A-Level Exams Results Day

Hello everyone!

Hope you are enjoying the summer as much as I have been! But, it's come to the dreaded month of August which contains the fortnight of results weeks. It is the most dreaded day of the year... even exceeding that stress you experienced when you sat the exams.

So in the summer period, you have sat your A-Level exams, hopefully one of them being Chemistry and usually the two others being another science and/or maths etc. I really hope that they went well for you and now your results will shine through.

As I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, throughout the year I did shockingly bad in my mocks. I could never achieve my target grade and my motivation was constantly being knocked. My school did for some bizarre reason use a method of collating extremely hard exam questions into a bank that we were tested on pretty much monthly - this of course screams "You're not gonna pass." whenever you got the results of another B, C and sometimes even U.

But you can imagine my astonishment on results day, a year ago, when I opened my envelope to see that I had achieved my entry requirement to get into the University of Bristol.

The main message I am trying to convey here is that sometimes exams don't go exactly how you plan them. You need to remember that you will only remember the BAD from the exam. Why didn't I put that? I can't believe I ran out of time to answer that question... Why on earth did I put that AS THE ANSWER? But you never think of the possible 50-60% of the answers that you did really well on! And sometimes, your 5/6 mark answers will still bag you half marks! These marks all add up and hopefully will give you the result you are looking for.

What if it all goes wrong? Well, getting into medicine has no deadline at all (apart from the application deadline in October!). So, if you open up those results and you didn't achieve the AAA, oh well! Either call through to Clearing and see if you are able to go into another university to study Medicine (where I believe they give a short interview on the phone. so I've heard?) and you may still be able to bag a place. However, if that isn't available, then I would certainly recommend to consider retaking.

By retaking, you can have another attempt at achieving the grades required.

• Some universities are rumoured to 'not accept retakes' by students that failed the year before and then apply again the following year. This is not particularly true. What I can gather from open days, if you didn't achieve the exams because of extenuating circumstances, there is a chance you could be shortlisted for an interview the following year.
• Some universities will not accept a candidate reapplying the following year after failing exams without extenuating circumstances.
• Through my own research and recommended by open days, universities will not accept a candidate who is applying after applying previously, being accepted and getting the grades but then doing a late deferral for no extenuating circumstance = eg. "I want to take a gap year, despite not putting on my application that I wanted to when I applied."
• If you are going to retake, do you want to stay in the same school? Do you think college would be better suited for you this year? Or possibly transferring to sixth form if you are already at college? You need to take chemistry, but what about the other two options? Maybe drop Maths and pick up Physics? Or drop Physics to pick up Biology?
• Finally, remember it is not all in the schooling to why you may have failed. Consider in your retaking year what may have led you to slip. Did you go out too much? Did you prioritise your time incorrectly? Did you not concentrate, slip behind work, stop attending? Maybe you hadn't mastered your revision technique correctly? This year, make sure you build on this 'mistakes' to ensure you achieve those results for next year!

I hope this post has provided some ease and I promise this time tomorrow you will be much more relaxed no matter the outcome. I hope you will be sat with your family having a nice meal celebrating your success in securing a place in medical school.

Massive good luck to you all!

Admission Tests

BMAT AND UKCAT

Now you’re brought into the admission test period of becoming a Medical student. There are two admission tests you must know about: BMAT and UKCAT.

BMAT = BioMedical Admissions Test. You only take this test if you are applying to a medical school that uses the BMAT. Examples of universities that require the BMAT include Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London, Leeds, Lancaster etc. The full list can be accessed online as it is subject to change.

UKCAT = UK Clinical Aptitude Test. This is used primarily in the selection process by medical schools to help them choose ‘higher’ capable students. It is believed the UKCAT tests aptitude (which is mental ability and behaviour) as opposed to academic skill. Essentially most of the medical schools require it, although most don’t look at it. So you’re 100% going to need to do this.

To summarise, you’ll definitely need to do the UKCAT and you may need to do the BMAT depending if you’re applying to certain universities.

I really don’t want to go into details about these admission tests as you’ll find more support on other websites. I don’t want this guide becoming outdated quickly, so I’ll give you a rough overview of the tests. They are both timed exams that you will probably not fully complete on the day you are tested. The UKCAT is tested on a computer with multiple choice answers, where you tend to answer the most appropriate or the correct answer. The BMAT is a paper exam which tests mental arithmetic and finishes with an essay that you need to complete on one A4 side from a given list of titles.

The BMAT test is very hard to prepare for, but there are resources available online. Please please please please buy books, borrow them from libraries, print resources off the Internet etc. I even downloaded a “UKCAT Practice Questions” application on my phone. They will be your greatest bet to practising for these horrible exams! I will tell you now, they aren’t nice at all!


WHAT IF I DO REALLY BADLY IN THE ADMISSION TESTS?

You might end up performing poorly in the exams. I’ll be honest, I scored below average in both the UKCAT and the BMAT. In fact, I opened my BMAT results during my Chemistry lesson and was sent out because my teacher thought I was going to break down in tears. It is extremely demoralising. You feel like you’ve written off your opportunity to go to a medical school.

Do not give up. Stay off forums. They will hurt you even more. You’ll score 500 and read on the Student Room about someone complaining if their 690 is good enough, and everyone will batter them down to blowing their one chance to medical school for this year. I did the same with the BMAT. I scored below average and was really disappointed.

