FCPS - Comprehensive Guideline

- Dr. Husnain Akram

In the name of Allah. The Merciful, the Compassionate.

Dear All, Assalam O Allaekum,

I have been requested by many people to write about my experience in passing FCPS part 1 in First attempt. First of all, I would like to thank Almighty Allah Who blessed me with such an honour. Our prayers count a lot no matter whatever exams we are giving. So keep praying and have faith in addition to putting efforts in studies.

After I did my house job, I was hardly having 2 months for the preparation and I did not study before that. So I made a plan to study and collected the necessary material and guidance from many seniors. In addition to that, I joined FCPS facebook groups and Blogs of both MBBS and BDS which I used to visit on daily basis and they were quite helping.

I came to know that Anatomy was the most important in this aspect and is really challenging.. So I started with Anatomy and Physio

ANATOMY
         
The books to use for anatomy are as follows:

1. Snell Review Book

You have to study the portion of Head n Neck... and if you have time then do study Kidney,  Liver and thorax. It would not take more than a day. Doing this is sometimes necessary because sometimes you may find bcqs from these topics in your paper..but if you don't have time, then just do relevent mcqs.

2. USMLE First Aid

Neuroanatomy is written in a good way in USMLE. Neurophysiology is also covered if you do neuroanatomy from USMLE. One important thing you should keep in mind that neuro is  an extensive and much confusing subject. Some people recommend KAPLAN neuro. I was not having time so I could not study that. Sometimes mcqs from neuro are too tough so see the slides of neuro from the relevant blogs and high yield points. Dr Najeeb lectures on neuro might help.

3. NBDE 

After the first two books, review the anatomy from NBDE you will see that your grip on anatomy will get better. Brachial Plexus included in upper limbs is a must do. Don't study lower limb and don't miss the anatomy of heart.

HISTOLOGY in NBDE is more than enough and quite easy to understand.

4. High Yield Embryology

For general and special embryo. 5 weeks of general and head n neck portion of the special is enough. This is short book. No need to study these in detail.

5. General Anatomy

Firdous is enough having maximum 6 pages of general anatomy

Watch Aclands youtube videos of Head n Neck and Brain for getting clear concept. I watched all and was very confident of anatomy due to that.


PHYSIOLOGY

1. BRS Physiology is the most important book for physio. You have to do each and everything in that book. I have seen that exact lines in Part 1 Physio come from BRS!!..If you have done BRS in a good way.. You don't need anything else.

2. NBDE
For review after studying BRS, NBDE is a good option

3. NeuroPhysiology from USMLE as described earlier and Kaplan Neuro might help as neuro is a complex subject and mostly we make blunders in mcqs related to neuro.


GENERAL PATHOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY

1. BRS Pathology

Starting general pathology from BRS is a good option which also includes immunity and Blood related disorders

2. NBDE

After that, review the pathology from NBDE series and 2 chapters from USMLE 

Note: Don't study Special pathology but DO all the mcqs related to that because they come on and off. I will give the details of mcqs books at the end

3. Microbiology

USMLE Microbiology is more than enough which includes Bacteria, Viruses, Fungi and Parasites but remember that I have not see any FCPS part 1 paper having more than 3 mcqs from micro. So don't give it a lot of your time! Study it... Mark important points and then study only the points... No need to do NBDE micro

USMLE Immunology is also easy to understand. You can study from there.

BIOCHEMISTRY

If you have time, then study biochemistry from both NBDE and USMLE. Its not that much. Don't cram the metabolism and the pathetic details written on USMLE.. Biochemistry includes maximum of 4 to 5 mcqs of your paper. SO treat it accordingly... Prefer USMLE biochem over NBDE.

PHARMACOLOGY

1. Lippincot: If you have time and have studied Lippincott in your 2nd professional exam, then have a look at the CNS, ANS, and Chemo from that. ANAESTHESIA is very important.. Make concepts and get as much details as you can, related to Anesthesia from mini katzung and other books.

2. USMLE containing pharma tables is quite helping  and important.. You have to do them.

3. Kaplan Pharma... I studied a bit.. its short and good but I was not having time to study that. It is a better alternative to Lippincot if you lack time.

DENTAL MATERIALS

The roughest subject of all

1.  SHAHINA I studied because I used this in 2nd year.. but

2. PANKAJ GUPTA is a book worth studying. Basically this is an mcqs book but every mcq is explained before the next. If you do this with explanation of mcqs, it will cover your whole chapter and it is chapter-wise book. Nobody used this book previously because nobody knows about it.. Some senior recommended me this book and it really helped.

