Grand Tests: How and Why.

Friends, to get a PG seat, you need a rank. To get a rank, you need to score well in the MCQ exam.

You must have heard people say after the exam:

"I wish I had one more chance. I did some silly mistakes."

" Just make the exam happen again and I will do wonders."

" Lets write a mail to NBE, we are not satisfied with the exam and want a re-exam"

And the All Time Favorite:

"I had a good preparation, did my theory well. But The exam didn't go that well. Give me another chance, fodh daalunga !!!"

Friends, you don't get a second chance after the final race. But you get many of them, before the final race. Its called practicing.

Giving a good MCQ exam involves lots of skills which is to be learnt gradually. Its not an overnight exercise which can be learnt one day before the final exam by watching a "How to score above 1000" Video.

If you start giving Grand tests/Mock tests early, you will get many chances to rectify the mistakes and follow up by giving more tests again. The more times you will attempt the test, the more you will come across the possible problems that could arise and that is how the skill develops. It takes time.

You need to keep practicing, till you reach a point where you are confident enough to appear for the final exam.

STEPS OF GIVING AN IDEAL GRAND TEST:

1st: Give them seriously.

As you are giving the final exam.

ATTENTION SPAN

Habit of sitting for 3 hours. Initially it is extremely tough to sit for straight 3 hours since it is a very exhausting experience for the mind. How do you expect to crack an exam when you cant even sit through the entire exam?

Some people don't even have an attention span this long. One of the major reason is our smart phone  especially if you are into the habit of checking your phone again and again.

For a lot of people, being engaged in social media is a part of their daily life and for some it is the only social part of their day. This is when social media starts affecting your attention span, you want to keep scrolling through your feed and you start craving more and more it keeps your engagement levels high.

The same will happen during your grand tests, and just because its a mock test, after an hour you might end up getting tired, craving to check your phone, talk to someone etc.

So,

• Keep phone far away. OBVOUSLY DONT GIVE MOCK TEST ON YOUR PHONE!!!
• Try to force yourself to sit through the whole 3 hour duration. Gradually you will get the hang of it.

Target achieved: To be able to sit mindfully for the entire duration of the exam.

CREATING THE EXAM SCENE

Simulating  the exam environment. It will greatly help reduce the stress levels during the final exam if you get used to the environment.

-The real exam is going to have a PC with a mouse.  So practice on your home with a PC/Laptop with attached mouse.

-The regular chair. Dont get used to a very comfortable cosy chair, otherwise your bum would hurt really hard during the actual exam. :P You never know what you will be provided, its better to be prepared for the worst. (Eg: PGI exam is held in government schools in Chandigarh. They have hard wooden benches which can be a nightmare to sit on for straight 3 hours. So I practiced the pgi sample papers days before the exam sitting on a wooden stool at home, to get used to it. It helped a lot.)

-Have a small water bottle with you. Similar to the one they give in the exam.

-Preferably give exam in the morning (when the real exam happens) so that the mind gets trained for that time period.

-DONT use paper and pen (Its not allowed in NEET since the last 2 years)

-Ask people around you NOT TO DISTURB you for that period. But that doesn't mean you need  sound proof walls. The exam centre would also have background noises, many students clicking their mouse, invigilators gossiping, exhaust fans, traffic on the road (if your centre in near a road). You can not let these things affect your exam, you just cant do that.

So if someone is honking outside your house while you are giving your grand test, you don't need to go outside and shout at him to stop. You need to learn to focus and defocus. Focus on the test, defocus the background. Smile and move on with the next question.

Target achieved: To get used to the exam conditions and reduce stress levels, so that you can focus on more important things like recalling your notes.

ATTEMPTING THE PAPER

You will find lots videos of "How to attempt the paper" being circulated one week before the Final exam. But by that time, its too late to incorporate the correct habits of attempting the paper. You need to look at such videos at the start of the year, practice attempting using those techniques and eventually mastering them.

Some salient points:

-Keeping calm is necessary. Don't think about your previous test scores or the target score you need to achieve. Tackle each Q one by one. You don't want unnecessary anxiety at the start of the exam. 

-Keep an eye on the clock.  For a 3 hour exam with 300 Qs, you can aim for solving 50 Qs per half an hour. You do get approx 40 seconds for each Q, but that should not be used during the exam, as it varies depending on the length of the Q.   Read every word of the Question and all the options. If any Q is demanding  2 mins, there is no harm in giving it the time, because there will be Qs which take just 10 seconds. Hence it will balance out.

-There would be Qs you have no idea about. That's completely okay. Even the topper gets 60-70% of Qs right and still tops the exam. These Qs are not the rank deciders. Hence, don't get panicked by such absurd Qs, just try to find the answer if you can, otherwise skip it and attempt the next. Getting the basic Qs right is the key to a great rank.

