nerd434 (Offline)  

I used the term in the flow of things But is was pretty shan how the wee radge coudnae understand woot a meant

I don't actually sound Scottish I have the most boring/neutral accent ever.

Haven't talked to you in a while, how are your studies going? Good luck for your prelims by the way (if you haven't done them already)! I saw your thread about 5 Advanced Highers, I considered that too but with English replacing pure Maths. Does your school offer statistics? Mine doesn't and I really want to do it as I've heard it might be quite useful when doing audits and clinical research.

I've decided against doing 5 AH's I'm considering doing an open university course instead . You should check it out! They offer really good courses which are much more directly linked to Medicine, and they sound more interesting too.

I also so you mention something about the "Campbell's Biology" textbook. Is it good? Which edition did you buy?

Have you applied to the "So you want to be doctor" event run by pathways? Me and my friend got a place and I'm really looking forward to it!

I just found this message, I'm really sorry for replying late! Thanks a lot! Don't worry about the 2 as it's highly unlikely it will affect any career prospects. I mean who says getting a few more marks in one standard grade is going to make you any better a doctor! It won't In my opinion if you're fantastic at five subjects it is much more beneficial than being quite good at eight - and I know you're amazing at Chemistry especially

I'm finding the workload not too bad for my Highers, however I am studying them over two years. How are you finding yours?

I got 95% in my Higher Maths, you can go to your teacher to find out your percentages for Higher and Advanced Higher Why do you ask?

Well that is how I learnt the material, but for revising I just did past papers and occasionally scanned through the specifications to see if there was anything I hadn't picked up on. If you do maybe 5 years of past papers and make you sure you learn everything you can't do on them afterwards then you will have learnt most of the examinable material.

Yikes, I'm going to just say that if you don't get in then that says nothing about your ability. For every student studying Medicine at Cambridge their is another applicant who would have done just as well. Obviously I do hope you get in! Have you considered which college you want to apply for?

When I sat Higher English their wasn't a folio so I can't advise you too much. What comprises the folio?

I perhaps put too much emphasis on that, you should aim to have the majority of your revision for each exam finished a week before each exam. For sciences it is better to just bash away at the past papers, revising the things you can't do, and for the arts it is better to memorise the information you need and then do past papers.

Not really, the Scholar books were very good for H maths but I don't think you can buy them separately. Usually its the best idea to just use what your school gives you, as then the material is in the same form as it is taught.

hey .. can i really ask u few things ? i am really eager to do medicine as well from Cambridge but i am not sure what kinda grades they will accept from Scott? and i do need some other info about advance highers as well i know the message isnt straight but i just wanna start a conversation with you so that i can ask you other questions as well please please

Can I ask what subject you are planning to apply for at Cambridge? First off five A1's isn't a requirement, three A1's would make you an 'average' applicant. I think the most important advice I can give you is that you need to do enough work that you convince yourself that you deserve that A1. You need to go into the last week before your exams finishing off your revision, not starting it. Treat your prelims as if they are the real exam, I did roughly a month of solid work before both my prelims and the actual exams. I think I probably only averaged 1.5 hours of work outside of school during term time, but during exam leave I did 8 hours. The difference between an A2 and an A1 isn't as much as you would expect, although you do need to go to the effort to *learn the specifications*.

Maths:
This is the best subject for learning the specifications, as learning this inside out guarantees you the A2, and considering that you are a Cambridge hopeful your problem solving ability should give you the other 15%.

English:
This was my worst subject overall, but it is possible to do well if you put the work in. Most importantly make sure that you know enough quotes that you aren't limited in the exam! When revising try reading over past exam papers and attempting to come up with essay plans for as many of the essay questions as you can. As for close reading, I found that preparing well for the essays brought up my close reading marks.

Chemistry & Physics:
Just keep up with the work in class, practise exam papers, nothing special needed here. Hard work will get you the A1.

You might not notice that most of my advice focuses on revision of material, not on learning it. That is because despite what most people think you don't need to be working at 100% all year! Ensure you are always on top with class work, possibly slightly ahead, and make sure you try to remain familiar with the material you have already learnt.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

I wasn't given a place initially but I got a place because somebody else dropped out. I'm really pleased but slightly nervous as I won't know anybody there!

50 minutes per week really isn't enough at all. I was talking to someone on the admissions panel for Edinburgh and they said for Medicine it was 2 points for straight A's, 1 for a B and 0 if you have a B but it's for chemistry. I know it is pretty crazy ad there is no afavantage for those who have more than 5 Highers at A. The only place where it would be an advantage as I know of is Oxbridge.

We've started to and I find everything quite interesting. The courses are really good. English at Higher is harder but so much more enjoyable than at Standard Grade. Pretty tough year ahead of us!

Hello Alexander,
Did you get into the Laprascopic surgery thing?
Also, how are your 6 Higher going?

I did 5 highers in timetable, and then for Latin I had an hour of teaching after school per week. I then had to do about the same amount of work at home for Latin as the others, because the Latin course isn't particularly long or difficult if you've already done Int 2; it might be harder depending on what the sixth subject is.