Medicine 2021

[Millylovespuddles]

Hi all
It looks like there’s no medicine 2021 entry thread yet, so it might be an idea to get the ball rolling.
My DD is getting stuck into her A level course, doing well so far, but I’m guessing we parents could do with some mutual support and advice from parents who’ve been here before.

Well at least I'm also demonstrating sanity GANFYD, which is a useful character trait

Oh I'm not going 😂😂 (& thank you - I do try and be helpful, nothing else). Just not engaging. I quite enjoy a bit of lively debate, but I draw the line at being told I'm a bully, so just won't be replying to one person's comments.
I really hope the parents of 2021 applicants are still hanging around !! Hope UCAT dates are booked (do it soon as then get a full choice - can always change nearer the time if not ready). And priority now is to get those predicted grades by acing Year 12 exams.

@goodbyestranger
Had you exercised even half of your brain yet? How worrying for you if this has been the result!

The only people I know on MN are the other med school admissions team crowd. Sorry if not up to date with the lingo, but you must admit, MN is a language unto itself

@goodbyestranger
Well at least I'm also demonstrating sanity

That is the problem, those who lack it entirely lack insight!

@GANFYD I miss Julian being on TSR. He was so wonderful, but believe GDPR stopped his input. My DD met him at her interview and said he was as lovely in real life.

@mumsneedwine
I really hope the parents of 2021 applicants are still hanging around

I really hope this, too. Genuine people, wanting advice or to share relevant experiences are what makes forums like this so supportive, as I have seen in previous years.
I think you are right and engaging with people who clearly have zero insight into how they come across to others and hence are not capable of modifying their behaviour is a futile exercise

Julian is truly a wonderful man and genuinely wants the best for the students under his care.
I also loved his posting style and of course, hearing things straight from the horses mouth was great for applicants

mumsneedwine if you trog back to the other thread where other posters asked you to reign it in..... It wasn't me. I simply failed to roll over. You were a little more polite for a while. Ah well!

GANFYD forgive me for being precise with language but MN is a forum, whereas threads are threads. So your post implied your fan base was shifting as newbies to MN, not simply starting to follow this year's thread.

I think that anyone with a background in educational access is fully legit on these threads.

You insist on knowing about my DC. But you still haven't yet even said where your DC are being trained, or have been trained! Fair play!

Ok so I was way ahead of you in saying I would treat your posts with the response they deserved GANFYD and I failed to do that. My bad. I'll try again.

So libel laws apply to chat things ? Asking for a friend.

And finally apologies for this litany of posts - hard to keep up with the litany from GANFYD. But hopefully we're done.

@goodbyestranger
GANFYD forgive me for being precise with language but MN is a forum, whereas threads are threads. So your post implied your fan base was shifting as newbies to MN, not simply starting to follow this year's thread.

Hey, you've gotta be accurate with something, I guess. Not a "precis" then?
Then I meant the people who have come to check out the thread from the greater MN forum!

It would depend on whether a named individual was the subject mumsneedwine, and the truth (or rather otherwise) of the comment.

I gave an accurate precis of the selection of F1/2s. I don't see any objection to a precis. A precis isn't in itself inaccurate.

And I now seem to have corrected your language in a rather loosely phrased post.

So, all good.

Bedtime for me - very early start.

The End.

Wow, can I assure baffled parents of 2021 medic hopefuls that this is not how this thread usually works!

My DS has also benefitted from the excellent advice and support freely given by GANFYD. She has guided countless applicants through the complex and often opaque system of trying to apply to your strengths in order to secure 4 interviews. Very few schools have the resources to do that.

Some people may go to super-selective grammar schools where all medicine applicants get in on their first try, but the reality for most DCs is that some will get in first time and others will take an unplanned gap year or re-apply as graduates. My DS got 4 post-interview rejections last year, 3 unconditional offers this year. In hindsight he is now happy to have had the gap year and he will probably be a better medical student. I hope yours will have a smooth path; for most it is difficult, time consuming and very stressful, but worth it!

@mumsneedwine I don’t think registration opens for UCAT until 4th May but DD plans to get her date booked in ASAP.

Just deciding on the best date so it’s done and out of the way with some time left to concentrate on BMAT (which she plans to take if UCAT doesn’t go her way).

Would you have any thoughts on how long to leave between the two exams? I feel more clued up about UCAT and how to prepare etc (she’s started spending a couple of hours a week on it to make a start on practicing) but don’t feel like we know as much about BMAT and how long to allow for prep.

I don’t usually comment on these medical threads but the activity made me curious.
Whatever advice GANFYD has contributed in another forum the style and content of posts from her / him in this thread would be surprising from a practising medical professional and in any case reflects badly on her / him.

@LaLaFlottes my advice would be to allow 3-4 clear weeks to prepare for UCAT, so late July seems a popular time. Long enough after end of exams but before summer holiday/jobs kick in (my DD went for a girls holiday after exams and then did 3 weeks study). And do the early BMAT unless applying to Oxford, as you then have your score before applying. BMAT slightly easier to prepare for (I think) as it's more science/maths based. UCAT is practice as it is a bit of a speed test. Hope that helps a bit !

And @sendsummer I think a doctor involved in medical admissions helping prospective students is brilliant. It's good some people are prepared to give up their valuable time as it helps students who don't have school input. So thank you @GANFYD. Julian at Sheffield has also helped so many students over the years (so if he's reading this, thank you !!!).

Now I have to go teach some kids.

What you say is true mumsneedwine but does not negate what I have said about present style and content of posting.

@sendsummer

You should get out more!

People preparing for BMAT do need to be aware that the format of the test changed slightly last year, and particularly that the assumed subject knowledge for section 2 changed (www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/bmat/preparing-for-bmat/section-2-preparation/). However, the past papers are annotated to show which topics are no longer assessed.

For UCAT, the general recommendation is for 35 h of preparation. It would be unwise, to say the least, to do all of this in the week before the test. It's worth having a plan to start preparation about 3-4 weeks ahead and gradually increase the number of hours per day. Apart from anything else, this allows you to identify weak areas and allow more time to prepare for those. The section with the lowest average score is verbal reasoning, which I think is the easiest section. The reason for the low scores is candidates' running out of time. The abstract reasoning section will make no sense at all to some (most?) people when they first see it, but it actually isn't that hard once you work out the limited number of patterns used. Different people will take different amounts of time to work this out.

GANFYD ironic comment considering where I am now in transit and the purpose of my journey.
You are obviously going to disregard any comments directed to your present posts that are not positive but professionally you should welcome the opportunity to practise some reflective learning on how you are appearing on this thread.

@SirTobyBelch and @mumsneedwine thank you for your thoughts, very useful.

We did buy the medify season pass for UCAT so DD is using that for a couple of hours each weekend and then will do the advised solid few weeks prior to the exam. I think she wanted to start early just to begin getting a feel for it. She definitely finds abstract reasoning hardest at the moment but is finding it easier with practice. She’s concentrating on technique and then trying to improve speed!

Regarding the BMAT, she would definitely take the earlier one as she’s not planning to apply to Oxford. Is there any guidance on how many hours revision required for this?

Thank you for the heads up about the BMAT changing too!

Appreciate all the help.