Words from people who excelled...

Interview of Dr Ujjawal Shriwastav with Online PG Nepal


Dr Ujjawal Shriwastav

INICET MD/MS Entrance-2021 Jan session

Rank 2: Foreign

(All India Rank 79)

MBBS: CMC, Bharatpur

OPN: Congratulations Dr Ujjawal.
Dr Ujjawal: Thank you so much OnlinePG Nepal.
OPN: How does it feel to be a topper of such tough and competitive exams? How much hopeful were you for such Rank?
Dr Ujjawal: It feels really nice. It makes me feel that hard work never goes in vain and you need to persistently put efforts until you reach there. The exam was pure test of concepts and knowledge. So after exams, I had mixed feelings because you don't know what's right/wrong answer. I just knew I had given my best. Good result was expected but never thought I would get a double digit rank all India.

OPN: Who would you like to share your credit of success with?
Dr Ujjawal:
It was my parents and entire family who formed the strongest support. Besides them I had special set of friends who were there whenever I needed them. I would like to thank Dr Sagar Koirala, Dr Shilpa Panta, Dr Shiva Kandel, Dr Raunak Paudel, Dr Vivek Dhakal, Dr Ashish Tiwari, Dr Subha Lamichhane, Dr Rahul Karna, Dr Nikki Sinha, Er. Mukesh Yadav and entire Meera/ex-sangam group for constant support.

OPN: Please share your brief story after internship till the PG success day.
Dr Ujjawal: After my internship, I had to work for 2 years under scholarship bond. For the first year I was at Kalaiya district hospital. During the first year I did not study but was planning to. Then I was transferred to Khairahani PHC, Chitwan where I had 10-4 job. So I had 6 hours a day to have a focused study. Entire 1 year, I studied the same way. My bond ended in Chaitra end and CEE was scheduled to happen on Jestha. But due to COVID and lockdown, CEE never happened and this was my first ever attempt to any entrance examination.
Its basically 6+3+2+1 = 12 months.
6 months - 1st read.
3 months - 1st revision with Questions.
2months -  2nd revision.
1 month - 3rd and last revision.

OPN: How tough are entrance exams these days?
Dr Ujjawal: Entrance exams are quite the same but the competition has increased. Indian exams were always more of concepts than facts. I believe you have to break down the stereotype pattern of studying only FA and Mudit khanna, to uplift your level and get a step ahead of your competitors. However most important thing still remains the concepts; wherever you acquire them from.


OPN: How is INICET entrance examination unique and how was the entrance pattern?
Dr Ujjawal:
INICET exam was unique in a way that you had to be quick and accurate at the same time. The paper was lengthy. Image based question formed major chunk of questions. One liner were only 5-10 percent of question I guess.
The conduct of exam was extremely well from entry to center to taking the exam.

OPN: What are the books and other resources you used for entrance preparation?
Dr Ujjawal:
I followed Marrow and Prepg as a primary source of my preparation. Beside that, I also used Indian books like Arvind Arora (Basics and short subjects), Sakshi Arora, Rebecca James, Vivek Jain and Deepak Marwah Medicine. 

OPN: What advice would you like to give to future PG aspirants?
Dr Ujjawal: I know this is a very hard time for every aspirant out there. But this is the time where you will have to stay calm and have patience. Keep working hard because there is no alternative. Have a faith on yourself. Making a plan and having a strategy is really important. Start using "Keep notes" to make short term and long term targets and keep accomplishing them. I keep telling; Don't fear to dream big.


OPN: 1 month before exam, what shall students focus on?
Dr Ujjawal: Only revising what you have studied and topics that are volatile. The recent year papers and solution has to be thoroughly done. 

OPN: How can aspirants parallel their PG preparation and job together?
Dr Ujjawal: Motivation does not work here to be frank; what works is Discipline. Make a habit of studying every single day. It need not be 10-15 hours of study because this will exhaust you. Study 6 hours daily for a year and there is no exam you can not crack. 


OPN: How can an aspirant prepare smart to excel competitive exams? Any tips about reading habit, memorizing and practicing technique?
Dr Ujjawal:
Before reading a topic, first do questions of that topic. It can be previous year questions or any question bank online or offline. You can select few papers of Online PG Nepal as well. After doing that, then only read the text. You will feel the difference and thank me later! This might be difficult at first but this is only way you won't miss important things and remember them all at same time.

OPN: You ranked always high in our regular Model Tests. How much helpful wan Online PG Nepal services to you?
Dr Ujjawal: I kept reading for almost 7 months and after that the first ever model test I appeared was Online PG Nepal (OPN). I have taken 24 Online PG Nepal model tests all together. This has been a big help. There is one thing that makes Online PG Nepal different from others is their constant support through viber and those frequent quizzes/awards. Whenever I was bored, I would scroll Online PG Nepal Viber page and read those questions. This is the best feature of Online PG Nepal. 

OPN: Anything you would like to share more?
Dr Ujjawal:
PG entrance preparation is a marathon, and not a sprint. I hope everyone remembers the story about the turtle and the hare. Put your persistent efforts and nobody can stop you. 

Dr Ujjawal:
Thank you so much.