Medicine 2021 - Part 4

[MaddieElla]

Fingers crossed for those final offers coming in!

Hope no one minds me starting the new thread...

I hunted about on TSR and interestingly most students said they liked to do paper notes. Apparently info is cognitively processed in a different way when written rather than typed and thought to be beneficial to remembering.
DD2 has DD1's Remarkable tablet which was eye wateringly expensive but v good with matte screen and nice and light. Also more robust if dropped than iPad I think. Can download pdfs to it and highlight them etc

We got a surface pro for DS - you can write in it as a tablet and attach a keyboard to use as a laptop. DS ended up using paper and lots of revision cards anyway because he watches the lectures on the tablet. He might have made notes on the tablet if he had gone to real lectures. He also took his old (2013) MacBook, thinking he might watch the lectures in that so he could make notes on tablet, but he said he could not get it to connect to the university internet because the operating system was too old.

Thanks for the stethoscope recommendations; I know I should wait to get a discount but it would make a good 18th gift so I've ordered the Littman Classic 3 (2 wasn't in stock.) Engraved and in rainbow pink. I mean!

DD is still undecided about a tablet. She is a hand written note taker, always has been. But as Red says, students she follows on social media say the ipads with pencils are really worth it to save hulking around huge amounts of paperwork. But if she takes in the information better when she's handwritten it I'm not sure. She'll go with whatever she thinks is best I'm sure.

Definitely not going for the ipad Pro though at over £700. Apparently the cheaper ipad Air 2020 is a good compromise. Still £££ though, will look at the ones listed here too. Thanks for the tips.

Dd recommends the remarkable2 about £400 for note taking.

@MaddieElla
My DD is in 2nd year. The huge volume of notes she was making meant there was not going to be any room left for her in her bedroom so she bought an iPad Air and Apple pen and hasn’t looked back. As well as the ease of storage (all backed up in the cloud), it allows her to search docs and import/annotate complicated diagrams, great for anatomy. As it’s all been online she still uses her laptop to watch lectures, the iPad is in lieu of notebooks/files but once back f2f, it’ll be much lighter to carry too.

Should have said, the apple pen means it’s still all handwritten just onto the screen rather than paper.

@MaddieElla you can get student discount on Apple products via their education site. V easy to do with email (works for school ones too).

Mine does a bit of both. Types on slides during lectures as finds it quicker - she's 3rd year so had 2 years f2f. Then rewrites by hand to revise. So has notes on computer but endless mind maps and poster type things stuck on walls.

Here you go,

www.apple.com/uk-edu/shop

Is there any website where DD can look what the first semester question papers look like in Sheffield or Leicester? @mumsneedwine??

@ljmutti I very much doubt it. Although they might give some ideas once start but medical school is not like school. No syllabus, no curriculum, they teach what they want when they want. And they all do it differently. But they should get a medic parent when start, who will be year above, and they can be a useful source of info on exams. It's a real learning curve not being able to see past papers - although most do formative exams (practice ones) before doing summative ones (do count)

My DS recently got an iPad Air with Apple pen with the student discount. He was really thinking ahead to starting Uni but has been using it for revision notes which he usually does in handwritten form. He said it was very easy to get used to and he loves it.

Oh wow; thanks so much for that @mumsneedwine and @sergeantmajormum!

I think DD will do the same @opoponax

Thank you, really useful. My DD is using the whiteboard we bought for UCAT for revision at the moment so can see Ipad with pen might be v useful.

@redtulip12 my DS had been using the whiteboard we bought for UCAT for his revision since last summer and said he thought that made the transition to iPad with pen really easy.

[quote mumsneedwine]@ljmutti I very much doubt it. Although they might give some ideas once start but medical school is not like school. No syllabus, no curriculum, they teach what they want when they want. And they all do it differently. But they should get a medic parent when start, who will be year above, and they can be a useful source of info on exams. It's a real learning curve not being able to see past papers - although most do formative exams (practice ones) before doing summative ones (do count) [/quote]
thank you so much @mumsneedwine.

