Yr10, wants to do medicine but struggling with biology

I’ve no type read the whole thread so sorry if I missed repeating. If she does want to do medicine my top tips are her joining the Medicine 2024 thread on TSR, asking school if they have a Med Soc and if not, are they willing to set one up?

And for you, follow the Medicine 2022 entry in Higher Education on here.

My DS is applying for this year and I just can’t begin to thank the MNers on that thread for all of their incredibly helpful advice.

This is really interesting because I felt like biology was very heavy on memorisation of facts (as were chemistry and physics) but also the ‘easiest’ to grasp of the sciences at GCSE. I did my GCSEs the year before it all changed though.

I’m told it’s a massive step up at A Level.

[quote Porcupineintherough]@supperlover that's true but if she studies medicine there will be plenty of biology. Not like she can just swerve it forever.[/quote]
That's true, but maybe when relevant to course it might be easier to cope with. I'm surprised there haven't been any doctors or medical students offering advice on this as they're the folk who know.

Given that your daughter is still doing GCSE's which are very broad I'd say it depends what areas of biology she's struggling with.

I remember loathing learning about leaves and plant reproduction but really enjoyed doing the heart in particular.

Now of course if she did biology A level she'd need to excel in all areas enough to get a good grade. But not having a firm grasp of plant reproduction doesn't mean she isnt cut out for medicine (as long as she has better knowledge of human reproduction).

@supperlover that's true but if she studies medicine there will be plenty of biology. Not like she can just swerve it forever.

My husband taught A level maths to lots of young people going on to do medicine. He always said they needed maths, Chemistry and Physics, not Biology.

Having done an undergrad degree in biology, I can say that it involves much more learning of a new "language" and understanding and memorizing things about biological systems and how they work.

There is math, chemistry, and physics involved because biological systems work using the same principles.

I also studied rehab medicine and tend to agree with the poster that learning medicine is like learning senior level biology on steroids.

You may not need it for medicine but rest assured if you study medicine you are studying biology and you need to have an interest and enjoy it. Otherwise it will be a very painful exercise in memorizing things. Lots of things.

I hope your daughter succeeds in her dreams!

Biology teacher here. As PPs have said, she needs to learn how to answer the questions using the key words. There is definitely a technique to it. But not all tutors teach this way so they don't always help. She needs to go onto physicsandmaths tutor.com and print of a load of biology last papers (they are arranged by topic which is useful for practice for end of topic tests). She needs to do the questions then mark them herself using the mark scheme. Whilst marking them she should look for the use of the key words that are awarded the marks and underline them. Any key words in the mark scheme she needs to write onto her original answer (in a different colour). This will help her get used to the key words. There are only so many ways a question about a topic can be asked so the same key words are looked for. It is a skill she can learn!!

If she is strong in other sciences and maths I'd look into why she's finding biology hard. Could be the teacher. A good tutor could transform her attitude and interest.

I have to agree with @swgeek if you are naturally good at maths and physics then you don’t need to work that hard. I got an A in A level maths without much work at all. I had to work much harder in other subjects as I actually had to learn the content and I have a shit memory.

That said medicine is not really as hard as people make out.

That's my understanding. It is the volume of work rather than how hard it is. That said, DD is studying biomedical sciences. She said that in the first year her her medic friends had less (and easier) work than she did.

My worry would be that whilst biology isn’t a requirement for medicine you are making it harder for yourself . Moreover, the fact that biology is her weakest science makes me wonder if learning large amounts of facts and writing about them may be a area of ( relative ) weakness compared to the largely concept-based subjects.
That said medicine is not really as hard as people make out. The grade requirement reflects more the competitiveness than the actual abilities needed to complete the course( believe me I teach medical students ).

Maybe it’s the plant-aspects she doesn’t like much- that was true for me- I would have much rather studied zoology.

I agree that Biology GCSE and A level is very specific, and the student needs to understand what the examiner is looking for. DD found that looking at past papers and mark schemes was particularly helpful. She also found that you need to apply your knowledge to anser questions, so it is less black and white compared to maths and physics. I hope that makes sense.

