NORCET 11 AIR 22: Wakeel Wasil's 70-30 Rule for Theory vs MCQs

Quick answer: Wakeel Wasil secured All India Rank 22 in NORCET 11 Mains 2026, up from roughly rank 2581 in NORCET 10. He also placed third in the JKSSB Staff Nurse Grade 2 exam. The single change between the two NORCET attempts was MCQ practice: he did 16,000 questions and 148 tests. His 70-30 rule tells you how to split your time depending on whether you are a beginner or a repeater.

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One diagnosis, honestly made

Wakeel studied BSc Nursing at SKIMS Medical College Srinagar and passed out in 2025. In NORCET 10 his Prelims went fine and his Mains rank came in around 2581.

Most candidates respond to a result like that by buying more theory. He did the opposite, and he is unusually clear about why:

Theory was not my problem. I had already done a theory batch. The gap between NORCET 10 and NORCET 11 was MCQ practice.

So when he took Rapid Revision, his focus inside it was not the video lectures. It was the Question Bank. He watched some lectures, but he says plainly that question practice was where his attention went.

That diagnosis is the whole story. Rank 2581 to rank 22, with the same theory base and a different practice volume.

The 70-30 rule

This is the most portable idea in the interview, and the interviewer singled it out as unusually realistic because it tells a candidate which of two situations they are actually in.

If you are starting from basics:

• 70% of your time on theory, so it finishes quickly
• 30% on mocks and MCQs alongside

If you are a repeater with theory already covered:

• 70% of your time on MCQ practice
• 30% on theory revision with whatever material you already have

The value is not the ratio itself. It is that the ratio flips. Most repeaters keep studying like beginners — rebuying theory, re-watching lectures, re-making notes — when their actual deficit is on the question side. Wakeel's own history is the evidence.

The numbers, and the daily shape

Questions practised	16,000
Tests given	148
Daily NPrep questions	100 to 200
Daily target where possible	around 300

His day had a hard split:

• Before lunch: theory revision, whatever material he already had
• After lunch: MCQs only. One NPrep test was non-negotiable, then questions from wherever else he could find them

One structural choice worth copying: he did subject-wise tests, not topic-wise. His rule was to finish revising an entire subject first, and only then do that subject's questions. Weekly, he gave a subject a maximum of one week to be covered from basics, and often three days.

The 200-page notebook

He set himself a constraint before he started writing anything: the notebook must not exceed 200 to 250 pages.

That cap changed what went into it. He did not write questions out long-form. He jotted only the bonus points and the steps from the explanations — the material that was additional to the question itself.

And it paid off in the most literal way possible. In the Mains, a line appeared in his paper exactly as he had hand-written it. He could picture which page it was on.

The interviewer's joke — that anyone wanting his preparation would have to steal that 200-page notebook — lands because the notebook genuinely is the preparation, compressed.

The mistake he admits making

This is the part to read twice if you are currently giving tests.

Many students skip the explanation when a question comes out right. I was doing it myself.

His reasoning at the time was obvious enough: it was correct, so what was there to learn? The problem is that the explanation carries material beyond the question attempted — bonus points, adjacent facts, the reason the other three options fail.

His instruction is specific: on NPrep's test series in particular, the explanation and rationale must not be missed, correct answer or not.

Suman Sahu at AIR 248 arrived at the same conclusion independently and analysed her right answers as deliberately as her wrong ones.

Losing consistency after good news

An unusually honest admission, and a trap worth naming.

After placing third in the JKSSB Staff Nurse Grade 2 exam — a genuinely excellent state-level result — he relaxed. His consistency broke, and it did not come back until the NORCET 11 dates were announced.

The interviewer connected it to a pattern she sees constantly: candidates finish an exam, decide to wait for the result, and let the eight to ten days in between evaporate. Then the result is not what they hoped, and that crucial window is simply gone.

He agreed it cost him. Given he still finished at AIR 22, it is fair to wonder what the rank would have been without that gap.

What he would have done differently

Asked what would have changed if he had found NPrep before NORCET 10, his answer was flat:

It would have been cleared then. The test series was the only thing lacking.

By his own arithmetic, he would have had roughly six months of experience as a nursing officer by the time this interview took place.

What to take from AIR 22

1. Diagnose before you buy. His problem was never theory. Identify which half of the preparation is actually weak.
2. Flip the 70-30 ratio once your theory is covered. Repeaters should be spending most of their time on questions.
3. Cap your notebook. A 200-page limit forces you to write only what is additional.
4. Read the explanation on correct answers. This is where most of the free marks are hiding.
5. Do not pause after a good result. The window between an exam and its result is preparation time, not a holiday.

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Frequently asked questions

What rank did Wakeel Wasil get in NORCET 11? All India Rank 22 in NORCET 11 Mains 2026, improving from approximately rank 2581 in NORCET 10. He also placed third in the JKSSB Staff Nurse Grade 2 exam.

What is the 70-30 rule for NORCET preparation? If you are starting from basics, give 70% of your time to theory and 30% to MCQs and mocks. If you are a repeater whose theory is already covered, reverse it: 70% to MCQ practice and 30% to theory revision.

How many questions and tests did he do? 16,000 questions and 148 tests, with a daily floor of 100 to 200 NPrep questions and a target of around 300 where possible.

Should you do topic-wise or subject-wise tests? Wakeel Wasil revised an entire subject first and only then attempted that subject's questions, rather than testing topic by topic.

Should you read the rationale if you got the question right? Yes. He names skipping explanations on correct answers as the mistake he personally made, because the rationale carries bonus material beyond the single question attempted.

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Read the full list of NORCET 11 toppers who prepared with NPrep — 1 in 5 NORCET 11 Mains qualifiers came from NPrep: 2,178+ students qualified, 38 of them in the All-India top 100.