# PEBC MCQ Calculations: How I Went From Beginner to Advanced (PK + Non:PK)

**Channel:** The Long Way Here
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9_N2EPHL8g
**Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/A9_N2EPHL8g

## Chapters

- 0:00 — Introduction and Common Mistakes
- 1:27 — Sorting Questions by Difficulty
- 4:33 — Workbook Structure and Benefits
- 7:07 — Why Concept Understanding Matters
- 8:59 — Daily Practice and Final Advice

## Transcript

**[0:00]:** Am I actually good enough? The complex questions are actually not complex. Hello everyone. In this video, uh I'll be talking about the calculation part and how to prepare for the calculation part for BBCMCQ. Basically, how I prepared for it. So without wasting any time, let's get into it. So let's start with the wrong method first because I think most of us start with that method and uh I don't want you guys to waste your time with the same method. when I started I would uh just watch the course video uh which was explaining about that particular topic. Just for example take pharmaccoinetics. So I would watch a video of pharmacocinetics. Once I have done watching the video I will start practicing the questions uh from the question bank that u uh they have given or if I find any question bank uh anywhere else. uh but what would happen then I would start the question bank but the first question itself or the second third or a few questions later like there will be a few questions which I would not able to solve

**[0:59]:** at all uh like the questions would come which were not discussed so it would decrease my confidence in myself and the calculations and uh then I would doubt like am I am I actually good enough to do the calculations and it would create kind of a little bit of stress I guess some of you who have started preparing might be going through the same and if you haven't started preparing for the exam yet this situation might come. So I think this was the wrong method.

**[1:27]:** One of the biggest issues with the calculation questions given by the courses is there are multiple multiple questions like they actually the advertisement itself is for so many questions. Now you do not know how to solve all of those questions in a very small time because not everyone has a lot of time and the issue is some of the questions I felt is not even uh relatable because when I was starting I read that the questions come from the PBC formula sheet. They say that you do not have to learn any formulas. All the formulas that you will need uh for the pharmacocinetic calculations will be provided in the sheet that they have given. But uh when I saw the questions of the course, there were so many questions which actually were not even related to the formula sheet that is given by the PBC like which entirely needed another formula.

**[2:22]:** It became very difficult for me to trust and to single out the questions that I should be doing and the questions that are just uh extra that I don't need actually to do. So that was a very difficult part for me to find out out of like thousands of questions like which questions are actually the ones that I should be practicing multiple times because I need to be very proper in that concept. So what I did was I tried to take out all the questions and then arrange the questions myself and then I would arrange it based on which question is the easiest based on the levels. So let's say level one is uh the easiest, level four is the toughest maybe more like um similar to the exams or the questions that come in multiple different exams from pharmaccoinetics. So like that I would arrange it.

**[3:12]:** So 11 one being easiest where I'm just applying the formula and I'm getting uh more more used to the formula and more comfortable with the formula itself. So once I'm comfortable with the formula I would move to the next step where let's say I am uh dealing with different conversion of units but applying the similar formula. In third there is a whole concept change. Uh in the fourth one there is a case that is coming and then I am solving the question based on that case. Uh and then applying the formula or maybe applying two or three different formulas to reaching the same answer. So that's how the complexity level increased. This method became very productive for me and then my confidence was also not depleting with each question because initially I would just do the basic questions uh where only the formula has to be applied but once you're already

**[3:59]:** comfortable with the formula you have the understanding of what is happening the complex questions are actually not complex because your brain is able to uh break the questions in different parts and then solve it by itself. One thing is you can also make such sets of questions by yourself by basically breaking them into the easy, more difficult, more difficult. So level one, two, three, four, things like that. But it would take a lot of time because it took a lot of time. For me, I had no options. Uh but after the exam, I understood that this might be something that many people would benefit from.

**[4:33]:** That's why I created like a workbook uh that honestly I actually think uh if I used that workbook uh so much of time for me would have been saved and I could have put the same time in maybe like the clinical stuff that I was doing or maybe I would have done different types of questions which are not the calculation. So the workbook is covering concepts that are either very basic that you should know for the pharmacocinetics in my perspective and parts that are mentioned by PBC in their formula sheet itself. So these are my two calculation workbooks one for PK and one for nonPK with 100 questions each. Everything is sorted so you never have to search for what you need. Every topic starts with an understanded first box uh that explains the concept in plain language like this one. If you mail 100 letters uh and 70 arrive the bio availability is 0.7.

