A Few Tips on Attacking MCQs

There’s a few “traps” and approaches to MCQs that I’ve noticed, and I’ll write about what mindset you need to be prepared with for them.

1.) Read the MCQ Questions AND the Options- ALL FOUR of them.

1, 2, 3, 4.
Four.

Let’s use an example:

Q. A: The major classes of intermediate filaments are the following except:

Options:
A) Actin
B) Lamin A
C) Desmin
D) Neurofilaments and Glial filaments
E.) All of the Above

The Answer is Actin.
Actin is a microfilament. Myosin is a wider filament. Anything in between is an intermediate filament.

Practically, you’d byheart these names as such:
Intermediate filaments are:
1.) LAMIN
2.) DESMIN
3.) Neuro and Glial Filaments
4.) VIMENTIN.

Take a minute and Byheart those, and I’ll ask you another MCQ after rearranging that question and let’s see how well you answer this now:

Q. B: The major classes of intermediate filaments are the following except:

Options:
A) DESMIN.
B) CyTOKERaTIN.
C) LAMININ
D) Neurofilaments and Glial filaments
E.) All of the Above

:Scroll Below this for Answer:

If you answered B.)Cytokeratin, you’re WRONG.

The Actual Answer is C.) LAMININ.

Why?! Because Lamin is NOT the same as Laminin.

Laminins are proteins and parts of basal Lamina, NOT Intermediate filaments, unlike LAMINS. Note the spelling.

Why’d that happen?

Because:

1. You assumed you knew all about intermediate filaments after reading 4 lines, and picked the answer that was most unfamiliar.
2. I set up all that as a bait, just as the examiner would. Notice the “period” after Desmin, or the mis-capitalisation for option B to grab your attention.

If you answered correctly, good! Cytokeratins are indeed intermediate filaments.

But my point is that if you do NOT read the question AND ALL the 4 MCQ options, and if you do not expect such trickery, you WILL LOSE marks without even realising it.

It’s pretty common, in my experience- Examiners are very smart.

One or Two wrong MCQs can drop your rank by a few 100s with 1.4L Students answering for 1200 Marks.
Pay ATTENTION THROUGHOUT the EXAM and NEVER underestimate the examiners intelligence.

If the question seems too simple, read it again- Maybe it actually is, maybe you just missed something.

You’ll have multiple variations of such trick questions, and thorough studying and revision is the ONLY way to survive these. But always pay attention.

To wrap up this point, here’s another:

Q. C: The major classes of intermediate filaments are the following:

Options:
A) Lamin
B) CYTOKERATIN
C) Vimentin.
D) Desmin
E.) All of the Above

Read the Question again, and compare it word to word to the previous one’s.
You may be surprised with what you missed.

If you didn’t- good, but keep an eye out for such surprises too- Very Common.
{the “except” is missing in the question- hence ‘e’ is the answer.}

2.) Take Risks.

NEET PG, as of this writing, is a 1:4 Ratio MCQ Exam- If you get an MCQ right, you gain 4 marks and if you get it wrong you lose 1 mark.

Even if you do NOT know any of the 4 options, there’s 75% chance you’ll get 4 marks, while just 25% risk of losing 1 mark.

This being said, hence, you’ll ALWAYS have an EDGE if you PERSISTENTLY FOLLOW this rule for ALL MCQs you answer:

If you can rule out even ONE option with certainty, ATTEMPT the MCQ.

I’ve gone through my SWT papers, and I’ve gained a minimum of 3 Marks to an average of 15 additional marks through this strategy over 150–200 Questions. Never lost any.

Every additional mark is ALWAYS worth it.
Doctors need to know when to take risks, and how risks are calculated.

And then they have to take them.

At the same time, I’d not suggest attempting an MCQ if you have NO IDEA about any of the options.
In this case, STUDY MORE for the next SWT.

3.) Learn to Rule out Options.

This will ALWAYS be your SECOND biggest edge; The First being studying, revising and actually knowing the matter at hand.

If you know your subject, you can pick out the Answer from the options within seconds, especially one-liners. Coaching classes would have most of these in their notes.

If you don’t, here’s how I’ve gone about it:

1. Start by ruling out the most obvious WRONG one’s.
   Ex. If an option has DOC for Thyroid Storm, and “epinephrine” as an option, then that obviously can’t be it.
2. For options left, find out the one’s who’s answers you KNOW.
   With practice you’ll realise that ‘x’ option is actually the answer to ‘y’ MCQ, not this one- and you’ll be able to correlate.
   
   In essence, you’re using the Options to decipher if it applies to the MCQ in any way possible.
   
   Again, this is just guessing, don’t expect 100% results, if any.
3. You could choose the least possible outcome in “real life”, the least possible cause of a disease.
   Rule out impractical answers for real life situations.
4. Finally, Try to reword or negate an option.
   This technique I’ve used to clarify if I’d chosen the right option, especially with grammatically confusing MCQs.

Ex.
“All the following are true except:”
- could be read as “Which of the following is not true”
Which is obviously simpler and means the same.

Just MAKE SURE the meaning remains the same!

Understand the question before rewording: In the above case, it says that out of the options, 3 are correct and one is wrong. Make sure your rewording holds the same meaning too.

Fim.

{This article is a part of the CostaPG publication.}