-Attempt the whole 3 hours. Sometimes you might finish the exam half an hour in advance, and because its a mock test you feel revision is a waste of time. But trust me, the half an hour left is the one where you go through your marked questions again and change your answers if needed. If done properly, those 30 minutes can greatly shoot up your rank by increasing your attempts and correcting answers. But for that you need to learn to use those extra 30 minutes of your time.

-Attempt maximum questions as possible. (explained later)

Target achieved: To know how to attempt the paper in the start of the preparation and practice perfection right from the start. Helps  to increase speed and finishing paper on time. This would help you to give more time to the tough Qs, and solve them too.

2nd

TAKE THE RANKS AND SCORES SERIOUSLY

Ranks are telling you how you are performing among your competitors. It is essential to know level (Aukad), be honest and plan accordingly.

 You should feel responsible for the rank you got, and promise yourself you would do better the next time. That would just motivate you to perform better in the next test and you will give it more seriously. You wont get the 1st rank in the first go, but your aim should be to improve your rank in every test. Be your own competition.

3rd

ANALYSIS OF THE TEST

Most crucial step. If done right, expect great improvement in subsequent tests.

Tests are not supposed to be given for the sake of giving it. To get a better rank next time, you need to find out the things that went wrong.

This step is often skipped, and is the reason for stagnant scores despite of giving many grand tests.

Basic analysis(to be done on same day)

Most grand tests offer a subject wise analysis. Use that, find out what went wrong, find out your weak subjects and make a list.

-Go through all the answers the same day, just the Q and its answer.

By this, you would recall the logic used to mark the MCQ, and would be able to rectify the wrong concept/logic then and there.

-Also for silly mistakes, you would feel stupid for getting an easy question wrong, and would never repeat it again.

-Get excited for the answers marked right, and disheartened for those marked wrong. This would help you to associate an emotion with that MCQ, so that later when a similar MCQ pops up, you would be reminded of the mistake you did earlier.

Detailed Analysis (Subsequent Days)

This would vary from person to person depending on the time you have got.

1. Detailed analysis of  each subject of the grand test, and each question of the subject. See the detail explanation/ Video explanation provided. This is essential to do for all Questions.

For the questions you marked right: There is a possibility you marked it by fluke, and the real logic behind it is very different. If you don't look at the explanations of these Qs, you might get the same Q wrong next time with different options.

For the questions you marked wrong: Think of the logic by which you marked it. Was it a conceptual error, was it a  random guess, was it a intuition? Why did it go wrong? Did you miss out any clues in the Question? Go to the depth of it, preferably read that topic and add new info to notes.

For the Questions you left: Is it a completely new Q? What you could have done to guess this right. Was it solvable by odd one out? Also, add the new knowledge if gained into your notes, and mark the topics being repeated. Revise the topics being asked.

Now this analysis could be done in a span of 3-4 days post the test.

Or could be done everyday, subject wise.

[I used to take out 1 hour everyday to review one subject of a grand test and do the analysis. 19 subjects, 19 days. Give another grand test on the 20th day. Obviously the schedule never goes perfectly according to the plan, but I did manage to do a grand test once a month by this method. So by the end of 10th month, I have done 10 tests, and have revised important theory of the mcqs ( 1 hr each day) of all 19 subjects 10 times !! ]

2. Another way is to Take only the subjects in which you scored really less and want to improve upon. This method  can be followed for tests done in the last few months, or if you have a real crunch of time. By this method, you should be able to do a grand test every 15 days (since you are spending less time on analysis).

Targets Achieved By Analysis:

-Find out weak subjects early on and improvise on them. You may need to read up more theory, revise more , or even go back to basics. Find out the reason and kill it.

-The Qs of grand tests are made carefully and in accordance with last year papers. There's a high probability of having similar Qs in real exams.

-By seeing your mistakes and correcting them, you are indirectly revising that topic. Hence more the grand tests you do, you end up automatically revising the important topics again and again.

-Getting intuitions and intelligent guesses right. Practicing more grand tests gives you confidence to trust your instincts and helps you get more and more Qs correct.

FAQs

Q: Where to do Grand tests from?

There are many many apps and coaching institutes offering test series services. All of them have almost the same Q bank. Preferably enrol for the one where most of your friends/study partners are. So that you can compare and discuss.

I used DAMS test series and Marrow App. I thought having two platforms would ensure more variety of Qs and also comparison of my rank with more people.

Q: I haven't completed all subjects yet? What is the use of giving tests?

 You will never be ready to give a test. Even before the main exam, the topper feels he could have done better, he's not ready.

Start giving the GTs irrespective of number of subjects completed. Atleast test the subjects you already know. For the subjects you havnt studied, try solving them via  intelligent guesses. During analysis, read the explanation and note the topic asked. So that when u start that subject later, you already have some idea about the important topics.

