AIIMS test topper inspired by mom

Bengaluru: City girl Archana Sasi has secured the top spot in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) PG Entrance Exam, the results of which were announced on Saturday.

For Archana, a resident of Marathahalli and a MBBS graduate from AIIMS, securing top ranks has been a regular occurrence all through her student life.
In a chat with Deccan Chronicle she recalled that she it was a challenge to find time to prepare for her exam amid her internship after the MBBS.

“The weekly test and discussion sessions post-internship hours helped me collate notes and information right from January while I kept revising important concepts which were taught from the basics of medical education right until the exam,” she said.

Inspired by her mother and ophthalmologist Dr Jyothi Menon, Archana had decided to take up a career in medicine right from her early school days at National Public School, Indiranagar.

The young doctor had also secured the first rank at the undergraduate level of the AIIMS entrance exam in 2012 to secure a merit seat at the institute. Intrigued towards the art of diagnosis, Archana is interested to pursue her higher education in internal medicine. Sharing her success mantra, she said collating the practical exposure she was attaining while at internship, concentrating on deeper understanding of basics and keeping herself updated on the developments in the field of medicine helped her crack the code.

Delighted at their daughter’s achievement, her parents Dr Jyothi and Sasi Chemmenkottil said they neither compelled her to pick any particular stream of study nor asked her to spend more time preparing.

“We have always supported her to follow what her heart said and she has proved her decisions right since her early days at school,” they said. Archana is now all set to attend PGI Chandigarh entrance exam in order to explore more options before finalising where to continue her higher studies.