Medicine 2019 - Part 2

[Monkey2001]

Oops, looks like none of noticed the old thread was full!

@HostessTrolley @Hoodiemum @4catsham @mamamedic @medicmom @mimiasovitch @Nightowlpossibly @ProfessorLayton1 @Tinkobell @Weaverspin @Itsthekissing @Sluj @Mumneedswine @Movingmountains

Apologies to any regulars I have missed

My d found it to be the hardest as well. One the day she did a bit better than her medify scores, she found the actual questions a bit more straightforward than the medify ones. But the biggest help was getting higher scores in everything else, especially QR (she got 880 there which really dragged up her average!). The unis generally look at the overall/average score and don’t set thresholds for each individual section

Good luck to her (and you, dealing with a stress head!) for tomorrow x

Thanks Hostess, that’s reassuring!

Where is she thinking of applying?

She likes Birmingham, Exeter, Southampton and Nottingham

@bellylaughs Really good luck to your DD tomorrow. My DD's advice for abstract reasoning is not to panic and just go steadily through the list of things they might be looking for: is it black vs white? is it corners? is it...? And in general, be fast and focused. We'll be thinking of her tomorrow!

Good luck to your Dd bellylaughs

Good luck to your DD Bellylaugh. The AR does seem so abstract which makes it more difficult for the DCs to engage with - DS got reasonably good at them but could not understand why it should affect your ability to be a good doctor.

Let us know whether she was happy with the outcome.

DS got reasonably good at them but could not understand why it should affect your ability to be a good doctor

It's really about your ability to work out how to apply reasoning to different kinds of problems. The ability to spot connections and patterns that aren't immediately obvious is quite important. I agree totally that the abstract reasoning questions are horrible, and I absolutely can't do them. Then again, I'm not a doctor; if I were I'd be a very bad one.

UKCAT is grim for those with slow processing speeds. It's a long test requiring a lot of concentration. You also need to be fast. Most come out exhausted. DD says she was barely able to use the extra time as she was too tired. She performed equally poorly on similar 11+ and CAT tests, but her academic results have been fine and having secured a medical school place (after selecting her choices very carefully to maximise her chance of interview and not receiving an offer till late March) she has no problems with the course. Unsurprisingly she seems to be the only dyslexic on her course.

Anyway good luck to those sitting it. So much rides on the one exam.

Unsurprisingly she seems to be the only dyslexic on her course.

I would be absolutely astonished if this were the case. We typically have well over 5% of each intake with a diagnosis of dyslexia, either before they arrive or soon after. Pretty well every medicine admissions tutor I've spoken to has said the same thing. There is a problem with students' not having been diagnosed if they went to non-selective state schools, while those from selective or private schools who have dyslexia will usually have been diagnosed fairly early in their secondary schooling, if not before. I think this will get worse, as so many academies try to avoid taking in pupils with SEN.

I agree regarding the issue of UCAT and people with slow processing speeds. There's also a significant problem for people with a first language other than English (including Welsh, for which there was supposed to be a separate test that never appeared).

She did seem to be the only one to start with, but there were a few more with extra time at the second set of exams she sat. Another medical school had dedicated interview session for dyslexics at the end of the cycle but had only four interviewees. DD's coping skills have included really concentrating in class, and retaining what is taught, which should be real assets in many patient-facing specialities.

(When she was accepted her med school did not use UKCAT, but then introduced it for the following year. She took a gap year so is in a year with people selected under different criteria. The med school tends to be very over subscribed so it may be that some of those with lower scores, including perhaps some dyslexics, thought it was too much of a risk. DD almost certainly would not have got in the following year.)

There has been so much happening in neurology and it is something she is really interested in. She rarely reads for pleasure however happily read Neurotribes by Steve Silberman from cover to cover when she was about 16. It is far from unusual for top scientists to be dyslexic or non NT, yet medical schools are using a (speed) test which risks filtering out bright creative thinkers.

I can see why it is tough for those with English as a second language. There are also tales of problems at test centres. DD sat hers in a basement in Central London on the hottest day of the year ...and the air conditioning stopped working. A friend's DC got a rotten score last year, in part because he ignored the advice to bring ear plugs and found the centre very noisy and distracting. (No place, but four interviews after carefully selecting his medical schools, including one just two weeks ago. Plus he has recently been told that he has been added back to a waitlist at another, despite an earlier rejection.) DC can have the best grades in the world, but so much rides on this single test.

Thanks for the good luck messages, DD is finished! She got 2680 (avg 670) and SJ band 2. In the end she scored high 60s in all except her verbal reasoning 630 which was really different to the practice tests

At least it’s over and she’s happy with it!

Well done @ bellylaughs Dd..

Fab result, well done Dd xxx

Well done, Bellylaughs Jnr. Good result, and GREAT to have it out of the way.

But....

Less than two days til results day....

How’s everyone bearing up?

My d is away at the moment, home the weekend before results. I’m enjoying the calm....

You in Scotland, @HostessTrolley?

A-level results aren't until 15 Aug.

Not in Scotland - 15th August is less than two weeks away now x

Sorry. You said two days, so I got confused.

@sirtobybelch - ahhh that makes sense - my mistake x

Nerves kicking in here. He can't remember Physics, not so worried about Maths as we are fairly sure the boundaries will be low, but really anxious about Chemistry although it is his strongest subject. I hate the English exam system and the stress it brings on. We saw some friends from the US recently and they can spread them over a couple of years so that there is not nearly as much pressure waiting for "the" results.

Good luck for Thurs everyone.
Have butterflies over the Maths for DS but have talked through what we’ll do if it’s bad news.
Am away with DH and the little ones at the moment but going back weds evening to be with DS1 for Thurs.
Hiding my concern well while Skyping him. He knows me so well though, I hope he doesn’t pick up on my nerves when we’re face to face.

Good luck everyone for Thursday.Sorry I've been not been here for a while so have a lot to catch up.
@Monkey2001 agree the grade boundaries will be low for maths but what about the kids doing other exam boards. AQA maths was quite straightforward in comparison to Edexcel so wondering if universities will beat that in mind when deciding? Ds worried equally about maths (edexcel) and chemistry (aqa) .
@SleightOfMind where is your ds heading to?

......Bear in mind. Sorry for the spelling error 😓