Never avoid GTs for the fear of getting a low score/rank. Its better to score low now (when you still have chance to improvise) than to score low in the real exam.

Every GT in an investment that will pay off.

Q: HOW MUCH TO SCORE?

-More than your previous score. There is no one perfect score. Each year, the Exam can be of any level. Only thing you can do is to make sure your graph is going up and you beat your previous performance. Test yourself against yourself. Since there can be variations in the difficulty level of grand tests you give too, hence ranks are a good measure to reflect improvement.

Q: BUT STILL HOW MUCH TO SCORE??

-Rough aim should be to reach to a level of getting >200 Qs right. (ie 200x4=800 marks. According to number of Qs marked wrong, score would be between 700-800.) That's a very safe zone and prognosis of getting a decent rank is high. Usually for grand tests of most coaching institutes, score of >700 means you are on the right track. Below are actual scores and corresponding ranks for Last 2 years.

NEET 2018

Rank ALL India	Score (Max 1200)
1	975 (always exceptionally high, just ignore)
10	871
100	818
500	766
1000	737
5000	647
10000	590
20000	515
50000	372                          @drarunavgarg@blogspot.com

Category	Cut off percentile	Cut off score out of 1200
General (UR)	50th percentile	321
SC	40th percentile	281
ST	40th percentile	281
OBC	40th percentile	281
UR PH	45th percentile	300
SC PH	40th percentile	281
ST PH	40th percentile	281
OBC PH	40th percentile	281

NEET 2019

(Was a relatively easier exam)

Rank	Score (Max 1200)
1	1006(ignore again)
10	949
100	895
500	843
1000	812
5000	712
10000	648
20000	565
50000	415                         @drarunavgarg@blogspot.com

                               

Category	Cut off Percentile	Cut off score out of 1200
Unreserved (UR)	50th Percentile	340
(UR-PH)	45th Percentile	317
SC	40th Percentile	295
ST	40th Percentile	295
OBC	40th Percentile	295
SC-PH	40th Percentile	295
ST-PH	40th Percentile	295
OBC-PH	40th Percentile	295

Q: How much to attempt??

MAXIMUM. If possible, 100%.

Yes, don't mark if you have 0% Idea about the Q and also the 4 choices. But even if you have a slightest idea, try to mark.

Why?

Very low negative marking. NEET has a negative marking of 1/4. That means if you make 5 ransom guesses, and get even 1 right, that means 4 marks for the one right Q, and minus 4 marks for four wrongly marked Qs. That makes your score 0. Same if you would have left those 5 Qs.

So if you get >1 out of 5 Qs correct, you will always be on a positive side.

But to get more and more guesses right, you need to practice lots of grand tests.

 Out of all the questions a topper marks correctly in the exam, he actually knows the answer for only 60% of them. Out of remaining 40% , 20% are intuitions, remaining 20% are intelligent guesses.

Intuition:  When you just know this is the right answer. Why? Because you might have done a similar mcq somewhere, or your subconscious mind, filled  with great knowledge due to multiple revisions, is telling you to mark it . The more good quality MCQs you practice, the more you will become confident to trust your instincts.

 Intelligent Guesses: Basically using the ruling out technique and arriving at the correct answer. Using your existing knowledge to all the choices given and trying to rule out the non-fitting choices.

So the analysis of grand tests will make your intuitions and intelligent guesses more and more accurate and will help you to increase your score. These also help you to decide what to mark when you are confused between two choices.

Q: My score is not improving and is stagnant?

First don't get depressed due to stagnation. Its okay.

Make sure you are doing the analysis part correct.. Be honest with yourself, make a list of weak subjects, or even weak topics and revise them regularly.

Your score will gradually improve with more number of revision cycles.

Also if your rank is decent, you don't need to always worry about the score. Score varies with the difficulty level of the test and can vary from test to test.

Improvement doesn't happen quick. It takes time. You just need to follow the right steps, and trying to find out what's going wrong. There will be a time when you are stuck with the same score for last 5-6 GTs, and that is completely normal. It will improve with more number of revision cycles. Just trust your hard work and keep going. Its a skill which will take time to develop. And this is why starting GTs early is a must, so that you get time to reach the top level.

[I started with getting 140 Qs right, went to 170 Qs right quick but then it remained stagnant for4-5 months. I remained stuck bw 170-190 Qs for a long time but that didn't stop me from giving GTs. Its only in the final mock tests 1 month before the final exam I touched the 200Q mark, then 210 in another and it stayed that way. And ended up getting 230 Qs correct in the final exam. I personally feel the drastic improvement was due to more revisions at the end and more guesses falling on the right choice,]

Comment below/Mail me for any more Questions and I will add them to the FAQ List !!

#MakeItHappen


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