ORAL PATHOLOGY

This is a minor subject as only 2 to 3 mcqs come. If you have time, then do Chapter 1,2 5,7 and 8 from Contemporary Oral Pathology. Otherwise, doing high yeild points from the blogs are more than enough

ORAL BIOLOGY and TOOTH MORPHOLOGY

This is also among short subjects. Doing this from NBDE is more than enough. It will not take much time.

MCQs BOOKS

Going through past papers is a good approach. I recommend following books for MCQs

1. Chandkian Medicine and Surgery papers
Chandkian mistakes are too much so you will be needing proper errata of that and even the erratas of chandkian are not reliable. They don't cover all the mistakes, you have to be vigilant about the answers and reliability of chandkian answers

2. Rabia Ali  
A very good book.. Do each and everything even the anatomy of lower limbs and special pathology mcqs.. don't leave... Errata needed!

3. Asim n Shoaib (Medicine book and Surgery Book)
Do each n every mcqs whether its included in your syllabus or not. Mostly exact lines of this book are taken.. but you will be needing the errata too. MOST RELIABLE!!

4. Jahangir Khan book of Past papers and high yield points
The most important book for getting a clear idea about the paper and stuff

5. Vijay Pratap Dental material Mcqs

6. Dentogist Mcqs of Dental materials,Oral Bio and oral pathology

7. Azeem Sheikh MCQs book
Good and short..study it if you have time and you want less no of mcqs with good explanation.

GENERAL OVERVIEW ABOUT THE PREPARATION

Important things to do:

* Slides
* High Yield points
* High Yield tables at the end of USMLE
* Seashell notes from seashell blog
* Notes shared on groups
* Discussions
* Relevant Videos
* Regular presence in respective groups especially with the following names

fcps_dentistry

                  FCPS Batch (2005 to 2010)
Guide to FCPS Dentistry blog by Dr Jahangir Khan
* Erratas of all MCQs Books

Remember one thing, you have to do a lot of mcqs. So putting mcqs in the end is not a good idea. Make a pace and do atleast at least 300 mcqs per day no matter what you are studying. You should cover 300 mcqs before you sleep. And don't rely on one book. If you are not sure of a particular multiple choice question, then discus in the groups and don't mark it until some reliable person answers that surely. ASIM n SHOAIB KEY IS THE MOST RELIABLE AMONG ALL MCQs BOOKS.

There is too much hustle of mcqs. People can get wrong their answers wrong. So be very careful about that. Its a matter of a single word which can change the answer. Make clear concepts. The High Yield Points in Jahangir Khan blog are very helping which includes DENTAL MATERIALS, ORAL PATHOLOGY, EMBRYOLOGY, PHARMA, PATHO, MICRO, ANAESTHESIA etc Don't leave them. They are very very important.. More important than studying extra books. and you will get a lot of important slides from the facebook groups.. Save them on your mobile phone or laptops and watch them again n again when you are free. Watch important videos too. and mcqs discussed in the groups should be seen regularly. Discuss them but dont rely until you are sure..People share their notes..take a look on them too..some are quite helping..

The last 7 days should be focused on mcqs and past papers because if you try to revise from the books in those days, the depression prevails and screws the preparation. Be relaxed and have faith in Allah.. You have a lot of time in exam to think about the answer. You need not to hurry and think about every option. Don't study MURAAD series of mcqs book. It will ruin your concepts.

Review Points by Diclofenac Sodium, Dr Maryam Malik are worth studying

Dental MCQs are frequently repeated.

Lastly, the revision of books is the most challenging issue. Mark the important points in the books and study them only in the next revisions. This is very important. If you try to do whole revision again, you will loose your confidence and you will be wasting your precious time on the things which are not even important. So revise according to your time. Revise the points marked by you. Revision of MCQs is equally important. If you revise all the mcqs three times, that would be great.

IMPORTANT TIP: WHEN IN DOUBT, FOLLOW THE KEY!Mark the CONTROVERSIAL MCQs and discuss them again n again and if nobody is sure, then follow the key. For Example: Milk is notoriously deficient in VIT C according to our knowledge but according to CPSP Model Papers, the answer is PANTOTHENIC ACID. Be very critical about such mcqs.

In the end, your prayers and your positive approach matters. If you follow these instructions, you won't face some problems I faced during the exam but I feel that 2 months are enough to go through all things in a good way but if you have 3 months or more, then you are lucky. You can manage an awesome preparation.

Don't eat much in the break between the two exams :p
Thanks
For further queries, You can ask in the blog.

Important Websites, Blogs and Facebook Groups mentioned in the Post

• http://fcpspart1dentistry.com/ (Jahangir Khan)
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/1476833722561226/ (fcps_dentistry)
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/102979646495000/ [FCPS prep. (batch 2005-10)]