How do you knew if you're not clever enough for medicine?

I'm in A2 now and my exams are in a couple of weeks. I'm taking a gap year so I have lots of medical work experience lined up (including experience in a hospital abroad) and I've been volunteering at a care home for the past year. However, I'm really having doubts about whether or not my aspiration to be a doctor is just naive and unattainable :frown:

for example, I'm not into maths and I currently have a C grade on both my bio and Chem courseworks (this is after 3 tries in each!). Everyone else seems to get a grades with ease and I'm just sat here wondering what on earth on doing wrong. Exams are my stronger point and I get a/a* on most of the past papers I've done so far but I can't help but feel like all of the opportunities I've lined up in my gap year will be wasted on me if Im just not smart enough/ don't get AAA!

Reply 1

Lularose83

Thank you, and to you too! I'm just praying that I can make up for it in the exams :smile:

Reply 2

Lularose83

I have two AS resits so I know how you're feeling :frown:

just keep telling yourself that it'll all be worth it and that this period will be over in a few months. The final push now! Good luck and try to stay calm (I'm finding tea and cake to help quite well!)

Reply 3

Rampage

You still have some time left before your exams my friend, revise smart and get some practice in.

Reply 4

Ghotay

The majority of medicine is not intellectually difficult. What makes medicine hard is the sheer amount that you have to know, and hard work and dedication will help you much more than intelligence when it comes to that. In some ways I think supposedly less clever people can have an edge in medicine, because they have learnt to work hard and develop good habits (rather than people like me who breezed through A levels and was a hot mess in med school)

Don't worry about being good enough for medicine. Worry about getting your grades. If you get the grades, you are good enough, that's why the requirements are what they are

Reply 5

Alaric III

Original post by Lularose83

Don't necessarily need AAA to study medicine. You mention you're gonna be working in a hospital abroad next year? Great, I did the same thing, got AAB and I've still got plans of what to do next year. Through sheer determination and flexibility you can manage it. It just takes more time. Consider applying abroad as there are loads of countries where the requirements aren't as high. If studying in England is the only course of action you could imagine, go post-graduate. As far as your intellect is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it. As someone above me has said, it's the quantity of work you have to worry about.

Just out of interest, where's your hospital placement?

Reply 6

Lularose83

Original post by Alaric III

I know it's late, but it's in Croatia :smile:

Reply 7

Muppet Science

A-level coursework is recognised to be a complete mess, especially ISAs. As long as you get AAA you'll be fine for most medical schools, there are exceptions, (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, some of the London ones). If you've got good work experience and the care home work then you will be a contender providing your grades meet their minima. Just keep your chin up. :smile:

Reply 8

username2459871

If you met the majority of medical students I know then you'd realise you don't have to be smart at all. You just have to be a good communicator and be able to retain a high amount of information. The difficulty of the degree isn't necessarily the content itself, it's just the amount we have to learn that is vast.

EDIT: Just saw Ghotay's post. It is what they said

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

alkaline.

"how do you knew if you're not intelligent enough for medicine"

Reply 10

RayApparently

Original post by alkaline.

"how do you knew if you're not intelligent enough for medicine"

I know someone was going to bring that up.

Reply 11

SalazarSlytherin

If you can't spell a title correctly, that's how you know.

Reply 12

Ordo

Original post by SalazarSlytherin

If you can't spell a title correctly, that's how you know.

Reply 13

username2371841

hey! so this summer is filled with work experience right? good i highly recommend you do as much work experience as possible, fill your summer up if you want :smile:

also gradewise, someone i know is currently in UCL Medicine first year and she missed the requirements by 1 grade or something but they accepted her because of her GCSE grades but mainly her work experience! she had so much experience

Reply 14

username1236842

I don't recommend filling up your summer with work experience. You have loads of stuff lined up for next year. Presume exams are now over (although I'm in Scotland and know English exams are later than here so maybe not) so you'll either get in or not get in depending on your grades. Enjoy your summer. If you get in to medicine you get more than enough work experience and will wish you'd had more fun enjoying the long holidays when you could. Like others have said medicine isn't about being super intelligent it's about working consistently, and enjoying the subject. Relaxing when you can is also part of being a successful doctor.