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.

Just checked FOI and it continues a rising trend - 2018 - 1,531, 2019 - 1,652, 2020 - 1,825

Wow, that's a massive jump

Has anyone got to the bottom of what went wrong for some centres last week with the BMAT? TSR seems to think there could be another slot this week.

I'm not a tech person but was it to do with the way centres chose to access the test? There seems to have been two possibilities. I'm sure someone at CAAT has been working on it this weekend.

@SandyBayley there is another test on Wednesday afternoon for anyone who couldn't finish. Not down to test centres - we had a variety of issues for each candidate and it was the most stressful morning. No one at CAAT answering the helpline and we eventually found out from Twitter that it wasn't just us with the issues. Poor kids kept having their paper freeze, crash or disappear completely so had to restart. With no extra time. Few never even managed to get on as got an SL error every time. Think I swore quite a few times !

It seems a bit naive to plough ahead with a retest without understanding what was the source of the problems was last week. Isn't there a risk exactly the same issues will occur again?

I was assuming they would print off paper copies this week, I think that was an option as errors went on last week.

I have said before that the right mental state is crucial for BMAT success, this is all such a shambles and hugely unfair.

It seems so unfair re the BMAT - shouldn’t everyone just sit it again if the issue is so widespread?
Surely there is a back up paper in case of any leaks or a paper that’s not been used with the September tests being cancelled twice?

No option to print off the paper - believe me we tried.
@SandyBayley and yup, totally nuts to try again this week when similar happened last year and they still got it wrong again.

@LaLaFlottes we are hoping we'll find out more tomorrow. Probably via Twitter.

@mumsneedwine fingers crossed for whatever the best solution is for all affected - it’s just awful

@mumsneedwine I am sure I saw a Head on Twitter who had printed papers and wanted to revert to on line because he had heard the problems were sorted (haha!). But you are a lot closer to this than I am.

My DS did the BMAT on Weds, no issues with connection etc for him. However, another in his group kept crashing but did manage to submit, albeit after 4 hours of stress. 1 in their group couldn't log on at all and another crashed at S3 (essay) and couldn't get back on or complete/submit.

Although my DS found it hard he'd revised diligently and thought it went okay'. After the exam - on the weds - they all talked in detail about the questions/essays etc. It was on social media also.

However, his concern now with the resit is whether it will be a new paper. If not, this gives a massive advantage to those resitting and seems a rather skewed way of trying to judge the highest scorers etc.

I've tried to reassure him that it 'probably will be a new paper, otherwise, the BMAT unis will just be shortlisting a second-sitting who had the advantage of knowing alot of the paper in advance. As they have TAG grades for GCSE it would seem to be more important than ever that the BMAT is a 'blind' impartial test.

But I'm just wondering does anybody know yet if this is definitely the case? I presume this year's Feb resit was a fresh/new paper so am thinking this one will be also and they'll just agree on benchmarks between papers - as they do with different exam boards etc and between Sept & Nov BMAT papers in previous years?

@Angharad01 would love to reassure you but no one knows anything yet. I'd love to say it will be a new paper but CAAT have not excelled themselves this year so who knows (it must be though as otherwise it's bonkers unfair).
Think everyone should resit on Weds and highest score stands for those who did finish. Even for ones like your DS it must have been distracting having others with all the issues in the room. But that won't happen.
So the lottery for places this year will be even more of pot luck than normal.

I'd be astonished if it's not a new paper on Wednesday.

DD is done with BMAT. She worked incredibly hard in the run up and was pleased with how it went. She has zero desire to sit it again and I think it would be unreasonable to make her go through it again. She's been delicate all weekend and I would strongly push back against any suggestion of a repeat sitting for her.

@SandyBayley that's fine to not resit as she feels ok with it. But how will she feel if the boundaries are lower on Weds paper and therefore put her at a disadvantage ? Not saying that's what will happen, but the students who did have issues but managed to finish are at that disadvantage now. Maybe give everyone the choice to resit a new paper. Don't have too but can if want.
No idea how they are going to sort this mess out.

