[Notethis]

(Original post by Davidragon)
Medicine at Cambridge is supposed to be one of the hardest courses in the world, but that's all hearsay and opinion.

You can't really hope to compare degrees like maths and medicine with each other in terms of difficulty. The skills needed are different.

Maths needs intelligence and studiousness, medicine needs intelligence and studiousness. It's probably easier to compensate for lack of intelligence with greater studiousness in medicine than it is in maths.

[a moist feeling]

Neither, you have to be good at guess work

[handsome7654]

(Original post by vedderfan94)
Precisely.

But, like I said, some people think it is insanely difficult just because it's very hard to get an offer for medicine.

Those are the people that haven't got knowledge, who may be insanely inteligent but knows ****! Lol.

[ConfusedBird2]

nah most of them are just hard workers and genuinely passionate about what they study

[Davidragon]

Tbh, you don't need to be a genius to get into many courses unless it's Oxbridge (and even then, Oxbridge students generally are incredibly studious as well as very intelligent).

[handsome7654]

(Original post by Davidragon)
Medicine at Cambridge is supposed to be one of the hardest courses in the world, but that's all hearsay and opinion.

You can't really hope to compare degrees like maths and medicine with each other in terms of difficulty. The skills needed are different.

I can't see the logic in saying conceptual complexity is the only valid form of difficulty.

That is because to study medicine at camridge you will be working ur ass of every single day. Plus they make u learn and memorise **** loads more than other unis. The first 2/3 years is like hard core science. That is why ppl say it is hard. Not everyone can do that, but only the people who can pick things up quickly. If you are not inteligent enough you could still complete but you woun't be able to keep up with the other students, so medicine else where is better for those ppl. Whereas physics/maths at cambridge requires a knack of the subjects and you have to be inteligent to a certain point or you woun't be able to tackle a degree like physics/maths. But these ppl have more social life than oxbridge medics cuz the content is a hell of a lot less than say medicne at cambridge. P.s the concepts are just way more demanding and harder to understand that concepts in medicne. I'm speaking from exp of talking to ppl who did physics/sciences and medicine at oxbridge and other unis.

[Davidragon]

(Original post by handsome7654)
That is because to study medicine at camridge you will be working ur ass of every single day. Plus they make u learn and memorise **** loads more than other unis. The first 2/3 years is like hard core science. That is why ppl say it is hard. Not everyone can do that, but only the people who can pick things up quickly. If you are not inteligent enough you could still complete but you woun't be able to keep up with the other students, so medicine else where is better for those ppl. Whereas physics/maths at cambridge requires a knack of the subjects and you have to be inteligent to a certain point or you woun't be able to tackle a degree like physics/maths. But these ppl have more social life than oxbridge medics cuz the content is a hell of a lot less than say medicne at cambridge. P.s the concepts are just way more demanding and harder to understand that concepts in medicne. I'm speaking from exp of talking to ppl who did physics/sciences and medicine at oxbridge and other unis.

I agree with that, all I'm saying is it seems odd to say one is superior (in difficulty) to another. Maths/Physics might require a more specific sort of knack or talent but I don't think logically that makes them definitively harder. I would say they are just different. I can't see what sort of gauge people are using to say that one is harder than the other (i.e. content vs. concept).

If you're conceptual strong the time required is considerably less. However, the kind of people who's memory skills are so strong that the same is true for medicine are far less common. Even the best students will spend a good deal of time revising.

It seems odd to compare them because they represent different things.

[handsome7654]

(Original post by Davidragon)
The reason I say "intelligence" is over simplistic is because there are too many different types. One mathematician I know is pretty much at the top of the school in terms of problem solving ability, but his memory skills (whilst good) aren't miles better than anyone else.

I have few problems with with Biology, Chem or Physics but struggle with Maths because I don't have the same level of speed or precision in terms of problem solving. I can retain and understand the concepts fine.

I know some people who just don't perform well in exams, but when you speak to them and talk to them about their subject you realise how developed and intelligent they are, exams just don't capture that for them.