MaddieElla was it your DD going to Nottingham Lincoln? If so I'm pretty sure that anatomy is done in booklets. DD went with a very ordinary laptop which has been fine. Lectures and slides are available online to revisit for note taking if needed.

@MaddieElla - sorry, should have tagged you in above post

Haven't even started thinking about ipads or laptops! I daren't get ahead of myself. Exams start tomorrow here and there's a lot of tension in the air. Both yr 11 and yr13 dc are keen to get started with exams and get them over with. I really hope unis understand the context and difficulties this year, I'd hate to see any kids miss out on an offer due to dropped grades. If all goes well ds has said he'd like a Mac book over an ipad for uni but I daren't think that far ahead at the moment.

Sorry, somehow dropped off this thread, so missed a lot of the discussion. Sorry to (belately) hear your news @ljmutti, what a thing to have to deal with right before the final assessments.
We have had the second set of "internal examinations", (which went OK, one biology paper not so good, but the other biology paper went very well, so the average was OK - just so long as they don't use the one that didn't go so well in isolation as a piece of evidence - DS would be really upset if they did that). and now we have the timetable for the third set - three maths papers and two each for chemistry and biology (plus one practical exam for biology which is tomorrow). Last one on 26th May, and then we will be completely and utterly done. Apparently any days in school after that are "optional".
DS having periodic rants about how stressful it all is and how incompetent the government is. They are certainly doing a good job of setting the political direction of a whole bunch of new voters. DS is voting for the first time in these May elections and while mayoral elections have nothing to do with A level fiascos, he is eeing it as his chance to send the government a message.

@bimkom

Sorry, somehow dropped off this thread, so missed a lot of the discussion. Sorry to (belately) hear your news *@ljmutti*, what a thing to have to deal with right before the final assessments. We have had the second set of "internal examinations", (which went OK, one biology paper not so good, but the other biology paper went very well, so the average was OK - just so long as they don't use the one that didn't go so well in isolation as a piece of evidence - DS would be really upset if they did that). and now we have the timetable for the third set - three maths papers and two each for chemistry and biology (plus one practical exam for biology which is tomorrow). Last one on 26th May, and then we will be completely and utterly done. Apparently any days in school after that are "optional". DS having periodic rants about how stressful it all is and how incompetent the government is. They are certainly doing a good job of setting the political direction of a whole bunch of new voters. DS is voting for the first time in these May elections and while mayoral elections have nothing to do with A level fiascos, he is eeing it as his chance to send the government a message.

Thanks for your kind words. its utterly draining for us parents. Along with Elder DD, I am having to cop with another one in year ten and upcoming mocks. never paid so much attention to Mocks before. I agree the political compass with deflect surely but its an onerous task for who over is in power . Tough life will be tougher still. Awaiting to hear from Manchester still, which is now ridiculous. Have a restful evening

@ljmutti - can't believe you are still waiting for Manchester! It May already. At least we are have all our responses, good and bad, and so it is just this final set of exams we need to ace. And we do finally know what they are, and what they cover (which I gather is most of it, but at least that is clear, and since that was the case for the previous set, there is apparently only one topic that has not been on the spec for the previous exam sets). It is suddenly starting to feel like the final straight, and he just needs to put in that final piece of effort and make it to the finishing line. But that is without us still waiting on recalcitrant universities.

Sorry to jump on year , used to be a lurker .My daughter is in year 4 this year and will be applying for the NHS bursary for next year .Please could anyone with experience of this help ?Does this work out roughly in line with student finance ?

@Halifaxgirl hope this helps

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/NHS%20Bursary%20Funding%20for%20Medical%20and%20Dental%20Students%202020-21%20%28V1%29%2006%202020.pdf

Think it does work out the same as the basic loan.