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!

Villiers Park - How did it help?

So I have been part of the Villiers Park scholarship programme since Year 10. I feel that being a Villiers Park scholar definitely set me up for my path into Medicine by providing me with the information and support I needed.

As part of the programme, everyone is assigned a learning mentor that will provide this information and support that I have mentioned before. Through one-on-one mentoring sessions, I would meet with my mentor to discuss my recent activities. I would explain to my mentor how stressful I’m finding things, how I’m worried I’m not going to get the grades and how I cannot find a balance. And by talking and development plans of actions, I knew I could cope for another two-three weeks before the next session. Everyone on the programme found the mentoring sessions as an opportunity to vent about our struggles but find solutions to them, whether it be crafting the perfect personal statement or researching different university choices.

The masterclasses allowed all of us to come together as one group and work towards given goals. But the objective wasn’t the task itself, but the personal and interpersonal skills we developed through it. As shown in our last Year 13 residential in March, we could confidently deliver a presentation better than we could in Year 10 residential. Through Villiers Park, we learnt about how to conduct research, how to process the findings and then present to an audience. These are skills important not just for university, but possibly for most of our jobs and careers in the future. I felt I developed and learned more specialised skills through Villiers Park moreso than I did in our normal PSHE lessons at school.

Villiers Park has helped with our career advice, university choices and personal statement construction. I feel my mentor sessions and the masterclasses provided helped me on track to making me a strong candidate for the degree I wanted to read at university, being Medicine. I was also a member of "MedSoc" which was our Medicine Society. Here, I heard guest speakers (such as paramedics and junior doctors etc) who pass on any advice. We also had interview preparation and help, where we learnt how to address our interviewer, how the MMIs are structured and even advice on current medical affairs and how to approach the ethics in medicine.

There was an opportunity as well for a one-week residential in Foxton that specialises in a subject we feel passionate about – whether it’s engineering, biology, English, politics or computing! I attended the course on Cell Biology and Cancer where I learnt about the different stages of cancer (from a genetic mutation in transcription to metastasis around the whole body). On the course I learnt even more skills, but this sparked my interest for oncology which then initiated my project in the EPQ (which was based on the biochemistry and physiology of cancer). These courses can be assessed by following this link: CLICK HERE. I would certainly recommend a biology/medical fuelled course as this will be of great interest and look super attractive on your personal statement to universities!

If you're still not persuaded to get involved, take a look at these photos:

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!

MMI Interviews

It feels like forever, but the day comes! You wake up, login to your emails and see an offer for an interview at your chosen interview! Some universities conduct panel interviews and some universities conduct MMIs, which stand for multiple mini interviews.

I think MMIs are perfect - they are stress-free and go so quickly, you don’t have time to dwell and panic. MMIs are like speed dating. You are set up in small workstations in a rotating carousel that means you’re tested on different skillsets throughout the day. I will be describing MMIs because I have experienced them twice.

How long does it last? It lasts a whole hour in total, with usually ten stations. You tend to get one minute to read a piece of paper describing the task and then five minutes to carry out that task. The task could range from doing a small question booklet for five minutes or describing your volunteer/work experience. I will give you a break down for each MMI that I have researched.

I believe the majority of the MMIs will contain queries on:

• Structure of the NHS – not exactly Clinical Commissioning Groups etc, but the role of doctors, nurses and administrators in the hospital. How do their roles differ? Who is more important?Use your own opinion but do remember, keep an open minded, fair and equal response. Saying doctors are superior and nurses just do the slave work will give a very negative impression!
• Describe your work experience/volunteer work – they will ask you questions concerning your duties, your role, your responsibilities, what you learned etc. One interview I attended had this in two separate stations, but the other interview asked about both my work experience and volunteer work at the same station.
• Medical ethics – incredibly important! I will definitely recommend you read on the pillars of medical ethics. You shouldn’t know them perfectly, you haven’t done medicine so how are you supposed to know? They just want to know you have some beginning knowledge. That’s what I did, I learnt the keywords and applied it to my answers regarding ethical questions. It was so satisfying when the interviewer raises their eyebrows with a smile as they start jotting, it’s so rewarding! When given a patient comparison question, doctors never prejudice or discriminate so you should discuss each case separately and then give a conclusion based on what you believe. Practise situational judgement tests that concern and include medical ethics! 
• Basic mathematics and statistics could be tested, like calculating a dosage or the next time for a dosage. This also includes interpreting a graph and analysing results from a table or chart.
• You could be asked to describe a photo of a skin condition. Practise looking at a photograph of a rash or infected area of the body and describe what you see. You need to be concise and describe what you see. Include colours, a rough indication of size and area affected and possibly describe the relief (ie. Is there broken skin? Is it bumpy?) Remember you aren’t being assessed on your ability to diagnose, you have got no idea what you’re doing! Just simply describe the photograph being shown, as they’re testing your ability to make concise notes that could be used by a doctor later on. This is done in clerking a patient, which involves taking down initial notes that could be used by a doctor later on to assess how the infected area has changed etc. My next and ultimate tip, make sure you sign and date your work! This is what they do on the ward, and an interviewer smiled at me when I did it! Just sign the bottom, print your full name and add a date and a time! Even if not accurate, just make sure those four things have been done!
• Describe what healthcare is like in the local area – make sure you have a little read prior to your interview about common health problems in your surrounding area and the surrounding area you’re looking at. You might also want to look at how healthcare differs. 
• You might have to look at possible factors that affect health, giving reasons for the suggestions you make! Think of common problems (they’re not going to test really difficult health problems!) so think skin conditions, breathing problems, chest pains etc. You could be shown something like cigarettes and asked to describe problems with them. 
• You could be asked about the university course. I would definitely recommend that you read up about this before you enter the interview. You will be asked about why you have chosen this university’s particular medical course as they all differ. This could be through PBL or CBL, so be prepared to be asked what these terms mean and why you have chosen this course! 
• You could also be asked about the city and why you have chosen it as a place you would like to study in.
• Definitely keep up with current medical affairs! Prior to the interview, read the medical news as this could prop up at one of the stations. In the case of discussion, make sure you stay balanced, fight for each case before giving an “In my opinion” conclusion.

