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Reply 20
Like everything, there needs to be a balance:tongue:
You can't spend too long studying a day as your mind just won't take it in!!

As this is obviously what you want to do, the best advice is to spend enough time on your GCSE's, but also read around the subject and try and get some work experience or some unis also run medical workshops for those at GCSE level:biggrin:

oh, and make sure you have fun too! :bl:

Good luck for the future and hope you get everything you set out to achieve
:bunny:
If, instead of spending time asking many questions like this, you revised, you'd be fine.
Reply 22
It varies from person to person, at GCSE level I never did any more work (outside of exam leave) than my set homework at home (although I always tried to do it to a good quality). Sometimes I regret doing that and reckon I could have done better if I had put more hours in but then I wouldn't have enjoyed those years as much and I may have ended up a manic depressive, commited suicide at the age of 16 and never ended up applying to medicine at all.

And that would be terrible.
Reply 23
Well it depends how clever you are - if you are very clever then you can do next to nothing for the next year and a half and minimal work at A level and still get the required good grades.
If you aren't so clever then you will need to work proportionately harder to make sure you get a clutch of a stars at GCSE and all As or A*s at A level.
Original post by Anatheme
It's not about the quantity but the quality. you can do more in 1h of work if used intelligently than in 5h of semi-work. You're only doing your GCSEs, make sure you do your homework properly, if there's something you don't get, then spend a little more time on it, try to explore new concepts further than if you only looked at the material given by your teacher. Read about what you're interested in, be it Medicine or not, and try to pick up an unusual hobby to keep yourself busy, maybe language learning, an uncommon sport, etc. It will keep you off the Internet, and it may even come up in your interview, I remember a TSR user saying that most of his interview was actually about his reason for doing Russian at A-Level.

Try to explore different ways of learning, find out what type of learner you are (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) and adapt your learning methods to your profile. Try to make it as fun as possible, and if your friends need help about something you do understand, teaching them will re-inforce your knowledge of the topic. Regarding staying off the Internet, if you're a Mac user, SelfControl is a really good application, unfortunately, I don't know of such a software for Windows/Linux/etc. However, there's LeechBlock that exist if you happen to use Firefox, and it will block the pages you tell it to block (but you can still use other browsers at the time…)

List your goals, and break them down into realistic and easily achievable goals that will be immediately rewarding, because "I want to do Medicine" is too far from you at the moment, whereas "learn the new trigonometry rule" will be far easier to achieve. Make lists and cross the done thing, it always makes you feel good! Some days will be more difficult than others, but don't worry, if you've got a **** day, it can only improve. Good luck!


Wow so many great tips! Thank you and thanks to everyone so far :smile:
Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor
I've already sat 3 Science GCSE's. I'm determined to achieve my dream of being a doctor, I'm always procrastinating and I want to put a stop to that. Medicine is very competitive and difficult and I need to put in the effort, at the moment my grades are kind of average, I need to be the best. I want to restrict my biggest distraction (Internet) use to 1 hour every day.

If I'm only spending an hour on the internet each day, how many hours should I spend studying weeknights & on weekends? Thanks!


A set number of hours working won't help you. Don't worry too much about term-time grades, it's what you do in your exams that counts. Are you good at exams?
Keep up during term as best you can, don't try to be the perfect student you will fail. The best motivator is fear/worry and it doesn't really work about the level of "doing quite well" so don't try to push it too hard. Save you energy for working really hard during revision time. Do loads of practice papers.
If you're finding it hard to motivate yourself, do the work you like the best/find the easiest first. Also, don't feel too guilty about not doing enough work it won't help you.
That's why setting a number of hours of work is a bad idea. You won't keep up to your expectation, then you'll feel guilty and that will drive you to while away your sorrows on the internet/TV/lingering around the house doing nothing in particular etc.

I think more important than grades is to find out why you want to be a medical student and then a doctor. I include medical student, because I consider it a bad sign for someone to view medschool as a chore or hurdle along their path to becoming a doctor. It strikes me as unrealistic, because as a doctor you will always also be a student. "Doctor" is also a long way away - 5 years being a long time to spend on a chore. Also, increasingly there is a shift in the idea of what a med-student is toward being a "trainee doctor".

So you need to find out i) what's its like being a medstudent/doctor and ii) why therefore, you want to be a med student/doctor, lastly iii) why you would be awesome at it.
That is what medical schools are looking for in applicants, don't just put it on, be it.

That's not meant to be a criticism, tbh I wasn't like that when I was an applicant but I know that if I went to interview now, I would rock it because I have those things under my belt (well at least for being a pre-clinical med student, maybe not so sure about being a doctor :p: )

Best way to achieve that level of confident "I can get through med school and be a good doctor" awareness is to really find out what it's like by getting as much experience as you can.
Not just work shadowing but see if you can find some med students or doctors and grill them for what they know and what it's like.
Try to do some research on medical courses and properly whip up some enthusiasm for actually doing them.
You could also try volunteering at a hospital. You don't have to be shadowing to see how hospitals run, and some will take 16 year-olds. You might also get some idea of what it's like to be a patient, and therefore what you want to bring to patients if you become a doctor. Even if its just bringing round tea and sitting with old ladies for now.

If you think you already know that stuff, I'd like to know how you already know when you're in year 10 and probably have little work experience or knowledge :p: But maybe you have loads, whatever - it's just I'm a bit dubious.

