Final Year MBBS

Final Year MBBS Viva Questions and Complete Survival Guide

November 8, 2017

And so here it begins: Final Year MBBS — the GRAND FINALE! One of the most hectic years of MBBS that requires a lot of patience and tolerance. It’s a two-way traffic; clinical and theoretical, a knowledge-acquiring-process which goes hand in hand. I’m sharing some of my experiences and tips with the hope that it will help all those medical students who are about to embark on this perilous yet incredible journey of the final year MBBS. I will show you how you can tackle this giant monster and survive like a true warrior. 🙂

WARNING: You will be doing a lot of this while reading this blog post. 😀 *INTERNAL SCREAMING*

Table of Contents

MEDICINE

Medicine is huge but not boring. It’s deep but you can swim. Pick one book from the very first day and stick to it. Don’t switch books. Medicine books which most of the students study in the final year MBBS are:

1. DAVIDSON: Study once and retain for life. It requires less revision.

2. Kumar and Clark: Very extensive. Inam Danish is the copy paste of this book. Its language is more friendly than Davidson.

3. Kaplan Medicine: Good book but lacks some of the details like Chronic Liver Disease (CLD), Stroke etc. Still, it’s life-saving and very good for prof. exams.

Viva Questions of Medicine

There will be three vivas:

SHORT CASE SIR ZAHIR KHAN MANDOKHAIL:

For short cases, make your clinical methods (reflexes) strong in each rotation of medicine. Sir Zahir will ask you to perform procedures such as:

Spleen palpation
Ankle jerk
Knee-jerk
liver span
Shifting dullness.

His questions this year were :

Causes of splenomegaly
Causes of tender splenomegaly
Causes of massive splenomegaly
Causes of hepatomegaly
Sickle cell anemia
Cerebellar dysfunction signs
Obstructive sleep apnea
Signs of hyper and hypothyroidism
Polyglandular syndromes
Type 1 and type 2 respiratory failure
Difference between paralysis and paresis
Pneumothorax
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)
Atrial septal defect (ASD)
Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)
Typhoid
Oesophageal varices

Sir Zahir mostly repeats his questions throughout the day. But next day his questions would be completely different.

LONG CASE OF SIR BAQI DURRANI:

Write your history properly. Sometimes he asks you to narrate presenting complaints, sometimes he doesn’t, depends on your luck. For his viva take his classes regularly and note each and every point. And for viva dress up nicely, wear good shoes and wristwatch; sir Baqi observes everything. And above all confidence is the key. Even if you couldn’t answer his single question remain confident. He mostly asks questions from his Lectures and cases.

For example, if you get a case of leukemia he will ask:

1) What is leukemia
2) Difference between leukemia and lymphoma
3) Leukemoid reaction

If you get a case of diabetes, he will ask:

1) What is diabetes?
2) complications of diabetes.
3) Why do diabetics are prone to infections?

But if you are extremely unlucky, he can ask questions other than his lectures and case. This year, he asked these questions:

1) Rheumatoid arthritis
2) Osteoarthritis
3) Gout
4) Felty syndrome
5) Brown sequard syndrome
5) Neuroleptic malignant syndrome
6) Difference between fever and temperature
7) Anxiety neurosis
8) VSD mechanism
9) ASD mechanism
10) Tropical splenomegaly treatment
11) Causes of vestibulocochlear nerve paralysis
12) Short stature causes
13) Long stature causes
14) Bell’s palsy
15) Obesity definition

External Medicine Viva

He will ask you to pick a drug among so many drugs lying before you on the table. For example, if you pick Captopril he would ask the following things related to it:

Indications
Contraindications
Adverse effects

He keeps X-rays as well. Throughout the year try to take pics of common X-rays and save them in your cell phone gallery. Memorize each one of them. Common X-rays which were asked this year were as follows:

Hydropneumothorax
Pleural effusion
Birds beak appearance of achalasia
Intestinal obstruction
Military TB
Bronchiectasis
Solitary pulmonary nodule
CA lung
Boot shaped heart of teratology of fallot
Kerley B lines in pulmonary edema

He sometimes asks you to read ECG, things like:

1) Rate
2) Rthym
3) Axis deviation
4) ST elevation and depression

SURGERY Final Year MBBS

Here are a few recommended final year MBBS Surgery books:

1) Bailey and Love: Extremely lengthy but it has very interesting and absorbing text. Try to do GITfrom here (though it’s not necessary)

2) SRB’s Manual of Surgery: It has everything. You’ll be very safe if you have read this. You can give viva to Sir Azam, Sir Deen Muhammad, Sir Khuaja Farooq, Sir Fida, Sir Jameel and even to every surgeon in BMCH. But again it’s very lengthy. And difficult to recall. Try to Do GIT from here (though it’s not necessary).

3) Dogar’s Surgery Book: It’s a very good book. Easier to revise and has everything that is needed for final year MBBS prof.exam except for a few topics which are mostly asked, for example:

Quartz surgery
European society’s classification of hernia
Mirizzi syndrome etc

FINAL YEAR MBBS SURGERY VIVA QUESTIONS SIR JAMEEL

He will start your viva from the case. For instance, if you have been given the case of a hernia he will start from:

What is a hernia?
An external and internal hernia
Complications of hernia surgery
Contents of spermatic cord
Classification of hernias
Incision for an inguinal hernia
Incision in a femoral hernia
Boundaries of femoral ring.