When we talk about intelligence we need to remember we are only talking about a small portion of it in most people.

Well you are right about intelligence but the general public call the clever people inteligent. Now even if you have a very good memory, that doesn't mean you are clever cuz you could be given a completely new complex maths problem that may only require simple maths skills to solve. The cleverer person will solve it in a faster amount of time than the person who maybe not as clever but may have a much better memory. Clever ppl are ppl who can thick complex things quickly and efficiently. For example look at Einstein. Now he didn't have a photographic memory but he was still clever as ****!

Plus to do A-levels in the sciences, you don't need to have an insanely good memory nor do u have to be clever. It is about understanding concepts and understanding the structure and style of exam questions. So doing **** loads of past papers will help with that once you learn and understand the content! Esp in chemistry, physics and maths. However some people who may be not as clever or not have a memory power as good as others will require more time to do this but they CAN STILL DO IT AND GET EXCELLENT GRADES. I'm not boasting but I'm a prime example of that!

[AeroLB]

Its not the most difficult course, but competition is so high to get places that they have to have such high entrance requirements, doesn't matter if studious and/or intelligent, as long as you get the entrance requirements you can do medicine.

[handsome7654]

(Original post by Davidragon)
I agree with that, all I'm saying is it seems odd to say one is superior (in difficulty) to another. Maths/Physics might require a more specific sort of knack or talent but I don't think logically that makes them definitively harder. I would say they are just different. I can't see what sort of gauge people are using to say that one is harder than the other (i.e. content vs. concept).

If you're conceptual strong the time required is considerably less. However, the kind of people who's memory skills are so strong that the same is true for medicine are far less common. Even the best students will spend a good deal of time revising.

It seems odd to compare them because they represent different things.

Yeahh I couldn't agree more!
To do medicne and become a consultant, you don't need to be naturally clever. But to get a PhD in something like theoretical physics you have to be clever as ****! It is a fact!

[Blutooth]

(Original post by handsome7654)
Well you are right about intelligence but the general public call the clever people inteligent. Now even if you have a very good memory, that doesn't mean you are clever cuz you could be given a completely new complex maths problem that may only require simple maths skills to solve. The cleverer person will solve it in a faster amount of time than the person who maybe not as clever but may have a much better memory. Clever ppl are ppl who can thick complex things quickly and efficiently. For example look at Einstein. Now he didn't have a photographic memory but he was still clever as ****!

Plus to do A-levels in the sciences, you don't need to have an insanely good memory nor do u have to be clever. It is about understanding concepts and understanding the structure and style of exam questions. So doing **** loads of past papers will help with that once you learn and understand the content! Esp in chemistry, physics and maths. However some people who may be not as clever or not have a memory power as good as others will require more time to do this but they CAN STILL DO IT AND GET EXCELLENT GRADES. I'm not boasting but I'm a prime example of that!

Excellent post. I think you've said about all that needs to be said. However because medicine is so competitive they can get some high calibre candidates. Still, there is no doubt maths as a course is conceptually more demanding than medicine.

[Davidragon]

(Original post by handsome7654)
Yeahh I couldn't agree more!
To do medicne and become a consultant, you don't need to be naturally clever. But to get a PhD in something like theoretical physics you have to be clever as ****! It is a fact!

I always tell myself memory skills are more practical and useful than high level reasoning

[Millyshyn]

I'm not that studious but have a very good natural ability for memorising, and I'm looking to apply to Medicine. I reckon if there isn't any particular way that you hve to be to be a medical student, it will vary from person to person. Some will need to be studious very hard to remember everything whereas others will take it in more easily and be more intelligent. It doesn't matter, either way will work out fine in the end. I've didn't do that much work do my AS subjects and in January came out with 88-96%UMS. I remember the week before my exams I hadn't really done any Biology revision yet- on the Friday, we did a mock that I got a D in and then went on to get a high A the following Wednesday.