But aim high. It is very very rare to receive all 5 offers from your chosen universities – I’m sure you’ve heard this before. So conceal your worries and fears. Ok so you scored low in the UKCAT/BMAT, oh well, move on and wait for the universities to make their decision prior to the interview selection process.

Selecting the Universities

SELECTING

This process will differ person to person. My sixth form was roughly 60 students large and I’m pretty sure everyone approached the university selection process differently. Some people wanted to live on the other side of the UK to their home, some people wanted to stay local. Some people wanted campus universities whereas some people wanted city universities.

I’m not going to write a great amount on this section, because you may choose another path. But think of all the factors that will affect your living and wellbeing in each university. Luckily, you’ve done Step 1 and chosen your course, which I’m hoping is still Medicine and I haven’t put you off!
Now, you need to choose your medical school. The deadline for UCAS will be in October-ish, so take advantage of the summer of Year 12 to visit open days while they’re advertising themselves to prospective medical students.

Take into consideration these factors:

• Cost of living (is it an expensive area?) 
• What’s the medical course like? Spiral curriculum – the university will integrate theory teaching alongside shadowing doctors. Old style of teaching – the university will start with non-clinical years, which is just theory. Then, the university willl end with clinical years, where you will be in the hospital.
• Do you like the city the university is situated within?
• Could you see yourself living here? 
• Distance from home?
• Entry requirements? Are they realistic and achievable for you? 
• Other entry requirements that aren’t grades? Do they have a certain amount of volunteering hours you need? 
• What are the reviews on the university? Are they high in the league table? Are they scoring highly in student pass rate and satisfaction score?
• Is it a Russell Group University?
• Do you enjoy the style of teaching? Like case based learning or problem based learning? I definitely recommend you researching the difference between the two.
• What societies are available? Eg. do they have a pottery club as you’re interested in picking up claywork that you’ve missed since Art GCSE? 

There are many other variables that will determine your chosen universities.

Your FIRM choice will be your #1 choice that you really want to go to. Your INSURANCE choice will be #2 choice. The smart thing to do is be aspiration and aim for the #1 choice as long as it is achievable. If you’re predicted ABB, apply for a medical school with lower grade entry requirements as opposed to a Russell Group university demanding A*A*A. Your INSURANCE choice should back this up. I would recommend your FIRM choice being the university that demands, at maximum, your predicted grades.

If I was predicted ABB, my FIRM would be possibly ABB maximum and my INSURANCE would be BBB. But, you want to manipulate this decision by how much you love the university. If you love Southampton that much but hate the A*AA entry requirement, use it as a fuel motivation to push you to get a place, you might be guessing too harsh so aim higher! With caution though, keep realistic. It’s hard to go from ABB to A*AA if your teachers aren’t predicting it already.


EXHIBITIONS

Make sure you make use of the summer and go to as many university open days as possible. Go and explore the accomodation, ask loads of questions and take a notepad. If you’re not impressed, don’t apply! If you are really impressed, then aim high and go for it! You have a choice in line for Year 13 when you apply to university.

At UCAS Exhibit Days, I’m pretty sure it was our head of sixth form that advised, don’t get attracted by free pens. Don’t hand your email address willy nilly to get a free iPad … I’m still getting emails now from one uni to study Economics because I wanted to win the trip to New York. (I didn’t by the way!)

The main underline thing is to answer questions. Be that annoying student with their hand constantly up. You want your parents to turn around and go “Where is he?” and they spot you speaking to another tour guide student. Any question you may have, any doubt or query, ask! I took advantage of this and I felt so prepared knowing all my questions had been answered.

You should visit your university’s website to find details about open days throughout the summer of Year 12 and September-December of Year 13. You can also visit more than once! If you are limited on time and transport, only visit the universities you’re really debating on applying to. I would recommend you visit open days to at least 5 universities during your Year 12 summer.


UNIVERSITY RESIDENTIAL COURSES

Some university courses offer residential courses that can be completed by Year 12 and Year 13 students to explore a subject they may be passionate about studying at university. These are perfect for two reasons: you can find out if the course you’re interested in is really what you want to do and you can get a taste of the university you’re at.

I attended a Biomedical Sciences residential course at the university I'm currently studying at. With this, I was exploring different aspects of Biomedical Science across 9 weeks. The course days ran across 9 Wednesday evenings, which meant I had to catch a train at lunch time and come back to my hometown at 6ish. It wasn’t detrimental massively to my studies, but I defintely needed to spend my free time catching up with work I had missed. In the course, I learnt about what the uni had on offer and in each lesson was a different aspect, so I would do anatomy, then dentistry, then medicine, then cell physiology etc. This did actually help with my EPQ!

As well as this, you can sometimes get advantages for taking part in the university residential courses. Some universities offer special bursaries, possibly a reduced conditional offer or a guaranteed place or interview. For medicine, I was guaranteed an interview at my university for being part of their residential course. If I wasn’t applying for medicine, but say Biomedical Sciences, I would have a guaranteed offer.

Visit your chosen universities’ websites to see what they have on offer! Some universities offer courses in Autumn and Spring of Year 12 and Autumn of Year 13.