References policy

The sources we use

Educational content on PrepElephant is prepared from two kinds of sources:

• Standard textbooks — the editions widely used across Indian medical and engineering curricula. On contested points, we follow the textbook more widely accepted for the examination concerned, and we say on the page when sources differ.
• Official examination bodies — the National Medical Commission (NMC), the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), the National Testing Agency (NTA) and AIIMS — for syllabuses, examination patterns and official announcements.

We do not build answers from other preparation websites, and we do not present a minority position as settled fact without saying so.

How references are shown

Educational pages list the sources consulted at the end of the page. References support the explanation; they do not replace it. Where a page depends on a particular edition — for example, when a classification has changed between editions — the page states which position it follows and why. Explanations inside practice questions carry their source where the specific wording or value matters.

Why we summarise rather than quote

Standard textbooks are long, dense and protected by copyright; copying passages wholesale would serve neither the reader nor the law. More importantly, examinations reward recall and application, not recognition of a memorised paragraph. We therefore write explanations in our own words — shorter, structured, arranged for memory — and keep direct quotation to a minimum. Where exact wording genuinely matters, we say so and point you to the source rather than paraphrasing loosely.