Applicant
Visiting Newcastle
Posted on September 27th, 2008 by Matt
Well, a big “Hello” to all of you reading this who found us through the flyers I was handing out a mere two hours ago! I should also say thank-you for taking the time to have a nosey around the site, and I hope you enjoy what you find.
I enjoyed the day, apart from being told I couldn’t hand out my leaflets on-campus. The lecture by Dr. Philip Bradley was of good quality, he explained everything that he needed to about the Newcastle course, as well as the admissions procedure in-depth.
One thing I didn’t like was the small cafe, which I felt didn’t have enough food or staff for an open day! Otherwise, it was a good day. Nice to meet you all!
Matt is writing this blog from Newcastle Central Station.
No Comments »Working hard
Posted on September 22nd, 2008 by Matt
Sorry about the short absence from both Rob and I. We’ve both been working extremely hard, certainly I’m doing a total of about 20 hours contact time at college, plus all of the homework and coursework that goes with it.
Rob is still doing his Obs & Gynae rotation at the minute, and I’d say we’ve a long way to go before the EU Working Time Directive starts to affect junior doctors. Rob tells me that this week he is on the nightshift, starting at 9pm, and finishing at 11am the following morning. He jokes, “I have about enough time to work, eat, and sleep – usually in that order!”
Not to worry, I’m off at the end of October for a week, and I will personally be overseeing some significant updates to the site, including the Interview Question Bank, Work Experience, and the difference between the teaching/assment styles. I also know Rob is planning to free up some time to make some contributions too!
Don’t forget that while we’re working away at the site, it will remain free-of-charge to our users, so do make the most of it! I can promise you that next year’s users will have to pay for their membership…
Matt is glad he isn’t a junior doctor – yet…
No Comments »Summer is over
Posted on September 1st, 2008 by Matt
I don’t think anybody can testify to this more than Rob & I, based on a very short conversation I’ve had with him last night.
In the last 3 weeks, neither of us have managed to do any of the work we had planned on the site, aside from a couple of blog posts each. To be frank, our newest blogger, Sarah, has probably done more than Rob & I combined! But that’s not because we’re lazy or anything, we’ve just both been doing far more than we imagined – you can follow Rob’s life as a junior doctor by reading the “Foundation Year 1″ blog, as you’ll see 8-day weeks are still expected from junior doctors.
From my perspective, I’ve had results to collect, and then enter into UCAS. I’ve had to sit down and think about whether I’m actually going to realistically achieve the grades for medicine, and I’ve decided that I should, as long as I resit 2 of my chemistry modules and get better grades. And that’s something you should all do about now, realistically check that you can meet the entry requirements for your chosen course by the end of this academic year.
I have been out as a volunteer first aider for 4 solid days, and had to take a 5th day just to recover from the cumulative 46 hours of shifts. I’ll blog about how that will help me both in writing my personal statement, and in talking about what I have gained from it in an interview type situation later.
I haven’t even started my personal statement properly. Something which, now I think about it, kinda scares me. I now have less than 6 weeks to do it. Oh shit. One reality check, please, I think. It’s a good thing MedicalAdmissions.co.uk offers a personal statement checking service to applicants, I think I’ll be making use of that before the end of this month!
Back to the website, we’ve already had to put the launch date back by a full month. I’ve had to block-out two full weekends from my diary to work on the scripting and main content areas. I know Rob is also looking into taking some of his annual leave so that he can really work on the Interview Question Bank for when you all need it. And now we’re faced with the fact that we have 26 days to get this site live, and ready-to-use, because I’ll be out and about in Newcastle University for the visit day, handing out our new flyers!
Matt is panicking about his personal statement (or lack of)!
No Comments »Medicine Summer School
Posted on August 28th, 2008 by Sarah
Hi!
I’m Sarah and I’m going to University this October.? Not to read Medicine, but to read Chemistry.??In the end, I felt that?Chemistry was more appropriate for the type of career path I wanted to follow.
This is?my first important point – only choose to apply for Medicine (or any course)?if you are 100% sure that the course is right for you.? Do not let anyone pressurise you into choosing a course that you have doubts about, as it is you who is going to be studying the subject for x amount of years – not anyone else.? You will have to?be?dedicated to?your chosen?subject, and?this will come across?when going through the?interview process.?? Universities will expect you to be passionate about what you want to study.