Thus he will ask everything from hernia. And if you managed to answer all his questions, he will ask things other than your case i.e

Splenectomy incision
Splenectomy complications
Barium studies
Complication of pneumectomy
Tumours of parotid gland
Tumors of testis
Complications of parotidectomy

Viva Questions of Sir Azam:

In our viva, (i) a girl with a swelling in her parotid region was sitting. Sir Azam asked us to examine the swelling. (ii) A patient having a diabetic ulcer in his foot was lying on the bed. Sir Azam asked us to explain the grades location and thus everything about the ulcer. Besides that, he mostly asks anatomy. This year his questions were:

Anal canal anatomy
Anal glands number and location
Differential diagnosis of parotid swelling
Occult hernia
Skin
Dye use in parotid radiographic studies
Anatomy of the testis
Lipoma

(Try to do Swelling from Sdas. He asks every detail of this).

Surgery Viva Questions of External Examiner:

He keeps instruments, specimens, and X-rays. X-rays were the same which you would see in your surgical rotation. Such as:

Hydatid cyst
Intestinal obstruction
Barium enema
Gas under the diaphragm
KUB
IVU.

Collect pictures of instruments and specimens in your surgery rotation. Otherwise, you’ll suffer panic attacks in last days of your prof.exam viva. 😀

You might also be interested in:

List of Scholarships for Medical Students (MBBS/BDS) in Pakistan

Paediatrics

For Paediatric, there’s only one book:

Paediatric by Pervaiz Akbar: Read this book selectively from the day one. Take Sir Asmat Durrani’s classes and make notes. This is very important.

FINAL YEAR MBBS PAEDIATRICS VIVA QUESTIONS SIR SIR MUBEEN:

He will ask you to do examinations. This year his most frequent commands were:

Spleen palpation
Liver span
Facial nerve examination
3rd fourths and sixth nerve examination
Examine the signs of vitamin D, C & A deficiencies
Signs of meningeal irritation
Knee-jerk
Ankle jerk clonus
Trigeminal nerve
Auscultates the pericardium

Sir Bari’s Viva Questions:

He’s a clinical person. He asks things which are not too bookish. Your viva will start from your case. First, he will ask you to comment on the patient’s general appearance. If your case is Meningitis, he will ask you to look for the signs of meningeal irritation. If your case if Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), he’ll ask you to listen to murmurs. And if you say yes it’s audible he will himself check whether it’s audible or not. If you have a patient of Thalassemia, he will ask you to palpate spleen and if you say it’s palpable he will palpate it and check. So answer very carefully.

He will then ask treatment options and follow up of your case. He sometimes moves from bed to bed. And give you different commands on different patients.

Sir Asmat’s Viva Questions:

He will start your viva from your case. For example, if your case is VSD, he will ask cyanotic and acyanotic diseases. How did you diagnose it is VSD? Various treatment options. Then if you answered correctly, he will ask questions from his notes. Thing like Gomez classification etc. He wants answers from his notes ONLY. So don’t miss his classes and make your own notes!

Gynaecology and Obstetrics

Gynaecology and Obstetrics Books:

1. Rashid Lateef for Gynaecology: Recommended by Naila Ehsan. Lengthy but it has an easy language. Not necessary for boys.

2. Ten Teachers for Obstetrics: Recommended by Naila Ehsan. Lengthy but if you start from day 1 you’ll be able to complete and revise it by the end of year. Again not necessary for boys.

3. Irfan Masood for Gynaecology and Obstetrics: It’s sufficient for both gyne and obs. But it is very volatile and has numerous points to remember. You have to revise it thousand times.

a) Viva Questions of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Maam Naila Ehsan:

If she’s taking the case of gyne she’ll ask questions from your case. For example, if you have been assigned the case of Uterine and Vaginal Prolapse. She’ll ask:

a) What is UV prolapse?
B) Grades
c) Treatment
d) Type of pessaries
e) Surgical treatment according to the age of the patient

If she’s taking the case of obs, she’ll ask questions from your case. For example, you are given the case of Premature rupture of membranes (PROM). Her questions would be:

1) What is PROm
2) Differential diagnosis of PROM
3) Treatment of PROM
4) How will you diagnose PROM?
5) How will you differentiate PROM from UTI?

b) Viva Questions of Madam Uzma:

Either you will give your viva to Madam Naila or Madam Uzma. Not both.

Write your history properly. She asks you to read your history. For example, if your presenting complaint is Vaginal discharge, your viva will start from here. She asks questions such as:

1. What are the other causes of vaginal discharge?
2. How will you differentiate this vaginal discharge from the one which occurs in cervitis?
3. What is Pap smear?
4. Most common causes of CA cervix?
5. Hysterectomy complications stress incontinence overflow incontinence etc.

c) Viva Questions of Maam Ayesha Siddiqa:

She starts the viva from your case. She sometimes asks you to read history and sometimes she reads herself sometimes she doesn’t. It depends on your luck. If you manage to answer questions related to your case then she’ll ask questions other than your case.

This year, her most common questions were:

a) Contraception
b) Different methods of contraception
c) Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD)
d) OCPS
e) Fertility
f) Sub-fertility
g) How to check tubal patency
h) Hysterosalpingogram
i) Stress incontinence
j) Urge incontinence
k) Eclampsia
l) Preeclampsia
m) Shoulder dystocia
n) Cervical dystonia
o) Perineal Tears

External’s Viva Questions:

External will ask different positions on a dummy. Instruments names and their uses.

Good luck everyone! 🙂

This article has been written by Dr. Zarak Baloch — a graduate of Bolan University of Medical & Health Sciences, Quetta. Currently, he is working as a House Officer at BMCH, Quetta.