Hello future docs. Today we are going to discuss the most overlooked aspect of NEET preparation. Mock test Analysis is the obvious yet underrated step that your NEET preparation might be lagging.
Inadequate analysis might also be the reason that you are not able to increase your score. Your score might become stagnant at a peak after some time if you do not fix this mistake.
Firstly, let’s understand why mock test analysis is important.
Importance of mock test analysis
Mock tests are a way to get feedback on your preparation. They help simulate exam scene and tell you precisely what’s lacking in your preparation. They will tell you if you need to study some chapters more thoroughly, if you need to change your exam strategy, if you need to work on your time management and also if you are prone to silly mistakes.
The catch is that they will tell you all this only if you analyse your mock tests correctly. Analysis just means trying to understand your performance, and trying to get an idea of what work you need to put in. Analysis will give you direction as it will make your flaws very clear.
And if you skip analysis you are skipping out on one of the most important reasons to give mock tests. We don’t just give mock tests for exam-feel. If it was only for that, 1-2 mock tests would be enough. There is a reason we advise to give 40-100 mock tests in your last two months and 100-300 mock tests in your entire NEET preparation.
You can understand your weak chapters from mock tests. Let’s see how you are going to do that.
The Concept of a Tally Register
You can track your strong and weak topics by maintaining a tally register. It is basically a book where you track the number of questions you’ve gotten wrong in a mock test and what chapter they are taken from.
Setting Up Your Tally Register
- I would advise to get a checked book, the one with tiny squares.
- Now, take the double page of the book and on the left hand side list down the chapters in NEET syllabus.
- Use three separate double pages for all the three subjects. This way there is not a lot of clutter. You can also put zoology and botany separately.
- The list will be made vertically, so you will list one chapter and then the next chapter will be written on the next line.
- This way there is a lot of space left on the right side of that page and the entire right page.
- Your tally register is now ready to be used.
Conducting the Mock Test
Next step is actually taking the mock test. I hope you know all the rules that you have to follow during the exam.
Stick to the duration of 3 hours 20 minutes. Use OMR sheets too. Also try to simulate exam settings. We have a blog where we have listed down all the seemingly idiotic but really valuable tips to follow for a perfect mock test practice.
Try to follow all these tips. And do not forget to do your rough work in an organised way so that you can cross check it with the answer key. After you finish the mock test, check your OMR sheets first and count your marks.
If you get a bad score, you need mock test analysis and if you get a good score you really need mock test analysis to perfect it.
Analyzing Mock Test Results with the Tally Register
Now we come to the point, what fuss about the tally register was.
You will go back to all the questions and start cross checking the solutions with your rough work. Skip the ones you know are 100% right to save time. But cross check the ones you weren’t sure about. This will make sure that you are also Identifying the mistakes that you actually did not wrong because of guesswork.
Then every time you come across a question that you did not solve correctly, try to deduce where it is from. When you understand it’s source chapter go and put a tally mark against that chapter in your tally register. See, if you are not able to understand which chapter the questions are coming from then you are seriously lagging in your preparation and need to work on your basic preparation before you start attempting mock tests.
Later on, after you complete analysing the entire mock test this way, check for the most tally marks. The chapters with the most tally marks and thus most mistakes must be immediately scheduled for revision that day.
Revising Based on Tally Marks
Now, when you get to revision, you need to make sure that you are revising the chapter thoroughly. Try to revise the concepts from your class notes too instead of just sticking to the formula sheets and the reaction sheets. For biology, revise from the NCERTS.
Thorough revision is more important when you are giving mock tests in the last few months. Because you won’t get enough time to revise after this, so revise as nicely as you can at once only.
Revise with the mindset of never solving another question wrong from that chapter.
If you have multiple tally marks in a lot of chapters you can schedule more than 2 revision sessions after each mock test. But don’t compromise on the quality of your revision sessions. They need to be good to ensure that you are actually benefiting from the revision and not just ticking items off your to-do list.
How to analyse your time management during papers
Use a stopwatch during mock tests. Time yourself after each section. Take a time after completing biology, one after completing chemistry and one last one after completing physics.
Then compare your time with the average ideal time that must be used to complete each section.
You can then aim to reduce your time used by 5 minutes with each mock test. 5 minutes is an achievable goal and will also ultimately give you a very good speed.
How to analyse your silly mistakes and calculation mistakes.
Sometimes, when you are cross checking your rough work with the solutions, you will come across some mistakes which are not conceptual mistakes.
Let me explain. These can be:
- You understood the question and used the correct formula but made a calculation mistake while solving the formula: Calculation mistake
- If you come across a question where you could apply the formula but could not use calculus or vectors then it is a maths problem too, so count it as: Calculation mistake
- You solved correctly and reached the correct answer but bubbled the wrong option: Bubbling mistake
- You read the question wrong and thus solved it wrong. It can be due to the use of words like ‘not-only’, ‘except’, ‘only’, ‘not’ in the question: Silly Mistake
- If you come across a question that you had no idea how to solve, but just guessed an answer and it turned out to be right, then count that as a conceptual mistake too. Guesswork is not allowed in mock tests.
- Any questions that you skipped will also be counted as conceptual mistakes as you could not solve these.
You should make one separate column in your tally register for all the silly mistakes, bubbling mistakes, and calculation mistakes. This will help you keep track and also help you be more responsible too.
If you have a lot of calculation mistakes over time then it is a sign that you should work on your maths. Take out one day and practice calculation problems. Also work on your mathematical concepts.
Visible progress with the help of tally register
A tally register helps you see your progress. It will accurately show you how much you are improving over time.
When you analyse all your mock tests, and tally the mistakes in the next square line, you will be able to see your progress on that page overtime. The tally register will give you exact numbers and speeds during each mock test.
Even a 2 mark improvement is a very good improvement. This small improvement over a long time adds up to a lot.
When you see yourself improving, it will be much easier to keep working. Positive feedback works very well for your brain. It motivates you to work harder.
Conclusion
I hope you understand the importance of giving mock tests and analysing them consistently. You can try out this analysis method and I’m sure you will be thanking me later. It is the most effective method that I devised after a lot of searching.
I urge you to create your own register and say ‘Done’ in the comments section. Make it right now or you will keep procrastinating.
All the best for your NEET journey.
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