How hard is first year medicine?
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How hard is first year medicine?With uni starting so soon now, I'm sure i'm not the only person getting nervous about what we've just gone and got ourselves into! So I was hoping some of you lovely people who've just done first year now or in the recent years can tell us how hard it is? Most of my friends at uni have just finished their first year and think it was a lot easier than a2 and generally really fun.. none of them did medicine though. How does the first year of medicine compare with doing sciences in a2?
edit: hmm, why neg?Last edited by tpxvs; 11-08-2012 at 17:42. -
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?Congratulations on getting into medical school!
Two of my friends have just finished their first year of medicine (Birmingham and Newcastle) and i was asking them how they're finding medicine. They told me it is very very difficult, the detail isn't too much of a problem but it is the sheer volume that you have to learn is what makes it really challenging. But they said as long as you have a good work ethic and ensure you keep on top of the work load you should be ok. One thing they did tell me was how they never could have anticipated how much medicine would completely take over their lives! But did they enjoy their first year? Yes they loved it!
Good luck! I'm sure you'll be fine!
Last edited by Solid.Snake; 09-08-2012 at 17:05. -
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?My friends and family have said very much the same: the difficulty of the stuff you learn isn't the problem -- in ways learning your A-levels or degree (if you're a GEP entrant) will have been equally or more difficult -- it's just the volume of the stuff you have to learn. If you keep your head down and work hard you shouldn't have many issues.
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?I expect it depends on the medical school, some places need it to A2, and some only want it to GCSE; where are you going?(Original post by tpxvs)
do you need to have a good understanding of a level biology? -
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?You'll be fine.(Original post by tpxvs)
With uni starting so soon now, I'm sure i'm not the only person getting nervous about what we've just gone and got ourselves into! So I was hoping some of you lovely people who've just done first year now or in the recent years can tell us how hard it is? Most of my friends at uni have just finished their first year and think it was a lot easier than a2 and generally really fun.. none of them did medicine though. How does the first year of medicine compare with doing sciences in a2?
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?There's a lot to learn and you'll probably (definitely) have more lectures than your friends doing humanities... but it's definitely not 9-5 and you'll have lots of fun and won't have to revise much more than anyone else so really don't worry!
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?Just a small point but more lectures doesn't mean more work(Original post by colabottles)
There's a lot to learn and you'll probably (definitely) have more lectures than your friends doing humanities... but it's definitely not 9-5 and you'll have lots of fun and won't have to revise much more than anyone else so really don't worry!
The impression I've had from my friends is that they work hard and play hard. Not a bad life really
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?both! do you mean as maths and physics at a level? i hope so, cause i found them both doable! but im guessing you probably mean degree level? in which case i have no idea how difficult it is.(Original post by Jack93o)
hard as in the academic difficulty of the content?
probably not as much as maths and physics
Thats true but at the end of the day you come out with the same qualification so hopefully the same knowledge so it doesnt matter? I'm going to manchester where there is no need of any biology(Original post by Normandy114)
I expect it depends on the medical school, some places need it to A2, and some only want it to GCSE; where are you going?
I hear manchester has very few lectures actually due to the PBL nature of it, are you a medical student? how did you find first year in comparison to a2?(Original post by colabottles)
There's a lot to learn and you'll probably (definitely) have more lectures than your friends doing humanities... but it's definitely not 9-5 and you'll have lots of fun and won't have to revise much more than anyone else so really don't worry!
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?yeah degree level, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was equivalent to A-level biology/chemistry vs A-level physics/maths/further maths in terms of difficulty(Original post by tpxvs)
both! do you mean as maths and physics at a level? i hope so, cause i found them both doable! but im guessing you probably mean degree level? in which case i have no idea how difficult it is.
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?Which uni are you due to start at?
Just completed my first year at BL. Concept-wise it was easy, no difficult concepts at all. The difficulty lies in the sheer amount of content you have to remember. As long as you don't leave everything to the last minute then you should be fine
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?I'll be going there too if results go my way(Original post by tpxvs)
Thats true but at the end of the day you come out with the same qualification so hopefully the same knowledge so it doesnt matter? I'm going to manchester where there is no need of any biology
And really since you only need GCSE level biology there you shouldn't need any understanding of A level biology before you go, I expect the parts we need to know (ie. Human biology not bloody biodiversity!) will be covered in someway or another. Couldn't hurt to be at least acquainted with some of the more significant topics like the heart or the Krebs cycle though. -
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?You need to remember, if you've passed the interview and you've gotten an offer for medicine, they believe you are capable of handling the workload. I'm not saying it won't be stressful or at times you may feel like you're behind, but if they believe you're good enough to get in, then you certainly have the ability to handle it.(Original post by tpxvs)
With uni starting so soon now, I'm sure i'm not the only person getting nervous about what we've just gone and got ourselves into! So I was hoping some of you lovely people who've just done first year now or in the recent years can tell us how hard it is? Most of my friends at uni have just finished their first year and think it was a lot easier than a2 and generally really fun.. none of them did medicine though. How does the first year of medicine compare with doing sciences in a2?
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?Thanks, that was a lovely way to put it(Original post by lsaul95)
You need to remember, if you've passed the interview and you've gotten an offer for medicine, they believe you are capable of handling the workload. I'm not saying it won't be stressful or at times you may feel like you're behind, but if they believe you're good enough to get in, then you certainly have the ability to handle it.
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?You'll be grand. Conceptually its very much the same as A Level but the volume and detail is far in excess.
Just don't do a me and leave everything last minute. I could do that at GCSE/AS/A2 but not here. Almost horrendously back fired! If you don't already have a strong/organised work ethic take extra care! -
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Re: How hard is first year medicine?At Birmingham (may well be very different from other med schools):
Dive straight in learning ****loads, feels like wooah this is too much how can I ever keep up with this.
After a few weeks/months you are a bit more adjusted to it. Any small assessments or earlier exams will help you to keep up a bit. It's quite enjoyable, you feel behind but so does everyone. Just try to work throughout the year, as they say. Some modules are worse than others (MJM) in terms of being god awful memorisation.
At exam time it is hell, there is too much. Maybe I'm a hard worker but I just devoted myself to revision for the 6 weeks before exams and then when they're actually close its just a fever of revision, doing nothing else, from waking till sleeping for days and feeling just soo urgh about it all the time, like you haven't done enough. Noone feels they've done enough though, hardly anyone can rake in the 80-100% marks they're used to so that's just life.
^The above is just my experience, and I am pretty neurotic.
Lol, second year is worse. Still fun though, and I think the modules are more interesting. CAN is not as weird/bad/wtf as you think, BAB is just as bad as you think (shudder), CVS is worse than you think - they mark that like a bitch.(Original post by gozatron)
---Last edited by BeanofJelly; 12-08-2012 at 10:51.