I've also heard medical students drink on average more than other students, especially females I will definitely fit in with that description of a medical student..

[handsome7654]

(Original post by Blutooth)
Excellent post. I think you've said about all that needs to be said. However because medicine is so competitive they can get some high calibre candidates. Still, there is no doubt maths as a course is conceptually more demanding than medicine.

Thankya!
Nd yeahh I agree.

END OF DISCUSSION GUYS!! Lol jk.

[James A]

(Original post by Zara<3)
"darling" it's just my personal opinion

Listen cupcake, the opinion you hold is one sided, hence the 7 thumbs down you got (at the time).

Your initial post was referring to the intelligence of medics. Your forgetting that medics also have to have another side to them, e.g. personality, being able to cooperate well with patients....... hence why they have to undergo interviews, to determine their personality attributes before gaining admission into medical schools.......

Gosh, some people on this site.........

[handsome7654]

(Original post by Davidragon)
I always tell myself memory skills are more practical and useful than high level reasoning

Well it depends on your job really!
But yeahh memory skills are more practical in life I suppose but lacking that lil bit of good reasoning ability, will make it more difficult.

[Davidragon]

(Original post by HeatherM)
I start medicine in September right, but i don't see myself as either super-intelligent or studious. Sometimes i get lucky, but hey, i've failed a good few nabs And i don't do much studying either, i do my homework, usually. I think the ukcat is luck really, i managed a score of 707.5 so it can't be IQ.

I think it's a mixture of motivation, work experience, luck & how much work you put into your personal statement (extra curricula's, volunteering, etc)

In summary, my answer to your question is No.

Are medical students super-intelligent or studious?

No.

Are you saying they are neither?

[handsome7654]

(Original post by James A)
Your initial post was referring to the intelligence of medics. Your forgetting that medics also have to have another side to them, e.g. personality, being able to cooperate well with patients....... hence why they have to undergo interviews, to determine their personality attributes before gaining admission into medical schools.......

I agree with you and it applies for most med schools. But interviews at somewhere like Oxbridge for medicine mostly tests more of your aptitude for science and reasoning + scientific details of science books you read/medical details about work experience rather than your personality. In fact, according to most of their questions they ask, they don't give a damn about your personality as long as you act and reply nicely without being arrogant during the interview! Lol. I'm speaking from experience of having med interviews at Cambridge vs having it in other unis like UEA.

[praveena]

To answer your question, while you won't spend all your life studying, getting into med school is committing a very substantial portion of your life to studying. It's much easier to use intelligence to answer A Levels questions, and I say this from experience as I found it easy to do well in A level exams without putting in much studying, since you could always work out the answer logically. Medicine is not so straightforward, it doesn't matter how intelligent you are, you still will need to put in the hours to pass the exams. I struggled a lot during the first few years of med school since I'm not a studious person, but now that I'm in the clinical years, studying consistently has become easier to do.

So if you want to do medicine, be very aware that you will have to study a lot and being intelligent won't let you escape from the putting in hours spent sitting at the table learning. But if you truly are interested in the subject matter though, those hours should go by very quickly and productively, and you wouldn't mind learning about something you like

[TheDannyManCan]

Not necessarily either.
As most people have already said, they are generally very studious people. Of course some of them will be very intelligent, but it's not like that's a prerequisite for the course. I know I'm not super-intelligent, but I work pretty hard, and I think it's through a combination of hard work (not just at A levels, but at work experience, developing myself as a person/medical applicant etc.) and tactful choice of Unis that I got in.
I guess what a lot of people forget is that Medicine is more than just a degree; it is a career choice where many other degrees may not be. Plenty of my friends are doing degrees just because they're interested in the stuff, which is fine, and have no idea what they want to do afterwards, whereas pretty much every medical student will go on to become a doctor.
I think people put intelligence with being a medical student because of how competitive it is, but the reason it's such a gruelling process is that Universities need to know they're selecting the right person for the course - at least, more so than most other degrees.