Medicine 2022 entry

[Monkey2001]

Support thread for aspiring medics.

We want all our DCs to succeed, whatever their school type. We share knowledge to help them to achieve their goals, celebrate success and support if things don't go well.

As we press the "send and pay" buttons on UCAS, we wish all our DC the best of luck in this tough year with so much uncertainty.

Good luck to BMATs!

DD has submitted her R&R form to Keele, so now the wait begins…

Yes, good luck for BMAT. For DS1 the big thing was always being mentally ready so that he managed the time pressure well.

Thinking of the BMATers and very glad DS isn't one of them! Hope none of them get the technical problems which beset the tests last year and they all get the scores they deserve.

DS did Manchester NAI last night, so just waiting now.

Interview invitations might start trickling through end of next week. When you get a choice of dates it is tempting to book an early one, but that means a very long wait for the outcome. I think DS will get Manchester as early as possible and Newcastle as late as possible so that Manchester (second choice) can be the practice run.

What's R &R form, BabbleBee

I hope no one was affected by the BMAT issues today?

My DD was I’m afraid. Apparently BMAT server could not be accessed. She spent 5 hours over a 2 hour exam whilst the school tried to sort it out

If the issuer affected everyone taking the BMAT in the uk this morning, then will they have to resit it? DD distraught about the whole thing

Sorry to hear that @notmedicmum .

I don't think it was everyone. Everything was OK at DD's school and she was quite pleased with the way it went. I'm sure there will be consideration made for candidates who couldn't access the test this morning.

Sorry to hear that @notmedicmum,our school took a couple of hours to get the BMAT started and trawled the other test takers to different rooms before going back to the original room.
There is really no excuse for this happening a second time! There was a message on the BMAT website saying that as long as they started by 1:00 the results would be valid.

Thank you @Monkey2001. I’m not sure how they are going to ensure a level playing field. There are a lot of angry tweets on Cambridge Assessments Twitter account

I think all they can do is highlight people whose tests were disrupted and the universities will have to work out what impact it might have had. You could probably pick some info up from TSR about how universities responded last year. Which BMAT universities did your DD apply to?

@Monkey2001

I think all they can do is highlight people whose tests were disrupted and the universities will have to work out what impact it might have had. You could probably pick some info up from TSR about how universities responded last year. Which BMAT universities did your DD apply to?

She only took the BMAT to apply to Oxford

@Dagbonunion Keele have a Roles & Responsibilities form which is a bit like a personal statement but more specific. They use it for interview selection.

Wow, just looking at the Cambridge Assessments Twitter. Their (lack of) responses is awful! There will be some very stressed young people out there tonight.

Hi, I’ve been lurking on this thread for a while. DD took her BMAT today and she was kept in the room for 4 hours while the system kept crashing. Not a happy girl tonight

Do we have any sense of how many students were impacted by the BMAT problems yesterday? It's hard to tell at the moment. I think CAAT have said they'll release a statement on Friday.

UCAT results have been delivered to the med schools this morning...

@SandyBayley

Do we have any sense of how many students were impacted by the BMAT problems yesterday? It's hard to tell at the moment. I think CAAT have said they'll release a statement on Friday.

TSR said about 1 in 5 from their responses but they admitted that there would be bias and therefore probably significantly fewer than that in reality... (I think that was any issues so delayed start, glitches and being unable to take it at all).

@SandyBayley too many. It was a total shambles and lots of students v v upset. One of mine didn't even get to take it as system kept crashing. I've sent a v strong email to testing and all the Unis involved. I got angry last night 🤬

ALL of my students (17) had some issue yesterday, so no idea how they are going to sort this out. After last years fiasco you'd think they'd have learned how to do it.

@mumsneedwine we have a family friend who was badly affected yesterday and the DC is so upset about it. The DC said that if it had just gone badly (very unlikely) then they would have taken it on the chin but not getting a fair chance at the exam is another thing. CAG GCSEs and an unreliable clinical entrance exam. How can these med schools know if they are selecting the best students for interview.

From Keele website:

UPDATE - 1 NOVEMBER 2021

Applications

The number of applications received by 15 Oct 2021 was:

A100 – 2,793

A104 – 334

@mumsneedwineI i found a form that CAAT have put on their website specifically to report the technical issues yesterday. It was on their Twitter feed so many schools may have missed it. It’s here: bit.ly/3k2e0ZS . The test centre has to report the issues by 10.30 tomorrow and they will give individual responses by 5pm tomorrow.

@notmedicmum forms are filled in immediately. But no consolation to the kids. Several are so upset today. They worked so so hard.

[quote mumsneedwine]@notmedicmum forms are filled in immediately. But no consolation to the kids. Several are so upset today. They worked so so hard. [/quote]
I know. DD was very upset. Let’s see what happens on Friday