Dr Aakar Prabhu, AIR 1 who secured rank 1 in INI CET 2023 July session dedicates his success to consistent efforts right from MBBS days and revision of past year question papers. He also secured rank 16 in NEET PG 2023. In this exclusive interview, he shares how candidates should go for the preparation of INI CET, one of the toughest medical exam.
INI CET 2023 Topper Dr Aakar Prabhu, AIR 1
Dr Aakar Prabhu, AIR 1 has secured rank 1 in INI CET 2023 July session for which result was declared on May 13. With meticulous planning and dedicated efforts, Prabhu also got rank 16 in NEET PG 2023 exam. He says aspirants should start preparing early for the exam right from the 1st year year MBBS. This includes not only to pay attention in the class but also key learning in wards during clinical posting. In an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, he shares the success tips for INI CET exam.
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Q. Congratulations on emerging as an INI CET 2023 topper! How are you feeling about your results?
A. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it at all. I knew I would get some rank in the top 100s, but never imagined that the dream of being INI CET 2023 AIR 1 rank will actually turn into a reality.
Commonly asked questions
170+ questions were easy to attempt in INI CET 2024 January session. As per expert analysis, around 10-20 %questions were image based which needed complete clarity of concepts. Maximum questions were asked from topics such as Pharmacology, Ortho, Medicine, ENT, Biochemistry etc as per students. Questions were concept based which required in depth preparation.
All three subjects such as clinical, pre clinical, para clinical are equally difficult to prepare. Clinical topics are vast in comparison to pre and para clinical topics. Ideally candidates should focus on understanding the concept. Candidates should keep the fact in mind INI CET is one of the toughest exams so shallow preparation doesn’t work. They should have robust plan and strategy to crack the exam.
Overall difficulty level of INI CET 2025 November exam was moderate difficult. The question paper was little difficult than the last time. Most of the questions were clinical based. A good number of questions were from Medicine, Surgury, Anatomy, Physiology, Dermatology etc. Questions were one liner as well as image-based.
No. INI CET 2024 July session question paper was easier than that of the previous session paper. The overall difficulty level was moderate. Most of the questions were clinical based. Some found Ortho, Radio little difficult. Questions were asked from Ortho, Biochemistry, Medicine, Micro, Surgery, etc. Some Students said there were losts of repeated questions in the exam.
Q. What motivated you to pursue medicine as a career?
A. My parents and sister, all are doctors, so, I feel somewhere deep down in my brain, as they used to talk about medical stuff, I subconsciously got influenced into taking medicine. Another thing is I always liked skill based work and hence was attracted towards surgical branches.
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Q. Did you appear for any other PG medical entrance examination?
A. Yes, I also appeared for NEET PG 2023 where I secured an AIR of 16
Q. When preparing for INI CET, what motivated you the most?
A. To be honest I was actually not going to sit for the exam, since I already had my NEET PG rank which was good enough to let me choose any branch and college I want. But I always loved the quality of questions that were asked in INI as compared to NEET. And also the general opinion that INI CET is tougher than NEET actually motivated me more to give the exam, crack it and prove that its actually easier to prepare for INI CET than NEET.
Q. How did you prepare for INI CET 2023?
A. Since I had already prepared for NEET and had around 2 months gap between my NEET and INI CET exam, I focused more on the previous year topics. I started with a quick revision of all the subjects using the same notes that I had used during the last 2 months of NEET. I had kept the last week before the exam exclusively to solve past year questions of the last 6 yrs and nothing else.
Commonly asked questions
According to experts, scoring 160+ marks in the INI CET exam is considered good. Candidates who score 160+ have a chance to get a good college for PG courses. Scoring marks also depend on the difficulty of the question paper.
Overall marks | Competitive level |
|---|---|
190+ | Very good |
160-189 | Good |
100-159 | Average |
ENT, Medicine were easy while Pharma, Gynae were most difficult as per students who appeared in INI CET 2024 exam.170 + questions were easy to attempt. Around 10-20% questions were image based which needed complete clarity of concepts. 80% questions were from 1st and 2nd year subjects. The overall difficulty of INI CET 2024 January session was moderate to tough. Question were concept based. Candidates who had done in depth study had good chance to score well.
