When I entered the second year of my MD residency, I was certain about one thing—I wanted to pursue Critical Care Medicine. Having a clear goal early made my preparation much more focused.
I initially started with Paul Marino’s The ICU Book. It gave me a solid understanding of critical care concepts and physiology. However, as I spent more time managing patients in the ICU, I realized that while the book was excellent for building fundamentals, it wasn’t always enough for day-to-day bedside decision-making.
To bridge this gap, I switched to the ISCCM ICU Protocols. This became my primary resource because it was practical, concise, and directly applicable to clinical practice. I made extensive handwritten notes from the protocols, which later became my most valuable revision material.
Whenever a topic was not adequately covered in the protocols, I referred to StatPearls and Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine to strengthen my conceptual understanding.
Soon after completing my MD exit examination, I appeared for INI-SS in November 2025, with only about 20 days between the two exams. Although my performance was reasonable, the exam highlighted several weaknesses in my preparation. Instead of getting discouraged, I carefully analyzed those gaps and systematically worked on them.
To fill these loopholes, I incorporated the Washington Manual of Critical Care, practiced extensively with the DOC Tutorials QBank, and regularly attempted their test series. This phase helped me identify my weak areas, improve recall, and become more comfortable with the style of questions asked in super-specialty entrance examinations.
Looking back, the most important lesson I learned is that the NEET SS syllabus is simply too vast to memorize from multiple sources. The temptation to keep switching books is strong, but it often leads to confusion rather than clarity.
My advice to every aspirant is simple:
- Choose one primary source and master it.
- Use additional references only to clarify concepts that are missing.
- Apply whatever you study during your ICU postings and bedside discussions.
- Revise your own notes repeatedly instead of continuously collecting new resources.
- Practice MCQs and test series to identify knowledge gaps early.
All the best for your preparation!