NEET PG Pediatrics: high-yield question map

1. Neonatology
   • Resuscitation, APGAR, prematurity, low birth weight
   • Neonatal jaundice, sepsis, hypoglycemia, respiratory distress
   • Congenital infections and birth defects
2. Growth and development
   • Milestones, developmental delay, primitive reflexes
   • Growth charts, short stature, failure to thrive
   • IQ/developmental quotient and developmental screening
3. Nutrition
   • Breastfeeding, complementary feeding
   • Protein-energy malnutrition, vitamin and micronutrient deficiencies
   • Rickets and severe acute malnutrition
4. Immunization and preventive pediatrics
   • National Immunization Schedule, vaccine types, contraindications
   • Cold chain, AEFI, vaccine-preventable diseases
5. Infectious diseases
   • Diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, measles
   • Meningitis, encephalitis, enteric fever, HIV
   • Syndromic diagnosis of fever with rash, fever with thrombocytopenia, etc.
6. Respiratory and cardiovascular
   • Bronchiolitis, asthma, pneumonia, croup
   • Cyanotic and acyanotic congenital heart disease
   • Heart failure and rheumatic fever
7. Gastroenterology, liver, and nephrology
   • Acute gastroenteritis and dehydration
   • Hepatitis, nephrotic syndrome, acute glomerulonephritis
   • UTI, acute kidney injury, electrolyte disorders
8. Neurology
   • Seizures, status epilepticus, cerebral palsy
   • Meningitis, raised intracranial pressure, neural tube defects
9. Hematology, endocrinology, genetics
   • Anemia, thalassemia, ITP, leukemia
   • DKA, congenital hypothyroidism, adrenal disorders
   • Down syndrome and common genetic patterns
10. Emergency pediatrics

• Shock, poisoning, coma, burns, fluids and acid-base disorders

The diagnostic crux for case-based questions

1. Age
   Neonate, infant, toddler, school-age child, and adolescent have very different differentials.
2. Time course
   • Minutes-hours: poisoning, seizure, anaphylaxis, shock
   • Days: infection, inflammatory disease
   • Weeks-months: TB, malignancy, nutritional/endocrine disorder, chronic organ disease
3. Syndrome first, diagnosis second
   Identify the dominant syndrome: respiratory distress, fever with rash, edema, cyanosis, anemia, jaundice, seizure, altered sensorium, or developmental delay.
4. Look for the discriminator
   NEET PG often gives one highly specific clue:
   • Barking cough + inspiratory stridor: croup
   • Drooling + toxic child + tripod position: epiglottitis
   • Bilious vomiting: intestinal obstruction until proven otherwise
   • Periorbital edema + massive proteinuria: nephrotic syndrome
   • Tea/cola urine + hypertension after sore throat: acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis
   • Fever + rash starting behind ears and spreading down: measles
   • Hepatosplenomegaly + severe pallor: think hematologic malignancy/hemolysis depending on smear and counts
   • Cyanosis relieved by squatting: Tetralogy of Fallot
5. Assess severity before naming the disease
   Ask: Is this shock, severe dehydration, respiratory failure, raised ICP, DKA, or status epilepticus? In clinical questions, stabilization comes before definitive investigation.
6. Use tests to confirm, not to replace pattern recognition
   For example: CSF profile for meningitis subtype, ABG/electrolytes for DKA, echocardiography for CHD, peripheral smear for hematology.

One-page pediatric case summary

How to score better

• Memorize age cutoffs, milestones, vaccine schedules, drug of choice, and investigation of choice separately.
• Learn common questions as clinical patterns, not isolated facts.
• For every disease, revise: typical age, key clue, best initial test, confirmatory test, first-line management, complication.
• Use options actively: eliminate choices that do not fit the child’s age, time course, or most specific sign.
• For image questions, focus on classic X-rays, rashes, peripheral smears, ECGs, and congenital heart disease imaging.

1. Neonatology
2. Development, nutrition, and vaccines
3. Pediatric infections
4. Systems and emergencies
5. A 50-question case-based revision set