Disha Publications conducted a one of its kind interview, of select NEET toppers of the year 2025, hosted by its founder director, Mr. Avinash Agarwal. It was an unprecedented event where four NEET toppers securing stellar all-India ranks, came together to share smart and secret preparation tips and strategies, study hacks and exam-day experiences. You’ve seen toppers give one-off interviews. But four of them, unfiltered, debating strategies and mistakes in one video.That’s historic!
Inspiration Behind a Medical career
In a freewheeling and light-hearted conversation, Krishang Joshi securing AIR 3, Umaid Khan securing AIR 21, Himank Bhagla securing AIR 28 and Rijul Jain securing AIR 47, shared insights into their preparation journey, daily routine and exam hall secrets which are essential for anyone preparing for India’s toughest medical exam. The interview began with each of the NEET toppers introducing themselves and explaining their motivation behind choosing a career in medicine. One of the common motivating factors was the Covid period. The rise in the demand of doctors and the profound respect and admiration that a doctor earned during that period struck a common chord with all of our toppers.
Smart & Effective Exam-Attempting Strategies
First, our toppers emphasized the importance of intense practice of Previous years questions (PYQs) as it familiarizes a student with the current examination trends and the questions that can be expected in the exam.
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Next, they shared insights into the effective paper attempting strategies and the sequence in which they attempted each section of the paper. Krishang highlighted that the paper tests a candidate’s productivity, not knowledge. It evaluates a person’s ability to correctly attempt as many questions as possible within the required time frame and thereby, helps candidates in maximizing their scoring potential. Therefore, it is necessary to put aside one’s ego and concentrate on answering the familiar questions.
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Another important exam-day strategy is maintaining composure and calm. There were moments in the exam when each of the toppers struggled balancing their pace with the time, yet they never lost composure. For example, at one point of time, the exam-clock in Umaid’s exam venue stopped suddenly but that did not discourage him from moving on with the paper. Rather than getting anxious, he continued answering the rest of the questions. Maintaining emotional composure, as Umaid pointed out, is the key to achieving desirable results in the exam. Himank, too faced frequent difficulties in the exam, but he kept on writing the paper and took occasional breaks, by drinking water, closing his eyes and regulating his breath from time to time so as to reduce stress levels.
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Our toppers also stressed on the need for concept-building, mainly for physics. Concepts lay the foundation of major topics in a subject. A thorough understanding of the concepts enables a candidate to attempt all kinds of questions related to that concept with ease. Himank also addressed the issue of students being burdened with managing the syllabus of class 11th in 12th grade if they had neglected their studies in the former class. He said that backlogs are usual which everyone faces. But the key is to utilize the time at the end of the completion of class 12th syllabus and revise both the syllabus of class 11th and 12th in the remaining time period of six months before the NEET exam.
Regular Revision- An Essential Key to Success
Emphasizing that NEET exam requires a disciplined, structured approach, our toppers stressed that regular revision of the topics is the key to enhancing one’s preparation level.
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For managing topics like organic or inorganic chemistry, Krishang highlighted the need to revise the lessons taught in class on the same day as it enables better retention during preparation period. Umaid highlighted that regular revision transfers the topics stored in short-term memory to long-term memory and this helps in quick recall on the day of the exam. Constant revision allows a candidate to take note of the minor points that he/she might have ignored in the first-time revision.
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Our toppers also addressed the problem of silly mistakes. They highlighted that silly mistakes must be identified in every mock test and sample paper and rectified through repeated practice so that chances of silly mistakes are minimized in the subsequent tests.
Importance of Analysis-Based Mock Tests
Our toppers stressed on the need to practice analysis -based mock tests. Giving mock-tests will be a futile practice if it is not followed by careful analysis of the mistakes made during the tests. Rijul mentioned that during mock tests, they would be provided separate sheets called “Mistake boxes” where they would be required to mark the incorrect questions and give reasons for getting it wrong. Even correct questions were required to be explained with reasonable justifications. This allowed Rijul to do a thorough analysis of the question paper and help him in focussing and improving the weaker areas. Rijul emphasized on the need to attempt Re-NEET questions as it helps in familiarizing the candidate with those questions that are extremely important from exam point of view.
Bursting Popular Exam Myths
The interview concluded with our toppers busting popular myths regarding NEET exam. One of the most significant myths which they busted was that more number of hours devoted to study leads to better productivity. As our toppers admitted, productivity varies from person to person and productivity depends on the length of the topic. So the time devoted to the topic will be proportional to how long and complex a topic actually is. Finally, they debunked the myth that a topper does not have a social life. They underscored the importance of having an active social life in the company of parents, friends and teachers which helps in reducing exam pressure and anxiety and maintaining emotional well-being.
For more such insights into myths related to the exam, secret preparation strategies and study hacks, watch the full video by clicking on the following link:
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