Hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, Riya Agrawal wanted to become a gynecologist since childhood. It was after her two unsuccessful attempts of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), that she cleared the medical exam in 2024 with 682 scores. To her gynaecology as a subject, empowers her to treat women and make them more informed about their health, which is often neglected.
She is currently pursuing an MBBS degree from Sarojini Naidu Medical College. It was during her third attempt that she cleared the NEET UG. “My determination and consistency motivated me to do better and better. Even after being unsuccessful in two attempts, I did not worry much and concentrated on my studies to pursue MBBS one day,” said Riya.
She told indianexpress.com that she was affected when her batchmates cracked NEET UG in the first and second attempts, while she was still struggling. But then to motivate herself, she used to manifest her dreams, thinking that one day, her dreams would come to life.
Rather than opting for physical coaching classes, she chose Allen Online. It was after her coaching classes that she focused on self-study. “My day started at 7 am and after breakfast, I used to study till noon and then had my lunch. My coaching started at 2:30 pm and ended at 8 pm. After a two-hour break, it was at 10 pm when I revised what was taught in the class. I believed in completing the topics then and there and kept a comprehensive revision for the morning. I left my school, St Conrad’s Inter College to prepare for the NEET UG and was enrolled in a dummy school.” said Riya who scored 88 percent in Class 10.
After completing the topics taught in the coaching, Riya used to revise some portions from NCERT and solved related previous year questions. To her solving, mock tests and questions gave her confidence. She focussed on making self-notes and kept coaching resources as supplementary.
“To learn the formulas, I wrote them on paper and pasted them on the walls of my room. This method worked very well for me in Physics, while in Biology and Chemistry, I used to revise self-made notes and pointers almost regularly so that I do not forget them, ” said the girl.
“When I did not score well, I used to stress. Then my teachers and parents guided me to analyse my mistakes and read and revise more. This step helped me a lot in the exam preparation. I found myself better prepared before the exam with this habit of mine. I also credit this habit as my success mantra for NEET UG,” said the girl who restricted the use of phone and social media for her preparation.
While concluding Riya said, revision, flexible timetable, time management, short breaks, previous year questions and a positive attitude helped her to ace NEET UG in 2024.