Medicine 2021 - part 2

[Millylovespuddles]

Following on from the first thread:
DD now has UKAT booked for mid-August. She couldn’t get a driving theory test booked until after the UKAT date, but will keep an eye out for cancellations.
Now, her big dilemma is Oxbridge it not....

We are booking our test at home

We are also sitting at home, next week

Errm. What is all this "we" and "our" business? I've see a lot of this on here over the past couple of years.

@WithIcePlease DD used Medentry and found it to be very good. I think we paid £45 for this and it was worth it for sure!

We are booking our test at home We are also sitting at home, next week
Errm. What is all this "we" and "our" business? I've see a lot of this on here over the past couple of years.

Because bizarrely, one of the requirements for DS to sit the test at home (different from the requirements at a test centre), is that I, as his parent, have to be in the room when he first links up with the proctor. I have to show my own ID documents (eg passport), as well as him showing his, and I have to say that I "consent" to him taking the test. They haven't mentioned me showing the birth certificate demonstrating that I am his parent (we have different surnames) but that may be coming! Then I am required to leave the room.
So for him to take the test, I also have to be "sitting at home", at least for the first half hour or so, and the test had to be booked at a time that was also convenient for me, or otherwise he had to take various complicated pieces of transport to a test centre!

It won't be long until his is 18 and able to do this all on his own, but that day is not yet as far as the UCAT people are concerned!

@bimkom great answer 😊

LaFlottes - thank you

@WithIcePlease no problem. DD sat her UCAT yesterday so if you have any questions let me know and she’d be happy to help.

Well done to all the dc who have sat the test. I hope all went well. After reading this thread I still think ds should sit the test at a centre, I think it's a safer option.

Binkom - good post, thank you.

My DS is looking to start narrowing down his choices - looking for a more traditional (non PBL) course. He's using the comparison tool on the medic portal and dipped his toe into the student room forums (quite intimidating as everyone on there seems to have a gazillion grade 9s and amazing ucat scores!). Are there any other good comparison tools /websites people use to help focus where best apply? Apologies if this had been linked elsewhere - on phone so not easy to navigate...

@Lega look at the individual Uni websites for their usual tariffs. If it's any consolation DD had 6 A* 4 A, so good but not enough for Cardiff 😊. And a UCAT of 2710, so again good but not stellar. Got 4 offers.

@mumsneedwine My Dd was also rejected by Cardiff but has offers from everywhere else including Oxford! She did not mind as she felt the Cardiff course was not what she was hoping for & that they had not been very straightforward in their prospectus.

@Decorhate mine didn't even apply as knew she didn't have enough A*s 😳. Her UCAT made Newcastle risky but otherwise she was ok for most places she liked. Strategic applying really does work !

@numsneedwine - that's very heartening as my DS has very similar GCSE results (5x9,3x8,2x6) and the same UCAT as your DD! Do you mind me asking where her offers were from as 4 offers is an amazing result? He knows he doesn't want a PBL course nor to go to one of the London unis so I suppose that narrows his options quite a bit, but he is doing the BMAT which could open up a few more doors and also falls within the B'ham contextual criteria....

@Lega she applied to Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Southampton. We also looked at UEA and Bristol but she decided against them. Her criteria was full body dissection and early patient contact. She is about to start 3rd year at Notts and her insurance was Sheffield (they accept AAB if get and A in EPQ). She loves the course as has had hospital and GP placements throughout the 2 years. And next term is writing her dissertation as they do another degree within the 5 years. Points for this are used to get F1 positions. It works out as 4 points flair a first, whereas an intercalated year long degree gets you 5. Good timing did her as she won't miss any lectures or placements next term. Hope that helps a bit. I know all Med schools are fab - I only get to hear about the one 😀

Sorry for typos. Cooking dinner.

It works out as 4 points flair a first, whereas an intercalated year long degree gets you 5.

It’s 3 for a Nottingham first. Intercalation to a year long bachelors is 4 for a first, intercalation to masters level is 5 points if you pass.

Info in UKFPO applicant handbook.

@Gwynfluff sorry. Knew it was 1 point less than the full year degree. To be honest it's a v small thing when you add all the other points up. But DD is aiming to be published which I think gets points too ? I don't know much about it all - we are told things on a need to know basis.

@mumsneedwine @Lega My Dd has a lower UKCAT score (under 6700) I think so she did not want to risk applying anywhere that looked at that too closely- she applied to Oxford, Leeds, Birmingham & Cardiff (and Liverpool for the non-medicine choice). Got interviews at all 4 medical schools & 3 offers. We (and I do mean we!) did spend lot of time researching where she had the best chance of an interview. She also did not want PBL.

She is at Leeds, going into her final year. Clinical contact from Year 1, great city to live in if you want somewhere not too small

@Decorhate Leeds is lovely. DD was not going near the BMAT ! Strategic applying using your strengths is the way to go.
Get UCAT, see what door it opens/closes, do BMAT if want and then narrow down choices. Don't apply someone you don't fit the selection (not admissions) criteria. Getting that interview is the important bit.

Of course I meant under 2700 not 6700 re UKCAT

Well I was impressed 😂😂

Ds has booked his test at home for next week. Had anyone's dc sat it at home and had any issues? I'm hoping there's no WiFi issues, I did want him to book a test centre but our nearest one is quite a trek and the next available date is the end of Sept and ds doesn't want to wait that long.

@Powergower my DD sat hers at a test centre but having seen some comments on TSR I think it's been mostly people trying to use a macbook that have had issues. When this has happened the proctor has stopped the test and it's been re-booked, so not the end of the world, but upsetting and disappointing as they've been all geared up to do it.

Otherwise, I've seen comments from people saying it's worked fine.

If it's a macbook your DS is using, take a look on hte UCAT website as I think they added some guidance after the issues some people experienced.

Good luck to your DS, I hope he gets a great score and gets it done and dusted!

Hi, my daughter sat the test at home using a standard mid range windows laptop. There were no issues with Wi-Fi, however the * button didn't work, and when she tried to use the alt short cut the program crashed and she had to wait 10mins to speak to the proctor who then restarted the test. She didn't use the short cuts after that. Also be aware that it took a long time to get to speak to the proctor at the beginning (ie 20 mins) from check in, so there's a lot of hanging around.

@Djchickpea when you say the * button, do you mean the "flag" [Alt x] button?

It was either the flagging or forward/back short cut she can't remember which. The * button didn't work on the keyboard so she had to use the mouse to point and click on the on screen calculator which obviously slowed her down somewhat. Having said all that she still did well but I think it's worth the candidates being aware of what might be different from practice so they don't panic!