One thing I’m really trying to point out about MMIs is that you will be shocked how much they aren’t about you! Having done job interviews, I found I was trying to sell myself constantly and give experiences and point out how it changed me for the better and stuff. In an MMI, the selling has already been done through UCAS with your predicted grades and the personal statement. You’ve sold yourself now. Now they want to see you as a person, are you doctor material?

If you noticed above, I haven’t really dwelled on the personal attributes that will be asked for and tested during the interview. I can’t guarantee they definitely won’t, but I found with MMIs you don’t talk about yourself too much! From my experience, I would say 3/10, 4/10, pushing 5/10 stations will be asking you PERSONAL questions whereas the remaining stations are testing the medical situations, the medical ethics, how you think as a doctor and skills they are looking for.

But, you will get some of the personal things asked about you. I was really thrown off and didn’t expect it in some stations, but you have that one minute thinking time to comprehend the task from the sheet before you have the five minutes to perform.

Some of the “personal” questions I was asked include:

• What was the biggest mistake you made? What did you do as a result of it? 
• What is your proudest achievement?
• Why should you be a doctor? 
• Why this university? 
• Surprisingly I wasn’t asked “What are you strengths?” but I was asked “What are my weaknesses?”! 

That was the beauty of MMIs! They are separate stations and only string together at the end of the interview. Your interviewer will be jotting notes down on your performance that are then collated at the end to judge whether or not you get an offer from this university. 

They are separate. If you mess up at one station, move on. Just move on. Put it behind you literally. As the buzzer rings to mark “Move to the next station”, just do that! Get up, walk across, smile, shake the interviewer’s hand and begin reading the introduction sheet at this new station and treat it as a new start. You could fuel yourself to try better at this one, and redeem yourself!

The interviewers are also great at wearing their poker faces. Some may not smile, some may not even maintain eye contact for longer than 30 seconds. They could spend the whole time just writing in their notepad and judging your performance. One interviewer I had didn’t smile once but glared at me with dark open eyes. But you battle it, you still smile and sell yourself! He’s testing how you deal under intimidation, how you deal with pressure! No doctor has perfect smiley patients, so he wants to see how you can communicate with him. 

Just because your interviewer looks bored and unhappy, don’t think you’re doing an awful job at impressing him. The notes he’s making on you could be gleaming! But you wouldn’t know, you just see his stern look and him jotting down notes. 

Personal Statement

You will need to construct a personal statement which sells you to the university. It should advertise you as a person, should be written by you and should make the admissions team reading it go “Wow. Give this person a place!”. You have 4,000 characters to sell yourself, so what should you include?

Firstly, check the university course website. Most universities may post personal requirements that they are looking for. For example, some universities might be looking for a confident resilient individual that has strong communication skills. You want to read across your chosen universities’ websites and refine what you should include. Sometimes there will be an overlap, but you want to sound as appealing to the universities as possible!  Merge all the personal qualities from your chosen universities and construct one personal statement. It is the only one you’ll write and all five universities will receive the same statement.

Don’t fixate TOO much on Medicine in your personal statement. You are applying to five universities, but only a maximum of FOUR of these can be Medicine. Therefore, one university has to be non-Medicine. So this could be Biomedical Sciences, Biochemsitry, Human Anatomy etc. If you apply to Art, they are most likely going to reject you as your personal statement will all be about Medicine!

What should you include?

• Show don’t tell – If the university is looking for a “confident resilient individual that has strong communication skills”, you could use these words but with caution. Don’t use the string of words exactly how they’re written in the prospectus. So instead, show the admissions team what makes you that individual. Maybe you were a head boy? A peer mentor? An adviser for younger pupils? Don’t just say “I work well in a team”, give examples of team led activities you’ve taken part in. 
• All your experience journal entries! Mention BRIEFLY what you did, but what you learnt from it. Don’t dwell too much on certain aspects as interviewers may take them as opportunities for you to elaborate on certain points. I’ll give an example later. Say what you’ve learnt and how it changed you as a person. 
• Your most perfect English, spelling and grammar. Make sure you use spell check! 
• Be passionate without using the word. Do not say “I am very passionate about medicine” because it’s extremely cliché. You want you just put across your passion and strong interests without saying it. 
• Don’t say any cliché terms – it is a complete waste of characters and you only have 4,000 of them so use them wisely. You haven’t wanted to study medicine since you were a child, so don’t waste the energy to type it.  
• Take on board all feedback you receive. Hand your personal statement to anyone that you can! I handed my personal statement to my Villiers Park mentor, two teachers, two doctors and a nurse! I had conflicting feedback, three against three on different parts. One person would say they love one bit where another person would say “Scrap it!”. Personally, it all comes down to you. If you think it should stay, then keep it. If it should go, remove it. You don’t have to take all feedback and act on it – it’s YOUR personal statement. 
• Use short snappy words if you can. Don’t waste characters as “next” uses less characters than “in addition to this”. Remember, conserve those 4,000 characters wisely. 
• Avoid cliché terms like “I am passionate for Medicine”, “I really love Medicine”, “I was born a doctor!” 
• All your own work – do not plagiarise! You will be found and caught out on it. This will affect your opportunity of reading medicine.

Make sure you apply to medical school before the deadline! Then it’s a waiting game….waiting for the university to reply to your application! 

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.