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GPAT stands
for Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test conducted by National Test Agency (NTA) in
online mode across the country every year. It consists of 125 multiple choice
questions to be completed in 180 minutes. The candidate must go through the
syllabus once and then decide the strategy according to it.
a) The
total score of the test is 500
b) Deducts
1 mark from the total score for every wrong answer
This exam
is not only important so that you can take admission in a renowned university
but also due to, it lends you a fellowship every month. Its rank will also be
useful in job-seeking interviews.
Here are
some useful tips to help you with the preparation journey.
1) Strategy
Developing
a strategy is very important before starting the preparation beforehand. One
can decide his daily, weekly, and monthly goals based on his ease of learning
and grasping the things. Hence, one must go through the syllabus and can chart
out the main subjects first.
Say, you
can take up Pharmacology and finish its syllabus in two months by dividing its
one or two units per week as per your convenience.
2) Study
Material
Before
starting any subject, take one or two days and collect all the material
required for the subject in the future. You can take the help of a senior or any
professor or people who are experienced in deciding what, how, and from where
to read that particular topic.
For
example, for Bio pharmaceutics, Brahmankar should be learned and understood
heart by heart and that will be enough more than anything.
Also, there
are many websites such as Pharmatutor, Pharmasapience which provides all the
materials and classes, if one wants them.
3) Coaching Classes
Due to the
corona situation, nobody will be able to take offline classes at this point of
time. Hence, most of the classes are available online which provides ease to
prepare from home itself.
Coaching
classes provide an environment and right direction to crack the examination and
they are not at all necessary if one is capable of preparing on his own. But if
you are preparing from home only then you must go through the notes made by
your friends of a coaching institute. That must be enough.
4) Revision
There are
almost 19 subjects and very little time to prepare. The main key to distinguish
your rank among the students will be your revision. It's not important to
read material from ten books rather reading one book ten times.
Always
revise what you learned the previous day before moving on to the next day. Most
importantly revise your material before going to bed and waking up the other
day as it will directly be going into your subconscious mind which is more
important as it will flash right before your eyes in the exam.
The most acceptable
method of revising formulas or drugs is flashcards and go through each one of
them at night.
You can
learn half of the syllabus of Pharmacognosy by learning the names of various
herbal plants. Just learn two of them every day.
5) Mock Tests
In this
exam, time is not the governing factor but memory is, as you have to attempt
only 125 questions in 180 minutes which is quite easy. The only difficult task
is to maintain what you read. To maintain what you read, you can take the test
series provided by various institutes such as Pharmasapience, Cognizant, GDC,
etc.
The test
series will help you in learning some new and necessary questions. Also, due to
the negative marking, the ranks can even go up and down by 1 mark, so practice
enough so that you have a habit of not attempting the questions which you are
not so sure of.
There is no
definite pattern of this exam or difficulty and one should prepare by keeping
in mind that everything can come from anywhere.
6) Perseverance
Competitive
exams which require memorization of lot of subject matters requires hard work
on a daily basis. Your decided time table or strategy must be followed at every
step in the way.
There will
surely be days ahead when one would feel the need to skip studies due to
procrastination, at that point of time one must pull themselves back up to their
study table. Only this little laziness will differentiate the ranker and
qualifiers.
However,
one must keep in mind that there is a small difference between worked up and
procrastination. If you feel that there is rampant frustration during study
session then you must take a break of one or two day to rejoice yourself.
7) Mental Health
It is very
necessary to keep a check on your mind while preparing for national level
competitions as it is very easy to compare yourself with a person who study
more than you and feel inferior or stressed.
For
example, students get demotivated to a point that they commit suicide just
because they cannot score well in a test. Hence, keep some positive thoughts
around your study table and read them whenever you need.
You can always
talk to someone you trust when feeling low than usual. Your will plays an
important part in keeping you up on the same path you desire.
8) Meditation
Sitting in
silence for 5-10 minutes and focusing on your breaths is a simple form of
meditation. It not only helps in increasing the focus of an individual but also
decrease the frequency of random thoughts which occur in our mind at very high
pace.
It will be
difficult in starting but slowly, it will reveal its true colors. It will help
in re-framing the thoughts and help in a positive energy flow which is
All the
Best!
Written
by- Chavi Goel
Edited by –
Adrija Saha
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