Medicine at Oxbridge?

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that's the problem... trust them to be difficult! i'm trying to find out how much oxford use the bmat in their decision process but no luck so far :s-smilie:

Reply 61

username163092

Yeah, they look quite hard...I think I ought to buy some scientific/mathematical reasoning books, like now, so that I will have some clue of how to do that stuff when it comes to it lol

Reply 62

angelmxxx

^^ i guess the only good point about it is that you can kinda revise for it, whereas you can't learn much for the UKCAT. that essay scares the hell out of me though!

Reply 63

da_kind92

angelmxxx

i think you guys live kinda near me =]
and um after seeing ur post i looked it up think it might have been in december :s-smilie:

but ring them up! hehe

uh OH
lol

Reply 64

username163092

I didn't scroll far down the paper, just looked at the first 7 or so questions and just thought 'I can't be bothered scaring myself'

The essay looks a bit scary, but I'm usually OKAY writing them...but I would have to do a very good plan for that one lol!

Reply 65

Huw Davies

angelmxxx

that's the problem... trust them to be difficult! i'm trying to find out how much oxford use the bmat in their decision process but no luck so far :s-smilie:

The BMAT to determine shortlisting for interview, in combination with GCSE results and, to some extent, other factors. 1/3 applicants are invited to interview.

Reply 66

*stars and stripes*

angelmxxx

^^ do you think doing critical thinking helps with the bmat/ukcat at all? there aren't many ukcat past papers so i was thinking about using some of the critical thinking papers as well to see what it'll be like?

Not really, if I'm honest...I don't think it gives you too much of an advantage apart from the fact that the questions look more familiar and when you're working at speed, that does help to calm your nerves a bit and enable you to quickly focus on the relevant pieces of information. Look at some papers if you like, but I don't think there's a great deal more that you could get from that than looking at the BMAT specimen papers, they should be sufficient :smile:

Reply 67

*stars and stripes*

da_kind92

oh Thanks
one more question! please :blushing:

The fact that you come from a good school, did that effect your application (in a good way)?

PS - when is your sixth forms application deadline (it doesnt say on the website)
lol im :nuts:

Ive looked it up! :biggrin:

Tbh I don't think it really matters what school you come from... the only time it's really looked at is if your school has low pass rates and the environment may have caused you to underachieve. It's only looked at in terms of seeing what your results are like in comparison to the level normally attained by your school in that case, so I wouldn't worry about it at all :smile:

Reply 68

*stars and stripes*

Also, (sorry for the triple post), don't panic about the BMAT. I know it's easier said than done, but it's meant to be hard and they don't expect people to get all (or even the majority of) the questions right. And besides, IIRC, you get marked every year according to how well everyone else did, so one year a score of 6.5 in Section 1 might mean getting 50%, and in the next year you might only need 45% because the year as a whole did not perform so well (I'm plucking figures out of the air as an example by the way!)

It's also really time pressured and towards the end I think pretty much anyone was ticking random boxes just so they didn't leave anything blank. It's better to do the questions you can and make educated guesses for all the others rather than spend ages struggling over something fiendishyl difficult and have to guess lots of answers you might have otherwise easily got correct.

AND, you have until October to worry about the BMAT, concentrate on your exams for now :wink:

Reply 69

da_kind92

*stars and stripes*

so going to an averageish sixth form wouldnt matter too much or be less preferred than a good/excellent sixth form.

thats good

thanks a bunch for your replies :smile:

Reply 70

*stars and stripes*

No it doesn't matter as far as I'm aware, assuming your grades don't drop...they still expect pretty much everyone to be predicted As, unless you have a very good reason otherwise.

Thats OK, glad to help :smile:

Reply 71

username163092

I think I'm just going to revise, like, everyday next year to get straight As lol (well, re-cap what I learnt that day anyway), because although I'm fairly confident I'll do well in history (my teacher tried to bribe me to take it when I told her I was going to choose between it and maths, I took both in the end, but she managed to freak me out lol), I don't think I'll do so well in maths if I don't put in a lot more effort than I am at the moment....Yeah, someday I'll stop being lazy.... :biggrin:

Reply 72

username163092

LOL, just had another look at that specimen introductory BMAT paper - the first question is aksing about the shape of the TANK, not the dipstick like I thought.....well, at least now I know what I have to do to get better results in all exams - actually read the questions lol, well, at least that makes the question easier.... :biggrin:

Reply 73

*stars and stripes*

Good plan

You'll be fine and you definitely don't have to revise every day to get As you know...you can have time off :smile:

Reply 74

username163092

LOL, I know, but I kinda like learning (in science I bought the textbook so I can work ahead, I've tried it in Music, but having 4 different teachers means I never know what they're going to do), and revising in fact....sad, I know

Reply 75

*stars and stripes*

Not sad, just very keen :smile:

Still, if you're enjoying it, then that's a good thing!

