Inspiring Success Story - Dr. Garima Arora

Inspiring Success Story – An exclusive interview with

Dr. Garima Arora

(Rank 17 – AIIMS MDS May 2018)

Dr. Garima Arora who has achieved a distinguishing Rank 17 in AIIMS MDS May 2018 would also be mentoring the AIIMS-PG MDS aspirants on MDSPrep platform. To find out how she achieved this incredible feat, MDSPrep had an opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with her and tried to understand what it takes to attain such a rank.

We would like to share the excerpts from this interview so we can all learn from her experience and use it to create our own success story.

MERITERS MDSPrep : Heartiest congratulations to you! Please tell us about yourself?

Dr. Garima Arora : Hello. My name is Dr. Garima Arora. I graduated from (GDC) Govt. Dental College, Rohtak and I secured 17^th Rank in AIIMS MDS 2018.

MERITERS MDSPrep : When did you start preparing?

Dr. Garima Arora : I started preparation at the beginning of Internship period.

MERITERS MDSPrep : What is the ideal time to start preparing for MDS entrance exams?

Dr. Garima Arora : Ideally the preparation must start 12 months before exam out of which 7 months should be for preparation and 5 months for revision and mock exams.

MERITERS MDSPrep : What should be the right approach to study for AIIMS MDS?  Only theory or Practicing MCQs with Theory helps?

Dr. Garima Arora : The correct approach in my opinion is to solve MCQs and refer to Theory and Explanations as & when required. Read from text books and revise regularly.

MERITERS MDSPrep : What are the best books you suggest for each subject.

Dr. Garima Arora : Here is the list of books which I suggest for PG preparation:

• Dental Pulse
• Neeraj Wadhawan
• Target MDS AIIMS
• Standard Text Books

Apart from these the books I referred to are;

• Anatomy- B.D Chaurasia
• Biochemistry- Satyanarayana
• Pharmacology- K.D Tripathi
• Dental Anatomy- Wheelers
• Oral Histology- Orbans
• Dental materials- Phillips ,manapallil
• General Medicine-Davidson
• General Surgery- Srb manual
• Oral Pathology- Neville
• Prosthetics- Deepak Nallaswamy
• Periodontics- Carranza
• Pedodontics -Shoba Tandon
• Community Dentistry- Soben Peter
• Endodontics- Grossman
• Operative Dentistry- Ramya Raghu
• Oral Medicine- Burkett
• Oral Surgery- Neelima Malik
• Orthodontics- Sridhar premkumar

MERITERS MDSPrep : Which subjects do you suggest to focus on?

Dr. Garima Arora : I focused mostly on clinical subjects. I mainly did mcq based preparation

MERITERS MDSPrep : How important is practicing MCQs and Taking tests while preparing for AIIMS MDS and how much time should be dedicated for it?

Dr. Garima Arora : Yes its very important. I attempted the daily test questions regularly and also took grand mock exams which helped me to know where I stand among the other competitors.

One third of your day should be dedicated for practicing MCQs and Taking tests. No one can succeed without revision, Revision is the Key to success.

MERITERS MDSPrep : How important is a time table/study plan to keep your preparation on track?

Dr. Garima Arora : Yes, I always followed a time table. I used to set a short term goal which should be done within a week and a long term goal which was based on exams and revision.

MERITERS MDSPrep : List the most difficult and easiest subjects for you.

Dr. Garima Arora : I felt that dental materials is quite difficult because it requires you to memorize lots of numerical. Prosthodontics & Community dentistry is also difficult.

MERITERS MDSPrep : What is a common mistake that everybody must avoid while preparing for AIIMS MDS?

Dr. Garima Arora : Dedicate your time towards preparation and do not involve in any time wasting activities. Revise daily. Time management is very important. Presence of mind during the exam is also equally important. We have to read questions carefully

MERITERS MDSPrep : Please provide some last minute tips for our readers preparing for MDS Entrance Exam.

Dr. Garima Arora : Be confident. Never lose hope and work sincerely. Dedicate your time, revise regularly, attend mock test as much as you can, try to give your best and the rest is success which is the result!