Chemistry - One for current med students
HI guys,
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
Original post by adamphilpot
HI guys,
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
Absolutely no pure chemistry - you can forget about enthalpy changes, organic chem, bond angles etc.
A fair bit of biochemistry, but exactly how much will vary from medical school to medical school. The emphasis is very much on the bio- bit, btw, it's really just physiology.
If you can understand the general principle behind this equation (i.e. if you have a GCSE in chemistry), you will be absolutely fine:
(edited 8 years ago)
Very little and only maybe in your 1st and/or 2nd yr. its mainly clinical pharmacology-physiology like how ibuprofen works or why you shouldnt give certain drugs in certain diseases.
For chemistry A level, you just need to understand!! Make sure you properly understand the AS stuff as ALOT of it comes up in A2 exams and they are easy marks! I found the CGP books very helpful for understanding the concepts. Also past papers are of the utmost importance. You will be suprised at the number of questions which are repeated each yr. the maths is very basic (i sucked at maths, still do, but still managed to get an A* in chem A level).
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For chemistry A level, you just need to understand!! Make sure you properly understand the AS stuff as ALOT of it comes up in A2 exams and they are easy marks! I found the CGP books very helpful for understanding the concepts. Also past papers are of the utmost importance. You will be suprised at the number of questions which are repeated each yr. the maths is very basic (i sucked at maths, still do, but still managed to get an A* in chem A level).
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by adamphilpot
HI guys,
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
This is a question mainly for current med students.
How chemistry heavy are your courses?
Ignoring the application /selection process, as an arts grad and someone who hasn't done A level chemistry would it be a struggle? Is there an expected level of understanding?
I dont understand that equation and I'm in medical school (and my highest was a C in gcse chemistry)... There is literally next to no chemistry, my extend finishes at I just about know what a mole is and molecules to me are big circles i draw on paper for physiology.
I'm an arts grad too, it took me a good 3 months on the GEP course to get my head around things and I had to work really hard as at KCL they cover all preclinical in 9 months. But I made it through!
I think the people who posted above are downplaying how much chemistry is actually involved. There were 2 biochemistry modules through the first two years for me. Some of it I even struggled with despite doing both biology and chemistry at A-level. Obviously it varies between unis but yeah just be wary. Having said that one of my best friends did a psychology degree before applying to undergraduate medicine (not GEM) and she didn't struggle particularly in fact she has done quite well for herself, considering...
Original post by Danny McCoyne
I think the people who posted above are downplaying how much chemistry is actually involved. There were 2 biochemistry modules through the first two years for me. Some of it I even struggled with despite doing both biology and chemistry at A-level. Obviously it varies between unis but yeah just be wary. Having said that one of my best friends did a psychology degree before applying to undergraduate medicine (not GEM) and she didn't struggle particularly in fact she has done quite well for herself, considering...
How much pure chemistry did you have to do then? And what was it?
Original post by Danny McCoyne
I think the people who posted above are downplaying how much chemistry is actually involved. There were 2 biochemistry modules through the first two years for me. Some of it I even struggled with despite doing both biology and chemistry at A-level. Obviously it varies between unis but yeah just be wary. Having said that one of my best friends did a psychology degree before applying to undergraduate medicine (not GEM) and she didn't struggle particularly in fact she has done quite well for herself, considering...
It depends where you go as you said... The GEM courses generally don't go into the full biochemistry, well we had to sit through some of it. But I've literally done no chemistry at all throughout (it's more the terminology used in pharmacology etc that I've leant the absolute basic of). Physiology to me is barely chemistry as it is very visual and I know that there are transporters that swap say sodium and potassium but I don't need to know anymore detail than that.
I didn't do science post GCSE and have a vocational artsy degree, I did well in my GEM year having covered both 2 years of pre-clinical in 9 months. Definitely do-able without any science background.
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