Reply 76

username163092

*stars and stripes*

Not sad, just very keen :smile:

Still, if you're enjoying it, then that's a good thing!

Hmmm, I'm sure a lot of people will view it as sad :smile:

I tried arranging some work experience today...why is it I ALWAYS blush/resemble a tomato when sorting things like this out on the phone? :confused:

Oh well.....hopefully I'll get some work experience/possibly a long-term volunteer work at the local hospital, they were very nice about it...

Reply 77

*stars and stripes*

Don't worry, the more you sort it out, the easier it will get :smile:

That sounds good, especially now you seem to have 'your foot in the door' as it were.

Reply 78

Nimbus

Hey everyone,
Just out of interest, if you get "B"s in GCSE English and English literature, does that disadvantage?

Regarding work experience, do you oxbridge medics do on average of about a few weeks of voluntary (medicine related) work experience (so eg: once/twice a week) plus about two weeks shadowing a GP or working in the hospital?
And I've done a two week work experience as an animal care assistant, does that help at all?

Also, I think this might be the wrong thread to ask this but anyways, I just had a look at the BMAT test and I dare say section contains a mixture of unbeleivablly simple and extremely hard questions (section 1 anyways)!
What do you guys do in the exam when you are stuck, do you move onto the next question or just tick random boxes? :p:

[Sorry OP that I am asking lots of questions in your thread!]

Reply 79

GregoryJL

Hello there. I'm a first year Medical student at Cambridge.

As Huw has said, Oxford use the BMAT with GCSE's as a shortlist for interview - if memory serves, the higher the number of A*'s you get, the less well you have to do in the BMAT to be offered an interview. So, obviously, if you're GCSE's suck, unless you know you will be a wunderkind at the BMAT, applying for Oxford is probably a bad idea.

You don't need all A*'s to get a place. I got 2 B's and 2A's in my GSCEs. I am sure people have gotten in with even worse. Officially, Cambridge has matriculation requirements (no idea about Oxford) which stipulate anyone needs certain grades in a set of subjects (B's or above, or something) to study. However, it isn't hard to manage, and, last I heard, they are thinking of scrapping it as they simply ignore it if someone who they think is good enough won't meet the matriculation requirements.

The BMAT is a difficult paper, and I'm pretty sure you will find it difficult to complete it unless you work quickly. A good score in this is important for Oxbridge - in oxford a certain score is required to get intervied, while Cambridge uses it in conjunction with other factors (interviews, PS, whatever else.) A good mark, is, obviously, better than a bad one - I got in the top 10ish percent for the first two papers, although my essay was a disaster (although, luckily in my case, my interviewer thought that the essay was undermarked.)

Work experience is important. Renal (a Doctor and troll on the Medicine forums) has put up a nice little post explaining what it should do. It should give you an idea as to what medicine is actually like - it isn't really a matter of how much, but rather what you get out of it and what you've learnt. My work experience 'list' consisted of a week work experience, followed with voluntary work over most of the summer on the same ward, then an afternoon a week at the hospital, as well as another week shadowing some doctors. I am sure the above isn't the bare minimum, but I don't think it is miles from the norm. I was fortunate that my local hospital was very, very keen on volunteers and work experience - yours might not be.

Other extra-curriclar stuff is useful personal statement fodder, but (last I checked) Oxbridge don't really care about how wonderful and rounded a person you are - they are more interested in academic ability. My personal statement was the usual toe-curlingly naive 'I wanna help people' fare, which I guess is par for the course amongst aspirational pre-freshers.

Oh, and a word about interviews. I can't speak for Oxford, but you shouldn't be pissing yourself over Cambridge interviews at least. All that crap about setting papers on fire, throwing rocks thorugh windows and whatever else is rubbish. They are meant to be taxing, and exploring stuff you can't easily prep for - although people try. I didn't find mine terrifying, or impossible, or unfriendly, and I'm sure while there are some horror stories out there, they are in the minority. Showing 'passion' for your subject is the key - being clever is, thus, an advantage.

If you are wondering whether a B in this or that, or not doing loads of work experience, or being socially ******ed, or whatever else will disadvantage your application, then yes, it will. Compared to someone has straight A's, huge lists of work experience, or is bright and sparkly (if only because they can put themselves across better at interview, despite Oxbridge's attempts to disregard showiness or confidence), then you'll lose out - all other things being equal. Chances are, they won't be. Ultimately, it is a system designed to pick from a pool of universally bright people the best quarter-ish for their medical school. You need to be good - but you don't need to be some sort of academic ubermensch. Try your best, eat your vegetables, and have fun.

P.S. Medlink sucks, don't go. :wink: