Medicine 2026 Part 3

[MyGreyBiscuit]

Hi everyone, here's the new thread!

AQA bio here too - my daughter was still a bit queasy and felt she wasn’t at her best. Also hated the graph questions but thought the rest was ‘OK’ - though some unexpected things apparently. Normally her favourite bio paper so she was a bit disappointed. Onwards and upwards!!

We're OCR so ignore my comment about plants.

AQA Biology here, DD very happy with it. She was OK with Chem on Tuesday (also AQA). Her third subject is Geography and she has just one paper left to do on Monday.
The end is in sight!

For potential medical students this is just the beginning.
Written exams, osce's, membership, consultant exam, job application
Plus almost every patient is a potential exam.

Re: Maths Pearson paper 1. DD said it was fine, but she didn't seem as content as with her sciences papers. However, she did say that a lot of her friends were worried when they came out of the exam room. Apparently there is an online petition signed by more than 15000 people, to review that paper.

Five done, seven to go. Four of those five done this week and no major drama yet so I'm grateful. Four more next week and three the week after. DD expects paper 2s and 3s to be harder and I'm hoping she can keep her spirits and energy up. Bloody hard.

I do think our YP are aware of this, maybe not the difficulty as they are not at that point yet, but these are all very hard working, high achieving people who are facing one of the first of many very challenging exams of their career/profession.

I do not think it is unreasonable to be understanding of this and allow them to adjust to the stress levels without making them think they will not be good enough for medicine if they find A levels stressful.

Clearly as their parents we also feel the stress they have too, so maybe over worry about them. These YP are some of the most resilient of their cohort to be able to get to this point and despite these exams I am confident my DD will make an excellent Dr if she gets into med school.

Hear hear @bluefineliner !

Well said. A levels are tough as so many exams, on v different subjects, over a short period of time. If it wasn't stressful I'd be worried !!!

That maths paper was horrible !

I'm not a parent (though my niece is off to med school - unconditional offer - in September), but am a retired teacher and headteacher. I don't think the poster who said it was 'almost over' meant the whole shebang - they were just remarking on this particular phase.

A levels are absolutely brutal and for prospective medical students - who face more barriers to their desired degree course than most others - the prospect of failure can be devastating.

yes I think that's it - not at all belittling other students who are going through the same gruelling set of exams, but it just seems for these aspiring med/dent/vet med students, the limited number of spaces coupled with the many 'steps' along the way (getting fantastic GCSEs, then the predicted grades, UCAT scores, choosing schools to apply, getting interview offers, doing well in interviews, getting actual offers, and now getting the best grade for these 3 exams) is nigh on impossible.

I don't think any of our YP are under any illusions about how tough med school is going to be. But the end of this particular (and incredibly stressful) long stretch really is in sight. Getting to this stage has felt like an insurmountable challenge at times and there is the very real fear for many that they could still fall short at the final hurdle.

Week 2 of 3 exam weeks done ✔️

Been a mixed week, distraught after Chem Paper 2, happier with Maths Paper 2, and happy with Bio Paper 2...

Now hoping Paper 3s are kind next week!

Hope you and all your sons & daughters are coping ok!

yes week 2 done! this week, Chem and Maths Paper 2 were fab...Bio was 'ok'.

Happy weekend everyone!

Hope all of our YPs are coping well with the exam pace. We're almost there! 9 out of 12 papers done. DD is optimistic so far, although one of her Physics papers was a bit meh. Bio, Chem, Maths next week, then the graduation ball and holidays... which I'm desperate for as I could do with a break from work too😀

PS. DD's school friend with four rejections was asked to re-join the waitlist by Liverpool and NCL, after they rejected her on UCAS. I'm guessing both med schools are trying to avoid going into clearing?

DD was happy with this week. History Paper 3 was 'absolutely beautiful' (she loves History and was feeling a bit melancholic about never studying it again). Just the two 'unified' OCR Chemistry and Biology papers next week so there was some heavy predicting going on yesterday as her and her friends worked out what hadn't been covered in P1 and P2.

Glad the exams are going 'ok' at least for everyone. DD was happy with bio 2 yesterday, a huge relief for her after her thinking bio 1 was her worst paper so far (but even so was 'ok').

