Medicine 2020 (part 2)

[Monkey2001]

This follows on from the first thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3380915-Medicine-2020

Newspapers it should say!

It will be very odd for them if only 25% of students start, but DS would just be relieved to start.

DD would be delighted to start as well - not sure she would care if there was 100 or 10,000 others there with her!
Having to wait until August in limbo feels like forever at the moment for her.

Hello please can I ask some advice. My daughter is year 12 and will hopefully be taking the UCAT and possibly Bmat this year. I have bought her a subscription to medify as recommended on here. Her school are also asking if she wants to do an online course with the medic portal. Just wondered if any of your dc have done this and if so would they recommend it?
Thanks

DS did 6med BMAT course and Medify but nothing else. He did not get any offers first time round, but got 3 offers second time without an interview course. Is it an interview course they are recommending?

In my opinion, people who find it easy to talk to people and do a bit of research are fine without an interview course. A lot of people recommend the ISC interview book - www.medical-interviews.co.uk/product/medical-school-interviews-book

@redtulip12 my daughter just used that book. She was a very quiet teen and found talking to strangers hard. But she did well at interview because she says she'd got ideas of what to say about some things in her head. She is less quiet now - found herself at Uni. On committees and embracing medic life, even while at home. No idea if the paid courses are helpful - wasn't an option here !

Thanks @mumsneedwine ,@Monkey2001
The course is called Mastering the UCAT and then there is the same for BMat so no I don't think it will be about interviews. I did buy her a book on interview questions that I saw recommended on these threads. I guess there is no harm in doing the course as well as using medify.

The UCAT book is good. DD said it helped a lot, but 3 weeks medify full time was the best. Have they announced how they are doing UCAt yet ? I saw that driving theory tests are being booked and they are done in the same places. Fingers crossed

We thoroughly recommend the various interview training courses available and doing a practice mmi circuit - they really helped my DD. A lot of applicants get these free through widening access schemes or their schools, so if you don’t have access to these you can really find yourself up against it if you are not naturally good at promoting yourself and your experiences. The book is good but not enough in our experience.

I would not bother with a medic portal UCAT course unless your DD is struggling to get decent scores on Medify.

Mine did ok with no courses or interview practice. Just the info her 6th form college gave her. You can do it. Think the Universities are quite good at seeing what they want.

I think we will see how she gets on just using medify then. She went on a 2 day medic session at a nearby hospital and did interview practice as part of that. She is pretty confident so think will be ok in interviews. She has lots of work experience to talk about. They haven't said how they will be doing the tests yet, they are likely to be later than usual though.

Good luck to her @redtulip12 . It's a bumpy journey but so rewarding. Although as soon as mine finishes exams she is intending to go work as an HCA at local hospital. I'd rather she was not quite so caring !!

My d used medify for UKCAT and past papers plus the spec for BMAT. She didn’t go to any interview courses but did attend a medic mentor day in London which touched on interviews - this was a lot cheaper than small group interview classes.

Thanks @mumsneedwine. Well done to your daughter for being so caring. I think this situation with Covid-19 shows how committed they all to wanting a career looking after people.
Not sure how many will defer this year which obviously gives the year 12's more competition but my daughter is adamant this is what she wants to do even if she doesn't get in first time.

My DS is tearing his hair out about the UCAT at the moment, and particularly the abstract reasoning, and was very despondent this evening. He just can't work out how to do them in the time. If he gives himself more time, then he can get more of them, but he just can't understand how to go that fast. He was convincing himself tonight that he was going to do really badly on the UCAT, and wasn't sure he wanted to face the BMAT, and he just isn't going to make to medical school. I don't know what to say to him, except that people do say that practice helps. Any words of encouragement from those who have already been through it?

He is practicing on medify

People seem to find it helpful to have a mnemonic as a way to approach the patterns, eg
www.themedicportal.com/blog/top-abstract-reasoning-mnemonics/
Lots of people also write down all the patterns they get wrong and go over and over them, as we are often blind to the same thing, time and time again.
AR really can be improved by practice, as once you have seen a pattern 50 times, it gets easier to spot it next time!
Also, remember you do not need to be right in 100% of questions to get a good mark and each question is worth the same marks, so narrow things down, make an educated guess, flag and move on - there are likely to be some easier ones later in the test!

...... also AR is harder on medify than the real thing - some of the medify ones are really ridiculous. DS's average score for AR on medify was lower than his score in the real thing.

You could try the book - www.amazon.co.uk/Get-into-Medical-School-Questions/dp/1905812264?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 . It is not a substitute for Medify but has tips at the beginning of each section. There are also lots of Youtube videos, I think the 6med ones are good, but there are plenty of others there too.

Thanks GANYFD and Monkey: DS says that he can get a lot more of them right if he takes his time, counts sides and things, but he doesn't have time to count sides in the time, otherwise he will get only two questions done out of 10, and while he knows he doesn't need 100%, he says average is apparently 5.

Has he downloaded the free app from UCAT? He might find it encouraging that they are easier. But you do really start to pick them up after you have done a lot - some of them will start to jump out at you more quickly and they do not all have 3 or 4 contorted rules, some are simple. Getting good at "guess, flag and move on" is an important part of the medify training.

Anyone braved applying for student finance yet?
If not, you need your 2018/19 P60+Bank+dividend statements for that year NOT the pile of 19/20 that I had - why I am not even remotely sure as up to date would seem better.
All new to me ....

Is it that the tax year used is the last completed one for everyone? I hink I remember someone once saying that the self employed have a different schedule wrt tax issues?

I have no idea @MarchingFrogs but as I am mainly paperless and online statements only go back 12/15 months it was Fun with a capital F. There might have been the odd howl...
However, knowing this is how it works, next year will be a doddle as I am already semi-prepared and will keep on top of it.
DD will get v little I suspect but it makes sense to apply as I understand it.

It’s worth knowing that if your household income is over £60k, your child will get just the basic maintenance loan - so if you’re in this situation it’s a lot easier to apply for the basic loan only, then you don’t need to provide all of the figures and evidence. I know that many are not in this position, it just saves time and hassle if you are - and of course the assessment comes back quicker as well as there’s less admin for student finance to do x