NEET 2020 Topper Interview: Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu AIR 6

'I always wanted to become either a doctor or a scientist and was always fond of biology and related sciences, says NEET 2020 topper Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu'. Bagging an AIR 6 with 715 marks.

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu is among the Top ten candidates who have proven their mettle in the NEET exam. By scoring 715 marks out of 720 with a percentile of 99.9995611, Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu from Andhra Pradesh has bagged All India Rank (AIR) 6 in NEET 2020. NEET result was announced by the NTA on October 16, 2020. The young girl who aspires to take admission in the prestigious and the top medical institute of the country, AIIMS New Delhi, is elated and completely satisfied with the result. Her consistency and devotion towards her goals has been remarkable and has helped her solve the questions asked in the national level entrance exam with such ease.

Guthi, like all the other 14 lakh candidates, had to go through the days full of stress and anxiety due to the lockdown and COVID-19, which had immensely affected the NEET exam timelines. Guthi, instead of getting distressed, took the advantage and spent that time for repeated revisions. Besides this, she did not let herself down whenever she was not able to perform well in the mock tests and always thrived for improvement. This zeal and motivation made her proficient in solving questions. To cope up with stress or burnout, Guthi used to spoke to her parents and teachers whom she calls her pillar of strength. We tried to talk to Guthi and her experiences in detail in this interview. Read the full interview to know her strategies and other key points that helped her ace the NEET 2020 exam.

NEET 2020 Topper interview: Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu

Question: Congratulations on your NEET result! How are you feeling, and how will you celebrate your success?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I am feeling very happy after the announcement of the NEET 2020 result and am very elated. I will be celebrating my success with my family and teachers.

Question: When did you start your preparations for the NEET exam? How did you plan your preparations?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I started preparing for NEET in class 11 and class 12 only, and this was my first attempt. I started my preparations by studying with KKR Gautam earlier and they are mainly known for preparing students for IITs and students begin their preparations as early from class 8 or class 10. I made my mind to pursue my career in medicine and hence started preparing for NEET 2020 exam in class 11 back in 2018.

Question: When and what inspired you to be a doctor? In which medical college you aspire to take admission?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I always wanted to become either a doctor or a scientist and was always fond of biology and related sciences. It was while I was in my intermediate that I had to make a choice between Medical (PCB) and Non-medical (PCM). It was then I decided to choose Medical (PCB) and made up my mind to pursue a career in the field of medicine. I aspire to take admission in AIIMS, New Delhi.

Question: How challenging it was to prepare for both board exams and NEET?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: It was not that challenging in actual as both have the same set of syllabus. My main focus was NEET and all the basic concepts re based on the NCERT books. So while preparing for NEET 2020 exam I thoroughly studied NCERT books along with detailed notes provided by my mentors. As far as the board exams are concerned, I only studied last month.

Question: How did you manage to prepare for NEET during the lockdown? Had it affected your preparation? What was the best thing you came across while preparing?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: Due to the lockdown announced in March, all my classes were conducted in online mode and mock test were conducted on weekly basis. I analyzed my weak areas by taking the tests regularly and improved my performance. The only sad part of the lockdown is that it delayed my admission to the MBBS. The kind of support I got from my parents and teachers was the best part I came across while preparing for NEET 2020.

Question: How did your coaching was affected during the lockdown? By what means you were in touch with your teachers for doubts regularly?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I took coaching for the NEET 2020 exam at Sri Chaitanya. As the syllabus was completed and we had done the revision as well before the lockdown was announced hence it didn’t have much impact because of the lockdown. All the teachers were available all the time and were easily approachable, we at times cleared our doubts over WhatsApp.

Question: What was your routine for NEET before and after the lockdown? How much time did you devote to self-study?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: Before the lockdown, I was in Vijayawada at the hostel where we had a strict timetable to follow from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm in the night. After the lockdown, I did not follow any specific timetable and studied pretty much in a very liberal manner. While I was in college, I did self study over there itself. Since I was in college from morning to night, I used to read as many books as possible.

Question: Which subject is your weak and in which one is strong?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: As I managed to study each subject equally hence, I don’t think I have any weak or strong area in particular. However, I solved a lot of questions in Physics and Chemistry.

Question: What was the difference in preparation from the early days to just a month before NEET exam?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: As said earlier, I had already completed the syllabus and was on revision when the lockdown was announced so it did not affect my preparations much. While the exam was getting postponed again and again, I used that time for my revision only. During last one month of NEET preparation, I just revised from the NCERT. During the early days of the preparation, I studied as many relevant books as possible for the NEET exam.

Question: What strategy did you follow on exam day?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I didn’t have any specific strategy for the NEET exam, though NEET 2020 was quite easy and I solved the Physics questions first as they appeared first followed by Biology and Chemistry in the question paper.

Question: What kind of support did you receive from your family during the lockdown? What you did to de-stress yourself?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: Before the lockdown my mother used to support me a lot as in if I got less marks, she used to stood by me and encouraged me. In order to keep myself motivated, I used to remain happy and talk to my teachers and parents. My teachers were very friendly.

Question: Any takeaways for the future NEET aspirants?

Guthi Chaitanya Sindhu: I will suggest all the future NEET aspirants to focus and to give first priority to the NCERT books and finish the syllabus as early as possible for all the subjects. It will be a good choice if they will devote their maximum time for revision. If I speak for subject-wise preparation tips, for physics they can study from any good book and try to solve multiple choice questions as many as they can. At no point of time one should feel dejected or demotivated if they have not scored well. Analyze and improve your failure and take failure as a stepping stone towards success.