People say generic stuff like "fascination with the human body" and "want to help people" but what freakish minority doesn't think how we work is interesting, and who doesn't have some motivation to help others? I think you should be able to say how you want to help people, which means you need to understand what patients expect from you and what are the things that they need.

It's not like you need anything super-special to be a med student, but if you are really knowledgeable and aware then it will show and you really can't not get a place (if you have the grades).

Massive.Spiel.Over.

Best of luck
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 26
Most of it's been said already, but don't overlook work experiance- you need lots of it! Good luck
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by BeanofJelly


If you think you already know that stuff, I'd like to know how you already know when you're in year 10 and probably have little work experience or knowledge :p: But maybe you have loads, whatever - it's just I'm a bit dubious.

People say generic stuff like "fascination with the human body" and "want to help people" but what freakish minority doesn't think how we work is interesting, and who doesn't have some motivation to help others? I think you should be able to say how you want to help people, which means you need to understand what patients expect from you and what are the things that they need.

It's not like you need anything super-special to be a med student, but if you are really knowledgeable and aware then it will show and you really can't not get a place (if you have the grades).

Massive.Spiel.Over.

Best of luck


Thanks! I guess my aspiration to be a doctor has been with me since I was little, my father is an obstetrician/gynaecologist and I just really loved what he did. Also, I remember attending a 'brownies' club when I was young, they taught us first aid. I remember carrying the kit everywhere with me, and at a park a boy had fallen and hurt his knee. I remember spraying the antiseptic and doing simple things like applying a plaster. It gave me a great feeling knowing I made someone more healthy, may sound strange but I know health is significant in life and being able to cure a disease or illness is mind-blowing for me. These are probably generic reasons but this is just what I feel. Thanks again for your advice :smile:
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 28
Honestl I'm going to say most people that get into Medicine have minimum 5A*'s or along those lines. But loads of people think its just being the best for study, honestly I've got 100% and 90% + aeveage AS and A level grades, but that wont make me stand out at all tbh. Its got to be extra curriculars and such and a devotion that makes you stand out. Quite honestly in other subject areas great grades can make you stand above the rest, with medicine achieveing great grads just puts you on average par with the rest. Just study as much as you need to to get those gradess and make sure your not disadvantaged :smile: ... btw yr 10 bloody hell I didn't even know i wanted to do medicine until like a few months ago :P
Reply 29
Depends on the person really, some people can play Fifa all night and get straight A*s, others have to spend months revising to do it.

Even at A Level if you set yourself a target of X hours a night, it won't happen and you will end up on the internet for 6+ hours. Just find your right revision style, whether your a crammer or need to live in the library and you'll be fine.
Best of luck!
Original post by HighestKungFu

Original post by HighestKungFu
Don't go overboard and think that studying 10 hours a day will amount to A*s across the board (or boards!...did that pun fall flat?)


Yes.





:p:
Reply 32
Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor
Thank you. I have actually noticed that one of my weaknesses in exams is not being able to think critically. An unexpected, oddly-worded question always catches me out. Does anyone know how to overcome this?


Mostly just past papers. They put those sorts of questions in to try and differentiate between the candidates that have those skills and those that are just regurgitating the textbooks.

The more papers you look at, the more you will see them. Use the mark schemes more than anything because you will become familiar with what they want/how they want the answer.

Just start getting your work exp in early when you get to college as many other prospective medical students will be fighting for the same placements. I know they have a policy of not letting U-16s onto ward placements at hospitals so you probably won't get anything before that. I know here, they are only willing to give one (one week) placement out, though if you 'impress' the ward you are on, they are happy to arrange for you to come back normally.
(edited 13 years ago)
I swear I've read this exact thread, from the exact same OP before. Or am I just getting senile as my teenage years draw to a close?
I have the 'pleasure' of teaching a group of medics for some of their lab sessions at first year in uni at the moment - please work hard, make sure you know your science and get good grades. But also - make sure you keep up with the world socially during your A-levels. This is my biggest gripe with medics. A good proportion come to uni not knowing how to handle patients at all - they are either so incredibly arrogant that they rub people up the wrong way and often are honestly pretty lacking in their medical knowledge or they are quiet, withdrawn and unable to positively 'connect' with people. Make sure you keep a good circle of friends, spend time with them and interact with them as often as you can. Remember that you can be an okay doctor with excellent academic skills, but to be an exceptional doctor, you have to 'get' people. Best of luck with your aspirations :smile:
I will leave the main question of the OP to people more in the know than myself. I just want to congratulate you on knowing what you want to do at such a young age, I had no idea when i was in year 10 so bravo to you.
Reply 36
Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor
Thank you. I have actually noticed that one of my weaknesses in exams is not being able to think critically. An unexpected, oddly-worded question always catches me out. Does anyone know how to overcome this?


Do lots of past years. www.freeexampapers.com or www.xtremepapers.net

I'm sure you'll find out later that academics play only a very small part in getting into med school though. Almost everyone gets A*AA nowadays. I'd say enjoy your life. Play more sports.
Reply 37
Did people seriously do work every night in year 10 :s-smilie:

HAVE A CHILDHOOD YOU'RE ONLY 14!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd say if you study 25hrs a day, you should just about get the grades needed...but its always sensible to do more than that if you can
Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor
Can't you just answer the question, reccommended hours? And thanks for your great encouragement, really helped!


I'm not trying to encourage im trying to be truthful. I know some people who can spend 5 hours after school every day putting in some hard graft work and getting the same grades as others in my school who maybe do the work just before the lesson or not at all!

So it really depends on your ability to learn. As i said, there is no formula and so recommending hours won't help.