UKCAT

[itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant]

Looking for some advice. The UKCAT applications open tomorrow?
We are in Scotland and kids finish up school end of June. When is best for my DD to book exam? They return to school 15th August. She has 2 weeks away in July during which she will be unable to study.
I've read to not study more than 6 weeks. She is bright but big procrastinator so I think it will be a challenge. Would mid August be too ambitious if not a motivated studier. That would only give 4 full weeks.
I/she has so clue about it and what it involves. She will obviously learn as she goes. She wants to go to a uni that relies heavily on UKCAT scores.

Has she been practising already?

@User76745333 no, she doesn't know anything about it!
She's at bod standard high school where there is no support for medical applicants. You are on your own completely. I will help her but we are clueless.
Starting from scratch. She just finished her Highers so they took priority.

If she’s ‘not a motivated studier’ then is she going to be a good fit for med school? Daughter is just finishing year 3 in London, the pace and volume of work are high and students need to be very self-motivated to keep up…

I’d suggested her doing some of the online mocks and looking at what the uni ucat thresholds were this year. With grade inflation and exam issues over the last couple of years, ucat (and BMAT) have become more important than grade predictions for many d schools.

My d used just medify for ucat preparation and took about 6 weeks, although for the first couple of weeks she was only doing an hour or two a day, and increased this as the test got closer.

I think you need to start using the online questions. The questions are often really odd and so a lot of it is technique and getting to know what they want you to say. I spent six hours in a car with my DSis and DN reading out questions. I'm a senior lawyer known to be more than a little particular about the precise wording used in a question/phrase. My DSis is a very experienced senior consultant. We still didn't manage to understand what they were looking for half the time in terms of response. A lot of the questions are ethics based but the possible options to choose from are very similar.

If she were at a school that does provide support for medicine applicants, the school would be telling her:

1. If you don't think UCAT is going to be a particular strength of yours, don't get too fixated on applying to medical schools that use it heavily in selection. It doesn't matter how much you like the university/course: if you have little or no chance of getting an interview there, there's going to be no point in applying. There are other medical schools that emphasise other things, so she should be looking at these carefully if she's not confident about UCAT.


2. If you are "not a motivated studier", you will find studying medicine extremely stressful and will be at significant risk of failing.

UCAT recommends about 35 hours' preparation, and this should be spread over a fair amount of time (4 weeks should be fine). Some sections - particularly abstract reasoning - make no sense when you first look at them. It takes a little while to work out the limited number of patterns that are applied; once you've done this it becomes much more straightforward. Verbal reasoning, in particular, is enormously time-pressured and you need a lot of practice to be able to answer a large enough number of questions in the time available.

Incidentally, there's a couple of medicine threads on the higher education board. You might get more replies there.

Thank you all for your advice.
She's got inattentive ADHD and is very bright but very supported by us. Previous to his year excelled in exams.
I've tried so many times to discourage medicine as I really think it's not a good career option for her. She says it's all she wants to do (this is true but lacks maturity and I don't think she understands the work involved even though it has been explained to her).
I decided this year to gently step back for exams and for the UKCAT as I think her aspirations may come to a natural end when it's done and dusted.
The application process even makes me anxious thinking about it.

@itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant come over to Higher education and Theresa thread for 2023 applicants.
For UCAT practice I recommend about 6 weeks, use Medify (about £40) and the practice UCAT questions on the Pearson site.
It is a hideous exam. Time management is critical so lots of practice. There's a really good book, 1001 UCAT questions, that breaks down examples to help you answer quickly.
Lots of us on the other thread, and TSR, to offer advice. Applying strategically to your strengths is key. Need to look at selection to interview criteria. Not admissions (everyone has that).

@mumsneedwine thank you! I will have a look at the thread now.

Just to manage expectations - one of DD's friends who is a medical student has ADHD, and to be honest, he is not coping well with the course. He had a foundation year, then had to redo his second year. University doesn't chase the students for work. The onus is entirely on the student to be self motivated to learn and to hand work in on time. Marks are deducted for late work.

If she is not a motivated studier, medicine is probably not for her. Universities don't like to see that prospective students have been helped by parents/others, they are looking for independent students that are highly motivated. If she really wants to do it, just mention she needs to book it and leave it there. You say you have tried to discourage her, but rather than that, make a list of things she needs to do and by when, give it to her and tell her if she really wants to study medicine, she needs to organise the things on the list, say she can come to you to ask for help if required. They are also looking for candidates who have evidence of people skills and team work, so she needs to look into getting this together. They are not just looking for academics. It is a tough career, so she needs to show them staying power and an understanding of the realities of the job

@Merrydance @RampantIvy thank you. I totally agree as I really think even if she somehow manages to get in it's a long tough road ahead.
She just can't be deterred though and no matter how much I talk of the reality of the course (and career ) she just doesn't falter. I do think this is immaturity as well.

We have supported her a lot but I reckon it's time to stand back now with the UCAT and she will learn the hard way. She won't put the time and work in as it's boring and repetitive.
It's goes against what I want to do - I know she's capable and would be a wonderful doctor. Even long term it's a gruelling life. Friends that are doctors (although the love their job) say they would not encourage their children to do medicine.

It's really interesting that she wants to do medicine and has inattentive ADHD as my DS is currently going through the diagnosis process.

Does she take meds @itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant?

Have you found the Medicine 2023 thread in Higher Education yet?

@PritiPatelsMaker she had meds and they did help to some extent. Initially we thought they were a miracle- she said her mind was still and she could think clearly. She could tell with her concentration when she didn't take them and not sure she would have been able to do exams without them.
They aren't a magic solution though so still major procrastination, overwhelm etc and the come down at night meant mood swings.
She has came of them since exams finished as she lost lots of weight but has struggled to do ucat prep without them.
Is your son applying to medicine too?

Yes he is.

@PritiPatelsMaker how do you feel about him applying. Does he need a lot of support from you?
It's my DD's dream job and she won't consider another career. I'm stepping back a bit now as I don't think it will help in the long run to be such a scaffold.

Has she looked at other healthcare roles, @itsmypartyandilljusteatallthecakeifiwant? See www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/explore-roles.

Students with ADHD do complete medicine degrees. It's a matter of having full awareness of how your condition affects your work and adapting your approach so you're not wasting time doing work that will have no benefit. Obviously it's not as easy as I'm making it sound there, but students can be successful with a wide range of neurological diversity. Universities will provide some help with this (not a huge amount, usually), and will obviously apply any recommended reasonable adjustments in assessments, but they can't do the learning for you. The student has to decide whether the necessary adjustments to approach to learning are possible, sustainable and worth the impact on other aspects of your life.