While chemistry at A level really needs to be a given I think she would struggle without A level biology as univeristies will assume prior knowledge.

I also agree that it could be a teacher issue, and getting a tutor is a good idea. The step up from GCSE to A level in Biology is pretty steep.

@Thisismynewname123 I didn't say they are easier subjects in general. They are subjects which require less effort for someone with high analytical skills (but are very hard to master for someone without good mathematical skills), whereas biology simply requires studying. So Maths/Physics are harder subjects for less analytical students but easier effort for very smart ones. I don't believe she can be good at Maths/Physics just because she memorises formulae, that really won't get you very far, certainly not for obtaining 8/9 at gcse and it would never work for A-levels. It is more likely that she is analytical enough and as a result uneasy how much hard work biology requires.

If she is capable of doing well in Maths/Physics/Chemistry, I am sure she is smart enough to do well in Biology. Biology, unfortunately, requires a lot of hard work and memorisation, whereas you can get quite far in the other subjects if you are smart without too much memorisation. I was the same at school but luckily learned to work hard in biology - that was the only subject alongside history that required a lot of work.

I don't think a tutor is the issue, in biology her results will improve if she puts in more hard work. There is no point in tutoring if there is no lack of understanding, she will have to memorise al the info herself.

She does need to realise though that the medical degree also requires a lot of memorisation on the scale of 100x than A-level material.

I would suggest don't discourage her from medicine but tell her that studying for a top grade in biology will be similar to the work she will need to put in during medical school and to give it a go and see if she enjoys it.

She can only try, OP.
Good if she has Plan B & Plan C -- some of which might be other health care professions.

DD is in first year medicine. She didn't do Biology A level, but was good at Chemistry. You need one or the other to apply - just need to check the entry requirements for each uni. However, she is now having to teach herself A level Biology as although it's not a pre-requisite for the course she has found that a lot of the early work does assume a level of knowledge well above what she remembers from GCSE.

As a year 10 she may not yet have been taught the exam technique for biology. As a previous poster says a lot of GCSE level is based on using the correct key words in her answers. She may understand the subject but simply not have "learned and churned" in the way they need it. A tutor used to her exam board would be able to help if the school is not proactive in this regard.

I attach a link to the medic portal website which shows which unis require which A levels. It may well be worth looking through this. Applicants can only apply to 4 universities for medicine and it is very competitive. Applying post grad is just a competitive so don't just assume she would get a grad place either.

LINK: www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/choosing-a-medical-school/what-a-levels-do-you-need-to-be-a-doctor/

hi, I'm a current medical student and can tell you that while A-level chemistry is required by all medical schools and some are fine with no biology, I've found the first 2 years to be similar to A-level biology on steroids in terms of the style of questioning and memorisation required (obviously focusing on the human body and none of the plant / ecology stuff). so if she's not taking to it, the teaching at medical school might be quite tricky for her :-( you don't get to the clinical side of things until 3rd year in many places

Not a science teacher, but my dc's were told Biology is more about key words and using them correctly than the other two sciences. So (fake example) if a question says 'discuss the need for suncream....' then the answer has to contain certain things to get the marks, merely stating the facts relating to sunburn won't be enough.

So she needs to know the key words to look out for, and the correct technique to deal with each of them.

She wasn't as it happens but she then did a related type of Masters and a number of students on that course were medics, there are several different routes into medicine as @sashh says.

Maybe your DD is doing lots of plant-based biology, OP? In any case Chemistry has definitely been more relevant, and maths too (a lot of epidemiology for example is stats-based)

I would get her a (good) tutor if you can afford it. The thing with Biology is that it is often presented as a load of facts to remember but actually what can really help is a solid understanding of the basics (cell biology in particular).

I think children who are good at maths and physics often find biology the hardest because there is less maths in it.

But a good tutor would help her with the fundamental and on how to pick up the marks in the exam and might also increase her enjoyment of it.

Yes I would get her a tutor.
It's a great subject .