Microbiology Quiz: (A Handbook for Competitive Exam)

Quiz

1

Stimulation Towards Competitive Entrance Examinations

Introduction, The Purpose of Competetitive Entrance tests, Gear up to take the Challenge, Be mentally fit for the competitive test, Be physically fit for the competitive test, Adopt the right procedure of study, Adopt the right approach for answering, Major types of MCQs, The Teacher

Introduction

In contemporaneous times, almost every student seeking higher education encounters some or the other entrance tests in his educational career. Entrance examinations are conducted by prestigious Universities, deemed Universities, Research Centres, Autonomous Institutions, State and National level academic bodies. An organization considers the entrance test as a perfect tool to select the best applicants when there is large number of students seeking admission, as against a limited number of available seats.

The Purpose

The prime mission of an entrance test is to select candidates from among a large number of applicants. However, there may be several ancillary purposes behind holding such tests.

•   The result of these tests give an idea of what percent of the applicants are actually qualified enough to join the higher courses. Hence, the organizing body usually proposes the qualifying marks for the test. Only the qualified individuals are invited for counseling where further selection is easier.

•   Some institutions or Research Centres that maintain very high standards of academic profile do not confide upon the standards of the lower degrees of other Universities as up to the mark. Hence they conduct their own screening tests instead of selecting the so called toppers from other University or institution. Such tests are indeed challenging and have a flavor of the organizing institute. The student needs to prepare himself after considering the kind of research or academic activities undertaken by the organizing institute as many questions are likely to be churned out of their own areas of interests.

•   Some PG courses are open to graduates from other subjects. For instance a graduate of Botany or Zoology may be eligible to take M.Sc. course in Microbiology. In such a case the University demands that the applicant should have some fundamental knowledge of the new subject. Moreover, it is not fair to select meritorious candidates from different streams into one course purely on the basis of their UG marks. In such cases the University conducts a simple entrance test and fills the seats as per the rank obtained, irrespective of their ground subject. Such tests are the easiest but require a clear mind of perception and a strong foundation.

•   Entrance tests are also conducted to provide added benefits proposed by he organization on a limited basis. For Eg. The first ten toppers will be exempted from tution fee. In such a case an entrance test becomes essential

Apart from the above mentioned reasons there may be other purposes for conducting competitive tests but whatever the reason may be a competitive test is intended to check the individual’s knowledge, analytical thinking ability and clarity of a concept.

Gear up to take the challenge

•   Both fundamental knowledge as well as a winning spirit is required to make it to the top of entrance tests. Even as the student is too occupied preparing himself for the test, somewhere he tends to lack the boost to achieve success. Most of the students are found with extreme negativity of mindset during the preparation phase. Fear of the test and underestimation of ones own capability and loser attitude from the beginning, all add to their failure.

•   The applicant needs to be in a psychologically sound state, seeming himself that he knows he will be successful if he prepares effectively. Just say to yourself that it’s my area of study and all I need to do is a thorough brush up of my knowledge.

•   A few highly focused students unfortunately come under the spell of extreme stress. They are so tensed about the final outcome that they only think about the test even as they take a break to relax. They are even unable to concentrate on what they are reading because the mind is too stressed about Will I get the seat finally?

•   What if I don’t get through?

•   What if I am offered a seat in a remote town? And such other botherations.

•   These thoughts lead to serious stress and may result in acute depression and obvious failure.

•   Hence, it is necessary to keep any kind of stress at bay and just relax during regular breaks. A cup of coffee, a short walk, a brief nap, are all refreshing. Watching a comic animation or even a movie is a must when you are too worked up.

•   Quite contrary to this, there are some students who are rather over confident about themselves. Only I can do it, no one else can, its after all a matter of attempting 100 questions by choosing the correct answer. Do I need to actually prepare for a test which will have simple questions in my own subject. These thoughts I am afraid are too bold and definitely injurious. Such a student will tend to neglect sincere preparation and repeated practice. Do not pretend to be confident just because you are lazy to put in genuine effort.

•   In short, gear up to take the challenge with the right spirit , dispel stress and concentrate on the present chapter that you are studying instead of distracting your mind about the ultimate result and finally, avoid being too confident.

The style of competitive entrance tests

•    Majority of entrance tests are of multiple choice questions (MCQ) type, while a few of them include subjective/comprehensive questions. It is beyond the scope of this book to elaborate on the essay type questions. Hence, focus will be laid on those tests that pose purely objective questions.

•    Usually, the paper is set to include fundamental questions with a view to test your clarity of the concept. Yet a few other categories may also be asked. The following constructive and detrimental approaches are intended to give guidance to the candidates to gain the right spirit of success.

Be mentally fit for the competitive test

Be physically fit for the competitive test

Adopt the right procedure of study

Adopt the right approach of answering

Major types of MCQs

The Teacher

•   A certain amount of preparation is required in order to give guidance/coaching to the competitive tests.

•   It is necessary that the teacher structures his lecture differently from the routine class work.

•   The topic needs to be discussed very constructively with the most critical facts and by including several hardcore examples. It is a waste of time to teach the entire concept in detail.

•   Every class must end with a lot of discussion of examples and illustrations based on the topic. A few oral exercises may be posed by the tutor to cross-check the concept base.

•   The pace of the class should not be too fast which may otherwise escape the interest of the learner.

•   Daily tests must be conducted comprising of choicest questions on the topic discussed the previous day.

•   The MCQs must be framed with proper choice of words, in a simple manner.

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Origin and Scope of Microbiology

Retrace your subject…

Discovery of Microorganisms, Debate over spontaneous generation, The Golden Age of Microbiology, Significant historical events in the development of Microbiology, Significant Titles of Microbiologists.

•Discovery of microorganisms - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Father of Microbiology, first observed live microbes (animalcules) through his magnifying lenses between 1673 and 1723 and described bacterial motility and morphology.

•Debate over Spontaneous Generation - the faulty Theory of Abiogenesis hypothesized that living things emerged spontaneously from non-living objects. This was supported by biologists such as Aristotle, Rudolf Virchow & John Needham. Beginning with 1668, several scientists opposed the theory of abiogenesis. A new theory called the Theory of Biogenesis evolved. The scientists who conducted experiments to disprove the theory of abiogenesis include: Francesco Redi (three jar meat experiment), Lazzaro Spallanzani (heating broth in sealed flasks), Louis Pasteur (heating broth in open end long swan necked flasks), John Tyndall (intermittent heating of broth to kill spores - tyndallization).

• The Golden Age of Microbiology - 1857-1914: The causative agents of several disease causing microbes were discovered during this period. It also witnessed the advances in laying the foundations of immunology and microbial metabolism.

• Significant discoveries of the Golden Age: Fermentation Technology (Pasteur), Pasteurization (Pasteur), Germ Theory of Diseases (Robert Koch), Aseptic Surgical techniques (Joseph Lister), Causative agent of Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis By Robert Koch), Koch’s Postulates - A systematic approach to prove microbial causative agent (Robert Koch), Vaccination (Edward Jenner), Discovery of the wonder drug penicillin (Alexander Fleming), First use of Chemotherapeutic agent Salvarsan for treatment of syphilis (Paul Ehrlich).

Significant historical events in the development of Microbiology

Significant Titles for Microbiologists

Exercises