@SandyBayley I'm astonished this this happened again after it happened last year. I'm astonished that OFQUAL ever thought their algorithm was a good idea. I'm astonished that Dominic Raab didn't know what misogyny is.
Loads of things are happening at the moment which really shouldn't be! I will not be surprised if they get the same paper on Wednesday (although I think it is unlikely). I am really angry on behalf of the people who struggled through and didn't get the marks they deserve. It will distort the normal distribution and lots of the people who had no problems will get higher marks than they deserve.

I think they should treat all BMAT results with great caution this year.

I've no skin in the game as DD only applied to UCAT Med Schools, but it's absolutely implausible that they'd use the same paper! Just like in a normal year they use different papers for different sittings. No one moans then - although I guess there is some sensitivity if students are chasing Oxbridge places having sat different BMAT questions.

But surely the BMATs are standardised in some way? And if Oxford and Cambridge can contextualise all the 'ATs in a normal year, I'm certain they'll recognise if one of the two BMAT sittings throws up materially different scores and will adjust their interview thresholds accordingly.

I just hope that those who had a disrupted test will get to resit it, if that's what they'd like to do. They deserve the chance to do so.

As the vast majority had no issues, it would be desperately unfair to expect everyone to resit it (and obviously massively increase the chances of the same server issue problems occurring).

Best of luck to those taking the test on Wednesday. Look on the bright side - It'll give you all something to talk about at interview.....how you kept your cool under pressure!

That's my thinking @MidLifeCrisis007 - the majority (from what I can make out) sat the BMAT last week without problems. If a second occurs sitting with a different paper I'd expect the same distribution of marks as the first paper (because I'd assume those unlucky enough to be disrupted have the same ability spread).

I can see no benefit in making DD sit again. I think the admissions staff at Oxford and Leeds
(DD's BMAT choices) will have enough information to make fair decisions for all applicants.

But students who had disruption are NOT getting the chance to resit it, that's the issue. Only those who couldn't finish (& in some cases even start) get to do it again. So a student whose paper crashed 14 times, lost all answers after the first 15 minutes so had to redo, and then had a hanging issue on S3 so everything they typed took 3 seconds to show, they just have to get the marks from last week. Because they rushed to finish. Had they known they'd have the chance to do it properly then they'd not have done that.
And they don't get the chance to discuss it at interview because they wont score highly enough to get one.
Last year was bad, this year is unforgivable. I have no faith that it will be a different paper as so many things have been nuts in education.

I do think anyone disrupted should be allowed to resit. That's clearly not fair.

@mumsneedwine. Something needs to be done between now and Wednesday. I'm happy to add my name to any petition! Those poor students who had a disrupted test MUST be given the chance to resit!

@MidLifeCrisis007 @SandyBayley let's hope something happens tomorrow to restore my faith in fairness. 🤞🤞

Difficult to see what you can do to rescue the normal distribution if a significant number had technical issues and therefore got lower marks that they would have if all had gone to plan. Far too much luck involved. I have no skin in the game either, just a sense of outrage on behalf of people who, through no fault of their own, came out on the unlucky side.

My suggestion would be to allow anyone who was disrupted last week to sit another paper this week.

I feel exactly the same @Monkey2001. Surely they just have to let candidates with disruption resit. Without that adjustment the distribution is totally skewed and it is ridiculously unfair that would be used for interview selection. I can understand how DC who had a good experience last week won't want to resit but the poor kids who did have disruption equally worked their socks off, had a hideously stressful time last week and (if they are lucky!) have to go through it all again on Wednesday. Hardly a level playing field for such an important exam. This situation is unforgivable and, although I will not try to influence her, I sincerely hope my DD decides not to apply to BMAT med schools next year. A med school place should not hinge on whether you are lucky enough for the tech to work on the day. This is young people's futures at stake here and it is just not good enough.

Thinking about BMAT takers today and really hoping it goes OK. Still very cross on behalf of the people who completed with technical difficulties though!