According to students, questions from Ortho, Radio, Medicine were most difficult. The overall difficulty level of the question paper was moderate. It must be noted AIIMS doesn't release the official question paper but some coaching centres release the unofficial question paper and answer key right after the exam.
Q. Did you have any specific exam day strategy?
A. I feel the day before the exam is as important as the exam day. I just went through my 20th notebook in the first half of the day and in the second half I was just relaxing in order to keep a calm mind. On the exam day my plan was to take the question one by one without thinking about anything else. I guess a good rank in NEET actually helped me remain calm in the exam and go ahead with an aggressive approach. Even if I could rule out one or two options I had attempted the question, since I had nothing to lose.
Q. Any message or advice to future medical aspirants?
A. I would like to say that these exams don’t test how much you have prepared in the last year before the exam, but rather how attentive and consistent you were throughout your MBBS. So this actually means that you should start preparing right from the 1st yr. (Not by watching videos/reading notes but by keeping an open eye to whatever is happening around you, be it the classroom or the wards during your clinical postings.)
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered a week ago
To get a seat at AIIMS Hyderabad for the MD and MS courses, students have to first appear for the INI CET entrance examination, attain valid ranks, and then register for the INI CET counselling process. The INI CET exam is conducted twice a year, once in January and again in May.
Only those students
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes, you could get into AIIMS Hyderabad with an INI CET rank of 1200 if you belong to the General AI category. For this category, the last round cutoff ranged from 178 to 25908 for the MD and MS courses.
Students can refer to the table below to know which courses can be availed with a rank of 1200 i
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
AIIMS Hyderabad INI CET cutoff 2026 was concluded after the release of the final round of cutoff for various All India categories.
For the General AI category, the overall cutoff ranged from 178 to 25908 for various MD and MS courses. To know the cutoff range for all other categories, see the table
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Since AIIMS Rishikesh accepts the INI CET entrance examination for admission to the MD, MDS, MS, DM, and MCh courses. The merit/rank list will also be released on the official AIIMS portal.
- Go to the AIIMS exam portal
- Click on Academic Courses
- Choose the Postgraduate courses option
- Click on INI CET exam
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes, you could get into AIIMS Rishikesh with a 10,000 rank if you belong to the General AI category. For this category, the AIIMS Rishikesh INI CET cutoff 2026 for the last round ranged between 3 to 26590. Hence, you can get admission at this institute.
Refer to the table below to know which course
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
AIIMS Bhopal cutoff 2026 was released for various All India categories for admission to the MD, MS and MDS courses based on the students' performance in the INI CET entrance examination.
For the General AI category, the overall cutoff ranged from 8 to 9729. Among all the MDS courses, the toughest br
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
The AIIMS Bhopal INI CET cutoff 2026 has been announced for several All India categories, including the SC AI category. The cutoff was concluded for the January session, with the results being released for a total of 3 rounds for the MD, MDS and MS courses.
For the SC AI category, the overall cutoff
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
PGIMER INI CET cutoff 2026 was concluded after the release of the final round for admission to the MD, MS and MDS courses.
For the OBC category students belonging to the All India quota, the final round cutoff ranged from 72 to 15018 for the above-mentioned courses. As per this range, the toughest a
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
To check the merit list for admission at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences for the MD and MCh courses, students can check the list below.
- Since this institute accepts the INI CET entrance exam results for admission to the above-mentioned courses, students have to first go to
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
NIMHANS Bangalore INI CET cutoff 2026 was concluded for the January session after the cutoff was released for various All India categories for a total of 3 rounds. The cutoff was in the form of opening and closing ranks for the MD and MCh courses.
For the General AI category, the cutoff ranged from
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Contributor-Level 10
Mukul Mishra is a master degree holder in science with more than 10 years of experience in medical content writing and editing. Having nose for news and development in medical education field, he has been a recogniz
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