GPAT 2020 Preparation Tips Sandeep Mewada

1. GPAT 2020 Preparation Tips
NATIONAL LEVEL ONLINE
TEST

2. • GPAT 2020 requires a candidate to be
thorough with everything he has
learned in the B Pharm course.
Aspirants must hence have a good
preparation strategy to crack the
exam.

3. • GPAT preparation can be done by
using different techniques to study, solving
previous years’ questions and mock papers.
• Aspirants should be thorough with GPAT Exam
Pattern to prepare well for the exam.
• Focus on all important chapters covered in
Pharmacology as 25- 30% questions are asked
from this section.
• Around 4-5 numerical problems are asked
every year so practice solving these questions.
• Some questions from organic and physical
chemistry based on 10+2 level are also asked.

4. • The standard of the entrance exam has
increased many folds from last few years. This
is why now students must prepare for the
exam with double zeal. Cracking GPAT
2020 requires hard as well as smart work and
determination, to go past through the hurdle
of difficult questions.

5. • GPAT 2020 is a common entrance test serving
as a portal for applicants seeking admission
into M Pharm programs offered by the best
pharmacy schools of India. It is a
very competitive exam due to the growing
scope of the pharmacy field.

6. • Clearing GPAT 2020 is not an easy task unless
you have prepared well for the exam. In this
article, we have mentioned certain GPAT 2020
preparation tips and tricks which can help you
do well in the exam.

7. • GPAT Exam Pattern and Syllabus
• In order to score well in the exam, aspirants
must know the GPAT Syllabus and exam
pattern.

8. • It is an online test (computer based) which
has 125 objective questions.The duration of
the exam is 3 hours. Every correct answer is
awarded +4 marks and a penalty of 1 mark is
charged for wrong answers.The exam will have
questions based on topics covered at the B
Pharm level.Applicants should mainly cover
chapters from 5 main sections- Pharm
Analysis, Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology and
Pharmaceutics.

9. • GPAT Preparation Tips as per various Subjects
• Cracking GPAT was easier when it used to be
conducted with GATE by the IITs earlier. It was
very much templatizedand there were certain
set pieces of questions which were repeated
every year. However, now the level
of unpredictability has increased in the exam.
That is why students should study all topics
thoroughly. The preparation tips candidates
can use for each section are given below:

10. • Pharmacognosy
• This is a very theoretical section. Applicants
must read the chapters comprehensively and
make micro notes based on it. These micro
notes can help in last minute revision.

11. • From the analysis of previous years’ exam
papers, it can be seen that the most asked
drugs from this section are Senna, Morphine
and Vinca. Individuals must study all the
concepts of these drugs; understand
their mechanisms and their effects & uses. It
is best to devote recurrent time periods to
Pharmacognosy so that candidates do not
forget the concepts and details.

12. • Important topics in this section are-
• Glycosides
• Alkaloids
• Volatile Oils
• Resins
• Tannins
• Carbohydrates
• Tissue culture
• Herbal drugs

13. • Recommended books for Pharmacognosy:
• Pharmacognosy by C K Kokate
• The complete guide for Pharmacognosy by
Trease and Evans

14. • Pharmacology
• Many students find this section very
interesting. Topics from this section carry a lot
of weightage in GPAT 2020. Aspirants must
study drug interaction and mechanisms as well
as unique side effects of drugs (not general
side effects like body pain). For the chapter of
Classification of drugs, candidates can use
acronyms to remember the names.

15. • For eg:
• Semisynthetic derivatives: Atropine
Methonitrate, Homatropine, Hyoscine butyl
bromide, Ipratropium bromide, Tiotropium
Bromide (AHITH)
• Quaternary compounds: Propantheline,
Clidimium, Oxyphenonium, Pipenzolate methyl
bromide, Isopropamide, Glycopyrrolate (PCO
PIG)

16. • Important topics in this section are:
• Oncology (drugs for chemotherapy, upcoming
technologies, etc.)
• Neuropharmacology and rare diseases
• Cardiovascular and Blood products

17. • Recommended books:
• Essential of Medical Pharmacology by K D
Tripathi

18. • Pharmaceutical Analysis
• This section is relatively easy and only
requires an understanding of concepts.
Aspirants must practice solving numerical
problems. Note down formulae and mug it up.

19. • Important topics are:
• UV, IR and NMR
• Mass Spectroscopy
• Chromatography
• Polarography and Polarimetry
• Flame Photometer
• Conductometry
• Amperometry
• Potentiometry

20. • Recommended books:
• Spectroscopy and Titration by Chatwal
• Chromatography by Remington

21. • Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• The questions asked from this section are very
basic and only require conceptual clarity.
Applicants should focus on organic
chemistry in this section. Study electrophilic,
nucleophilic reactions (substitution and
addition) and intermediate reactions.

22. • Important topics are:
• SAR of steroids
• Nomenclature and chemical moiety of the
medicinal drugs

23. • Recommended books:
• Basic Organic Chemistry by Morrison Boyd
• Medicinal chemistry by S N Pandey

24. • Pharmaceutics
• This section is very essential for all students
appearing in GPAT 2019. Candidates should
begin this section by studying the formulation of
tablets and emulsions. They must go through
different techniques of sterilization.

25. • There can also be some numerical problems
which can be asked from this section.
Individuals must focus on the following topics:
• Pharmaceutical jurisprudence & ethics
• Surface and Interfacial Phenomena
• Rheology
• Kinetics and Drug Stability
• Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics

26. • Recommended books:
• The Theory and Practice of Industrial
Pharmacy by Liebermann and Lachman

27. General Preparation tips
• Every year there are 6- 8 questions based on
spectroscopy- Mass spectrometry, UV, IR and
NMR spectroscopy. Students must read these
chapters thoroughly.
• Make separate notes for classification of drugs
and the schedules of the drugs. Generally, 3-4
questions on herbal drugs are asked every
year to go through the chapter of herbal and
indigenous drugs.

28. • The frequency of numerical problems is
increasing in GPAT every year. Individuals must
attempt these problems for scoring good
marks in GPAT 2020. Most of the numerical are
asked from biopharmaceutics, depression in
freezing point, allegation method and dose on
the basis of body weight and age.

29. • Applicants must solve mock papers and
previous years’ papers which will help them
understand the pattern of GPAT 2020 better.
• For other topics such as Dispensing Pharmacy,
identify focus areas through old question
papers. Make notes of key points collected
from reference books