MDCAT ENGLISH

Before moving on to some specific problems of preparing at home, I would like to describe all the subjects generally and the way I studied them by myself. My opinions are not final. I could be wrong at many points. Maybe some out of you could perform 2 times better than I.

English portion, generally considered as the biggest challenge for MDCAT aspirants, took a difficulty twist last year. From the most difficult portion to the easiest portion. But, anyhow, my idea is preparing every subject to the best of our ability because although it was not difficult but it could have been difficult.

Syllabus 2019 is very unlikely to change this year because they have already changed it a lot.

The Syllabus can be divided in two portions.
i- Vocabulary
ii- Grammar

VOCABULARY: (point#1 from syllabus)

It was usual before 2019 that we get 10 MCQs from vocab in which we had to select a synonym for our word from 4 options. And 4 MCQs from Sentence Completion. This time we had 7 MCQs from Sentence Completion only, which is relatively easy.
Sentence Completion:  

The only thing that you need to learn is "Exact and accurate meaning of a word" Sometimes, we learn 20 30 synonyms of a word but we are even not clear about the meaning of the word. So you need to clear the meaning of the word. For this you have to learn the definition/description/meaning of the word from two or three vocab books. You can also read about the word from google.
Synonyms:

Last time cramming synonyms went so useless. (I even read antonyms and homophones). But I can't say that it would be same for the 2020. You need to ask some teachers about this that whether you should prepare synonyms or not. After all I don't want to mislead. Putting myself in your situation. I would ask some people, if even 1 out of 5 would say 'Prepare Them', I would prepare them. Anyhow, this thing will be cleared when academies get opened. You can follow the strategies of academies even if you are at home, because after all, they want your success too.

Somehow, if we are to prepare vocab, here is the way.
Take 4 books of vocab:

i) Vocab by Salman Ul Waheed

ii) By Kips

iii) By Step

iv) By Prof. M. Azeem Latif (this is not so popular but contains a lot of synonyms though)

One book, should be your main book, in hard copy!
Memorize synonyms from the main book. Read the other books. And write the synonyms from the other books which are missing from your main book as I have shown in a photo below. You have 4 books in one book. Highlight the difficult synonyms and memorize them often. You can use the same strategy for antonyms if you are to prepare them as well but antonyms and homophones are not important.

GRAMMAR: (Point #2, 3, 4, and 5 from the syllabus 2019)

The book "Wren and Martin English Grammar and Composition" is very helpful. This book is available at famous book shops. I would recommend reading the topics of UHS syllabus from this book. It contains comprehensive exercises and is written in very simple language. The topics like conditional sentences, type of clauses, fragments could be cleared from the book.

Before 2019, we used to get 6 from Spot the Error, 10 from Correction. This time we had 6 from Correction and 7 from Spot the Error. The numbers could vary this time too.

Learn basic grammar first. Watch a video by Learn English Lab (YouTube channel). You can also read it from any grammar book, maybe from your first year's handbook cause you have already studied it. Make it grip on grammar.

Subject-Verb Agreement:

 It is very easy. Read from Kips Grammar, from Chemical Grammar. Solve some tests and you are done. Only one or two rules are confusing.
eg. He is one of the students who work hard.
He is the only of the students who works hard.
Both are correct but can confuse sometimes.

Conditionals, Types of Clauses and Fragments, Run on Sentences and Comma splices:

These topics are not well described in our books, so watch YouTube videos and make your own notes. These topics need some attention because these are not usually focused in our FSC. Do some online exercises. Solve tests of kips and step. Clear your concepts about these topics.

Punctuation and Capitalization, Spellings:

Must read from first year handbook. Also read from Chemical Grammar and kips Grammar. Punctuation could be very tough sometimes. Spellings is a very less important topic. Your previous knowledge would work here.

Prepositions and Articles:

I would say these are the topics which require the highest level of attention because we are most likely to make mistake in these topics. Prepare them as much as you can. Prepare preposition from fsc books too. From different notes and grammar books. I remember, whenever I had to eat my meal, I would always watch a different YouTube video on these topics while eating.

Book Reading:
I never thought it a good thing. Cramming the whole text books! Waste of time. Before 2019, mostly portion was from books. But in 2019, only 1 MCQ was from text books. But what you can do is "Reading Analysis of Sir Salman Ul Waheed"
Memorize the highlighted grammar rules along with learning the rule of grammar which has been highlighted. Go on revising your grammar along with cramming the highlighted words.
Remember, only book reading and no grammar knowledge can't work, but only grammar knowledge and no book reading can mostly work.

"The more difficulties you face, the more inspiring your story becomes in the end"