Are medical students super-intelligent or studious?

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.

Precisely.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

"darling" it's just my personal opinion

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

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.

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.......