**[5:36]:** Once you understand the concept the calculations make sense. So that's how we are trying to understand the bioavailability. Then the questions build over four levels. Uh this is very important. So from one simple formula up to patient cases and judgment questions, you always start easy. So you are never thrown into a hard question on day one. Next, every question has a full work state worked uh worked out solution. So including why each u wrong answer is actually wrong. That's how you learn the traps. The answers are kept separate so you can redo everything as many times as you want. At the end, there are two mixed mock sets for your last month, plus a trap checklist and a topic tracker that you can actually use. Uh the nonPK workbook works exactly the same way covering uh evidence-based medicine, concentrations, IV rates, dispensing and more like whichever topics are I think the most important ones based on my understanding.

**[6:55]:** When I was preparing I had to sort all of this myself. These are the workbooks I wish I actually had. So if you want them the link is in the description.

**[7:07]:** It's one thing to just be able to solve the questions. It's another thing to understand what the question is asking and then solve it. The reason the second thing is very important is because uh the exam itself is testing your concepts. It does not just want to test that do you know how to solve a particular question but they want to know if you understand the concept and then you can apply the concepts and the knowledge that you have into that question. So step by step if you just know how to solve one question there are very rare chances that you're going to get the same question. You might get a same type of question but not the same question where you doing the same steps step 1 2 3 4. It doesn't happen like that. So understanding the concept is very important. You should know the basics first and then move to the complex parts.

**[7:52]:** So that's the whole strategy that I follow. So should you focus more on the pharmacocinetic calculations or non-pharicinetic calculations? I think you should focus equally on both. For me, I personally focus a little bit more on non-pharicinetic calculations. There is a reason behind it and the reason is non-phicocinetic calculations, they are easier to do. It takes less time to learn them and master them and you can get quick marks uh from them. Uh however, the pharmacocinetics uh it takes more time, it takes more understanding and it takes more practice and the types of questions that can come from it can be a lot. So there are different types of questions that can come. Uh that's why for me I was thinking that I should at least know all types of non phocinetic questions. Uh and the calculations I should be very good at it so that I can solve it very quickly.

**[8:46]:** And for the pharmaccoinetics I did a little bit less. So uh let's say if I am doing 60% of non-farmacinetics 40% was still the phopinetics. So I was not zero in phopinetics. I was a little bit less. I practice a little bit less in that.

**[8:59]:** How much did I practice um each day? For me, I had already passed the evaluating exam. That's why for my MCQ, I only did around one one and a half uh months before the exam. 1 hour each day I would do. But uh if you're someone who who has not given the evaluating exam and is sitting for the MCQ exams, I would definitely start uh from the day one, I would start if not 1 hour each day, then I would start with 30 minutes each day because in the calculations it is very important uh that you are able to do it very quickly. Uh you are able to understand the question, what the question is asking and then understand like what the trap is. Let's say like there is a trap of units or there is a trap of male or female and then the question is about creatin clearance or it applies the part of creating and clearance somewhere at that point you

**[9:49]:** will have to get this trap in instantly and then be able to solve it accurately in uh let's say 90 seconds or maybe maximum 2 minutes. So the practice is very important. So I would suggest that you start from day one uh at least 30 minutes and then by the end of your preparation like by last month or two you can move to 1 hour uh and that's very important for the PBC preparation and especially for the calculations it is very important to study smart and not just hard you have to work hard but it has to be a smart way to do it. It's not always about how much hours you put, but how are you using the hours that you're studying. So a focused way to do the calculations only the ones that you actually need rather than doing a sea of questions that you actually do not need and wasting your time and then keep postponing the attempts because you

**[10:44]:** don't feel ready. So this is how I prepared and how I strategized my calculation part and now how I have made it simple for you guys. I think that's what I wanted to say in this video. If you have any further questions that you think that I should cover in future videos, please let me know. Thank you for watching this video.