So just the 2 paper 3s for chem and bio on Mon/Tues and she is done, she doesn't seem as worried about paper 3s so I am hoping we can fast forward to a slightly more relaxing time until results loom.

@inae that is interesting about Liverpool and NCL I was just discussing clearing with DD regarding NCL as we were wondering if there would be any leeway on grades if she slips to AAB on the day. I have always thought if she doesn't get AAA that is it (both firm and ins are the same grades, as all her offers were) the thought of losing your place because of a few missed points is heartbreaking but I know a real possibility for med.

Only just over a week until our holiday, which after last year's UCAT holiday will be very welcome for DD 😂. Flashbacks of her sitting in the hotel room doing practice UCAT exams and coming down in tears when it didn't go well! I am praying she doesn't have to do that again!

@bluefineliner Newcastle accepted some with AAB a few years ago, obviously no way of knowing year on year, but its been done.

Hi all. So nearly there with exams!

I've just come on with a cautionary tale to get your YPs to check their emails! Mine has not been checking theirs as concentrating on exams and they missed an accommodation offer deadline from Lancaster. Only by one day, so we followed up and they kindly re-opened the offer so YP could accept. But a lot of unnecessary stress at an already stressful time.

I mean, whose idea was it to make offers in exam weeks and only give a week to reply?! 🙄

@monkeytennismum glad you got the offer accepted for accommodation, I agree emails can easily get lost at this time. I have to remind DD to keep on eye on things now as I think emails are due out for occ health checks for NCL before results day.

So today is the last exam for DD, bio 3, it feels like it has been a long month but we are almost there and are going out for tea to celebrate later. Good luck to those doing bio and also I guess quite a lot of our YP doing maths later this week too.

How is everyone feeling at this point? We have had tentative chats about plan B on results day but not too much yet as we want to stay as positive as possible for the next 8 weeks 😁.

@monkeytennismum Did your son get his first accom choice? My daughter eventually firmed Lancaster last week after telling us it would be Soton, actually firming them, and then changing it to Lancaster in the 14-window period where changes are allowed! 😮 Talk about a roller coaster during exam time.

Last exam here today too ( though my younger daughter starts A-level mocks today!)

Feels very surreal and definitely a bit nervous for results day. My DD found chemistry the hardest of the three papers yesterday so was a bit despondent when she got home. She normally finds bio 3 the toughest bio paper too so let’s hope it’s kind!

She’s out with her friends tonight (the non-maths crowd that is)!

Good luck to everyone!

I don't really know what Plan B is... and I don't really want to engage with him about that, at least till this afternoon, since Maths is on Thursday and he's pretty chilled about Maths.

I hope that all our children get in - it's been such a hard slog and all of us here have been together now for what, a year ?!?! I have little doubt that all our children have the aptitude and the knowledge to get in - I'm not sure what else they can test them on, at the ripe old age of 17/18?!?! Remember most of them did their interviews whilst being 17!!!

I know it's a demand/supply thing, and I know it's 'funded' by taxpayers, but surely, as taxpayers, we will also need more doctors?

Sorry, rant over - just came over from reddit where there are so many similar comments but presumably from the children themselves who are feeling like they've climbed 99 steps and it's the 100th step that might just mess things up. :(

Good morning. Last exam for DD today (Biology). No disasters but a visceral concern that Chemistry is not going to be an A (she needs 3xAs). Two of the papers (OCR) were very challenging and she knows that she made mistakes.
We’ve had a chat about Plan B and a gap year.
All advice appreciated. My heart goes out to her as she has tried so hard….
I hope that you and your’s are all OK

I've been shouting for years about how the government needs to fund significantly more places for medicine and dentistry for UK students.

I think most of us are in that same boat in terms of 'mistakes here and there'... and all our children have worked so hard, starting from last year's UCAT and perhaps even before. It just seems so crazy. And yes, of course we need more places for medicine/dentistry... and the government's response was to create more places at new universities (which make it a longer process) and forgot about training places after 5 years.

I'm afraid more places for medicine will currently just mean more unemployed doctors. There are not enough F1 jobs or training jobs and certainly not consultant jobs. Bottlenecks are everywhere. More jobs are needed before any more students are dragged into this mess.