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!

Summary of Year 1

Let's do an overall summary of Year 1...

• I arrived at university and met my flatmates. I had to make all new friends from my course and my student accommodation, who thankfully remained by my side throughout the whole year!
• I did house viewings and decided on my accommodation flat for next year!
• I learnt soooo much! From anatomy, to law, to sociology, to ethics, to histology, to biomedicine to biochemistry! There has been so much content on each individual system in the body which you can't help but feel excited to turn up to lectures.
• I have handled a lot of cadaver specimens and have been exposed prematurely to death. I have also taken part in shadowing a pathologist during a post mortem.
• I have taken part in clinical shadowing at GPs, where I did some clinical skills and did individual home visits. Here, I learnt how important communication is when it comes to talking to patients.
• I have also shadowed doctors at Southmead Hospital and have been taught by both patients and the teaching fellows about body systems and some clinical skills - such as taking blood pressure, blood glucose levels, auscultation and palpation.
• I completed an essay project, as well as an art project. This is based on medicine being both a science and an art.
• I have worked as HCA as part of the course, where I worked four shifts of 7 hours and one 12 hour shift.
• I loved being a HCA so much, I then went on to apply for a job as a healthcare assistant in Bristol. I went for the interview and then received my job offer. I then attended the training and now awaiting some shifts to sign up to!
• I have completed my exams, January and Summer and passed to progress into Year 2!

I can't believe how much I feel I know ever since starting just less than a year ago!

Year 1 has been filled with some very exciting moments and I have enjoyed every second of university life. You are so independent and have so much fun which is incomparable to any other experience I have ever had! I would say I would love to do it again, but I'm really excited to go into Year 2!

I hope all of your exams go well and you receive the results you both want and deserve. Have a great summer, and I will speak to you in September if not before!

...and the results are in...

Guess who is 20% a qualified doctor??? ME!!!

Yup, somehow, I passed my exams! I feel like it was a huge reward for all of the hardwork that I put in towards the end of the year (from the beginning of May up to the exams) even with the circumstances going on.

I will use this chance to say about the grading with medicine as well! I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the last posts so I'll say here, medicine does not have the standard first, 2:1, 2:2, third etc. scale which is used to measure and assess other courses.

So you will hear that a lot, "Did you get a first or a second in your exam?" around the university. But medicine is simply a pass or fail. This then determines your next progression into the following year. So because of this, I have completed Year 1 and will progress to Year 2 next year!

I'm progressing into Year 2!

Thank you to everyone that supported me, especially the past month. I am truly grateful for everything.

Exam Results

When I left you before Christmas, I described about my stresses of exam revision over the holidays but also the structure of the exams I took part in.

I can happily say I have passed both exams! Thankfully, I have clearly revised what I had needed to for my advantage and have managed to somehow score greater than that pass percentage so that my grade sits in "green".

We were sent a generic email prior to our exam release time (which is set at a certain time and date, so we had to wait until 1:00pm for our results to be released). In the email, it was detailed what the pass mark was for both exams, and a general average. As it appears in the email, on average everyone has passed which is great for the year group!

But now that these exams are over, we get to move on and knuckle down more into the case-based learning aspect of our course.

A small side note though, I did take part in a fairly difficult consultation while completing my GP placement. While sat in the GP surgery, the GP I was shadowing met a patient who was battling with depression. He had progressed to a serious stage, where he contemplated ending his life and his value in this world. I found it very interesting to observe how the GP approached the patient's feelings to help break down the presented complaint in a comfortable matter.

To be honest, the appointment really hit me as I sat there. Hearing how the patient was describing his own worth, I realised how important mental health and wellbeing really is. Its significance is often suppressed. I, myself, have battled with mental health issues in the past with low mood (but I am grateful for the prescription medication which helped me get back on track). But today I witnessed when medication isn't the answer as the complaint is far more serious.

My partner and I from the placement then went home to discuss how we felt. Sometimes it is very important to speak openly but privately (respecting confidentiality) if you are struggling to cope. Many universities, including mine, have specialised student support which is readily available for you to approach and seek help if you do need it.

I feel for the situation you are going through right now, as I have experienced it myself. Whether it be application stress or exam stress, you can pull through this! Don't let it affect your mood, and if it does, monitor it closely. If you notice your mood deteriorating fast, whether it be a personality change (for the worse) or your attention/concentration being very weak, seek help and support and you'll be back to normal. Remember though, talk and use these support networks.

It was nice to sit down and enjoy a bottle of wine with a friend in the bar conservatory, talking about our results.

You Got an Offer! Now Work Your Hardest!

When you’ve been made an offer by the university you impressed, you then need to knuckle down and work hard. Now I would recommend quitting volunteering and prioritising your studies over anything else. You may have a part time job, and this isn’t a problem at all. Just make sure you find that perfect balance.

You worked so hard to write your personal statement, get interviewed, get chosen and been made an offer, don’t blow that chance!

Now you need to revise like you’ve never revised before. A-Levels are not like GCSEs at all. GCSEs you could get away with revising three weeks before an exam. A-Levels are completely different.
Please give yourself plenty of time to revise. Prioritise your A-Levels over everything and make sure you master your revision technique! Use as many websites as possible…be videos….be long Word documents from GetRevising... whatever! I would also recommend using your teachers until they break! Challenge them with questions you have about the course or exam, make them review past papers you’ve completed and just ask them questions when you get stuck. Past papers are the main key, use a combination of old spec and new spec to work out your progress. Don’t waste Mock Weeks as they are the most “close” representation you’ll get to the exam.

Never give up. I struggled with all of my A-Levels, there’s no hiding from it! I’ll be honest with you, my results were never perfect through A-Levels – they were shocking. In Year 12, my AS results varied from a C all the way to a B in Biology and Maths (and finished with an A at Maths AS). In Psychology, I got Bs and Cs throughout the year and finished with an A at Psychology AS. Chemistry was the worst! I achieved Us, Es and Cs all through Year 12 and Year 13. This was roughly my progress throughout Year 13 – not once did I reach my offer of AAA:

My grades from Christmas 2016 to Summer 2017 (basically Year 13).

As you can see, there is ALWAYS time to pull it around. What did I change? I prioritised everything after my A-Levels and dedicated all my evenings to staying in my room, sitting at my desk and just revising. I didn’t do anything but. I spoke to my teachers about my course and what I struggled with, and found myself eventually enjoying what I learnt once again (as I did at GCSE). I found loads of videos and support on The Student Room, YouTube and GetRevising, which gave me an additional boost. Do not give up at all, just keep your aspirations high and you’ll do great!