretty twisted and sometimes even from topics which you have not read. Medicine and surgery are not called oceans for nothing.
This priority order is just to utilize the limited time of preparation in the best possible way. Also, if you plan to score decently in the exam, you can not afford to leave any subject out of your preparation.