The first and foremost thing is to analyse your weaknesses .One needs to work on their mistakes and make sure that their strengths remain their strengths.Next is to have self belief.Failures must make you strong. Remember that failures actually are a boon,they help you grow and achieve something which you might  never have imagined. Always remember impossible says,i am possible . All the very best .:-)

Yes, everyday ,rather every minute. And though i do believe that a bit of this doubt is required, but excess of doubt can be detrimental. Whenever this doubt became overwhelming, i took a mock test, the result helped to allay a bit of the fear.

It depends on the individual. I have seen many of my seniors do it in 6-8 months. I required 1.5 years. Though i believe 9 months of focussed study should suffice.

I started in February 2016.

Yes, i always forgot things.It is here where the concept of gut feeling comes into play.To develop this gut feeling one must study standard books in great details during professional years .During preparation one must make a list of these volatile topics which are frequently repeated.These are to be revised repeatedly.Next one must give grand tests frequently ,since we learn most from our mistakes and tend to remember them for long.Also one can save important tables in mobile ,so that one can revise them in transit or when one feels bored.

I did make a timetable ,though i couldn’t keep up with it.I kept a big subject like surgery,medicine,pathology,pharma,micro etc in the morning-afternoon period and in the night before sleep i kept shorts like derma,pedi,psychi,radio etc.I slept in the afternoon for 1 hour,in the night i tried to finish within 2 am. One should make a routine .It does help to keep the preparation on track.

Believe in yourself.Nothing is impossible.Be meticulous,give tests,make notes and revise again and again.You’ll definitely win.

I tried to study standard books .I studied the following books during mbbs-

Anatomy-bd chaurasia,vishram singh’s neuroanatomy,ib singh and langman’s embryology

Physiology-Ganong,ABSM Physiology

Biochemistry-Harper,vasudevan

Pharmacology-kd tripathi

Pathology-robbins

Microbiology-paniker,kd chaterjee for parasitology

Forensic Medicine-reddy

SPM-park

Ophthalmology-parson and khuranna

ENT-dhingra

Medicine-harrison(the most important book,that forms the base for future exams)

Surgery-srb,bailey and love

OBG-dutta

Paediatrics-opghai

Dermatology-neena khanna

Anesthesia,Radiology mainly coaching notes

Psychiatry-coaching notes

During my internship and subsequent preparation year i read only from guide books. I revised only the chapter on cerebrovascular accidents and infective endocarditis from harrison.

For aiims exam i first went through all the questions and marked the ones i found difficult to be dealt after completing the paper.In aiims i attempted 194 questions.In pgi i avoided options which i had the slightest doubt about.I marked only the options which i was sure, about 520 options.

no 1 and ended with last question or started from middle of the question paper.

I started from 1st question and went till the last question.

Yes,i did feel depressed at times.But somehow every debacle made me strong.I had developed such amount of pessimism,that i thought i won’t qualify in aiims exam.One should learn from failures,they make you more careful….but at the same time one should remember that one failure doesn’t mean you are going to fail in every exam,because very exam is a new exam with a different set of questions.