Last year I attended a Medicine summer school at Durham University.? There were approximately 30 of us on the Medicine course, and the first day began with an introduction to the department.? Immediately, an emphasis was put on commitment to a medical profession.? A level grades were also highlighted.? We were told that Universities asked for 3 A’s for the Medicine course just because the course was so competitive.? This will be the main problem if you apply for Medicine.? Although in the newpapers there are frequent reports of a shortage of doctors in Britain, there aren’t enough places on the Medicine courses to accommodate the?number of applicants.? You will need top grades to have a chance of getting on the course.
On this summer school, we were told what Universities looked for in a personal statement specifically for Medicine applicants.? As well as having the required A level grades and a good UKCAT score, some evidence of work experience was crucial.? Anywhere where you are working with people and helping people on a daily basis.? Apply early to a number of different places to ensure you get some experience.? (A lot of people at the summer school had left it too late and were unable to find any placements at all). ?If you can’t get work experience in a hospital or at your doctors surgery, why not try a hospice or nursing home.? Remember, a lot of other people will be fighting for placements nearer the application time, so act quickly! Even if you don’t manage to get some work experience before you apply, if you have some?lined up for later in the year put this on your personal statement.? It will help!
Throughout the summer school we did classes which would have been typical on the Medicine course.? As well as some theory, there were circuit sessions where we had to do a different activity at each point.? The first ‘station’ was first aid.? At this point we each had a dummy which was the supposed casualty?and we had to act out how we would help in the situation.? At the next point blood pressure was explained and we each took a turn taking each other’s blood pressure.? We also practised using stethoscopes and examined our knees and elbows!
The final station was anatomy.? Here we had to paint body parts on first year medical students.? This was fun, although there were several different colours of paints, and the lungs ended up being green – not really a good sign in a patient!? The first years told us about their anatomy classes in which they looked at organs which had been preserved in formaldehyde.? However, due to formaldehyde being an appetite stimulant they always had to go to McDonalds after anatomy class….
1 Comment »UKCAT
Posted on August 13th, 2008 by Matt
I’ve just finished my UKCAT test, and found it both easier and harder than I expected. Unfortunately I can’t give too much away as the test is “UKCAT Confidential”, but I can give some good pointers and tips for you!
As most of you will be aware, UKCAT is made up of 5 sections. 4 of those go to your mark (which will be between 1200 and 3600) and the final section is used to find out about you as a person. The 4 marked sections are Verbal Reasoning, Quantative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, and Decision Analysis. Each is marked between 300 and 900.
My advice for the first part is to read the question, then the extract as it will save you time if you know what you’re looking for. The choose the correct statement. Repeat this process for every question in this section.
My advice for the second part is be quick, and use the calculator. I was a little shocked at how quickly the time passed over for this section, and I answered the last question at a complete guess with only 5 seconds to spare. The eraseable notepad comes in quite handy here, and can be useful when you need to analyse more than two things simultaneously. Don’t be surprised if you don’t get to check the review screen, it barely flashed up when I got the “end of section time” message.
The third section is mainly visual. Go with what your eyes tell you and try not to over analyse. I suspect that the section is not designed to have you trying to work out exactly which one it is, but at the same time, your eyes can deceive. It’s about striking a balance, and using the review button (after you’ve chosen A, B, or Neither).
The fourth section is what the eraseable notepad is really for. You are required to work out a message from a code, or to encode a message. My advice is use the practice tests, and get used to the coding… The other thing I did, which really helped me, was to write down the literal translation of every coded message, and work from there onwards. You have time to do this, and don’t forget to raise your hand and get another notepad if you need one.
Finally onto the fifth section, which aims to discover your non-cognitive abilities. In other words, it wants to know about your personality, and what you’re like as a person, how you interact with people, how you see the world, and so on. This section is all about honesty, as the questions are staged around three areas it wants to know about, and the questions are set in such a way that it can detect liars! The simplest advice here is answer quickly, and don’t look back. There’s not much to say about yourself if you have to think about the type of person that you are.
In general, the level of knowledge expected from you is that of a GCSE math and english student, it’s pitched around the C/D borderline level of those two exams in my opinion. So don’t stress on revising, and don’t pay anything for these so-called prepartation courses, because all the preparation you need can be freely downloaded…
Matt thinks he’s charming, but a little manipulative!
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